Author Archives: William Hiller

Don’t Go Barefoot Before May 1st

My informant for this story is my friend’s grandmother.

When I was younger, I would spend the night at my friend’s house fairly often.  His house was where all of us would hang out and play video games or watch movies.  For some reason, we didn’t spread out going to all of our houses very much.  Since we were at his house so often, we often were there when his grandparents were over at the same time.  As a result, I got to know them pretty well and developed a friendship with each of his grandparents.  One time, when I was spending the night at his house, I went downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink.  It was in March.  I remember it because we were watching March Madness on TV.  I came downstairs barefoot and as I walked to the kitchen, I hear his grandmother say “don’t you know you’re not supposed to go barefoot before May 1st?”

She said it in a friendly and joking way, so I sort of laughed it off but as I thought about it, I wondered what she meant.  I didn’t say anything at the time but at a later date, I asked her what she meant and she explained that her husband’s family always warned against going barefoot before May 1st.  She explained that they took it very seriously and forbade their children from doing so and it was evidently because generations earlier, one of the children in the family went barefoot to the outhouse.  Though it was spring, it was still very chilly and the child caught a cold, developed pneumonia and died.  I was surprised to hear this was the reason, but I often think about that as I am walking around the house barefoot.

High Tide and a Full Moon

My informant for this piece of folklore is my friend’s grandfather, who grew up in Arkansas and Missouri and spent much of his free time as a boy fishing.  As he and his siblings grew up, they carried this hobby with them and taught it to their children.

As the informant relayed the story, there is a lunar cycle that makes for excellent fishing.  When there are two full moons in a month, the second full moon, at high tide, brings catfish to the surface of the water.  This event must occur at night, when catfish are more abundant anyway, and this makes the catfish so easy to catch that one could barely get their bait in the water before a catfish was on the hook.  This event, which would occur about 2 times a year, and the night that was supposed to have the second full moon of the month became a tradition on which they would all go fishing together.  My informant mentioned that much of the reason for their excitement about this tale, especially as they all got older, was not so much the interest in the folklore, but as is so often with folklore, it became a reason for them to continue a tradition, which became the satisfying part of the experience.

My informant explained that he was told this story by his father, who had heard it from his father, and so on.  Certainly, it is scientific fact that the lunar gravitational pull affects the tides of Earth’s oceans.  My informant, along with his siblings, tested this theory many times.  He admits that as children, they were all skeptical about it but were willing to believe it based on the word of their father.  Sure enough, each time they tested it, they found an unusual abundance of catfish in the water, which always 5 or 6 feet higher than normal.  This was one of the things that made them enjoy fishing so much and each of the siblings relayed this piece of folklore to their own children, passing it along.

Never Let a Cat Near a Baby

My informant for this story is my friend’s mother.

She has always loved cats.  When I would spend time at their house, I would see the cats and pet them and I developed an appreciation for them.  This was fairly new to me, because my family had always preferred dogs so I had never had a great deal of experience with cats.  One time, the cat swiped its claws at my hand and scratched it deep enough to draw blood.

My friend’s mother felt bad and she mentioned something about the fact that cats shouldn’t ever be around babies.  I asked her why and what that meant and she explained the superstition that cats such the breath out of a baby and kill it.  She also explained that the basis for this fear is the multitude of times in history when a cat would smell the milk or lactic acid on a baby’s breath and jump up on to the baby and put its own mouth near the baby’s mouth.  Most times, as is imaginable, the parents thought this was very cute and left it.  But, sometimes the cat would be too heavy and would constrict the baby’s lungs or airway, causing them to suffocate and die.  It is understandable that with the proximity of the cat’s mouth to the baby’s mouth, an association would be made that resembled a cat sucking the life out of a baby.

To Thine Own Self Be True

The following piece of advice appears in Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, written in the early 1600s:

In Hamlet, this advice is given by Polonius to his son, Laertes, as he is leaving home for university.  Polonius dispenses this advice because as his son leaves, he wishes his son to be able to make it on his own, find success and maintain his dignity.  Along those lines, he wishes his son to remember the lessons and characteristics instilled in him by his family.  He tells his son, “to thine own self be true,” which is to say to him, “be true to yourself and trust in your own ability and judgment.”  This is excellent advice, as self-expression and the satisfaction derived from it is one of the greatest truths in life.

It is interesting that this lesson was written so long ago.  The idea of self-expression and tolerance among those that do so seems to be relatively new, within the last half century or so.  To see it written nearly 400 years ago gives the concept a new meaning to me, as it seems to be intertwined with the human condition.  This means that being true to yourself is not so much something to remember or a privilege, but rather, a necessary function of being human and finding satisfaction and contentment within our own lives.

If It Rains On Your Wedding Day

My informant for this story is my friend’s mother.

Last year, my best friend got married.  He married a girl he had been dating for almost 5 years and I was glad that she is very nice and friendly, which allows me not only to continue my friendship with him without changing, but also continue and build a friendship with his wife.  Since we have been friends for so long, he asked me to be his best man.  Of course, I accepted.  In the days prior to the wedding, we all set up for the ceremony and the reception.  On the morning of the wedding, we began setting up for that evening’s reception, which was to take place outside, when we were dismayed to see that it was almost certainly going to rain.

Needless to say, we had to change our plans and move the reception indoors.  Logistically, this was quite a challenge and so we spent the entire day up to just an hour before the wedding finishing the tasks necessary to accommodate this change.  Sure enough, it did rain very hard for a long time that day.  This caused some new challenges for the wedding itself and for my friend’s wife, trying desperately not to ruin her wedding dress.  At the reception after the wedding, we talked for a long time about the wedding and many different things.  At one point, my friend’s mother said that if it rained on your wedding day, it meant you would have a good marriage.  I had never heard this before and I think we were all tired from all the changes and hearing this sort of let us all take comfort in this fact and hope for it to be true.