“Yeah, you know what? I think I actually do know some stories about weather and weather cycles. So actually, my mom used to do this because we had this tiny adobe house that would not withstand harsh weather. It needed to be protected. Lots of hurricanes would pass through the highlands. What my mother did was make a cross out of ashes in the backyard in the direction the wind was coming in?…The house would always be protected from the winds. Does that make sense?”

Context/Analysis: The informant told that this piece was significant to him because it was a way that his family would withstand the harshness of the winds against their impoverished life. They had nothing growing up, so protecting their adobe house incredibly important to them. He now lives in a very sturdy concrete house but the folk belief just reminds him of his up bringing and how he grew up with such poverty. This folk belief is a family heirloom: his mother told him and his grandmother had told his mother. Even though they no longer live in an adobe house, they still whole-heartedly believe in the power of prayer and the iconography of crosses.