Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/112

 i oo Journal of A mericau Folk-Lore.

DISEASES.

When one is sick, his friends will go to a bush which happens to be growing near the grave of some saint, or near some spot where a saint is once known to have been, and they will tie a rag on the bush and pray to the saint that the sick may get well. The tree will have so many rags sometimes, and of such various colors, that it will look at a distance as if it were' in bloom.

Another remedy for sickness is to bathe in a stream and hang a ma tree close by.

Still another is to place an egg in a stream of water, but back in a little nook from the current so that it will not be swept away. Any one who picks up the egg will get the disease it was intended to cure.

When a baby is sick it is bathed over the grave of some martyr. In the winter time, water is heated and carried to the grave for this purpose.

When one is possessed with devils, a bowl of water is set in his presence, and a fortune-teller or soothsayer then charms the demons and gets them into the water. They are then taken one at a time and put into a ram's horn, after which the horn is plugged and given to the afflicted one with instructions to bury it deep in his yard.

In case of fever and ague, the sick bathes in a brook which is called "fever and ague brook." Every community has such a brook.

Sometimes when one is sick he will have four priests come. All of them will read aloud and at the same time, but each one will be reading a different scriptural passage. This is expected to cure the sick.

When one is sick he will oftentimes hunt up a fortune-teller who is supposed to know how to charm away disease. The fortune-teller will write something on a piece of paper (no one knows what), and, folding it up, give it to the man with instructions to wear it over his heart, or on his right or left arm, or on his head, or to put it in the water at some place, or anything else which he is disposed to tell him. His instructions faithfully carried out are to work a cure.

A piece of paper which has been blessed by a priest is sometimes put in a silver box and carried about with one in the belief that it will ward off disease.

Some take a blue bead which has been blessed by a priest and carry it concealed on their persons for the purpose of warding off the influence of witches. If there is a bright, pretty child in the family, a blue bead is nearly always concealed in its hair at just about the point "bregma," or a little in front of that, for fear some jealous person will bewitch him.

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