Pow-wow Fire Blessing from Hohman's Long Lost Friend

Fire was the great fear of the farmhouse, and Pennsylvania German Brauchers — healers and charmers, often called "pow-wow doctors" in English — kept charms against it. John George Hohman's Long Lost Friend (1820) gathers several: words to be said while walking around a blaze, and blessings to be written and kept in the house so that it would not burn. This entry adapts the second kind as a household blessing and, in keeping with the practical spirit of Braucherei, makes the fire-safety check part of the rite itself.

How to do it§

1. Begin with the house. Walk through every room and test each smoke alarm, check that the fire blanket and extinguisher are where they should be, and agree with everyone in the household how you would get out in a fire. Pennsylvania German charm books were used alongside — never instead of — ordinary care.
2. Write the blessing. Hohman's fire charms call on God, Christ and the Trinity to keep the flames within bounds; their characteristic formula ends with three crosses (†††) standing for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. On your paper write a short blessing in your own words, for example: "In the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, keep this house and all in it from fire and flame. †††"
3. Add a verse if you wish. Many Pennsylvania German households used Scripture as protection; Isaiah 43:2, "when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned," is a natural choice.
4. Say it aloud three times at the hearth, stove or kitchen, the heart of the house.
5. Keep it in the house. Fold the paper and place it in an envelope or small frame. Traditionally such papers were kept in the attic, over a door or in the family Bible.
6. Renew yearly. At the New Year repeat the alarm check and say the blessing again; replace the paper when it becomes worn.

Origins and history§

Johann Georg Hohman was a German Catholic immigrant who arrived in Philadelphia in 1802 and settled in Berks County, near Reading. He made a living as a printer and seller of broadsides, hymns and devotional texts, and in 1820 he published Der lange verborgene Freund ("The Long-Hidden Friend"), a small book of charms, prayers and household recipes for curing illness in people and animals, stopping bleeding, catching thieves and protecting property. An English translation appeared in 1846 and a better-known one in Harrisburg in 1856 under the title The Long Lost Friend; reprints have never been out of circulation since.

Hohman drew heavily on German chapbook magic, especially the Romanus-Büchlein (/texts/romanus-buchlein), and his charms belong to the European tradition of Segen: blessings that name Christ, Mary and the saints, often in short narrative forms. The Romanus-Büchlein contains a "gypsy fire blessing" whose preface claims it was proved before a King of Prussia in the early eighteenth century, and fire charms of this family circulated widely in German-American print; Hohman's own collection also gives the SATOR square as a means of putting out fire, a formula discussed in its own entry (the SATOR square). He included a note that whoever carried the book would be protected from harm, which made the volume itself an amulet.

Braucherei (in Pennsylvania German Brauche) was mainly a healing practice embedded in Christian, mostly Lutheran and Reformed, farm communities. Its practitioners usually saw it as a gift from God and refused payment. Scholars such as Don Yoder and David Kriebel have documented it as a living tradition into the twentieth century. Its reputation was badly damaged by the York "hex murder" of 1928, in which a man believed to have bewitched others was killed; the press then linked Hohman's book with the crime, though the book itself does not teach harm. Daniel Harms' annotated edition (2012) traces the sources of almost every charm. See folk magic and the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, another chapbook popular in the same communities.

Variations§

• Walking around the fire: some charms were to be said while walking around a burning building; this belongs to a world without fire brigades and should not be imitated.
• Fire plates: in parts of Germany wooden or clay plates bearing charms were kept to throw into a fire.
• House blessings (Haussegen): printed or hand-lettered blessings, often decorated in Fraktur, hung in Pennsylvania German homes; see the Himmelsbrief.

Safety and good sense§

• In a fire, get everyone out, stay out, and call the emergency services. Never pause to say a charm, walk around a fire or go back inside.
• Test smoke alarms monthly; have chimneys, stoves and boilers inspected; keep a fire blanket in the kitchen.
• If you light a candle while saying the blessing, use a heat-proof holder and never leave it unattended — the irony would be lost on no one.
• Charms are an expression of faith and care, not a substitute for insurance, inspection or emergency help.

Sources and further reading§

• The Long-Lost Friend: A 19th Century American Grimoire — John George Hohman, ed. Daniel Harms, 2012
• Grimoires: A History of Magic Books — Owen Davies, 2009
• America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem — Owen Davies, 2013
• Powwowing Among the Pennsylvania Dutch: A Traditional Medical Practice in the Modern World — David W. Kriebel, 2007
• Discovering American Folklife: Essays on Folk Cultures and the Pennsylvania Dutch — Don Yoder, 1990