Old Timey Remedies and Superstitions 2005
NOTE: The remedies and superstitions written here are not medically proven – so try them at your own risk.
In the days when country doctors were few and far between, folks had to do much of the doctoring themselves and some of these old remedies have been passed down through the generations. One most popular medicine of precaution was that of sassafras tea. The roots were dug in the early spring (March, I think), washed, boiled, strained and then the tea was sweetened either with sugar, honey or sorghum. Drinking of this so-called tea was supposed to remove the winter impurities.
Cough syrup was another home remedy made by many and each family has/had their own favorite. Ours was equal parts white lightning whiskey, lemon juice and honey. Even after you stop coughing you might want to “sample” this mixture now and then—using it as a preventative.
Around our house kerosene was kept handy. Somebody was always being injured in one way or another. I went barefooted in the summer and sometimes would step on an upturned nail and, of course, kerosene was quickly poured on that wound. When my daddy would cut himself with a saw or whatever, he used kerosene to treat it with. Children would oft times stub (we called it stump) their big toe and it was washed with kerosene and a “stall” made from an old worn out sheet or flour sack. The “stall” was held in place with a string attached to it and then the string was tied around the ankle. Flour sack pieces were used because they were much softer texture than other kinds of sacks.
Sand Mountain sorghum mixed with a generous amount of baking soda made an excellent remedy for burns. One time our eldest stood too close to an open fire and her little overall leg caught fire. John quickly put it out with his bare hand and then mixed up the above mixture and applied it. She doesn’t have a sign of a scar.
Jewel Weed is a good remedy for poison ivy and supposedly the two plants grow relatively close to each other. Not so here at the Windy Knoll. We have the ivy, but no Jewel Weed. Jewel Weed needs a damp place to grow and there is no such place here – even in a normal year.
Apparently, my daddy could cure asthma. A Geraldine resident would tell you today about this happening in her family. Daddy would notch some type stick and when the child outgrew that notch the asthma would be gone. I’m unsure what kind of wood was used, but as I remember it the stick was Sour Wood.
Supposedly people who have never seen their daddy could cure the Thrush in a baby’s mouth. Old timers called this malady “thrash” and my sister-in-law was one of those people who had never seen their daddy. Her father was killed in a ginning accident before she was born. Ruby had numerous requests to blow in the mouth of afflicted babies in an effort to cure this rash.
Now let me tell you about my problem. I have a thing-a-ma-doodle on the bottom of my foot (sort of a corn-like thing). It’s on the ball of the foot, but just below my little toe. It’s sore and it’s painful. Various people have looked at it (no doctors) and have called it different things. One friend calls it a calcium deposit and claims she can get it out. She scraped bark from a White Oak Tree, boiled it, strained it and I’ve been soaking my foot in it every day or two and she is picking the “calcium” out of there. It’s much improved, but the process is not complete.
About superstitions – It’s supposed to be bad luck to put black in a quilt and if one pieces a quilt called the Lone Star, she’ll be left a widow. Now if some lady wants to get rid of her husband, she could try piecing a Lone Star and put black in it.
Another oldie is to hang a dead snake on the fence to make it rain. Well John plowed up a snake in the garden a few days – it was wrapped around the tines of the tiller before he knew it. He hung it on the fence, but we don’t know how long it will take it to rain.
Daddy wouldn’t let me sing in bed – said it was bad luck. If a black cat crosses the road in front of you it’s supposed to be bad luck, too. If a Cardinal pecks at his reflection in the window pane, it’s bad luck.
No doubt the reader of this can recall some old remedies and superstitions of his own from his style of country living