News — folk belief

Proposing a new folk saint [Troublin’ the Water series]

February 14, 2025 • folk belief • folk magic • folk saints • hoodoo • hoodoo tricks

https://bigluckyhoodoo.com/2025/02/14/proposing-a-new-folk-saint/ (Link to the full set of downloadable images) [The Troublin’ the Water series is dedicated to spiritual work in times of political turmoil and social upheaval] Update: I’ve made the changes I wanted to make and reuploaded the image files for the card below. I’ve also uploaded PDF files, one for the front and one for the back, 10 images per page. I’m having internet problems, so i’ve been limited in my ability to edit and export to different file formats. So consider this a working draft. It’s designed to be business card size. It’s free to download and...

Jesus Malverde Community Altar Service starts tonight

May 3, 2021 • community altar work • dangerous jobs • folk belief • folk catholicism • folk magic • folk religion • folklore • jesus malverde • latin american culture • mexico • money • narco saints • poverty • prosperity • protection

Have a vigil light set and worked on my Jesus Malverde altar in community altar work service beginning on Monday, May 3rd, which serves as the feast day of this folk saint. There is some wiggle room and you can join up after the work starts as long as you see that there are still spots left and it doesn’t say “sold out.” Jesus Malverde, also known as the Angel of the Poor or the Generous Bandit, is a folk saint who is said to have lived and died in late 19th/early 20th century Sinaloa, Mexico. His reputation as a sort of Robin Hood figure began...

Reckitt’s laundry bluing in Dublin

February 27, 2021 • curios • dublin • folk belief • folk magic • ireland • laundry bluing

There’s a lovely little post at Le Lapin dans la Lune, the blog of French children’s book author/illustrator Delphine Doreau, titled “From riches to Reckkit’s, ultramarine blue at 14 Henrietta Street, Dublin.” It talks about her encounter with a wall on that street in Dublin, striking because painted an incongruous but beautiful ultramarine blue. She was told it was blue because it had been painted with Reckitt’s bluing, which was once used as a disinfectant. Thinking that sounded a little odd (quite rightly), she investigated. The blog post explains what she discovered and where her thoughts took her as she...

recent reading roundup: poison, atchafalaya ethnology, faith healing in Louisiana

January 27, 2021 • alec sonnier • anthropology • archaeology • atchafalaya basin • bayou life • cajun • creole • ethnic identities • ethnology • faith healing • folk belief • folk magic • folk medicine • folk religion • folklore • francophone culture • gens de couleur libre • iberia • immigration • julia swett • louisiana • louisiana folklife • lower mississippi valley • native american • plaquemine culture • point coupee • poisons • prayer • religion • slavery • southern catholicism • st. landry parish • superstitions • traiteurs

[Remember, this blog here at the shop address is a mirror / backup of the real Seraphin Station blog here. Visit there to comment, ask questions, get responses, interact with others, see useful and interesting links and resources, and/or read all the blog posts, not just the highlights I repost here.] photo credit jclk8888, Pixabay I don't have time to summarize anything right now, but I'm hoping if I leave this here, it'll spur me to do so later. James H. Diaz. Atlas of Human Poisoning and Envenoming, 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2014. Hilda Roberts. "Louisiana Superstitions." Journal...