Late one evening, a man was walking back from the store to his home. Moonlight trickled through tree limbs and Spanish moss like a stained glass canopy. The air was warm…and very still. Even the crickets had gone quiet as if they themselves didn’t want to disturb the now deafening silence. Sweat trickled down the back of the man’s neck, and yet he crossed his arms over himself and quickened his pace.

Upon passing the Second Presbyterian Church, the man caught wafts of voices echoing off of stone and brick. He stopped dead in his tracks to listen…

“I’ll take this one, you take that one”

“I’ll take that one, you take this one”

“You take this one, I’ll take…”

The conversation continued. The man amazed, realized that he was listening to God and the Devil in the midst of dividing up the souls that made their final resting place only a few yards away in the church’s graveyard. Worried he had lost his mind, he ran back to the store, made his plight, and convinced the store owner to come back with him to listen.

Listening together they could hear the two voices still bartering…

“You take that one, I’ll take this one”

“You take this one, I’ll take that one”

“I’ll take this one, you take…”

The store owner couldn’t believe his ears and edged closer to the man. They both stood clinging to the rungs of ironwork surrounding the holy grounds, knuckles white. Soon it seemed that God and the Devil had finally finished…

“Alright you can take that one…”

“Is that all of them?”

“I think so…oh wait, there are two more at the gate…”

Frantic the man and store owner fled in separate directions. The man ran twelve blocks back to his home, and the store owner locked up shop immediately.

Little did they know that they were merely listening to two thieves divvying up a sack of sweet potatoes.

From “Dividing Spirits”, told artfully by tour guide, Rena Provo (who gives tours regularly downtown at the market…great job, Rena!)

In the past few weeks, Charleston has been a spot of minor chaos. People coming in from all over the world to watch and perform. Locals ticked at traffic jams. Commotion enough to make one just stay home…But we mustn’t forget why Charleston was chosen for Spoleto, out of all the cities in the Southeast. Charleston is a place of natural beauty and great historical significance. Charleston…simply put…is a gem.

I was happy to see that specialized tours of Charleston were being offered during Piccolo. Last night I not only got to hear some really fun ghost stories, but learned alot about the Gullah culture. Considered only a “spoken” language until about forty years ago, it really is specialized to this area. It combines not only the language, but traditions, song, and faiths of Anglo Saxon Christianity and multiple West African heritages. It is not broken English, but something that evolved out of necessity to communicate and meld together to form a community. How has it been preserved? Because Charleston was originally quite separated geographically, especially in the Islands.

Even though Spoleto is coming to and end this weekend, one mustn’t forget how much Charleston has to offer year round. Take advantage of where you are. Be a part of it all…the arts, the history, the culture, the wonderfully rich speech and traditions…I know I will.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Around Town, Found along the way, Let us know, Street Wisdom.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.