Author Archives: Lore15

The Aswang

Background:

The informant is my Uncle. He was born in the Philippines and came to the United States when he was twelve. He went to Hollywood High School and after he attended chiropractic school. He enjoys watching basketball and is also on the verge of retiring from work. 

Informant:

Growing up in the Philippines I was really scared of a creature known as the Aswang. According to the myth, it is said that the Aswang can change shape into a human and other animals. In their natural state, they are scary looking ghoul human type creatures that are only found in rural areas. They will not be found in dense cities. Because they were so feared people would walk in pairs at night. And if you happen to walk alone you have to whistle… CONTINUOUSLY! And if you stopped whistling, it meant you were being attacked by an Aswang and needed help. I often feared that it was hiding behind bushes waiting to jump out and get me, so I hated being out all by myself as a kid.(laughs) They supposedly would kidnap you and liked to eat small children. Mothers would tell horrific stories of the Aswang to keep their kids off the streets at night too. But beyond scaring children there were even adults who were heavy believers of the Aswang. I grew out of it when I left the Philippines to come to LA. My whole mindset was that it was too dense here to worry about them. (laughs)

Analysis:

This folk belief is a form of multiplicity and variation. This is very much like Mexicos version of the Chupacabra. It seems as though many different geographic areas have their own local monster who parents often use to scare children. And in some cases some adults are even believers. When I was a child I was afraid of the Cacoohey, but he lived inside closets.

Ouija Boards

Background: 

The informant is my aunt from my mother’s side of the family. She is a second generation American citizen and is the oldest of six children. After high school, she paid her own way through college and supported herself at the same time. As a result of her hard work, she has worked as an RN for almost 30 years at LA County Hospital. 

Informant: 

Back when I was in my teens it was common for kids my age to play with Ouija boards. Nowadays with all the scary movies, I know you wouldn’t dare go near something like that (laughs). One Christmas we got an ouija board as a present. Yea I know crazy right? Well, we played with it. I remember inviting friends over to play after school. One time it told a friend of mine that he was going to die. Immediately he bursted into tears. But what is really weird and still bugs me to this day is the fact that I asked the ouija board if I was going to have kids in the future and it told me no…….and well what do you know…your uncle and I were never ever able to have kids no matter how hard we tried. But it is what it is….I just find it really weird that it told me that at such a young age and it turned out to be true.

Analysis: 

I know for a fact I would never have the guts to play with one of those things. Back then though it was fun and a popular thing to do according to my aunt. I mean shit she got a board for Christmas. It was considered fascinating to communicate with those from the so-called “other side”. Some believe that whoever is participating is moving the arrow, while others truly believe they are in contact with spirits. Some religions and cultures believe more than others. This goes beyond religion though in my eyes. There is some weird magic at work with stuff like this and I would want no part in it at all. Its spooky.

Tortillas and Healing Powers

Background: 

The informant is my aunt from my mother’s side of the family. She is a second generation American citizen and is the oldest of six children. After high school, she paid her own way through college and supported herself at the same time. As a result of her hard work, she has worked as an RN for almost 30 years at LA County Hospital. 

Informant: 

When I was a child we weren’t very fortunate and did not have very much money. As a result, when we got sick we relied mostly on home remedies that Grandma had learned from her mom to cure whatever symptoms we had. One that I vividly remember is when we would get fevers, Grandma would take a tortilla and place it on our tummy. She said that it would draw the fever away from our heads and move towards the tortilla. So any time any of us had a fever there was no doubt that there was a tortilla resting on our bellies working to take the fever away from our heads. It never really worked but Grandma was really persistent about doing it.

Analysis: 

I wonder if at any point this worked for my grandma considering how often she did it to relieve my aunt and her siblings of their fever. Did she really think it was going to work or was it something like a placebo effect? I’m sure this type of folklore is a version of multiplicity and variation. I’m sure other cultures have their forms of home remedies that seem quite ridiculous. But with the rise of modern medicine practices like these are slowly but surley being lost.

Cure for the stye in the Eye

Background: 

The informant is my aunt from my mother’s side of the family. She is a second generation American citizen and is the oldest of six children. After high school, she paid her own way through college and supported herself at the same time. As a result of her hard work, she has worked as an RN for almost 30 years at LA County Hospital. 

Informant: 

When we were kids for some reason we always had a stye in our eyes. My guess is it was from always playing outside and not washing our hands afterwards. Which has a lot to do with how I’m a germaphobe now. (laughs) But anyways when me and your other aunts would get a stye in our eyes, Grandma would never give us actual medication. She has this method that she learned in Mexico which was to dip bread in milk and place it over the stye to make it go away. I spent a good majority of my childhood with a piece of bread dipped in milk on my eyes (laughs). Grandma swore by this remedy, but I honestly can’t say I every remember it actually working and making the stye go away. But without fail each and every single time my sisters and I got a stye we had a piece bread on our eye. Grandma had learned it from her mother when she lived in Mexico so I’m guessing she would get the same treatment as a child.

Analysis: 

There are several home remedies when it comes to sickness and infections. I know my fair share of them, but up until now I have never heard of this one. I asked my aunt if at any time it hurt, but she said it never did. She said the bread would literally just be laying there as if it were for decoration. I want to know how this remedy came about and why the choice of bread dipped in milk was made. Family remedies are often passed down from generation to generation but seeing as times are progressing and modern medicine is reaching new limits a lot of this type of folklore is being lost forever.

The Door and The Stairs

Background: 

The informant is my aunt from my mother’s side of the family. She is a second generation American citizen and is the oldest of six children. After high school, she paid her own way through college and supported herself at the same time. As a result of her hard work, she has worked as an RN for almost 30 years at LA County Hospital. 

Informant: 

At work my coworkers are really superstitous. Many of them are Chinese. One day they were talking about the relationship between the proximity of a front door and a stair case and it’s affect on a person’s financial stability. The belief is that if stairs of a two story house lead directly to the front door, then you are always losing money because it is constantly going out the door. The idea is that it is nearly impossible to save money and that it is constantly being spent. It is ideal to have a house where the stairs don’t lead directly to the front door. Ever since hearing this I have come to the conclusion that is the reason that I am always low on money and that my bills are always outrageously high.

Analysis 

This is an interesting belief. Although I would not give it any truth value whatsoever. What I’m curious about is why it is particularly stairs and the front door? What is the symbolism behind the stairs? maybe because they are decending as they approach the front door which can allude to a persons amount of money descending as well. The Chinese are very cautious and conservative when it comes to their money. So to them this is a very serious matter and can really impact someone’s life.