Mississipi Hoodoo Archeology Artifacts Anthropology Document

[Mama Micki]

My father was born and raised in Mississippi, in a small town on the Mississippi River. Does anyone here have any information on hoodoo practice there? I went on a family vacation to see my grandma when I was a child and remember her having a kitchen cabinet full of home remedies, but don't know if she was any kind of practitioner.

[MissMichaele]

Is your father still alive? You might ask him to reminisce about Grandma, and gradually lead the conversation around to the home remedies ... And then on to "Daddy, did she ever say a prayer while she was giving you your medicine, or anything like that?"


Hope this helps,

Miss Michaele

[Lee Canipe]

I find the regional variations in hoodoo really fascinating. Nearly all of my family are in North & South Carolina, but I had a great-uncle who married a creole lady from New Orleans and they raised their family in the city. When I was younger I went to visit and found the differences between New Orleans-style hoodoo and Carolina conjure striking (primarily due to influence of Catholicism in NOLA). If you discover some information about Mississippi hoodoo please let us know Mama Micki!

Lee Canipe #398 (G)
PS I discovered a few years ago that I have distant relatives I'd never met in Jefferson Co, MS. They moved from Kinston, NC to MS before the Civil War. I once had a reading with a palero and he kept telling me I had family in MS. I said No, that I did have family in New Orleans. But he was very adamant that I had "blood relatives across the river IN MISSISSIPPI". Imagine my surprise when at a family reunion I learned of my Jefferson Co, MS kin folk.

[Mama Micki]

My father died in 2006, before I started studying hoodoo. He was born and raised in Gunnison, Mississippi, in Bolivar County, now with a population of 633. Someday I'll make the trip and see his hometown again.

[catherineyronwode]

Newbell Niles Puckett interviewed and photographed hoodoo practitioners in Mississippi in the mid 1920s. Check his book out!

[ConjureMan Ali]

I spent a few weeks in Mississippi when I was 14, 15, and 16 with a friend getting to know a couple roots people. My own practice is heavily influnced by South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia conjure, but from what I can remember of Mississippi conjure practices there was a strain of Catholic influence, heavy Spiritualist influence, and they was a penchant for animal curios. Almost every root doctor I met had bones hanging around in their homes, worked with animal parts and animal bones.

Lots of toads/frogs, bird bones, snake, and alligator curios.

For example, a man named Old Nick taught me to protect my money when I went gambling by putting a big silver coin in the claws of a gator and leave it on Saint Martin or Saint Expedite's altar for a week then feed it some Hoyts and go out gambling.

He also taught me the how to use a toad bone to make a person do what I want and to make a conjure bag with rattlesnake vertebrae to ward off witches and powders.

[Mama Micki]

Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread. Conjureman Ali, I always thought of Mississippi as thoroughly Protestant, but there is a Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis, St. Rose de Lima, with the most amazing wall mural, "Christ in the Oaks" by Auseklis Ozals. It depicts the resurrection/ascension of a dark-skinned Christ in a forest. I have a copy of the painting above my altar.

[ConjureMan Ali]

I thought the exact same thing. I haven't been back to Mississippi, but I intend to someday. It had a unique culture and the folk lore was very interesting. My thinking is that the Catholic influence could be a crossover from Louisiana conjure with Mississippi conjurers picking things up from their counterparts. Of course Mississppi has its own pockets of Catholicism. It is certainly an interesting mix. Do let us know how your own research turns out.

[Doctor Hob]

I live in Somerville, Tennessee, just east of Memphis, and snuggled up pretty close to Mississippi. I did a survey of churches in something like a 50-75 mile radius when I was an anthropology student, and while the primary density is Protestant, there are a suprising number of Catholic churches. My guess is that it moved up from the port of New Orleans over time, though religion can be tenacious, and even a few faithful coming in from anywhere could have slowly built the Catholic tradition around here as time passed. New Orleans would still be my first bet.