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JEISON MEDINA HIGUERA

NOVEMBER COTTON FLOWER (JEAN TOMER) INTERPRETATION


VOUDOOISM; SUPERSTITION OF THE NEW ORLEANS BLACK FOLKLORE IN THE POEM.
In the poem November cotton flower some elements of the superstition of the African
American culture are showed. African-American superstitions were a system of belief
inherited from a mixture from the African religion, combined with American traditions and
some of the European mystic folklore
1
. As the text may have several interpretations
regarding the social aspects of the life of black people in that time, but from my point of
view there is content that might regard superstition in the form of voudooism; this from a
relation among three elements found in Voodooism: pillows, feathers and leaves;
elements that are not directly stated but that will be shown on following.
The first one to be mention is pillow; the most known kind of the voodooist practice may
be called pillow magic: which is the supposed art of causing wasting sicknesses or even
death by putting certain objects into the pillow of the bed in which the hated person
sleeps
2
this with relation of the mention of the text to cotton a material by which pillows
had already been produced for several decades (pillowseasy to obtain around 1840
3
)
and in second place with relation to one of the practices of pillow magic which is linked
with our second element feathers birds: Another practice of pillow witchcraft consists in
tearing a living bird asunder and putting portions of the wings into the pillow
4
. So in
order to achieve this malleolus objective it was necessary to kill an innocent bird thus, it is
mentioned in the text: dead birds were found.
The following element that I found in the text that is related with voodooist practices is
the presence of autumn and a rake. Autumn is the season in which leaves drop from their
trees and we can easily find them on the floor and a rake is a tool with which we gather
them; thus facilitating our next voodooist practice: crumbling dry leaves with the fingers
and scattering the fragments before a residence, are also forms of a maleficent conjuring
which sometimes cause serious annoyance
5
.
Concluding, the elements previously presented might refer to voodooist practices that
used to take place in New Orleans in the late 1800. This elements can be found in those
practices as mentioned before and even though the poem may be o may be not a

1
The top 20 bsuperstitions black people live by. New One stuff. August 2010 taken from: [ June 22 2014 ]
http://newsone.com/631825/20-black-superstitions/
2
Lafcadio, Hearn. New Orleans from An American miscellany vol. II,(1924) taken from: [ June 22 2014 ]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/hearn/nos.htm
3
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Pillow.html
4
Lafcadio. ibid.
5
Op. Cit.
reference to them undoubted this elements were part of the African-American folklore
and system of beliefs.

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