Author Archives: Sara Hua

The Witch On the Block

Informant: “So I grew up inner city for most of my life, and all the kids on my block would talk about this one lady that lived like behind a fence. She lived near my block. Her house was isolated from everyone else, and everyone else would talk about her and say she was a witch. Once everyone was on the bus, and someone yelled “Look there’s the witch! Everyone come see!”. She was wearing red lipstick and all red. Kids would tell stories that she was evil, and if you go to her house she would kill you.

But then I talk to a bunch of my other friends from school that didn’t live near me, and they all had witches on their block as well! But we didn’t live near each other! One said that her witch had green skin like the wizard of Oz, or something. It was crazy. There can’t be that many witches. Maybe everyone just found a stranger lady that lived near them and called them a witch.”

Me: “Were you scared of her?”

Informant: “Yes, because she was weird! But I felt sorry for her…”

 

Greek Initiation Ritual

The informant is a member of a sorority on campus and was bound to the secrecy of the sisterhood. However she was able to tell me that all sororities have a similar process in which they wear all white – no jewelry, no embellishments, no makeup, no nail polish. In the end of the ritual, they were all pinned with the flower that is the symbol of their sorority.

Analysis: This may have to do with the bridal customs of wearing white. The bridal hue usually symbolizes purity and chastity. Especially with the no-makeup and embellishments rule, it allows the sisters to bare themselves almost literally and accept each other for who they are.

The flower being pinned on their bosom at the end of the ceremony suggests that they are ready to bloom, so to speak, and embrace the sisterhood with open arms.

Blow a dandelion, make a wish.

The informant told me that when she was younger (age 4-5), she would pluck a dandelion and blow on it to make a wish. She learned this practice from her friends in preschool. “It was a lot of fun! We would run around looking for dandelions to blow on and fight over them sometimes.

Me: Do you have to get all the dandelion seeds off in one blow?

Informant: I think so!

Me: Do you still play this game?

Informant: Hmm… I think it’s second nature to pick up a dandelion and blow now. You don’t really think about it.

Analysis: This is a common practice in the United States, where dandelions are abundant in the grass. It is similar to blowing out all the candles on a birthday cake. It most likely stems from the belief that if you blow out all the seeds, they carry your wishes and dreams and eventually blossom. It is unclear where the origin of this game came from, however there are variations, such as if you blow a dandelion and all the seeds come off, your lover loves only you. If some seeds remain, he is not loyal. This may have come from the daisy petal-plucking “He loves me, he loves me not”, game.

For the informant, this game or ritual has become so common-place that it is almost innate for her to want to pluck a dandelion and blow the seeds into the wind.

Wedding Ring Test – Pregnancy Gender Predictor

Informant: “This is how you do it. Take a pin, needle, or wedding ring and attach it to a thread. Then you hold the dangling item over mom to be’s belly while she is lying down. If the needle or wedding ring swings in a circular motion, you will be having a girl. If it moves in a to and fro motion like a pendulum, you will be having a boy.”

Me: “Did you try it?”

Informant: “I did and it worked for me! But it’s just an old wives tale.”

Analysis: This is a very common thing to do when one is eager to know the gender of one’s baby. It was thought to originate in Italy, except instead of a wedding ring, they used needles on threads. Due to female roles back in time, needles and threads were more common in an expecting woman’s life than nowadays. Using the wedding ring as opposed to the thread was thought to originate in Ireland.

Pregnancy is one of those exciting events, and the gender prediction always arouses the curiosity of others. There are several “old wives tales” on predicting the gender of a baby, however some of them contradict each other. According to testimonials online, people will often end up with an even split of results -50% of the tests will predict a boy, and 50% will predict a girl. This suggests that there is little truth or evidence to support the effectiveness of the tests, which may be why the informant was skeptical to believe in it despite the fact that it worked for her.

Krampus

Informant: I went to a Christian middle school, and one day before Christmas break my teacher was like, “Beware of the Krampus!” So I asked him what the Krampus was… and it’s like this mystical beast thingy that comes on Christmas. It has horns and looks like a devil.  It’s like… you know, a man-goat thing. And it takes children back to it’s lair.

Me: All children?

Informant: No, just the naughty children! Like kids who were naughty… you know how Santa knows if you’re naughty or nice? The Krampus eats children who are naughty. And he goes with Santa Claus and picks up all the bad children and ties them up with chains that he carries.

Analysis: It seems that the Krampus appears as a more extreme Christmas day punishment.