
Black folks don’t play with spirits. We know better. Our culture teaches us to respect the spirit realm. But just because we have a healthy respect for spirits doesn’t mean we’re out here chillin’ with them either. How do we protect ourselves?
When cruising through the South, you might find empty glass bottles stuck on the end of tree branches. Bottle trees came across the Middle Passage with the enslaved to capture wandering and evil spirits. Spirits get trapped inside the bottles overnight until the morning sun sends them away.
Haints, or malicious spirits, are easily distracted. Making them do something repetitive, like counting, will stop them in their tracks. Broomsticks and rice will force haints to stop and count each strand or grain. And because they’re always getting sidetracked, they keep having to begin again, and again. See where this is going?
Haint blue, is supposed to repel evil spirits. According to Gullah Geechee legend, haints will be confused by the color on the ceiling of porches, so much so that they fly away.
Black folks have always been serious about spiritually protecting ourselves and our homes. We’re not about having bad juju following us around. Thankfully, the protections our ancestors used still stand today.