Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1902 — SNAKE FANG TRADE POOR. [ARTICLE]

SNAKE FANG TRADE POOR.

Time Was When Supplying Hoodoo Bag Contents Paid Well. Speaking of catching snakes, says an old-timer in the New Orleans TlmesDemocrat, the snake fang industry used to yield a good revenue here and in other parts of the South. That was in the palmy days of voudooism. Snake fangs are supposed to have a peculiar charm when it comes to the business of forecasting and divining things, and no thoroughbred voudoo doctor could afford to be without them. They were supposed to be necessary in the business, and if the voudoo doctor could not corral a jsnake himself he would simply have so pay the price prevailing in the snake fang market and get the goods. Then there was the “hoodoo bag,” a peculiar contrivance now extensively used by negroes in the South. All of them do not contain snake fangs, yet fangs are believed to add much to the, power which a possessor of one of these strange things may get from them. These bags are generally very §mall, sometimes K small bottle with a doth covering being used for the purpose. They are filled with all sorts of things.

The contents of the urn used by the witches of Dunslnane in the story of “Macbeth” are nothing in comparison with the mysterious hodgepodge to be found in thp hoodoo bag. And the negro who practices hoodooslm is looked upon as having more power, when It comes to the material benefits, than any set of witches ever possessed, so far as the negroes who believe in such things are concerned. They are supposed to be great gold finders, and hard-working. Industrious negroes have been known to give up a big part of their salary while under the Influence of the man with the hoodoo bag. Not infrequently the police have been forced to interfere on account of the robbery of negroes in this way. But snake fangs do not command much of a price now, because voudooism has been on the decline, and negroes who believe in the potency for good or bad of the hoodoo, bag have been, fortunately, on the decrease. Stil, a sufficient number of the credulous remain to enable a few shrewd negroes to make a living without working.