May 10, 2010Hexing once everyday practice
Hexing once everyday practice
By Jane Kessler For The Daily Item Snyder County always has been thoroughly Pennsylvania German, a religious group of very imaginative peculiarly superstitious people.
---- — Many of our forefathers persisted in planting seeds, digging in posts and shingling roofs according to the signs of the moon. The four-leaf clover and the posted horseshoe in their thoughts were signs of good luck. No good Pennsylvania German would ever think of getting married on a Monday or leave for a honeymoon on a Friday. Who among them would regret the breaking of a mirror or the spilling of salt? Who hasn't heard about the first of May wash your freckles away?
Their beliefs were a part of their everyday life. Many of these superstitions so common generations ago are only reminisced about today, if not totally forgotten.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was scarcely a town or village in Snyder County where someone did not believe in hexing or pow-wowing. Hexing was to cast a spell or curse on some person, animal or thing. Pow-wowing was considered a healing art.
In 1825, in the area now known as Beaver Township, a family that lived there believed they were hexed by a man in the neighborhood. They claimed tables and furniture moved about automatically in the house, and that a peddler's hat was blown off his head as he entered the house. Fresh milk in the springhouse soured within a few hours. People, driven by curiosity, would be drawn to the house to see what it was all about. Magical and mystical rites were performed, and scripture texts were fastened to the doors and windows in the hope of driving out the hex, but the escapades continued. The house was destroyed by fire in 1866.
Pow-wowing was practiced by an individual believed to possess supernatural powers. In periods of illness, or great misfortune, it was believed that many things could be cured by means of gestures, by stroking the afflicted part with the hands with concoctions made from different types of plants. This, together with the repetition of Bible verses, constituted the pow-wow technique.
In March 1939, a way of pow-wowing was uncovered on the former Emanuel E. Pawling farm in Pawling Station. The discovery was made when an old oak tree was felled. Contained in the hollow trunk were several pieces of cured hard wood, human hair and some goose feathers, all in excellent condition. These were considered the necessary materials for the practice of hexing and pow-wowing. In order to cure the seizures of a child, the pow-wower sharpened his auger by the light of the setting sun and then bored holes in the oak tree at the height of the child's head. The wood used to make the containers for the hair and feathers was cured by charcoal. The following morning at sunrise, the suffering child was taken unwashed and unfed to the tree, where the child was placed with his or her back against the tree trunk. The child's hair was wound around a small piece of wood, and the feathers of a goose were placed in the containers. These pieces were then driven into the auger holes. The louder the child cried, the better and surer the cure. With the rising sun, the seizures were cured and never to return.
Not all pow-wowing was this dramatic, but it was a more simple art that was harmless, if not helpful. It is similar to faith cures, since the patient was always told he had to believe in it in order to get help from it.
n "Once Upon A Time In ...." is a Monday feature provided by the historical societies in Union, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder counties. The columns focus on people, places and objects of historical significance. Jane Kessler is a lifetime member of the Snyder County Historical Society, 30 E. Market St., Middleburg. The library is available for research from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays. For information, call 837-6191 or visit schs@snydercounty.org.
Snyder County always has been thoroughly Pennsylvania German, a religious group of very imaginative and peculiarly superstitious people.
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