I'd like to switch up and turn to the subject of snakes in religion, song, and other art.

There appears to be at least 5 separate meanings for 'black snake' in African American folk songs [or chants}, and other American folk songs:

1. an actual snake
2. a phallic symbol referring to a Black man's penis
3. a man {regardless of race}
4. the devil
5. a loa {African Deity/Force}

I suppose it is possible that more than one meaning can be operative in a specific song. But I'm inclined to think that-with the possible exceptions of #2 and #3-the phrase "black snake" only has one of those 5 meanings in each specific song.

I'll provide some examples of each meaning in subsequent posts to this thread.