酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 英语新闻
  4. 双语新闻
  5. 正文

销售胡毒巫术(hoodoo)产品

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞


Jennifer Forness, a 39-year-old in Groton, Conn., felt her life falling apart earlier this year. Her husband announced he wanted a divorce. She lost her job as a store clerk. She developed health problems from the stress.


今



Then one night she discovered a website selling products for hoodoo -- an ancient beliefsystem based on spells, potions, balms and curses that slaves developed long ago in the Deep South. Ms. Forness ordered several items and instructions for performing certain rituals. She also had a telephone session with a hoodoo 'doctor' who specializes in employment matters.


年早些时候，居住在康涅狄格州格罗顿市(Groton)的39岁的詹妮弗•福尼斯(Jennifer Forness)发现她的生活实在是糟糕透了：她的丈夫向她提出 婚；她丢掉了商店店员的工作；因为压力过大，她的健康状况也出现了问题。



Since then, things have turned around. Ms. Forness found work tending bar part-time and her health has improved. 'There is a reason we believe in this stuff,' she says.


后来有天晚上，她发现了一个销售胡毒巫术(hoodoo)产品的网站。胡毒巫术是很久以前黑人奴隶在美国南部诸州逐渐发展起来的一 依靠符咒、药剂、精油和诅咒来实现愿望的古老的信仰体系。福尼斯订购了几样产品以及举行某 仪式的说明书。她还和胡毒巫术专攻就业问题的"医师"进行了电话授课。



For decades, hoodoo shops appeared to be dying off. But the Internet, and troubled times, have given rituals once performed only in backwoods cabins or shabby urban shops a new life. Hoodoo practitioners and retailers say sales are booming as people from across the country turn to them for help slashing debt, preventing foreclosures or finding jobs.


从那以后，事情有了转 。福尼斯找到了在酒吧当服务员的兼职工作，她的身体状况也有所恢 。她说，我们有道理相信这些东西。



'Business is good,' says Richard 'Doc' Miller, owner of Miller's Rexall, a hoodoo and homeopathic remedy shop in a forlorn section of downtown Atlanta. While Mr. Miller, who is white, still gets walk-in traffic, his website makes up the bulk of his sales. His oils, soaps and bath crystals have names like 'Jinx Removing' and 'Dragon Blood,' and promise to drive away evil. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney once bought a bath salt called 'Run, Devil, Run' at Mr. Miller's shop and named a 1999 album after it. Mr. Miller also sells roots and herbs like High John the Conqueror to restore power and Angels Turnip to bring good fortune. Miller's Rexall's Internet sales of spiritual products alone have risen to more than $1 million annually in recent years from $10,000 in 1994, he says.


几十年来，胡毒巫术商店似乎行将灭迹。但是互联网和这个麻烦不断的时代让这 曾经一度只在偏远森林中的小屋内或城市里破败商店中举行的宗教仪式获得了新生。胡毒巫术从业人员和零售商表示，随着全国各地的人们跑来要他们帮忙减少债务、防止丧失抵押品赎回权或者找工作，他们的生意越来越好。



Hoodoo is thought to have evolved on southern plantations as an amalgam of African religions. Influences from European folk practices and Native American beliefs were mixed in. Black people across the South fashioned charms from everyday items, local herbs and animal parts to protect themselves or to hurt others. Many rituals revolved around increasing or restoring one's 'mojo' -- energy, power and sexual prowess.


理查德•"多克"•米勒(Richard "Doc" Miller)说，我们的生意很好。米勒在亚特兰大市区的一处荒僻地段开了一家名为Miller's Rexall的胡毒巫术和顺势疗法商店。米勒是个白人，尽管他的商店依然有顾客光顾，但他大部分的销售额来自于网络销售。他给精油、肥皂和浴盐起了"驱邪"(Jinx Removing)和"龙血"(Dragon Blood)之类的名字，承诺能够把邪恶的东西驱除掉。前披头士乐队的成员保罗•麦卡特尼(Paul McCartney)曾经在他的商店买过一瓶名为"走开，魔鬼，走开"(Run, Devil, Run)的浴盐，并且以此命名了1999年发行的一张专辑。米勒还销售根茎和草药，比如"征服这约翰"(High John the Conqueror)可以用来恢 力量，而"芜菁天使"(Angels Turnip)则可以带来好运。米勒说，Miller's Rexall商店每年仅是销售宗教产品的网络营业额就从1994年的1万美元增加到了近年来的超过100万美元。



While the line between hoodoo and the better-known Voodoo often blurs in popular culture, the two beliefsystems have different, if similar, origins. Hoodoo arose among slaves in English-speaking American colonies. Voodoo developed among slaves in French-speaking Haiti and Louisiana as its own religion, incorporating African gods and Catholicism.


胡毒巫术被认为是从南方种植园的多种非洲宗教演变而来，也受到了欧洲民间传统以及美国土著信仰的影响。南方的黑人崇拜日常用品、当地的草药以及动物肢体的魔力，从而保护自己或者伤害他人。很多仪式都是围绕着增加或者恢 某人的"法力"-精力、能力和性威力--而展开的。



In the early 20th century, white pharmacists in black neighborhoods began marketing hoodoo items through mail order after noticing they were fielding a lot of questions from their black customers about roots, herbs and potions. Their shops fell on hard times in the 1970s, in part because many African-Americans began to view hoodoo, also known as rootwork or conjure, as backward, say scholars who study the practice. 'As African-Americans came more in the mainstream and more affluent, they were embarrassed by this stuff,' says Carolyn Morrow Long, author of 'Spiritual Merchants,' a book about hoodoo stores.


尽管在流行文化中胡毒巫术和更为知名的巫毒教(Voodoo)之间的界限经常模糊不清，但这两 信仰的起源即使存在某些相似之处，也是不尽相同的。胡毒巫术产生于讲英语的美国殖民地的奴隶中间，而巫毒教则是在讲法语的海地和美国路易斯安那州的奴隶自己创立的宗教，其中还吸收了非洲众神论和天主教的教义。



Today's hoodoo revival is again being drivenprimarily by white retailers, and that has some blacks criticizing the commercialization of ancient rituals for a quick profit. 'Hoodoo is not just oh-help-me-bring-my-baby-back, help-me-get-my-man-back stuff,' says Katrina Hazzard-Donald, a Rutgers University sociology professor who is black and was taught hoodoo as a child. She says hoodoo stores are corrupting the spiritualbeliefsystem by selling inferior, nonsacred products and focusing on alleged quick fixes to problems. 'What is so pathetic about it is they don't even know the origins of all this stuff,' Ms. Hazzard-Donald says of online hoodoo vendors.


20世纪初期，黑人社区的白人药剂师在回答了很多黑人顾客提出的有关根茎、草药和药剂的问题后，开始通过邮购销售用于胡毒巫术的物件。在20世纪70年代，他们的商店惨淡经营，研究这 巫术的学者表示，部分是由于很多非洲裔美国人开始把被称为符咒魔法的胡毒巫术视为一 落后的东西。讲述胡毒巫术商店的《精神商人》(Spiritual Merchants)一书的作者卡罗琳•莫洛•隆(Carolyn Morrow Long)说，随着非洲裔美国人更多地进入主流社会，而且生活更加富足，他们为这 东西感到难为情。



She recently launched her own informational website that claims to be 'the only site for authentic old tradition hoodoo.'


如今胡毒巫术的 兴主要还是由白人零售商推动的。一些黑人批评他们把这 古老的仪式商业化而投 赚钱。罗格斯大学(Rutgers University)的社会学教授卡特里娜•哈扎德-唐纳德(Katrina Hazzard-Donald)说，胡毒巫术不仅仅是"噢，帮我把孩子找回来吧"或者"帮我让老公回来吧"之类的东西。哈扎德-唐纳德是一名黑人，从小就被传授胡毒巫术。她说，这些商店兜售劣质的、毫不神 的产品，专注于所谓的快速解决问题，而这正在败坏胡毒这 信仰体系。哈扎德-唐纳德谈到网上的胡毒商贩时说，非常可悲的是，他们甚至不知道胡毒巫术的起源。



The backlash isn't stopping retailers like LuckyMojo.com. One of the largest Internet sources of hoodoo products, booklets and online courses, the site has 23,000 customers in its database and more than 3,000 people registered on a community forum, says owner Catherine Yronwode.


最近，她开设了自己的信息网站，声称它是唯一真正的关于古老的胡毒传统的网站。



Ms. Yronwode, a 63 year-old one-time hippie who stumbled upon hoodoo when it was mentioned in old Blues lyrics, says LuckyMojo has tapped into a renewed interest in 'the old ways.'


哈扎德-唐纳德的反对并没有阻止LuckyMojo.com这样的零售商。店主凯瑟琳•伊鲁沃德(Catherine Yronwode)说，作为胡毒巫术产品、小册子以及网上教程的最大网供应商之一，该网的数 库中拥有2.3万名客户，还有超过3,000人在社区论坛上进行了注册。



'I listened to your grandmother when you didn't,' Ms. Yronwode, who is white, says to her black customers. Her site, which she runs from her farm in northern California, offers hundreds of spells and potions, including 'attraction powder' to draw a loved one, and 'goofer' dust, made with dead spiders, to make an enemy sick -- or worse. She sells packets of graveyard dirt. People from as far away as Sweden have graduated from her hoodoo correspondence course, she says, learning the history of the practice and how to make concoctions from roots and herbs.


63岁的伊鲁沃德早前是个嬉皮士，从古老的蓝调歌词中无意发现了胡毒巫术。她说，LuckyMojo用古老的方式开发一 重新流行起来的兴趣。



Tammie, a 40-year-old white insurance agent in Florida, who asked that her last name not be used, says she found hoodoo last year when she suffered health and financial problems. She has spent about $500 so far on items from LuckyMojo, including candles to give her protection to oils for attracting money. Both her health and her financial situation have improved, she says.


身为白人的伊鲁沃德对她的黑人顾客说，我听了你的祖母说的话，而你却没有听。她在加州北部的农场打理她的网，出售成百上千 符咒和药剂，包括吸引心仪之人的"魅力魔粉"和用死蜘蛛制成的让敌人生病--或者更倒霉--的"愚人药粉"。她出售用小袋包装的墓地尘土。她说，很多人--包括远在瑞典的人--从她开设的胡毒巫术函授课程毕业，他们学习了胡毒巫术的历史以及怎样调合根茎 草药。



'Some people think I'm crazy,' she says. 'Frankly, I don't care.'


塔米(Tammie)是佛罗里达州一名40岁的白人保险代理，要求不要在本文中提及她的姓。塔米说，去年她在遭遇健康和财务问题的时候发现了胡毒巫术。到目前为止，她花了大约500美元从LuckyMojo网购买物品，包括能给她提供保护的 烛和能够招来钱财的精油。塔米说，她的身体健康和财务状况都得到了改善。



Younger blacks are also discovering hoodoo. Angela Allen, a 30-year-old African-American in Atlanta, said none of her older relatives would ever talk to her about hoodoo because they considered it anti-Christian. But she became interested in the practice about three years ago after falling into heavy debt. 'I felt desperate and I had to do something,' she says. Little by little, her financial situation improved, she says. Now she regularly buys hoodoo online.


她说，有些人认为我疯了。说实话，我不在乎。



Just around the corner from Miller's Rexall in Atlanta is Rondo's Temple Sales, a hoodoo shop run by another white family. Decades ago, the store thrived, along with Atlanta's black business district. Today, business has dropped off and the recession has made things worse, says owner Darren Amato. So last month, he launched a website.


年轻黑人同样也在发现胡毒巫术。生活在亚特兰大30岁的安吉拉•艾伦(Angela Allen)是一位非洲裔美国人，她说，所有上了年纪的亲戚中没有人会跟她谈起胡毒巫术，因为他们认为它是反基督教的。但是，当艾伦在大约三年前债台高筑时，她开始对胡毒巫术感兴趣。她说，当时我感到很绝望，而且我必须得做些什么。她说，慢慢地，她的财务状况有所好转。现在，她定期会从网上购买胡毒巫术的产品。



'I can't get people to come to downtown Atlanta, but maybe I can get some new customers from Iowa,' he says.


在亚特兰大，就在Miller's Rexall商店的转角处是另一个白人家庭开的Rondo's Temple Sales胡毒巫术商店。几十年前， 亚特兰大的黑人商业区一起，这家商店的生意非常火爆。店主达伦•阿马托(Darren Amato)说，如今，生意有些不景气，而且经济低迷让事情变得更加糟糕。于是，他在上个月建立了一个网站。



Cameron McWhirter


Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号