Nancy's Notes

A book in our personal library at home is “Folklore from Kansas: Customs, Beliefs, and Superstitions,” which is a fun book to skim through. I think perhaps it is a book that social science teacher Bob Becker purchased back in the 1990s. William E. Koch is the author of the book and was the compiler, organizer, editor, etc. who took on this “fun” research project which he described as “a careful statewide survey of folk beliefs, customs, and superstitions.” More than 2,800 people listed in the back of the book were either contributors or collectors. According to a map provided, at least 500 items were contributed by Rooks County folks; and as I scanned the list of contributors, I found 39 people listed from our county. Some of the last names, however, are at least familiar to me. Listed from Stockton were: Robin Bigge, Mabel Butler, Emma Hammond, Jeanne Helm, Violet Jamison, Mrs. E. C. Newbrey, Mrs. Daisy Thelen and Carl Walker. I’m sure these names ring a bell with some of my readers. In addition to the contributors from Stockton, others acknowledged in Rooks County were from Codell, Palco, Plainville, Woodston and Zurich; so that pretty much covers the county.

There are 12 categories by which the tidbits of folklore are organized. Chapter 3, “The Prevention and Cure of Illnesses and Injuries,” comprises 20 percent of the collection and the highest percentage for the total items in any of the 12 chapters. Within this chapter are 28 categories, and, excluding the miscellaneous section, cures for the common cold, warts, bleeding and the hiccups rank highest. Nearly 50 percent of the 5,000 items in the entire book fall in the general categories of health, weather, and luck.

I thought it would be fun to share some of these remedies with you, so I first went to “Remedies for Hiccups” and found that many of them I’ve actually heard of and have even practiced myself when trying to get hiccups to go away. Stunts like holding your breath as long as you can; bending over at the waist and then drinking three or four swallows of water while in this position; drinking water while holding your nose; or blowing into a paper sack are fairly common in my realm. But here are some remedies I’ve never heard of: *Put your fingertips together, and think of the last time you saw an old gray horse; *Pull your tongue out as far as possible for one minute; *Have someone cover your ears while you drink water; *Place a silver knife in a glass of water, then drink the water; *Lie down on your back, then have someone sit on you; *While closing your eyes, place your right thumb in your mouth, and blow as hard as you can while thinking about an ocean; *Say in one breath seven times, “Hiccup, sneacup, rise up, Jacob;” *Bite the ends of your little fingers till they hurt; *Drink lots of bourbon; *Lie down on your back, and then have someone sit on you; or *Very deep and passionate kissing. Most of those (with the exception of the last one!) seem either too silly or too painful to try.

Let’s see what is suggested for a hangover (not that I ever need this...). Again, I’ve heard of some of these and perhaps even tried a couple or three; you know, just to practice in case I ever need it. The remedy of drinking one to three glasses of milk, either before or after consuming alcohol, seems to be the one I’ve heard about the most. But how about these remedies: *Fill a glass half full of cold milk, then add Coca Cola to fill the glass, and drink it quickly; *Mix an egg into a glass of tomato juice, and drink it down; *Drink a raw egg mixed with orange juice and whiskey; *Mix one-half part tomato juice, onefourth part Tabasco and one-fourth part Worcestershire Sauce; or *Fill a glass with buttermilk, then add a dash of Tabasco, a dash of Worcestershire Sauce, a dash of salt and pepper, then sprinkle with nutmeg for seasoning. Most of these would make me never want an alcoholic drink again.

Well, I promise I won’t print all 5,000 of these remedies, but I do see several more categories I would like to share — so I will keep the book on my desk and dive into some other crazy things from time to time you may (or most likely, may NOT!) have heard before.