Niquisha Keys Professor Hintze LAN-1080 11/08/2017 ‘African American Hoodoo The connotation of a word processes great power over people and often holds more value than the literal meaning of the word. When people think of the word fetish, their mind tends to drift towards the negative attention the word gets in American culture. The word fetish gets, overly sexualized and perverted; people assume all fetishes are synonymous with kinky sexual desires. However, fetishes are not restricted to sexual gratification or attraction to certain body parts. According to both Merriam-Webster and Urban dictionary’s definition, fetishes also involve superstitions, objects believed to be possessed or magical, obsessive devotions or going up and beyond the normal limits (“Fetish”). To some candles may hold no apparent value, but to Hoodoo Practitioners candles are a power fetish surrounding magical power (Long, Carolyn Morrow). Through fetishes, Hoodoo practitioners infused their African heritage with the surrounding culture of the United States. U. Hoodoo, not to be confused with voodoo, is a nineteenth century American term used to describe African-American folklore magic developed by African Americans with West Afri Lineage (HOODOO, CONJURE, and ROOTWORK"). Due to the interactions African American sailors had with Gaelic speaking Irish or Scottish sailors, the term Hoodoo is believed to come from the “phonetic translation of the Gaelic word Uath Dubh (pronounced hooh dooh)” and South Carolina (Long, Carolyn Morrow). Enslaved Africans living in Georgia, Louisiplayed a key role in the development of Hoodoo due to their ability to retain more of their African heritage. Slaves located in the low country held relative freedom and were able to practice Hoodoo freely (Long, Carolyn Morrow). Hoodoo practitioners seek wellbeing, through achieving spiritual balance. Spiritual balance is obtained through worshiping a supreme, genderless God and lessor deities, pleasing ancestors, and using fetishes to “embody spiritual power” (Long, Carolyn Morrow). J Hoodoo practitioners emphasize the spiritual and magical power of Hoodoo fetishes through their use of powders. Hoodoo powders originated from Native American botanical folklore (“HOODOO, CONJURE, and ROOTWORK”). Hoodoo practitioners openly incorporated medicinal herbs cultivated by Native Americans in their practice; however, Hoodoo practitioners used the herbs for magical purposes. The herbs were turned into multiple powders that used spiritual powers to curse enemies. Goofer dust was an herb based power typically mixed with graveyard dirt, sulfur, animal bones, and other things. The dust was used to “trouble, harm, and kill” enemies (“HOW TO USE SACHET POWDERS”). The effects of Goofer dust varied depending on the ingredients; some victims of the dust experienced leg swelling that went undiagnosed by medical doctors (“HOW TO USE SACHET POWDERS”). Goofer dust spells derive from African foot-track magic which intends to hurt victims through their feet (“HOW TO USE SACHET POWDERS"). The powders of Hoodoo would not be possible without the influences of both Native Americans and Africans. Through mixing their separate folklore, African American Hoodoo practitioners were able create a folklore of their own that retained clements of their ancestral culture. 7d Hoodoo practitioners also incorporated the Roman Catholic tradition of candle-burning into their Hoodoo practice. During the ninetieth century industrialization of America, candles‘were mass produced, had a higher melting point and became colorful ("HOW TO PRACTICE HOODOO CANDLE MAGIC"). Candles became more available to the African American community and lasted longer. Catholics burned candles as a form of prayer: they believed that the prayer would rise to heaven day and night. Hoodoo practitioners also used candles for prayer: they also used candles for candle magic and finalizing their hoodoo spells. By mid-twentieth century, there was a uniform use of colored candles in the Hoodoo community. The magic held by the candle depended on the color of the candle. White candles meant purity, rest, and healing, green dealt with money spells, doing a good job and business, red dealt with love and affection, purple meant power and control and black dealt with evil and reversing spells (“HOW TO. PRACTICE HOODOO CANDLE MAGIC”). Another crucial factor in candle magic was the direction of the candle light (“HOW TO PRACTICE HOODOO CANDLE MAGIC"). The front from the perspective of the Hoodoo practitioner symbolizes the physical world, the back symbolizes the mental world, the left symbolizes the past and the right symbolizes the future (Hoodoo Delish). By incorporating Catholic candle practices into Hoodoo, Hoodoo practitioners were able to add another dimension of magical worship. a Through incorporating different cultural fetishes from Africans, Native Americans and Catholics, African Americans were able to both adapt and update their African culture into an. African American culture. Even though Hoodoo was an eclectic mix of existing fetishes found in the United States during the transatlantic slave trade, African American Hoodoo practitioners took those fetishes and interpreted them to fit in their existing definition of spiritual worship. Through their use of fetish, they were able create a diverse Hoodoo culture that is representative of the multiple cultures that can be found in the United States to this day. J