Monthly Archives: May 2011

Folk Gesture – American

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2011
Primary Language: English

Pinkie Promise

Two people grasp each others’ pinkies and shake them. Similar to a hand-shake, but with only the pinkie (little) finger.

“It’s a hand gesture made between two people and it signifies that the promise that is verbally spoken during this hand gesture has to be kept. If a pinkie promise unfulfilled or broken, the guilty the party can no longer be friends with the other person, as per rules of the pinkie promise.

“I only really do them with a couple, because it’s like not really social acceptable for people my age, but it was a big deal in elementary school. It’s cute. If you ever used them as a kid you understand the implications that go along with it, and even as an adult you wouldn’t break them. It’s a binding contract because your friendship is on the line.”

The informant is a 19-year-old Caucasian student in the Los Angeles area, originally from Northern California. She follows the Jewish faith. She also comes from a very large family with 8 other siblings.

The pinkie promise is a piece of children’s folklore. Children’s folklore forges an informal folk group. This is demonstrated in the fact pinkie promises are typically made from one child to another. The pinkie promise also can align with the children’s interest in secrecy (Oring 102). Often children pinkie promise to keep a secret. Also, the informant’s remark that pinkie promising at her age (in adulthood) is no longer socially acceptable demonstrates another hallmark item of children’s folklore: once one passes from childhood, the folklore is no longer applicable.

Oring, Elliott. Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: an Introduction. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 1986. Print.

Proverb – Polish

Nationality: Polish
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: Polish
Language: English

W marcu jak w garncu.

“March’s weather is like a pot.”

The weather in March changes all the time; sometimes rains, sometimes the sun is out. It is like a pot—mixing the weather together; everywhere in Poland.

The informant is from Poland. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past four years.

The informant said she learned the phrase in school.

This is an example of a fixed phrase proverb that utilizes a simile. The simile that March’s weather is like a pot does not make sense out of context, but if the idea that inside a pot the mixture can always be changing is considered, the meaning is relatively easy to grasp.

Folk Belief – Polish

Nationality: Polish
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: Polish
Language: English

“If you sit on the edge [corner] of the table it means you will never get married. It’s cause you’re on the outside—excluded.”

“I laugh at it. It’s really funny. But at the same time, I avoid it.”

The informant is from Poland. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past four years.

The superstition may stem from the fact that you’re not directly sitting next to anyone. It is typically the man and woman who sit at the heads of the table and those single who sit at the longer edges to mingle. By positioning yourself at the corners, you are not in either of the social categories; it places one at a liminal space which is neither single nor taken.

It falls into the category of homeopathic magic, for sitting at the corner of the table is said to result in one not getting married; like causes like.

Wedding Tradition – Bulgarian

Nationality: Bulgarian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Bulgarian

“On the weddings, the bride has a little pot. And they put it on the floor in front of her. And it has two flowers inside; one white and another one is red. White is for woman, red is for boy. And she should kick it and which flower should be ahead will be the first child.”

“I learned it through experiences going to weddings. And I think they are awesome; that traditions and this kind of things should be kept and go through generations.

The informant is from Bulgaria. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past two and a half years.

The time of a wedding is a liminal period that is highly ritualized. The activities in a wedding typically center around the uniting of the groom and bride– they must do many traditions together that symbolize they are now man and wife and others that attempt to divine what their future together will hold, such as the kicking of the pot to determine the gender of the first child.

Wedding Tradition – Polish

Nationality: Polish
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA (Current)
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: Polish
Language: English

Polish Wedding Tradition

“To welcome the couple for their wedding party they are welcomed with bread with salt. They usually break, like, a special bread. They are supposed dip the bread in salt and eat it—they make a funny expression. And then later they take champagne in two glasses—sometimes they are tied together. They drink the champagne. Once they finish they throw it behind them and it breaks for good luck. It’s a tradition—you have to break them [the champagne glasses] no matter what. If it doesn’t break, you have to do it again.”

“It’s a really old tradition—like really old. I think it’s cool because we keep this tradition—it doesn’t disappear. I’m not sure exactly why they do it. They just do.”

The informant is from Poland. She is currently attending university in Los Angeles, CA. She has been studying in the United States for the past four years.

The time of a wedding is a liminal period that as such is highly ritualized. The activities in a wedding typically center around the uniting of the groom and bride– they must do many traditions together that symbolize they are now man and wife.

Deborah Silverman’s “Polish-American Folklore” presents two separate reasons behind the tradition. One, which Silverman adds is the most common definition, is the couple’s parents greet them with salt and bread to ensure there will always be food on the table. Another definition however, stated that the salt represented the bitter parts of life and the bread the sweet; the portion of bread was to be larger than the portion of salt to protect the couple from life’s bitterness (64).

Silverman, Deborah Anders. Polish-American Folklore. Urbana: University of Illinois, 2000. Print.