Monthly Archives: May 2018

Race-day Rituals

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Portland, Oregon
Performance Date: 4/14/2018
Primary Language: English

Informant Info: The informant is a 22-year-old male who was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and comes from a Catholic family. He currently is a senior at USC and is very into half-marathon and marathon racing.

 

Interview Transcript:

 

Interviewer: I know you run a lot of races pretty often. Do you have any pre-race rituals or lucky items you contribute to your success?

 

Interviewee: Before my very first race I made a pesto pasta, with broccoli, onions, and peppers the night before. In the morning I always had a small bowl oatmeal a cup of coffee, and like 3 Glasses of water. I did really, really good, so I consider it my lucky meal and make it before every single race I run, and only before races. And I always wear the same socks when run my race and I only wear them when I race. Ummm….And what else?

 

Interviewer: Why would you contribute is like a lucky meal or socks.

 

Interviewee: I would say the socks… well I would say the meal is one that’s like where I feel like…decent. And then…. But all of them were like I just I want to kind of keep it… because a lot of changes and… No matter what changes in my life, whether I change my race, or I get a different this or that or whatever I want to keep some things the same and the meal is something I enjoy it and it makes me feel good and also, I’m like I did well the first time I did it. I did really well uhh or had like a good race and so after that I was like I don’t really want to change it or kinda looked back at my what I did, and I was like: What do I want to keep, what I want to change, and I decided I wanted to keep the meal. Ummm…and, so I would say really well, and I was like I’m going to keep this and hopefully somehow it contributes. And for the socks, they’ve been the same pair of socks that I’ve worn every time I set a PR. And whenever I don’t wear them, I seem to do worse. So better safe than sorry, you know?

 

Analysis:

In folklore, this idea of a “lucky item” can be fit into the genre of superstitions/folk beliefs. There is no way to prove that it’s the meal or socks that actually help him in his races, but to him, they consistently do. The informant mentions this himself by stating that he considers them as his lucky meal and lucky socks because he has done well every time. By doing so, he doesn’t explicitly call them lucky, but rather he seems afraid to risk changing them and not having the same performance. It could be a simple coincidence that his lucky socks just so happened to be the one’s he was wearing when he set his PR’s, but it could be further analyzed by seeing if the socks have better cushioning or compression that help him maintain his speed. In this particular case, the belief in luck seems minimalistic.

 

The Kraken

Nationality: USA
Age: 45
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 4/19/2018
Primary Language: English

My Aunt Elaine lives on the coast of Denmark in this tiny little town… I can’t remember the name. I probably wouldn’t be able to pronounce it if I did. But when I was little we would go and visit her… that was just about the only trip my family and I would take back then, to Denmark to visit the family. We’d stay at her house right on the beach, there was this grass out front that would blow all day long in the wind and tickle your face if you laid in it. And she had this airy room as her attic that was stocked full of toys, mostly Legos. And we’d play with them all day long. And help her cook. But the most fun was to go play in the water outside. There was this long dock that stretched into the water and kids would jump off of it, swim to shore, then jump off it again. All day long. But no one ever swam much past the dock. I’m sure you’ve heard of The Kraken. Well, the adults would tell us all stories of this giant squid that lurked in the deep ocean, but was too big to swim in past the dock. So as long as we stayed close to the shore—and never went past the end of the dock, we were safe from The Kraken. If we swam out too far, we were in danger of getting dragged down to the bottom of the ocean by it. My aunt used to tell me it liked little girls with long, blonde hair. I was a little girl with long, blonde hair. Ha, ha. They definitely told us this so they could drink too much wine and not have to worry about jumping into the ocean and saving us. But I still am kind of freaked out to go too deep into the ocean, and I think its because of this. My survival instincts are still telling me to stay away from The Kraken!

G learned the story of The Kraken from her aunt, and the story is special to her because it became a part of her adult life, as well. When she swims in the ocean, she still thinks about The Kraken lurking underneath the waves.

I’ve heard about The Kraken before—mostly through the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean.” I’ve never been afraid of a giant squid, but I have heard stories about the megladon shark lurking in the ocean, so I suppose mostly everyone is afraid of some unknown, possibly mythical creature in the depths of the ocean.

Spirit Coins

Nationality: USA
Age: 45
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 4/19/2018
Primary Language: English

The dead supposedly communicate with us with loose pennies and nickels. Not just random coins in the middle of the street, but by placing them in weird places for you to find. It’s a symbol to let us know that they are okay. A few months after my dad died, I had this dream about him. I was walking through a park with a group of other people and I turned around and he was just there. Just standing there. And it was so vivid. Like… it wasn’t a dream. I said, ‘Dad, what are you doing here?’ and he told me he was okay and that I shouldn’t be sad or worried. He told me he was working out and lifted up his shirt to show me how flat it was. He looked so good! He said he got to pick the age he wanted to stay forever and picked his fifties. I gasped and was like, “Oh my god, Dad, you look so good.” He was so happy. And he reached out his arms all wide and I leaned in to give him a hug and then I was awake. It was so real… I can’t even tell you how real it felt. And so when I woke up I was all shaken and upset and I was crying that morning. And I had a party to go to later that afternoon and I was running late and your dad was hollering at me from downstairs that it was time to go. So I was running around looking for shoes and couldn’t find the pair I wanted so I just grabbed a pair of white sneakers. And as I was leaving my closet one of the shoes slipped out of my hand and dropped onto the floor. And there was this loud clanking noise, like “CLANK, CLANK.” And I was all confused, like, “What was that?” So I reached down and saw this penny. And I’ve never seen a penny like it before. And it was perfect, like so clean and shiny. Like brand new. Like, how does a penny end up in a shoe? And I can’t remember the last time I had a penny—I never have pennies. And so now I carry it around everywhere. I think it was from my dad… telling me everything is okay, things will be okay. It’s too weird for me to think anything else.

G read a story about loose pennies and how they relate to the dead a while before her father passed away. She remembered it a few weeks after his passing, but didn’t think much of it until she had the dream and found the penny. Now she believes steadfastly in the communication of the deceased with coins, and has her own story as proof.

This story was told by G first asking if I’d “ever seen a penny like this before,” and presenting a penny from her pocket. Its story followed suit.

This story gave me chills because of the penny presented as proof. I think it is a beautiful and comforting belief to have, and I’m not sure I will be able to shake it. I think every time I find a coin in a strange spot I might question how it got there—or who exactly put it there.

Swedish Proverb

Nationality: USA
Age: 45
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 4/19/2018
Primary Language: English

“De är inte alla karlar som bär byxor.”

Swedish: All are not men that wear trousers. 

G’s Scandinavian father used to say this to her and her siblings in Swedish while growing up. He immigrated to the United States from Sweden when he was young, and it was a phrase that he heard growing up. It’s a phrase that G repeated (albeit slightly butchered, as she does not speak Swedish) when she grew older, because it was relevant, reminded of her childhood and her father.

G’s father would say this to his five children to encourage them to break from the mold and be different. He said it to emphasize that his daughters could play sports and listen to rock music, and his son could design clothing and play musical instruments. He didn’t believe his kids had to do strictly things designated by society for their respective genders.

I love this phrase, and I think it is especially applicable in this age, where the previously-designated boundaries of gender are being pushed. Girls do not equal pink and boys do not equal blue. I think a variation of this proverb exists in every language and culture—not every woman has to be girly and not every man, manly.

Don’t Let Your Meat Loaf

Nationality: USA
Age: 45
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 4/19/2018
Primary Language: English

“Don’t let your meat loaf!”

G’s father used to say this to her as a child, which is why she began saying it, too. She thinks it is funny and it reminds her of her childhood, as well as her father. She says it often and enjoys when her family members say it, as well. She says it mostly as a joke and has never considered its meaning while saying it.

My mom said this to my dad and me all the time while I grew up. She would say it when we were leaving to go somewhere, like, for example, if my dad was leaving to go to the grocery store. She would call out after him, “Bye! Don’t let your meat loaf!”

This phrase never seemed strange to me, because I heard it all the time growing up. One time, I actually looked it up and was shocked and sort of horrified to learn its very sexual meaning. I didn’t even know it was a common phrase; I always thought it was just something my grandpa made up and circulated around the family.