Crossroads (culture)
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A crossroads (the word rarely appears in singular) is a road junction, where two or more roads meet (there are three or more arms). Crossroads is also an alternate name for a hamlet located at such a junction. The term is often used metaphorically, as an abstraction of places or occasions where people meet. The Latin word trivia (literally "three roads") is a place where three roads meet, and has given name to the kind of smalltalk that often occurs at such places.
In British English it is specifically defined as being where two roads cross each other (there are exactly 4 arms). Unlike the terms road intersection and road junction, crossroads is used in a more figurative or poetic sense (similar to fork in the road).
Blues
Another interpretation of the crossroad hinted at by some blues songs is that point at which a particular road is taken in life - similar to Robert Frost's "road not taken".Originally the blues "Crossroads" was a literal right-angle crossing of two railroads - "where the Southern cross the Dog" - in Moorhead, Mississippi. The "Southern" was a line of the Southern Railway, sold to the Columbus and Greenville Railway in 1920, and the "Dog" was the "Yellow Dog", officially the Yazoo Delta Railroad, part of the Illinois Central Railroad system after 1897. This place is mentioned in a number of blues, including the recorded works of W. C. Handy and Bessie Smith.
Spirituality
In the folk magic of many cultures, the crossroads is a location "between the worlds" and, as such, a site where supernatural spirits can be contacted and paranormal events can take place.This is particularly pronounced in conjure, rootwork, and hoodoo, a form of African American magical spirituality. In conjure practice, it is said that in order to acquire facility at various manual and body skills, such as playing a musical instrument, throwing dice, or dancing, one may attend upon a crossroads a certain number of times, either at midnight or just before dawn,and one will meet a 'black man," whom some call the Devil, who will bestow upon one the desired skills. Evidence of this practice can be found in 20th century blues songs, such as Sold It to the Devil by Black Spider Dumpling (John D. Twitty). Strangely, although many modern listeners believe that the premier song about soul-selling at a crossroads is Crossroads Blues by Robert Johnson, that song is actually a mundane description of standing at a road crossing and trying to "flag a ride" or hitch-hike.
The crossroads is also used as a metaphor for the afterlife.
Other
In some Asian cultures further interpretations and traditions about what crossroads are diverge from the explanations given above.See also
- Fork in the road
- Crossroads (disambiguation) (for other meanings of Crossroads)
- Crossroads village
External links
- [The Crossroads in Hoodoo] by catherine yronwode at luckymojo.com.
- [A photo of "where the Southern cross the Dog"] at bluessource.com
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