Monthly Archives: May 2021

Lentils on New Years

Nationality: Italian-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Staten Island, NY
Performance Date: 4/23/21

Overview

The informant is Italian-American and lives in Staten Island. She describes her family’s New Years tradition of eating a cup of lentils. They are not cooked in a stew or spiced up at all. Rather, they are boiled plainly and then taken like a shot out of a cup. The informant says that lentils “bring good luck on new years,” and represent luck and prosperity among Italian people. So, taking them like a shot is a purely pragmatic tradition over a culinary one. 

Thoughts

Lentils are a type of bean, and beans are a well-documented symbol of fertility and prosperity. Therefore, it makes sense for them to represent similar values in Italian folklore. I wonder if every family eats them so pragmatically, or whether other families cook them into entire meals.

Pepper to protect against evil

Nationality: Italian-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Staten Island, NY
Performance Date: 4/23/21

Overview 

The informant is Italian-American and lives in Staten Island. She describes a folk object of a red pepper which is said to protect against the evil eye. The evil is when someone “looks at you in the wrong way and wishes evil upon you.” The red pepper appears in various contexts and forms. It is common to find as a pendant in Italian jewelry and the informant’s family members have red peppers hanging from the rearview mirror in their cars. 

Analysis

When asked about the significance of the red pepper, the informant answered that “red peppers are known as the devil’s spice.” With this in mind, it makes sense that they would act as a token to ward off evil. Perhaps keeping a piece of evil with you allows it to work in your benefit, almost like a vaccine.

Thoughts

I’ve seen a lot of my other Italian friends wear necklaces with peppers hanging from them. Some of them told me that the pepper necklace was a sign of mob affiliation, which intrigues me. Does this affiliation have more to do with concepts of evil or with direct ties to Italian folklore? 

Ghost of Alabama Theater

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Birmingham, Alabama
Performance Date: 4/18/21

Overview

The informant describes a ghost said to haunt his local theater in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. The informant was a competitive dancer and many of his dance competitions took place at this theater. Everyone said that the theater was haunted and there were many reported sightings in bathrooms. According to local chatter, if you flickered the lights and looked in the mirror you’d see the ghost behind you. Ghost hunters came to the theater to try to summon the ghost and at competitions the informant would always exchange stories with other kids. 

Other Citation

The Alabama Theater was documented as haunted here, too: http://www.southernspiritguide.org/but-a-walking-shadow-birmingham-alabama/ 

Thoughts

A place of performance and gathering seems to be a recurring location to find ghosts. The Phantom of the Opera is a prime example of this. The other citation also provides an interesting explanation as to why theaters possess ghost-related folklore: “theaters often harbor the ghosts of actors, writers, musicians and directors because something about their creative natures ties them to the place where they experienced their greatest successes or failures.” If places of great passion, triumph, and failure are the home to many spirits, I wonder which other general locations house ghosts. 

Merd

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Birmingham, Alabama
Performance Date: 4/18/21

Overview

The informant is a dancer from Birmingham, Alabama. He has danced at home in Alabama and at school in Los Angeles and in both locations he’s encountered the word “merd”. Merd is something dancers say to wish each other good luck before a performance (similar to how actors say “break a leg”). 

Explanation

The informant gave background on the word. Apparently it comes from Louis XIV era France, when dancers would perform for the king. Horse-drawn carriages would arrive in a procession around the king’s palace, so naturally there was lots of horse poop on the streets. “Merd” is french for poop. So, the carriage drivers would warn, “merd!” when they arrived at the palace so that the dancers wouldn’t get their feet dirty. 

Thoughts

I love the parallels between dance-folklore’s “merd” and theater-folklore’s “break a leg”. Both phrases are dirty and negative, but they really suggest well wishes and positivity. Like with most group folklore, it requires initiation in the group to understand the true meaning, since it differs so much from the literal meaning.

Horse Walks Into a Bar

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Long Island, NY
Performance Date: 4/18/21

The Joke

Horse walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Why the long face?”

Description

The informant describes this joke that her mom used to tell. Her mom thought it was hilarious but no one else found it funny. So, whenever something unfunny happened, family members would say this joke to show that the present situation wasn’t funny.

Analysis

This is a great example of metafolklore. This is essentially a joke about another joke, specifically a joke about the unfunniness of another joke.