Saw my boyfriend's family do a ritual I thought was just a movie thing

Last year I went to visit my boyfriend's family in rural Louisiana for the first time. His grandmother had this little jar of something on the porch that she'd sprinkle around the door every morning. I rolled my eyes so hard inside my head, thought it was some superstition nonsense. Then she told me it was a mix of salt and crushed eggshell and herbs for keeping bad spirits away, and that her mother taught her during the Jim Crow era. I still can't explain it, but after three days there I felt genuinely calmer walking in and out of that house. Has anyone else seen something like this in their own family or community and had to eat their words?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavin_kim31mo ago

Yeah "pretty basic stuff" is basically my whole life philosophy, so I guess it tracks. My version of that is aggressively knocking on wood every time I say something optimistic, still feels weirdly necessary.

matthewh281mo ago

Salt and eggshells? That's pretty basic stuff honestly. People have been doing that kind of thing forever, probably just makes you feel better because you expect it to.

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