Brooms and Sweeping

“A broom sweeps out. That will sweep the spirit out.” An informant Hyatt recorded in New York, with roots in Norfolk, Virginia, put the whole idea in nine words (Hyatt 1138 · New York City · informant 4).

In Hyatt’s volumes the household broom is never just a broom. Which way you swept, when, and what you swept with could bring in luck, keep out the law, drive off a ghost or put an unwanted visitor on the road. The hag lore has its own entry; this one covers the rest.

What it is

The broom Hyatt’s informants knew was usually a straw broom or a bundle of broom sedge, the old-time grass people swept their floors with. A Fayetteville informant made a point of that difference (Hyatt 1143 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1397).

Three things carried the power:

• The direction of the sweep, in or out
• The broom laid across a door, a bed or a person
• The straws themselves, pulled out and used alone

Sweep in for luck

For anyone in business, the rule was firm: never sweep out the front.

• A bootlegger in Florence was told to sweep the tracks into a corner, salt them and put them in the stove: “don’t evah sweep de tracks out do’s” (Hyatt 2427 · Florence, S. Car. · informant 1308).
• In Brunswick, the dirt went into the fire-hearth to keep trade coming (Hyatt 2429 · Brunswick, Ga. · informant 1184).
• A St. Petersburg storekeeper swept to the back for nine days and left the trash there, and said she “had de sto’ fulla customers” (Hyatt 2434 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1039).
• In New Orleans, sweeping inwards in the four corners would bring someone to rent the house (Hyatt 2464 · New Orleans, La. · informant 859).
• In Mobile, the trash was swept towards the door every morning and burned with sulphur to draw luck (Hyatt 2653 · Mobile, Ala. · informant 710).

Hyatt flagged one exception. A Washington woman boiled John de Conker, salt, red pepper and chamber lye, and swept from the back out to the front for luck. Hyatt’s note explains that here good luck came by sweeping out any bad luck or spell dropped in the house (Hyatt 4013 · Washington, D.C. · informant 626).

Sweep out to clear the house

Sweeping out was for clearing the house. A Jacksonville informant said: “Sweep yo’ house out backward for nine mornings” to keep a ghost out (Hyatt 1065 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 553).

In St. Petersburg it was nine long forward strokes every morning for nine mornings. Hyatt’s note is plain: never sweep back and forth (Hyatt 1066 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1042).

Sweeping behind them

The most widespread broom trick in Hyatt is sweeping out behind an unwanted visitor. Salt, and often pepper or sulphur, was sprinkled where they had walked or sat, then swept out the door after them.

• “git chure broom an’ sweep de broom out behin’ dem” (Hyatt 9530 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1397)
• In Little Rock, the broom followed the visitor’s way out into the street (Hyatt 9621 · Little Rock, Ark. · informant 887).
• In Waycross, you shook the broom afterwards and they quit coming round (Hyatt 9457 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1126).
• In St. Petersburg, you waited until dark to sweep an enemy’s tracks out behind him (Hyatt 5670 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1031).
• In Wilson, graveyard dirt was sprinkled round the house and the doorstep swept behind a roomer. Hyatt called sweeping graveyard dirt uncommon and dangerous (Hyatt 7595 · Wilson, N. Car. · informant 1471).

In Waycross, a little patch was swept before someone’s house and a cross drawn there with the handle, so that they would move (Hyatt 762 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1166).

Across the door, across the feet

A broom laid across the doorway stopped the ill-wishing. A Sumter informant said a person with evil against you would not walk over it (Hyatt 1141 · Sumter, S. Car. · informant 1365). In Waycross, stepping over it was bad luck to the one coming in (Hyatt 10787 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1074).

Across a sleeping man’s feet, it kept him there. A Sumter informant described a woman easing a straw broom across a sleeping man’s feet and slipping out; he would sleep until she came back (Hyatt 7055 · Sumter, S. Car. · informant 1355).

A broom could be tricked too. In Vicksburg, a woman grabbed a broom left on her porch and someone had dressed it (Hyatt 750 · Vicksburg, Miss. · informant 757).

Broom straws

• Three straws over the door, named for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with sulphur and salt, kept a visitor from returning (Hyatt 1137 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1419a).
• Two straws worn in the mould of the head cured a headache (Hyatt 1136 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1572).
• A broom string dipped in vinegar and tied round the waist in nine knots treated cramps from a trick (Hyatt 1140 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1419).
• A burnt straw marked crosses on the soles of a child who would not walk (Hyatt 1134 · Brunswick, Ga. · informant 1223).

In their own words

“she was just taken with pains all in her hand, couldn’t turn that broom loose”

(Hyatt 750 · Vicksburg, Miss. · informant 757)

“Dey won’t step over dat broom.”

(Hyatt 10789 · Richmond, Va. · informant 373)

How it’s worked today

Rootworkers still sweep in for money and customers and out for cleansing, and still sprinkle salt behind a visitor they never want back. Many keep a separate broom for ritual work and never use it on ordinary dirt.

Floor washes are commonly followed by sweeping towards the door, or towards the back, depending on whether the job is to clear or to draw.

The household rule against sweeping after dark, sweeping someone’s feet, or stepping over a broom is still widely held in Southern families. In Hyatt, though, it is the direction of the sweep that carries most of the lore.

Learn the work

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Source: Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo – Conjuration – Witchcraft – Rootwork, 5 vols., 1970-1978. Numbers refer to Hyatt’s own item numbers; the town and informant number follow. Written by Hoodoo Witch in our own words, with short quotations from Hyatt’s informants for reference.