I spent the lat few weeks researching what folk remedies or traditions there are with regard to cleaning, and discovered two things.
Firstly, from my research via the internet it would appear that the four major ingredients used to clean were vinegar, baking soda, lemon and salt! That will be another posting altogether.
Secondly, from my research interviewing our older local population those ingredients were seldom used at all! In fact the most popular tools or ingredients were a cocoyea broom, a scrubbing brush and blue soap!
Today I will deal with the cocoyea broom.
The cocoyea broom is a broom made from the centre spine of the leaves from a coconut tree branch. These shafts or sticks are tied together and so make a broom. The average household would have two types of brooms - one soft (not very dry with the curls at the end) and one hard (very, VERY dry).
The soft broom was used for cobwebbing and sweeping the (oftentimes) wooden floors of the home. However the broom could also be used quite safely on tiles and terrazzo floors. The hard one was used for scrubbing - mats, bathrooms and anything that needed a little pep and vigour. The brooms were also used to maintain the exterior of the house - so the yard, roof and walls of the house were also subject to the ministrations from the cocoyea broom.
However, there were other reasons that a cocoyea broom was so popular in the average home - apart from its duties as an essential household tool - it was also used for spiritual and disciplinary measures.
Many a Trini child would've found themselves at the punishing end of a cocoyea broom wielded by his mother, aunt, grandmother or godmother (or as we say here "he mudder, tantie, granny or nenen"). And of course the broom in question would NOT be the soft broom.
Often times there would be a disciplinary ritual to be played out (and over seven of my interviewees confirmed this ritual). The child in question would be sent to fetch the broom before the punishment was administered - and this going to get the object of your punishment was used as a sort of torture or punishment in and of itself.
The man who found himself in the centre of a series of unfortunate events would also be subject to a beating from a cocoyea broom - administered most times by the self same individuals identified above - if it was home remedy. Sometimes the person would go off and find the nearest Obeah Man (witch doctor) who would use the cocoyea broom as part of the cleansing ritual to rid the person of bad luck. The Mighty Shadow (a local calypsonian) sang a humorous story about the ritual here.
However, if his mudder, tantie, nenen or granny found that things weren't going to well with Johnny she would decide to administer the home version of the ritual and would prepare herself by prayer and fasting and plan for the day of the beating.
It was always important that Johnny never knew of the plan and that he be caught off-guard - usually just as he entered the home. Then his mudder et al would subject him to a furious beating about his body after which he needed to take a cleansing bath - either in the sea or with blue soap - but that's tomorrow's post.
