Tag Archives: tradition

Baptisms for the Dead and Spirits – ghost story

Text:

“You’re going to think I’m crazy, but ok so in my religion we have a practice called Baptisms for the dead. It’s not about like forcing anyone to join the religion, but it’s about giving people who have passed the opportunity to be saved if they accept it [the baptism]. So, I did one for my grandparents, and they were like very present. I don’t know how else to describe it. My grandma had the sweetest spirit when she was alive, and while performing the baptism, just this sweet presence come over me, I can’t really describe what it felt like, but I knew it was her.”

Context:

T is from Joshua Tree, California. She told me this story while we were in our dorm room together. She is Christian, along with the rest of her family. Baptisms for the Dead is a common practice at her church. This practice she learned from her church, but she experienced feeling the presence of her relatives herself.

Analysis:

This is an example of a personal narrative, specifically a ghost story. She does not use the word ghost, but instead utilizes the word spirit. This phrasing shows how this story is held close to her. Often when we are talking about ghosts, it is in a much less personal context and is discussed with less reverence. When we use the word spirit, it is often in relation to a family member or an important figure, however both are essentially referring to the same thing: some sort of apparition of someone who has died. This connotation can help distinguish how truthful and unbiased a personal narrative is. Every event a person experiences is influenced by their emotions and beliefs, especially one as personal as seeing/feeling family members who have passed. Personal narratives are an important part of folklore, because they often blend many aspects of a cultural group into the narrative. For example, if there is not an already strong held belief in spirits or the soul within the cultural group, then it is less likely someone will experience seeing a spirit.

New Years Eve Ritual

text: “Every New Years Eve, my family puts a $100 dollar bill in their pockets before the clock reaches midnight. We do this because it brings prosperity in the New Year and the hope that you will be rich. My grandparents on my Filipino side put round objects in their pockets, such as coins or grapes, which also will bring wealth and good fortune in the New Year” -Informant

context: The tradition and superstition of these comes from both his Italian side and his Filipino side. He is 50% Italian, and 50% Filipino and has multiple traditions for every holiday. On his Italian side, his mom introduced putting a $100 bill into his pocket, maybe to just give him a hundred dollars, or maybe to bring him good fortune. On his Filipino side, his dad would make him put grapes, coins, or anything round also in his pocket to bring wealth and prosperity in the New Year.

analysis: What’s interesting about the combination of both of these New Years rituals, is that the informant will probably pass down these traditions to his kids. It will be a combination of them and be his way of passing down his culture to his kids. These New Year’s Eve superstitions and rituals serve as a prime example of Jame George Frazer’s theory of sympathetic magic, in specific, homeopathic magic. In his theory, he explains the belief among folk groups that certain practices can be carried out on a smaller scale that then produce major effects on a larger scale, that if which affecting the future.

Christmas Eve Ritual

text: “Every Christmas eve, on my Italian side, we eat seven kinds of fish. My mom is Italian and her parents came to the U.S. from Italy. They taught her that eating the seven kinds of fish combines their old Italian traditions and unites them with their new ones in America. The fish we eat are, clams, mussels, halibut, shrimp, calamari, etc.” – Informant

context: This is a yearly tradition on Christmas eve done by his entire Italian family. Even when they’re traveling, if they have no access to all of these fish or any of them, they will jokingly buy Swedish fish candy in order kind of fulfill the tradition. The informant learned this from their mother, who is Italian, and she learned it from her parents, who moved to America from Italy.

analysis: This is a holiday ritual but also a cultural food tradition done yearly by Italian people and immigrants. Done by a lot of Italian/Americans, this tradition combines their old culture with a new culture.

New House Ritual

text: “In Filipino culture, when you move into a new house, you put coins in the corner of every room in that new house. This supposedly brings prosperity and good fortune for your new chapter in life.” – Informant

context: This superstition/ritual was learned from the informant’s grandmother on his Filipino side. She learned this from her parents whenever they moved houses and passed it down to her son, the informant’s father. It is a huge part of Filipino culture, and the informant stated that superstitions are also huge in his culture. In Filipino culture, money is the biggest part of becoming successful, therefore, putting coins in the corners of rooms can act as a way of helping one achieve that wealth.

analysis: This is both a tradition and a superstition because it is passed down from generations, but also used to supposedly bring prosperity. When moving into a new house, it seems like a way to make it your own and ward off any negative energy. Everyone wants to be successful and there are coins are a huge motif to display that.

Nián (年)

Text: 

“There was this mythical beast that used to hang out in the bamboo forest, or the forest near a rural small town. And every year he would come up and cause a rampage, break the houses, eat everything and just cause a mess, eat humans, all these bad things. And they named the beast, Nián (年), because it comes every year, so his name is literally year. And so one day they realized when they were making lots of noises Nián gets scared of loud noises, so they started making really loud noises and they also learned that Nián doesn’t like the color red. So whenever the new year starts they would have explosions and fireworks and they’d make everything super red to scare away the beast. And ever since then he stopped bothering them.”

Background: The informant first heard this story from her mom when learning about the lunar festival. 

Analysis: 

This legend is often told during the Lunar New Year. It describes the origins of Chinese Lunar New Year traditions. When I first learned of the legend I was not told that the beast had a name. Though now thinking about it, the name, Nián, is fitting for the beast as it comes every year. Traditionally, people dress in red on Lunar New Year believing it will bring luck and wealth. People also set off fireworks and firecrackers to chase away bad spirits that may wish them harm. The legend has become a very important part of Chinese Lunar New Year traditions and has little variation despite its age. Often legends, myths, and tales have multiple variations from circulating around for such a long time, but this legend has more or less stayed the same.