Strange writing over door in house.PA custom? Meaning? (Jim Thorpe: how much, theater)

[GM1258]

I was present when a catholic priest performed a ritual
to cast out (or excorcise) evil entities from a home.
The residents therein believed they were being harrassed
by demonic sources at the time.
Can't say for sure without seeing a photo of same but it
sounds very simular to the markings you describe.

[sheena12]

All of these links are fascinating and I really appreciate the information. I want to add some customs and some recipes to our holiday meals that are distinctly NEPA. My brother has been living in Arkansas for eight years and will be visiting with his fiancee, an Arkansas native. She has promised to share some southern specialties with us.

There really is a difference between ethnic customs in this part of PA and the Long Island area. Long Island is not as assimilated as one might think but the dominant ethnic group, if not in numbers (need to check this out) then in ethnic pride and the keeping of traditions, would have to be Italian. Some Italians in NY think of Christmas Eve as the more important holiday, and exchange gifts then rather than on Christmas Day.

For some reason other ethnic groups have not kept their traditions with the same fervor as Italians have at least in NY. Here it is quite different, and very interesting! Love the wonderful diversity!

Have to say that most of my heritage is from countries not well known for their cookery. We my grandmother made trifle, an English Desert which I like, and I had an uncle who was famous for Plum Pudding and hard sauce, but even before I stopped eating meat I always thought that a pudding made with beef fat was a little gross. When one of my grandmother's visited, we would buy stollen and these twisted fried Polish things - I see them around here too. Never cared for either of those.

Does any one know what those red crosses might mean??? If it were my house I would be quite curious!

[faeryedark]

Well, you could get a Christmas pickle and hide it in your tree. There's lots of back and forth as to whether this is authentic German custom or not, but hey, it's fun for the kids

[ChosenReject]

This is not for Christmas but ill share it anyway:

On the Polish side of my family my Great Aunts always celebrated a holiday that im guessing their parents brought with them from Poland. I only remember bits and pieces of it, They called it Water Day, It always fell on Easter Monday. The reason i remember this is because my normally strict Roman Catholic Aunts would get a little crazy on this day and it was pretty much a big water fight all day (even inside the house). Cups of water, squirt guns and water balloons, i remember water dripping from their ceiling and no one seemed to care because it was all for this holiday after easter. i would be in huge trouble doing any of this on another day, but for one day all of this was accepted. . Nothing like being 8 years old walking home from school and having your 70+ year old aunt pop up from the side of the street and pwn you with a water balloon lol...

I checked wiki for water day and came up with "Dyngus day"

It is funny, I never really thought twice about stuff like this but there are probably several traditions from my family that i always considered "normal" happenings that other people would find interesting.

[ChosenReject]

While i am thinking of it i will explain a little about our Christmas Eve, i think i'm mostly the same as most people here of Polish decent, no meat for dinner, some sort of special mushroom side dish, christmas wafer, etc... We also started the evening every year with two members of the family volunteering to go outside and get hay from the shed. one person would then open the door, ring a bell and announce something in Polish. (I can't remember what they said?) the other would come in behind them with the hay that was blessed and we would spread it on the dinner table before we set the plates.

[jimazee]

Many customs identified as Polish or Russian were common across many Eastern European cultures, often with local variations. The variations were even from village to village...there was no Internet back in the day, so communication was minimal, and people did and used what they could. Of course, many of these variations came to the US with these people.

Re the 'water day' -- On Easter Monday....years ago here in NEPA, in a seemingly related custom, eligible young men would visit the home(s) of eligible young women (ages maybe 12-18? and mostly from the local parish) and pour a small amount of water from a pitcher/glass over the girls outstretched hands 3 times chanting a simple Easter blessing. The girl would respond with the Easter blessing response. This was done over a sink. I think that sometimes the kids would get 'frisky' and splash each other playfully after the ceremonial part was completed.

IIRC on Easter Tuesday the tables were turned... and girls could reciprocate. (But didn't often do so...)

One Americanized nickname for this practice was called 'spilling'. It sounds like it originated as a way for the young to indicate 'courting'/availability interest.

BTW, re the red crosses by the door or the home in the OP...it might help if they could post a picture.

[Mr Yuk]

Lived here my whole life, and I never heard of this chalk custom...and I grew up Catholic. Interesting. Is it only done by certain ethnic groups?

[ki0eh]

Since there certainly aren't enough priests anymore in most places to walk the neighborhoods I've seen the xx+CMB+xx on printouts in the church lobby that you take home and put up yourself.

[Bideshi]

In Germany, children put cryptic chalk marks over your door sill on "Three King's Day". They dress as the wise men and "bless" your house by their visit. A few coins in appreciation is traditonal.

[jimazee]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

Lived here my whole life, and I never heard of this chalk custom...and I grew up Catholic. Interesting. Is it only done by certain ethnic groups?

As mentioned in the previous post on 'spilling' ... many practices/ceremonies have 'local' characteristics based on a larger theme. Local can mean a parish, village, state, diocese, country, culture, religion etc. Often these variations were probably influenced by practicality and availability (an example is use of certain foods at ceremonial meals). Other variations could be introduced by a practitioner (priest, bishop? family head/father? etc) of a basic concept like marking the blessed house or doorways during the ceremony. They would use what was available or that made it 'easier' to do. The point was to conduct the ceremony, within which making the marks was just a small element. As such, what was used was not as important as actually touching/marking the object.

Some blessing rituals use 'holy oil' to mark the walls (N, S, E, W) and of course holy water is frequently used in ceremonies too. Sometimes marks (crosses or other lettering) are done in a closet in new homes so not to mar the newly painted walls, probably a modern adaptation within the larger theme.

It may be the chalk is one of these variations...or who knows? The post about Three Kings below sounds plausible for the OP too.