Tag Archives: Catholic school

Bloody Mary

Informant: “So you go into the bathroom, turn off all the lights, look into the mirror and say, “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary,” three times and by the third time, you turn on the light and there will be like a scratch on your face…and you’re haunted.”

Collector: “Cool. Is it only in the bathroom?”

Informant: “It needs, uh…. I’m pretty sure. I mean all I ever heard was the bathroom one, like going into the bathroom and it needs to be pitch black.” 

Background: The informant is my twenty-two year old sister. She learned this piece from friends while attending Catholic elementary school in San Diego, CA. She is an avid metal and alternative music fan with a love of body modifications including tattoos and piercings as well as horror films. 

Context: The piece was collected during a casual at-home interview. I asked the informant to share this piece because I have multiple childhood memories of her performing the ritual.

Analysis: This game/ritual is fairly common among young women and was very popular at our Catholic elementary school among both genders. While many folklore scholars have posited that this game is entrenched with female puberty and menstruation, I believe this piece was also integrated with our conceptions of the “Virgin Mary” as a human and yet divinely endowed, liminal character. Other variations and meta folklore suggest multiple different interpretations as to who “Bloody Mary” refers to. To both me and my sister in Catholic school, the only Mary we could conceive of was the Virgin Mary and the story became a sinister way to expose the contrast between the benevolence and kindness expressed within Catholicism with the strict, harsh realities of the institution we were a part of. My sister later added that the game never worked for her because she never completed it in total darkness, suggesting that although the ritual may not manifest in a supernatural encounter for everyone that participates, people still believe. 

Arky Arky

This is a song that was taught to L.D. as a child in Catholic school. It teaches the biblical story of Noah’s ark and the flooded Earth that lasted 40 days and nights.

Lyrics:

The Lord told Noah
There’s gonna be a floody, floody
The Lord told Noah
There’s gonna be a floody, floody
Get those children out of the muddy, muddy, children of the Lord
The Lord told Noah to build him an arky, arky
The Lord told Noah to build him an arky, arky
Build it out of gopher barky, barky, children of the Lord.
The animals, they came, they came in by twosies twosies
The animals, they came, they came in by twosies, twosies
Elephants and kangaroosie, roosies, children of the Lord
It rained and poured for forty daysies, daysies
It rained and poured for forty daysies, daysies
Almost drove those animals crazy, crazy, children of the Lord
And so on for a few more verses L.D. forgot. They even taught basic choreography for the kids to perform with the song, such as two fingers held up peace sign-style for the “twosies, twosies” line.
The existence of this method of teaching a “kiddie” version of a myth (especially one so apocalyptic) shows the given church’s priorities in making sure children grasp and retain these tales from an early age. The song is also usually performed after a few rehearsals by the kids for the adults, making it a task for the kids to remember it and turn them into the storytellers. It all helps the myth pass on to the next generation basically.

Overtly Sexual Theater Tradition at a Catholic School

Main Piece

“It’s only done at shows, after we do this whole energy circle and this prayer because its catholic school. Then, whoever’s in charge says “practice room, practice room, etc” to whoever is relevant, which we use as one of the dressing rooms, it’s in the hallway. The two people who are the presidents of the musical or whatever, or whoever is willing to do it goes like, everyone take two fingers, and place them on your nipples! [Over one’s clothes] And rub and hum! And then you go, “louder” and then you go “louder” and then you go “scream!” and then you go “have a good show everyone” and someone turns the lights on [the lights are turned off during this ritual] and then everyone runs out.”

Background

Informant

Nationality: American

Location: Long Island

Language: English

The informant learned the tradition from other students, and it has been going since at least 2013, but likely much longer. The informant laughed a lot while telling me this tradition, so it seems to be lighthearted with the intention of being fun. However, the informant did say that it was quite weird. Most often included in the tradition are those who would be considered “popular.”

Context

The informant attended a coeducational Catholic high school where this practice took place.

Notes

This tradition is an example of high schoolers being overtly sexual and although it is seemingly harmless, it also seems very odd and potentially uncomfortable given the potential age gap between Seniors and Freshmen. That said, traditions like this seem to be very common amongst theater groups. I am curious as to the exact reason behind this phenomena.

 

Bloody Mary (All-Boys School in the Philippines)

Informant: Enrique is a 19-year-old boy, born and raised in Manila, Philippines who now attends college in California. South Ridge (the school in his story) is a Catholic all-boys school in Manila which he attended from kindergarten through until 7th grade.

 

Original script:

Informant: So when I went to South Ridge, [all boys school in Manila, Philippines] there was a super scary bathroom on the top floor of the school. No one ever used this bathroom because there was a rumor that someone had died inside the bathroom years ago. On special occasions, our classes would have sleep overs at school and during one of these sleep overs, one of the older batches went up to that bathroom in the middle of the night. The rumor goes that if you say Bloody Mary in front of the mirror in that bathroom four times, Bloody Mary actually shows up. So when one of the guys that decided to go into that bathroom did the ritual, she actually appeared and when he left the bathroom, he was covered in cuts and scratches.

 

Interviewer: Do you know what Bloody Mary has to do with the guy that had died in the bathroom?

 

Informant: She was apparently the one who killed him.

 

Thoughts about the piece: It is extremely interesting that the Bloody Mary ritual would occur at a local all-boys school in the Philippines. Especially considering the context that we discussed it in during class wherein we saw that the ritual is most popular among pre-pubescent girls usually in Western countries. We took this to be part of girls growing up as womanhood is bloody, thus, girls are basically looking into their future (by spinning and looking into the mirror) and trying to understand it by performing the ritual. I too attended school in the Philippines however it was an international school with many American and European students- here too I noticed that only girls would take part in the Bloody Mary ritual. Thus, it is intriguing that this would be such a big sensation (seeing as how no one wanted to use the bathroom because they all know what had happened there) at a local, Catholic all-boys school.

Something else that it interesting about this version of the story is that Bloody Mary actually physically harms the people that perform the ritual whereas usually, you are said to simply see an image of her in the mirror.

Kairos

JH is a senior at an all-boys Catholic high school in La Canada Flintridge, CA. He lives in Pasadena, CA.

JH talked to me about a school retreat he just went on, which they host every year:

“We have a different retreat every year, but the senior retreat is called ‘Kairos’…we spend like the last week of classes at a center near Santa Barbara, but they don’t really tell us where we’re going…we just left after school one day. It’s pretty religious-based and we talked a lot about God and the Catholic Church and stuff, but more of it was spiritual, like we talked about our personal relationship with God and spirituality and stuff. On the second day they surprised us with letters from our parents, and both of our parents had to write us a letter with stuff they may not have told us or with like, things they wanted us to know…some people got letters from siblings too, and they mostly talked about how we’re at an important transition in our lives, talking about becoming an adult and stuff. And then we all had to share a lot too, and people talked about really awful things that had happened in their past that we had no idea about, and our teachers and the priests did too…I think we all got a lot closer, opening up like that…I wasn’t expecting to really buy into the whole retreat thing, but I think I learned a lot in the end. When we got back, they led us into the auditorium where all our parents were sitting, and they were cheering for us, and we went and sat up on stage where they talked a little about the week, and then we all had to go up to the microphone and talk about our experiences that week, and then we would go and sit with our parents.”

I asked JH if he felt it was more of a religious retreat or a school/class retreat:

“Definitely more about our class than religion. The religion was a big part of it, but even just going to a Catholic school they were never necessarily trying to convert us or anything, and they were really inclusive both at the retreat and at the school like in general.”

My analysis:

A lot of high schools that have the resources put on these “retreats” for their students, especially at the end of senior year, or the end of their high school career. It helps usher these students through the liminal period, or help them slow down and understand the importance of the transition they’re in the midst of, and by emphasizing parental involvement JH’s school highlights the community aspect, where families would play a big role in celebrating the child’s transition to adulthood. This is actually the first kind of retreat I’d heard of that gave parents such a role – usually it revolves more around the school’s influence and presence in the students’ lives.

Spirit Day

My informant graduated in 2011 from Notre Dame Academy Girl’s High School in West Los Angeles, California. She currently attends UCLA in Westwood, California. Notre Dame Academy, often called NDA, is a Catholic, all girls school with many traditions the students participate in annually. My informant told me about the one she considers most exciting and memorable: NDA Day.

“So, NDA day is basically, like, our spirit day, um, except maybe a bit more involved than at some other schools. Um and, okay so, it starts off with a mass, because it’s a celebration of our Lady, ‘Notre Dame.’ Um, and at this mass all the girls are required to wear full dress uniform, um which just basically means you have to wear your red plaid skirt rather than the khaki one, um, a white blouse, your blazer, and nice shoes. Like, no tennis shoes. Um, and sometimes girls will put a bit more effort into the way they look, than they would on a normal day. Um so some girls will like wear make-up or straighten their hair or whatever. Um but then there’s a mass. Um, a Catholic mass. And afterwards, while we’re still in the gym. Oh, uh, we do mass in the gym because our chapel isn’t big enough for the whole school. Um, but anyway, after the mass, the spirit stuff starts. Um, so basically the freshmen get up first, and they’re all sitting in the same area and they have some girls who were appointed, like, cheerleaders who go to the podium, and they scream and spell out their grade level, so F-R-E-S-H-M-E-N, uh and then they bang on the chairs and scream really loudly and stuff. Um, but then the sophomores go, and the freshmen realize that the spell out doesn’t just have to be a chant, because all the other grade levels also have like a rhyme or a song to go with their theme. Oh, and each grade has a theme for the day and it’s usually supposed to be an alliteration with their grade level, like FBI Freshmen, Supernova Seniors, you know, things like that. Um so after that, each grade is dismissed back to their classrooms and all the girls change into costumes or crazy outfits or whatever—oh and also, each class has a color that they have all four years, um, so you’re either red, green, blue, or purple. And the grades incorporate their color into what they’re wearing on NDA day. So, once everyone’s dressed, um, you go out into the parking lot to take a picture with your class and the poster someone in your grade designed, or something. Uh, and once everyone’s taken a picture, there’s a sort of parade. Um, where we walk around the perimeter of our school and go to the little school, um, the elementary school, and the elementary kids are outside and you, like, high-five and stuff. And that whole time you’re basically, like, cheering the cheers your class made up to go with your theme or just your graduation year or something. Um, and you’re taking lots of pictures, like lots and lots of pictures, like not just during the parade but during the entire day. It’s a pretty memorable event. So then after the parade, we all go back into our gym and play volleyball. Um, each grade level has a team and the rule is that no varsity, uh actually, no school players can play on the NDA day volleyball team. Um, you can be a coach, but you can’t play. So it’s not really all that competitive. But the matches are that you play your sister class, so juniors play freshmen and seniors play sophomores and then the two winners play each other and then the winner of that match plays the faculty. So that’s pretty fun. If you’re not playing, you just stand on the side and scream and stuff. And do cheers. There’s a lot of cheering. Um, and after the volleyball game they provide us with lunch. Um, and then after that, it’s time for the skits. Uh, so each class has to do a skit and a dance. Usually they try to incorporate the dance into the skit. So it’s, like, in the middle or something. And the faculty do a skit also, which is usually pretty hilarious. Um and each class gets 5 minutes, I think, maybe 10, I can’t remember. But the seniors definitely get more. Probably like 20 minutes. And that’s because seniors also get to make a video, which usually comes out pretty good. And it’s all just supposed to be, like, silly and funny. So then whatever time is left in the day they’ll just put, like, music on in the gym and turn it into a dance party, basically. But there’s usually not much time so you just go back to class. And that’s it. Oh and then, uh, you get the day after off of school, which is nice. Because NDA day is exhausting.”

My informant enjoyed this spirit day quite a bit and cites it as one of the things she misses about high school. Spirit days are a common occurrence in many high schools, but every school does it differently.