Carolina Piedmont Country

7. Customary Beliefs

C H A P T E R 7 Customary Beliefs Interwoven with ideas based on modern scientific thought are those rooted more firmly in folk tradition. While contemporary Piedmont residents have a knowledge of general science and have access to professional medical care, customarybeliefsabout natural phenomenaand supernatural healing persist. Despite individual variation in acceptance, characteristic of the folklife of the Piedmont (as well as other parts of the nation) areacknowledgment of the power of celestial bodies to influence terrestrial events and the (sometimes mystical) efficacy of certain plants and practices to heal the body and mind. In effect, these older traditions parallel modern ones, sometimes meshing with and other times replacing them. Despite change, these strands retain the warmth oftradition and the strength of persistence. Natural Phenomena W E A T H E R P R O G N O S T I C A T I O N As might be expected within an agricultural economy, a major portion of the folk belief system of the Piedmont formerly included means by which individuals could predict the weather. For example, Nora Wood's "daddy" used to say that "if corn has thick shucks on it, it's going to be a cold winter." Birds huddling together, like the flock of robins outside Helen Quinnell's house, reminded her of her grandfather's belief that this indicated oncomingbad weather. Asshe pointed out during our next interview, "wedid havebad weather, didn't we?" Ray Nameth once asked an arthritic friend if he could tell when a front would pass through; he replied: "I can tell you when they're going to have a front in Texas!" 93 94 Carolina Piedmont Country Other beliefs more specificallytargeted rain. For example, Vernon Randle described the well-knownidea, reported by his great-grandfather, that the dip of the crescent moon indicated whether it washolding or spilling water; thus rain might be absent or imminent. A moon with a ring around it, both David Hawkins and Jason Lamben felt, could predict rain by the number of stars (equal to days) within the ring; "and that's a true sign," Mr. Lambert asserted. Both Helen Quinnell and Elizabeth Block utilized clouds called "mare's tails" (thin cirrus clouds) to prognosticate oncoming rain. Ms. Block, like many other Upstate residents, speculated that the old signs sometimes no longer hold, perhaps due to the climate-altering construction of artificial lakes in the Piedmont today. The simultaneous occurrence of rain coupled with sunshine creates a puzzling natural phenomenon, one that has been marked with a particular folk saying. Several years ago, whilewalkingacross my college campus during a sunny rain shower, I passed a stranger going the opposite direction. He remarked, "Well, the devil is beating his wife!" Puzzled, I asked him what he meant, and he replied that people used to say that whenever it rained and the sun shone at the same time. The idea still exists in the Piedmont. Another curious natural phenomenon occurs at sunset and could also be used to predict rain. Vernon Randle's grandfather taught him: "'Shine yonder sun dog.' I'm looking for a dog on the ground; I didn't know what he was talking about! He showed it to me. It looked something about like a rainbow, a pretty good-sized thing, about no piece off from the sun.... 'It's going to rain.'... I'd just laugh at him But it would rain; yes, it would." While some of these weather beliefs persist, they are more frequently recalled by older residents as reminiscences from their grandparents' or parents' generations. Today, customarybeliefs about the weather are intermingled with the complete acceptance of modern meteorological forecasting . For example, while both Nora and Albert Wood provided their interviewer with several traditional forecasting beliefs, Mrs. Wood added: "We watch the TV for the weather, and the newspapers." Most elements of the folk knowledgesystem in the Piedmont reflect this blend of modern practicality and traditional retention. S O L A R A N D L U N A R I N F L U E N C E S O N N A T U R A L P H E N O M E N A More widelyheld, though, are ideas linking the phases of the moon and the relative position of the sun in the sky with natural and human activities . The belief that astronomical phenomena have a direct influence on Customary...