Braucher stories concern traditional healers, known as brauchers, in rural Pennsylvania Dutch folk culture. Commonly associated with the Amish, Mennonite, Brethren, and other similar Anabaptist groups that migrated en masse to eastern and south-central Pennsylvania, these traditions arose in the folklore of southern Germany and Switzerland, the original homeland of these immigrants. Because many of the communities of what might more properly be termed the “Pennsylvania Germans” are close-knit, highly protective of their folkways, and wary of contact with the outside world, many traditional practices that came to Pennsylvania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries remain virtually unchanged to this day. The traditional healing methods practiced among these communities, known commonly as “powwowing” but more properly called brauche or braucherei in Pennsylvania Dutch, include the use of charms, amulets, incantations, and the recitation of spells, often in tandem with ritual acts. Speaking the proper words in the proper formulation is important, as is the knowledge of concurrent rites.
Powwowing is a form of conjuring that is rooted in a foundational belief that all objects and forces in the world are unified, and that the proper balance between such forces must be maintained and if necessary restored to keep people, livestock, and crops healthy. Furthermore, powwowing is necessarily dichotomous: the forces of Good are arrayed against those of Evil, and the powers of God must be invoked to keep those of the Devil at bay. In common parlance, to brauche or powwow is to invoke and channel the forces of God and Good to bring health and prosperity, while to hex is to curse or throw out of balance by calling upon Satan and Evil. Brauche appears to come from a German dialect word meaning “to use,” while powwow is a loan word from the Algonquian languages, which ultimately derives from a root meaning “he who dreams,” referring to the powers and person of a tribal shaman.
In Pennsylvania Dutch folklore, the braucher is exactly such a shaman or wise man who has powers to perceive and to perpetrate acts that extend beyond the visible world. Indeed, the common proverb that illustrates the supernatural range of the braucher is that “he is empowered to do more than simply to eat his daily bread.” There are two main genres of braucher stories: those recounting the ferreting out and dispatching of a witch who has hexed an individual; and those providing aid and advice to farmers whose livestock are suffering from some malady. In the first sort, which is reminiscent of popular tales of demonic witchcraft and horror, a kind of voodoo doll–like exorcism ritual takes place in which the braucher uses a nail or a peg to represent the witch, and the cursed person is released and avenged by smiting the nail. The second sort of story is more tongue-in-cheek and usually involves practical advice to the farmer concerning proper care and feeding of livestock, with seemingly miraculous results.
The Long Lost Friend of John George Hohman, published in 1820, is the primary source of Pennsylvania Dutch powwowing; offering folk magic from the ancestral homelands, it combines Christian faith with peasant superstition, and is a compendium of charms, incantations, potions, rituals, and the like. The book is considered to be more than the sum of its wisdom, however; indeed, it is thought to have protective qualities all its own. Among practitioners of powwowing, a personal copy of The Long Lost Friend is seen as an amulet in and of itself, and its loss is considered to be catastrophic. Hohman emigrated from Hamburg, Germany, to Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1802 and vanished without a trace in 1846, a circumstance that has enhanced his legend still further.
Hohman, John George (fl. 1808–1846)
A German immigrant arriving in Pennsylvania in 1802, John George Hohman published The Long Lost Friend, the signature collection of Pennsylvania Dutch folk wisdom and magical charms, in 1820. This mystical text remains popular today. Hohman disappeared mysteriously in 1846, never to be seen again.
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Brauchers have always maintained that their healing powers came from their knowledge of methods to engage divine intervention in matters related to health and wellness. The most severe critics of these practices, however, have long retorted that the forces involved were infernal rather than heavenly in origin. It may shock some contemporary readers to learn that perhaps the most famous conflict concerning the powers of brauchers resulted in the York Hex Murder Trial less than a century ago in what could be a Depression-era Pennsylvania Dutch spin on the Salem Witch Trials. The 1929 proceedings concerned the murderers of a man accused of being a witch: a braucher, the accusers claimed, had used his powers to do harm to one of them. In brief, Nelson Rehmeyer, a known powwower and something of a hermit, was beaten to death by three assailants who believed that Rehmeyer had hexed one of them. The trio had broken into Rehmeyer’s rural house to take a lock of his hair and his copy of Hohman’s Long Lost Friend to effect a counter-curse. The plan backfired, however, and Rehmeyer was brutally bludgeoned to death. The ensuing trials brought national attention to York County, and to this day, the murder, the trials, and the aftermath are subjects of fierce debate in this community, especially among the descendants of those immediately concerned.
Contemporary scholars posit that powwowing practices, in the hands of twenty-first-century practitioners with access to a wealth of traditional lore—as well as ample misinformation—at their fingertips, have been transformed. According to this line of thought, this new generation has mined the old folkways of their ancestors for fodder for reinterpretations that suit the changing needs and desires of a postmodern America. Thus braucher stories concern not just a quaint remnant of archaic Americana, but represent opportunities for the grafting of new life onto old branches of American folklore.
Pennsylvania Dutch
A broad term that includes the Amish, but also traditionally German-speaking members of the Mennonite, Brethren, German Reformed, and Lutheran churches, “Pennsylvania Dutch” refers to both the language and culture of that part of the Quaker State settled by immigrants from the Palatinate region of Germany. These settlers came seeking religious freedom, and because of their distinctive language—and the association with simple living, quaint clothing, and adherence to tradition of some of the constituent groups—the Pennsylvania Dutch remain a source of fascination to other Americans.
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See also Exorcism; Folk Medicine; Witch Doctors
Further Reading
Dorson, Richard Mercer. 1970. American Folklore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
“Hex.” 2012. In Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, edited by Susie Dent. London: Chambers Harrap.
Kriebel, David W. 2007. Powwowing among the Pennsylvania Dutch: A Traditional Medical Practice in the Modern World. State College: Pennsylvania State University Press.
McGinnis, J. Ross. 2000. Trials of Hex. n.p.: Davis/Trinity.
Nesbitt, Mark, and Patty A. Wilson. 2008. The Big Book of Pennsylvania Ghost Stories. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.
Pennsylvania Center for the Book. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/PADutch.html. Accessed August 24, 2015.
Pennsylvania Dutch Powwowing. http://braucher.webs.com/. Accessed August 24, 2015.
Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection. https://www.ursinus.edu/library/archives-special-collections/pennsylvania-folklife-society-collection/. Accessed August 24, 2015.
Yoder, Don. 2000. Discovering American Folklife: Essays on Folk Culture & the Pennsylvania Dutch. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.
Braucher Stories (Pennsylvania Dutch)—Primary Document
John George Hohman, Powwows; or, Long Lost Friend (1820)
Tales of miraculous healing have been part of American legend and folklore for centuries. Published originally in German in 1820, this excerpt from a book of prayers and recipes for folk-healing by John George Hohman is drawn from the 1856 English edition.
THE author would have preferred writing no preface whatever to this little book, were it not indispensably necessary, in order to meet the erroneous views some men entertain in regard to works of this character. The majority, undoubtedly, approve of the publication and sale of such books, yet some are always found who will persist in denouncing them as something wrong. This latter class I cannot help but pity, for being so far led astray; and I earnestly pray everyone who might find it in his power, to bring them from off their ways of error. It is true, whosoever taketh the name of JESUS in vain, committeth a great sin. Yet, is it not expressly written in the fiftieth Psalm, according to Luther’s translation: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” In the Catholic translation, the same passage is found in the forty-ninth Psalm, reading thus: “Call upon me in the day of thy trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”
Where is the doctor who has ever cured or banished the panting or palpitation of the heart, and hide-boundness? Where is the doctor who ever banished a wheal? Where is the doctor who ever banished the mother-fits? Where is the doctor that can cure mortification when it once seizes a member of the body? All these cures, and a great many more mysterious and wonderful things are contained in this book; and its author could take an oath at any time upon the fact of his having successfully applied many of the prescriptions contained herein.
I say: any and every man who knowingly neglects using this book in saving the eye, or the leg, or any other limb of his fellow-man, is guilty of the loss of such limb, and thus commits a sin, by which he may forfeit to himself all hope of salvation. Such men refuse to call upon the Lord in their trouble, although He especially commands it. If men were not allowed to use sympathetic words, nor the name of the MOST HIGH, it certainly would not have been revealed to them; and what is more, the Lord would not help where they are made use of. God can in no manner be forced to intercede where it is not his divine pleasure.
Another thing I have to notice here: There are men who will say, if one has used sympathetic words in vain, the medicines of doctors could not avail any, because the words did not effect a cure. This is only the excuse of physicians; because whatever cannot be cured by sympathetic words, can much less be cured by any doctor’s craft or cunning: I could name at any time that Catholic priest whose horse was cured with mere words; and I could also give the name of the man who did it. I knew the priest well; he formerly resided in Westmoreland county. If it was desired, I could also name a Reformed preacher who cured several persons of the fever, merely by writing them some tickets for that purpose; and even the names of those persons I could mention. This preacher formerly resided in Berks County. If men but use out of this book what they actually need, they surely commit no sin; yet woe unto those who are guilty that anyone loses his life in consequence of mortification, or loses a limb, or the sight of the eye! Woe unto those who misconstrue there things at the moment of danger, or who follow the ill advice of any preacher who might teach them not to mind what the Lord says in the fiftieth Psalm. “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Woe unto those who, in obeying the directions of a preacher, neglect using any means offered by this book against mortification, or inflammation, or the wheal. I am willing to follow the preacher in all reasonable things, yet when I am in danger and he advises me not to use any prescriptions found in this book, in such a case I shall not obey him. And woe also unto those who use the name of the Lord in vain and for trifling purposes.
I have given many proofs of the usefulness of this book, and I could yet do it at any time. I sell my books publicly, and not secretly, as other mystical books are sold. I am willing that my books should be seen by everybody, and I shall not secrete or hide myself from any preacher. I, Hohman, too, have some knowledge of the Scriptures, and I know when to pray and call unto the Lord for assistance. The publication of books (provided they are useful and morally right) is not prohibited in the United States, as is the case in other countries where kings and despots hold tyrannical sway over the people. I place myself upon the broad platform of the liberty of the press and of conscience, in regard to this useful book, and it shall ever be my most heartfelt desire that all men might have an opportunity of using it to their good, in the name of Jesus.
Given at Rosenthal, near Reading, Berks County, Penn., on the 31st day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1819.
JOHN GEORGE HOHMAN.
Author and original publisher of this book.
Source: Hohman, John George. The Long Lost Friend: A Collection of Mysterious & Invaluable Arts & Remedies . … Harrisburg, PA: T. F. Scheffer, 1856.