Snake Handlers also Fundie?

[SomewhatFundy]

^See, I knew it had to be something like that. How is that putting your faith in God, if you gotta freezepop your serpents before you dance about the room with them?

And again, i'm not a pet owner or even much like animals...so I have to issue a disclaimer and state that I know nothing about what is actually cruelty to animals and what isn't. Maybe they aren't being cruel to the snakes...But to me, it seems really mean to yank an animal from it's natural habitat, and disrupt it's hibernation cycle just so you can use them like a stage prop. That's not something I would personally do to one of God's creations.

However, I really love all the music I am hearing in these snakehandling videos. No snark, I am seriously tapping my feet every time I hit "play" on youtube. What is that style of music called? I went from listening to nothing but monotone hymns to whatever is on the radio now. I love that stuff the bands are playing in the churches in these videos. It's super lively.

[ThatSnark]

However, I really love all the music I am hearing in these snakehandling videos. No snark, I am seriously tapping my feet every time I hit "play" on youtube. What is that style of music called? I went from listening to nothing but monotone hymns to whatever is on the radio now. I love that stuff the bands are playing in the churches in these videos. It's super lively.

I live in central North Carolina (a sidehug to HereticHick to the west!) and we have always called that mountain music. Our public radio has a great show called Back Porch Music that's more secular, but will get your toes tapping like this. Like a whole lot of things in the South, it's good stuff. http://wunc.org/programs/back-porch-music-friday

[Ex 2x2]

The jerking/shaking thing was interesting to me. I think that takes place in a lot of Pentecostal churches though, right? Not just snake handling ones? I wonder why they tend to rub the person jerking? Is it hoping the spirit will rub off on them? Or just laying on hands and praying? That would violate my personal space in a big way.

I don't know if this has already been posted, but Jamie Coots, who is one of the pastors in this movement, was recently stopped for a traffic violation in Knoxville and the police found snakes in his car. They took them and put them in a zoo. I think he has a court date coming up. You can google his name and find articles.

[paganhomeschooler]

My grandpa always called it bluegrass. He's from Kentucky. Lester Flatt and Ernest Scruggs are good ones. The Muleskinner Blues is my favorite. :-)

[JMarie]

They had another kid last month, a daughter named Madlyin. I think they meant it to be an original way of spelling Madeleine, but I just read it as Mad-lyin. That baby's gonna grow up to have some mad-lyin' skillz.

[apple1]

They had another kid last month, a daughter named Madlyin. I think they meant it to be an original way of spelling Madeleine, but I just read it as Mad-lyin. That baby's gonna grow up to have some mad-lyin' skillz.

I suspect that spelling was not necessarily intended to be original, just an unfortunate side effect of being barely literate.

This whole story is just tragic.

[pixydust]

The jerking/shaking thing was interesting to me. I think that takes place in a lot of Pentecostal churches though, right? Not just snake handling ones? I wonder why they tend to rub the person jerking? Is it hoping the spirit will rub off on them? Or just laying on hands and praying? That would violate my personal space in a big way.

I don't know if this has already been posted, but Jamie Coots, who is one of the pastors in this movement, was recently stopped for a traffic violation in Knoxville and the police found snakes in his car. They took them and put them in a zoo. I think he has a court date coming up. You can google his name and find articles.

The jerking and shaking is "being filled with the Holy Spirit" and they lay their hands on them for prayer and also on case the person is "slain in the spirit" which is basically passing g out from spiritual extacy. I went to pentacostal churches as a kid. It's all the same.

[MysteryHaggis]

NPR did a Soundportrait of the Jolo church, along with another back in 1992. It's a good listen/read. http://soundportraits.org/on-air/they_s ... _serpents/

I'm listening to this now and have realised I've been pronouncing Appalachia wrong for years. Not Apple-eight-cha then.... :oops: :oops:

[Kitchen Princess]

Another native Appalachian girl weighing in (hi, y'all) -- I'm from a Western North Carolina county that borders on Tennessee-- snake handlers & their churches (and moonshiners, car thiefs, etc.) historically have moved back and forth across our state line to evade law enforcement.

I want all of you "flatlanders" to remember that no matter how thrilling all this sounds, there are VERY VERY FEW snake handlers in Appalachia. They are a TINY marginalized, dirt poor, uneducated, little sect & always have been, and most of their neighbors find them just as strange as you do.

When I started university, my county was in the news because a local snake handler had just died from bites. It was so awkward as I met people!! ["Where are you from?" "Haywood County." "Oh, did you bring your rattlesnake box with you?" "No, but I see you brought all your Appalachian stereotypes with you." etc.]

ç

A beloved story my father in law used to tell from his University of Tennesee teaching days--

A visiting European professor is teaching a zoology class. He asks the class to name the most likely places to find a rattlesnake. The answers: "Under a rock," "In a Woodpile," "Church"... the professor is mystified.

Oh honey. Try being someone from Arkansas on a forum about the DUGGARS. :roll:

[HereticHick]

Hey MysteryHaggis-- there is more than one way to pronounce Appalachia-- you aren't doing it wrong! Different parts of Appalachia (its a mountain chain reaching down most of the Eastern US) pronounce that middle "A" different ways.

CreakySteel-- some of my Cherokee kin moved from Tennessee to North Arkansas back in the 1820s-- so I am with you there! I still have relatives in Mountain Home--probably no more than 60-70 miles from Duggarland. The Ozarks are beautiful!

[apple1]

I just worry (maybe too much since I have never met this particular family) about the disaster-in-the-making when there are child-parents of 5 kids, the youngest 2 almost exactly 12 months apart (the 1 year old had her birthday the week the preemie was born), with a preemie with feeding problems, no education, no jobs, subsisting on the "safety net", apparently not believing in, or at least not using BC, not even breast-feeding (yes, I know it is NOT a guarantee, but many times, it does space pregancies at least somewhat).

And while snake handling is indeed rare, "fundies" that are barely subsisting, I suspect, are much more common than Botkin-type, even Duggar-type, fundie royalty. Somehow the royalty gets a lot more attention. Families like this one are actually where the rubber meets the road.

I so wish someone could convince this girl to get a GED, go on BC, etc...

Bumping this thread. My feeling are still expressed by this post. I can't snark about these people; I just think their situation is overwhelmingly sad.

Maybe the National Geographic series mentioned in the other thread will at least help these kids have a little bit better life. One can hope, anyway.

[Kellbells]

I just searched FB and they're still spelling it Madlyin. Sigh...I feel that watching those two and all of those kids on TV could be interesting. It could also make Honey Boo Boo look scholarly. Another sigh...