Gullah: Sea Island Creole
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Development of Gullah

Learning Gullah

Black English

Sea Island Culture

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Reference
1st Jericho Baptist Church on Port Royal Island (SC Hwy 280)
photo by Dennis Adams (Aug 20, 2002)
Church membership is largely Baptist or Methodist, although many smaller congregations do without a full-time minister. 'Praise houses' were once common on the Sea Islands, where spontaneous local meetings during the week supplemented Sunday services in the larger churches. Within these praises houses, 'wise men' would lead 'ring shouts' (a religiously-inspored dance that bridges African culture with later spirituals and secular blues music). Many of the houses and church survives, however, as a means to redress grievances within Sea Island communities. Preachers and 'wise men' simply ask the guilty party to confess his or her transgression and to return any ill-gotten gains. A 'taking of hands' (shaking of hands) among the parties then restores peace within the community.

An important departure from mainstream Christian belief is the Sea Islanders' belief in multiple souls: the 'soul' leaves the body and returns to God at death, but the 'spirit' stays on earth -- still involved in the daily affairs of its living descendants. Funerals are elaborate, and mourners decorate graves with prized possessions of the newly deceased. The spirit of a dead (or dying) older owman may become a 'hag', though in a great many of the stories, the hag is not a ghost  or a dead spirit, but a living member of the community. A hag will 'ride the chest' (sit on top) of her victims as they sleep (usually the victim has given the 'hag' some sort of trouble). In many of the 'hag' tales, the women are very much alive. They keep their human form during the day, but either leave their bodies or shed their skins at night before they go out to find their victims.
Praise house on St. Helena Island, (on Eddings Point Road).
photo by Dennis Adams (Oct 20, 2002)
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