Editing Crossroads (folklore) (section)

==Hoodoo==
[[File:Kongo Cosmogram 3.png|alt=The Yowa, or Dikenga Cross, is a symbol in Bakongo spirituality that depicts the physical world, the spiritual (ancestral) world, the Kalûnga river (line) that runs between the two worlds, and the four moments of the sun. The Yowa cross is the origin of the crossroads in Hoodoo.|thumb|328x328px|'''[[Kongo cosmogram|The Kongo cosmogram]]''']]
In [[Hoodoo (folk magic)|conjure, rootwork, and hoodoo]], a form of African magical spirituality practiced by [[African Americans]] in the United States, the crossroads in Hoodoo originates from the [[Kongo cosmogram]] in [[Central Africa]]. It represents the rising and setting of the sun, and the human life cycle of death and rebirth.<ref>{{cite web |title=NKISI SARABANDA - Signature of the Spirit |url=https://www.nps.gov/afbg/learn/historyculture/nkisi-sarabanda.htm |website=African Burial Ground |publisher=Department of Interior - The National Park Service |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> The center of the crossroads is where the communication with spirits take place. During the transatlantic slave trade, the Kongo cosmogram was brought to the United States by African slaves. Archeologists unearthed representations of the Kongo cosmogram on slave plantations in South Carolina on clay pots made by enslaved Africans.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Joseph |first1=J.W. |title="... All of Cross"—African Potters, Marks, and Meanings in the Folk Pottery of the Edgefield District, South Carolina |journal=Historical Archaeology |date=2011 |volume=45 |issue=2 |page=147,148 |doi=10.1007/BF03376836 |jstor=23070092 |s2cid=160445944 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23070092 |access-date=23 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ferguson |title=Magic Bowls |url=https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/lowCountry_furthRdg4.htm |website=Park Ethnography Program - African American Heritage and Ethnography |publisher=Department of Interior - The National Park Service |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> The Kongo cosmogram is also called the Bakongo cosmogram and the "Yowa" cross. The Yowa cross (Kongo cosmogram) "Is a fork in the road (or even a forked branch) can allude to this crucially important symbol of passage and communication between worlds. The 'turn' in the path,' i.e., the crossroads, remains an indelible concept in the Kongo-Atlantic world, as the point of intersection between the ancestors and the living."<ref>{{cite web |title=YOWA - Continuity of Human Life |url=https://www.nps.gov/afbg/learn/historyculture/yowa.htm |website=The National Park Service |publisher=African Burial Ground National Monument |access-date=18 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Robert Farris |title=Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy |date=1984 |publisher=Vintage Books |location=New York |pages=108–111 |isbn=9780307874337 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzOIY4iHSjAC&q=kongo+cosmogram+}}</ref> "It is at the crossroads where many Africans believe one will witness the powers of God and emerge from the waters spiritually renewed."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stayton |first1=Corey |title=The Kongo cosmogram: A theory in African-American literature |journal=Atlanta University Center DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center |date=1997 |page=11 |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e1014e3f5616362c7fe86a2/t/5ef6d8e5f68194679ebe0760/1593235689257/The+Kongo+cosmogram_.pdf |access-date=9 October 2021}}</ref>

Other African origins of the crossroads in Hoodoo are found in [[West Africa]] among the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] people. For example, the Yoruba trickster deity called [[Eshu|Eshu-Elegba]] resides at the crossroads, and the Yoruba people leave offerings for Eshu-Elegba at the crossroads.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pemberton |first1=John |title=Eshu-Elegba: The Yoruba Trickster God |journal=African Arts |date=1975 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=20–92 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3334976 |doi=10.2307/3334976|jstor=3334976 |s2cid=194054440 }}</ref> In Hoodoo, there is a spirit that resides at the crossroads to give offering for; however, the word Eshu-Elegba does not exist in Hoodoo because the names of African deities were lost during slavery. Folklorist Newbell Niles Puckett, recorded a number of crossroads rituals in Hoodoo practiced among African-Americans in the South and explained its meaning. Puckett wrote..."Possibly this custom of sacrificing at the crossroads is due to the idea that spirits, like men, travel the highways and would be more likely to hit upon the offering at the crossroads than elsewhere."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Puckett |first1=Newbell Niles |title=Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro |date=1926 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |page=320 |url=https://archive.org/details/folkbeliefsofsou00puck/page/320/mode/2up?q=crossroads}}</ref> African crossroads spirits were brought to the United States during the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic slave trade]]. In the [[Haitian Vodou|Vodou]] tradition, [[Papa Legba]] is the [[Loa|lwa]] of crossroads and a messenger to the spirit world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.learnreligions.com/papa-legba-4771384|title = Who is Papa Legba? History and Legends}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cooksey |first1=Susan |title=Kongo across the Waters |journal=African Arts |date=2013 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=79–82 |doi=10.1162/AFAR_a_00109 |jstor=43306192 |s2cid=57565417 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43306192 |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> 
[[File:Crossroads at Penlan - geograph.org.uk - 241828.jpg|thumb|In Hoodoo crossroads are where two roads meet to form an X. The crossroads in Hoodoo originates from the [[Kongo cosmogram]] in Central Africa.]]
In Hoodoo, there has been a practice that is believed to be hoodoo in origin such as selling your soul to the devil at the crossroads in order to acquire facility at various manual and body skills, such as playing a [[musical instrument]], throwing [[dice]], or [[dancing]]. It is believed that one may attend upon a crossroads a certain number of times, either at [[midnight]] or just before [[dawn]], and one will meet a "black man," whom some call the [[Devil]], who will bestow upon one the desired skills. This practice is believed to have originated from an African American Blues musician by the name of [[Robert Johnson]]. In the oral history of hoodoo it is said that Robert Johnson became a skilled Blues musician after he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads, and because of this, people began going to a crossroads at midnight to sell their soul to a devil to acquire a skill or to become better at a skill. The family of Robert Johnson have come forward and said this is not true. How Johnson became a skilled Blues musician was through training under [[Ike Zimmerman]] who was a blues guitarist. In an article from the [[National Blues Museum]] it reads... "In the case of Robert Johnson, many family members have come forward to dispel these rumors and have advocated that the truth be told about Robert Johnson. During the time that he was missing, Johnson returned home, where he ran into Ike Zimmerman. Zimmerman took Johnson under his wing, and from years of practicing, Johnson became the legendary Blues musician that we know today." Therefore, the idea one can sell their soul to the devil at the crossroads and acquire a skill may not be traditional in Hoodoo.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stories of the Crossroads: Blues Myths Did Robert Johnson Really Sell His Soul to the Devil? |url=https://nationalbluesmuseum.org/stories-of-the-crossroads-blues-myths-did-robert-johnson-really-sell-his-soul-to-the-devil/ |website=National Blues Museum |date=31 October 2020 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=7 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207131857/https://nationalbluesmuseum.org/stories-of-the-crossroads-blues-myths-did-robert-johnson-really-sell-his-soul-to-the-devil/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>