Abstracts

Legacy of Blood:

Native American culture has been decimated, and all of it that can be preserved must be. The blood of the Mohegan people runs through my veins by virtue of my Grandfather’s father, and alongside that legacy are a wide array of artifacts unique to the Native Americans of Connecticut, all of which have a story behind them. This study would shed light on Mohegan culture as a whole through both the oral traditions of my Grandfather and studious research of aforementioned artifacts.








God: The Archetypical Hoodoo Doctor:

The African-American folk magic of Hoodoo is about as blasphemous to Christianity as a religious practice can be. Passed on through families and social contracts until the recent electronic era, the practice of Hoodoo has remained largely unknown of- it is by no means as recognized a movement as its sister religion of Voodoo. This study would focus on defining what it is that makes Hoodoo so unique through both a study of the artifacts distinctive to the Hoodoo practice and the rituals in which they are involved.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight, Red sky at morning, sailors take warning:

For thousands of years, since the very earliest of human civilizations, predicting weather has been of the utmost importance: from the merchant about to send forth his ships on a trade excursion to the farmer about to plant his crops, if one couldn’t anticipate the twists and turns of weather then they were doomed to failure. In the time before satellites and the Weather Channel, weather lore was the guide that served in these crucial predictions. This study examines the factual basis behind weather lore through the science of meteorology.