Author Archives: Alison

Goody

Background Information:

My informant is a 56-year-old IT technician from rural Ireland. He related to me a story about the kinds of foods his mother would make for him at home when he was sick as a child. This particular food, called goody, but pronounced ‘goddy,’ was a mixture of bread, milk, and sugar that was boiled together as a kind of folk-cure for general ‘unwellness.’ Despite associating it with being sick, it is one of his most memorable childhood foods. He is signified in this conversation by the initials D.O.

Main piece:

D.O.: My mam would make goody for us when we were sick as kids. I think it’s similar to the flat 7up thing, you’re trying to get sugar back into your system if you’ve been ill. What you do is you boil up a pot of milk, not too hot, and then you rip up pieces of white bread usually and throw them in, until most of the milk is soaked up, but the bread is pretty wet. Kind of like very eggy French toast. And you let that boil for a minute and then add in sugar and mix it up, and it kind of turns into a thick soggy bread mixture. It’s great though, kind of like bread and butter pudding for children.

A: And why would she give you that, and not soup or anything?

D.O: It was probably a combination of getting some sugar back into your system, and giving you something you actually wanted to eat even if you felt terrible. It was also made up of cheap things that you’d have in the house – bread, milk, sugar – so it wasn’t using up valuable resources. It was said that it would soak up all the badness in your stomach if you were sick and it would settle nausea because the bread would soak up the acid.

A: Where did your mam learn it from?

D.O.: It’s a common food back home, it would usually be the first port of call when you were sick. But I think it’s always been popular, but not as much anymore with modern medicine.

Performance Context:

The interview took place over the phone as he is in Dublin and I am in California. The context of the conversation was folk medicine in the vein of the ‘flat 7up’ cure.

My Thoughts:

This kind of folk remedy relies on children’s love for all things sweet, whilst serving an actual medicinal purpose by using the bread to soak up the acid in a person’s stomach if they had a stomach bug. It served many purposes outlined by the informant, but perhaps one not present is the idea that when one is able to eat again, they are getting better. A kind of placebo effect, similar to the idea that people who have doctors with white coats get better faster, by giving children sugary food that they would not normally get when they are well, which they want to eat, they feel like they must feel better, which in many cases leads to people actually recovering faster. Therefore, this folk remedy may well have two scientific bases behind it, despite it being labelled as “folk” and therefore seen in opposition to modern medicine, and actually be a good way to help cure viral infections which are not affected by antibiotics.

Building Houses for the Huldufólk

Background Information:

My informant is a 23-year-old student originally from Iceland, but studying in Dublin. She was born and raised in Reykjavik and moved to Ireland in her 20’s to come to University there. She informed me that not only was belief in the huldufólk common, she herself believed in them and that many Icelandics go out of their way to please them, and that to apply for planning permission in Iceland you need to have someone look at the site to check that you would not upset the huldufólk by building there. She related this particular facet of belief to me when I told her about fairy forts. She was an active bearer of this tradition and was taught it by her parents, and their parents before them. It is one of her favorite pieces of Icelandic heritage and plans to carry it on whether or not she decides to stay in Iceland, as it is a family tradition. She is signified in this conversation by the initials A.J.

Main Piece:

A.J.: The huldufólk are kind of mystical creatures. They are generally depicted as all grey, and they live in rocks and under the ground. They are not malicious, they usually help humans and are not so much tricksters as they are simply respected in Iceland. Nobody really says bad things about them. People give them offerings at the summer solstice and at Christmas. This is usually to thank them for a good harvest last year, and to look after the next one. Actually, when people are building new houses in Iceland, or in the Faroe islands as they also believe in the huldufólk, you have to get a person to check that you do not disturb them by building there. When you have built the house, you have to get a stone and put it in front of the porch of the house. You have to find the stone usually from specific places where you’re not disturbing the folk already living there, and it’s a big day out to go and get a stone. They’re pretty big, maybe a meter cubed in size. And you take it back to the house and paint on a little door and some windows. In this way, you’re offering the huldufólk a home and they in turn look after you and your home. At the summer and winter solstice you can then place your offerings to them at the stones. We have one at our house and it’s a really common thing to have, as they offer the house protection. They’re also a nice Icelandic tradition that I’d like to carry on, as I have really fond memories of getting the stone and painting it with my family.

Performance Context:

I interviewed my informant over the phone, as she is in Ireland and I in California. After discussing the huldufólk in class, I asked her whether she knew anything about them and she related this to me, as it is the most common household tradition to do with the huldufólk.

My Thoughts:

This custom reminded me a lot of the fairy forts in Ireland, and the idea of putting little bits of food out for the fairies. It was interesting to see a similar custom in Iceland, and suggests a strong Celtic influence on Icelandic culture. What was astonishing to me was the level of belief in the huldufólk, which was absolutely different to belief in the fairy folk in Ireland. The one thing that struck me was the level of community in going out and finding the appropriate rock, and this connection to the landscape. Iceland, being a volcanic creation, relies heavily on the landscape for tourism and also for the production of geothermal electricity. Therefore, connecting their huldufólk to the land seems like a natural progression, for a country so intrinsically tied to the landscape.

Wren Day

Background Information:

Informant is 54-year-old woman living in Dublin, Ireland. She was raised in rural southern Ireland. This festival called Wren Day is celebrated on St. Stephen’s Day, December 26th. It is not a custom I have observed in Dublin, and seems to mainly be confined to rural areas, particularly in the south but it has also been seen in the Nordic countries. Wren in this tale is pronounced like “wran,” owing to the southern dialect. She learned of this festival from experiencing it, and she didn’t particularly enjoy it as she found the costumes scary. She is signified in this conversation by the initials C.D.

Main Piece:

C.D.: Wren Day is always celebrated on St. Stephen’s Day at home. It’s not so much a festival that everyone celebrates, rather there are a few people that celebrate it and try and drag the rest of us into it. It involves men, usually, dressing up in straw outfits and masks and parading through the town singing songs. Back home, they’d work their way around the mountain and would knock on your door and sing a song – sometimes it had words, and other times it was just sounds, like the Native American chants – and they’d expect a penny in return. I always thought they were terrifying, dressed up like giant haybales and shouting in the front garden. In the village there would be a kind of parade, where the marchers would hold up these long wooden poles with nets on the top, that was supposed to symbolize the catching of the wren. I think they used to actually catch a wren sometimes, but maybe that’s gone out of fashion over time.

A: Do you know what the wren symbolized?

C.D.: It was meant to symbolize the old year being put away and the new year coming in. You’d only find the wren in winter, so by caging it and putting control on it the people are sort of forcing in the spring, maybe like a Groundhog Day style thing?

A: And do you remember the kinds of songs they’d sing?

C.D.: Like I said, I was usually too scared of them to really listen to what they were saying, but when they’d come to the house they’d end their songs in “If you haven’t got a penny then a hapenny will do,/ If you haven’t got a hapenny then God bless you!” That’s usually when my mam would hand them a penny or two, as they wouldn’t go away until you gave it to them.

Performance Context:

This piece of folklore was related to me over the phone, as I am in California and she is in Ireland. I asked her about any festivals she had at home and she said that this was the strangest one she could think of that she actually experienced.

My Thoughts:

The wren is an interesting bird, as it is found in both the Catholic and Celtic traditions. In the Celtic tradition, the wren was a sacred bird that sang through the winter. In this sense, it symbolized enduring life through the harshest months. By sacrificing a wren at this time of year, the people ritualistically “killed” winter and ushered in the path for the spring birds. In the Christian tradition, the wren is thought to have betrayed St. Stephen, revealing his position whilst he hid from his enemies. This allowed for the tradition to endure through pre-Christian times until now, and explains the current dating of this festival to St. Stephen’s Day. This festival, then, projects the human and religious calendars onto the natural year cycle by eliminating winter and ushering in the Spring. Also, the idea that it is mostly men that participate in it speaks to the Catholic patriarchy in Ireland at the time that this tradition was prevalent.

Throwing of Bouquet by the Bride

Background Information:

My informant is a 22-year-old student, originally from the Southern New Jersey area. We recently got talking about weddings and we were discussing the American custom of the bride throwing her bouquet behind her after she has been married. This is not a common custom where I am from, and so I was intrigued to hear what she made of it, considering it is so prevalent in American film and television. She has seen this tradition in real life many times, and thinks it is a fun part of the wedding ceremony. She is signified in this conversation by the initials B.I.

Main Piece:

A: Have you personally seen someone throw a bouquet at a wedding?

B.I.: Yes, I’ve seen it many times. It’s always the bride that throws the bouquet of flowers that she carried up the aisle with her, so usually white roses or the like.

A: And when exactly does this take place in the ceremony?

B.I.: It normally takes place after the actual marriage itself, but sometimes I’ve seen brides throw their bouquets the second they get outside the church, and other times they wait until later on in the evening when everyone is gathered, perhaps at the reception or after the dinner, and then she throws it. It’s always thrown back over her head, so she can’t see who she’s throwing it to. Oh, and also it’s really important who tries to catch it. It’s always unmarried women who try and catch it, sometimes the bridesmaids in particular. Sometimes one of the men will try and catch it for a joke. If you catch it, it means you’re the next person to get married out of the group. I don’t know how seriously people take it as a prediction of who will actually get married next, but I’ve certainly seen some exceptionally uncomfortable men around after their girlfriend catches the bouquet!

A: And why does she throw it in the first place?

B.I.: I don’t really know to be honest, is it something to do with throwing away your virginity or something? Because flowers usually represent that, right? Yeah, and that would work well with the fact that the flowers are white, because white is the traditional color you wear at a wedding to represent your virginity.

Performance Context:

This piece was related to me in person in a conversation about American superstitions and customs including those from the natural world, such as Bigfoot, and from film and television.

My Thoughts:

This piece highlights a lot of preconceptions of the newly married woman. Firstly, that she throws a bouquet of white flowers is certainly symbolic of virginity, and the casting aside of virginal white and maidenhood to become a married and sexually active woman. This would concur with Vaz da Silva’s constructions of the ‘tricolor’ of womanhood, that white, red, and black represent the stages in a woman’s life, passing from white virginity, to red sexual activity, to black barrenness. Secondly, the act of throwing the bouquet itself is a kind of symbolic ‘deflowering,’ that the era of her girlhood has passed and she is now almost a full member of adult female society. By passing it onto another woman, she passes on the torch of her virginity, only for that woman in turn to throw her own bouquet at her wedding. This is underscored in the idea that the only women who try and catch the flowers are unmarried, as otherwise that would suggest a refusal of the classic contract of marriage in outdated terms: the person you are sanctioned to have sex with. If a married woman caught the bouquet, it would therefore suggest a critical insufficiency in their marriage. It is interesting that this tradition carries on today despite the fact that many women must have no idea behind the symbolism of what they are doing – certainly it was news to me. It reminds me of the American tradition of throwing one’s graduation cap into the air at the end of the graduation ceremony – an eschewing of one’s previous identity and entering into a new stage of one’s life.

Ghost Light

Background information:

My informant is a theatre major from New Jersey, now living and studying in Southern California. She has told me about many superstitions from the theatre and film world, and this particular one is about the ‘ghost light’ that must be on all sets. There are two reasons for having this light, a practical and a superstitious meaning. I have physically seen this light on one of the sound stages in Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, where the guide concurred with what my friend told me about ghost lights. She doesn’t believe in this superstition, and finds it a little creepy when working late at night when this is the only light on. She is signified in this conversation by the initials B.I.

Main piece:

B.I.: Basically ghost lights are a kind of bare bulb light, usually, which is left on all the time on a set or in a theatre. They’re a bare bulb lighting in a metal frame, in a tall stand. They serve two purposes. Practically, they’re for lighting up a stage or a sound stage out of hours as normally there would be no lights on if a person was working out of hours. The second reason is more superstitious. They say that the ghosts of the stories haunt the sound stages and the theatres, I don’t know if they’re literal ghosts or metaphorical ones, and that the light drives them out. It’s said that all theatres and sets have ghosts, and sometimes people say that having the one light on allows for the ghosts to perform on the stage out of hours, so they’re not unhappy with the living and leave the actual performances themselves alone.

 

Performance Context:

This piece of folklore was related to me in a larger conversation about film and theatre superstitions, in which she related to me the superstitions about “The Scottish Play.” I asked about this superstition in particular after seeing a ghost light on set on a tour of Warner Brother in Burbank.

 

My thoughts:

It seems that the entertainment industry is very focused on superstition. This seems to me to stem partly from the insecurity of success in film and theatre, and the ability to be famous one day and ruined the next. Whilst these are standard facets of the industry, these kinds of superstitions act as a kind of regulating influence, a way for humans to control both their personal fate, and in general the uncontrollable. Overall, one could see most forms of mythology and legend as ways of putting order on those things which are physically unknowable by humans. The idea here that it may be the ghost of a particular performance locates the tale very clearly in the film/theatre world, yet the practical usage of the light as a way for people working out of hours to see both legitimizes those working under the guise of needing light, but believing in the superstition, and actually allows them to get work done. As many sound stages sets in particular do not have overhead lighting, as light is normally moved around during the production, the presence of one stable light allows people to work out of hours without having to interfere with the set.