Main Text:
Superstition: Splitting the Pole

Background on Informant:
My informant is a 20-year-old who was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and is currently serving in the United States Air Force stationed in Ramstein Air Base, Germany. We know each other through a Counter-Strike Discord group. I asked him about any superstitions he believes in or practices, and he brought up the idea of “splitting the pole.” He explained that he first learned this superstition from a friend in elementary school, and that his friend had learned it from his parents.

Text:

Interviewer: Do you believe in any superstitions?

Informant: Yeah, splitting the pole when walking because it’s bad luck.

Interviewer: Splitting the pole—can you explain what that means?

Informant: When you’re walking with someone and there’s a pole or sign, you have to go on the same side as them, or it’s bad luck.

Interviewer: Where did you first learn that?

Informant: One of my friends told me when I was around 9 years old.

Interviewer: Do you know where it came from?

Informant: Not really, I think his parents told him.

Interviewer: Why is it considered bad luck?

Informant: Because it kind of means you’re separating from the person you’re with. It’s like symbolic of your relationship with them.

Analysis:

This superstition is a form of customary folklore because it’s a behavior people follow in everyday life. It represents symbolic thinking, where physically separating around an object is believed to represent separation in a relationship. This connects to the idea of sympathetic magic where symbolic interaction can affect the outcome. The superstition is passed through both horizontal transmission, friend to friend, and vertical transmission, parent to child, which gives understanding to how these superstitions may persist over time. It also functions to promote social awareness, since following the superstition leads to a heightened sense of relational awareness leading to more of a considerate and cohesive experience.