Author Archives: Brianna

Peruvian Folk Speech- Salar Tu/La Casa

Nationality: Peruvian, American
Age: 43
Occupation: Business Owner
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 04/27/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Content:

M: Me, I: Informant

I: The saying was “Salar tu casa,” like salt your house, but in Spanish it means that someone is, put something like a bad omen on your home

M: Oh ok

I: Kind of like the thing like that 

M: okay that’s good , like sal-ar

I: Salar la casa

M: and that’s used to say what?

I: It’s like, the house is cursed, or bad omen on the house.

M: Oh okay

I: and then that can also be like lets say um if someone who doesn’t have good will towards you or harbors bad feeling toward you and you let them into your home, then when they leave, they leave that that bad behind

M: Ohh

I: So you are supposed to purify you home like with sage or with holy water, if you have holy water blessed by the priest and you have it at home. You are supposed to pray and clean your home.

Original Script: Salar la casa

Phonetic script: sa.ˈlaɾ  la ‘ka.sa (Spanish is a phonetic language)

Transliteration: To salt the house

Translation: Someone put a bad omen/luck on your home/ your house is cursed/ your house is jinxed.

Context: This folk speech was used and taught to my informant by her Peruvian mother during her childhood when someone with ill will tainted the house with their ‘badness.’

Analysis: In order to understand this folk speech to its fullest is to understand what ‘Salar’ means. Literally speaking, ’Salar’ means ‘to salt.’ However, to salt in English has a much more limited scope than the meaning in Spanish. In Spanish, on top of the English meanings, it can also mean “to spoil,” “to bring bad luck,” “to jinx,” and even “to ruin.” Thus, the proverb is referring to these forms of ‘to salt’ in Spanish. In trying to understand a proverb, it is important to fully translate the words to express their true meaning. To cleanse the house of the bad luck and badness, holy water is used or sage is burned. This makes sense given how Peru is predominantly Roman Catholic but also believes in shamans and some of their practices.

Kissing the Tanakh if it Falls and the Torah

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 04/29/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish (a bit)

Main Content:

M: Me, I: Informant

I: Oh so um I don’t know if this is like a codified thing, but you can’t like… so you have like the Tanakh, which is like the mini like it’s like your prayer Bible um and like so if you if you, if the Tanakh touches the floor you have to like kiss it. You are like, it’s like not supposed to touch the floor.

M: Oh, okay

I: Um, yeah. And I think that comes form like so you are not supposed to touch the Torah and that’s not supposed to fall on the floor either, but that’s because it’s like made out of parchment that’s been used for hundreds of years and it’s like you know, brittle and fragile and stuff.

M: Uh-hm (yes)

I: Uh I think that sort uh like thought process has gone into like like, the mini Bibles. Like can’t hurt. It’s also like disrespecting G-d and stuff because it’s on the floor and whatever.

M: yeah

I: um so yeah there’s that

M: Is that like bad luck if let it touch the ground

I: Ehhhhh, it’s just like you know, like a bad thing

M: like a no-no

I: Yeah it’s a no-no cause like

M: It’s disrespectful

I: Yeah disrespectful. Cause like there’s also like, you know, at the bar and bat mitzvahs like they carry the Torah around and people like they touch their Bibles to it and they kiss their Bibles. Like you are supposed to kiss the Torah

M: Uh-huh (yes)

I: So like that’s why you are supposed to kiss it, as a sign of respect

M: Gotcha

I: Yeah

M: And that’s if you drop it, like if it touches the floor

I: Yeah, and when the Torah comes around you kiss it

M: Yeah

I: I guess that’s another thing. I think that’s another folklore thing.

…

I: I don’t think it’s codified as it walks around in the bat mitzvah ceremony or any of the ceremonies really.

M: yeah

I: It’s not just for bar and bat mitzvahs. Really we do it for like everything 

M: Oh, I did not know that

I: Yeah like a sign of respect and you want to be kissing G-d. You know. Love G-d.

Context: My informant learned to do this as a child watching those around her in the synagogue do it.

Analysis/Thoughts: I can see how these practices, kissing the Tanakh if you drop it on the floor and ‘kissing’ the Torah, flourished. While both of these practices are not codified in the Jewish religion, these are both fairly common practices in the synagogue. I think that these practices are easily considered customary as it supports ideals of Judaism that were already in place: such as respect to G-d, as dropping something on the floor can sometimes indicate a lack of caring and a lack of respect, the kiss corrects any possibility of this as it essentially says, “whoops! I do love and respect G-d.” Also I think there is something to be said about this practice and identity. Kissing the Torah when it comes around and kissing the Tanakh when it is dropped, are now considered what ‘good’ Jewish people do. Nobody is going to want to be the only one not kissing the Torah/ their Tanakh and having others thinking they don’t respect and love G-d. Thus, I think that part of what is keeping this custom alive is a fear of what society would think if you didn’t do it. Now it is so ingrained in the congregations that it is common practice and is done in most temples, as now people grow up doing and watching this from their role models-and it’s normalized. I’ve also marked this as contagious magic in the sense that through kissing the Torah/ the Tanakh which are said to have come from G-d’s ordinances. You are kissing and respecting G-d through his texts and this falls in place with the definition of contagious magic that says that ‘one can carry out an action by something that was once connected to the designated target of the magical act,’ in this case G-d’s words and teachings.

Saying Macbeth in the Theatre

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 04/29/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish ( a bit)

Main Content:

M: Me, I: Informant

I: Yeah, uh I think I can talk a lot. About like theatre traditions and stuff. Folklore. There are a lot of thing that you are not supposed to do because its bad luck in the theatre.

M: Go ahead.

I: So uh like you can say uh Macbeth, unless it’s in context of the play that you are in. Like if it’s in the script, you can say it. And that’s just because um do you want me to go into the history of like

M: Uh-hm (yes)

I: Ok, so um the play Macbeth has been riddled with a lot of really bad luck I guess from past productions, its just known to be a cursed play. So you are not supposed to say the name or it will curse your play.

M: Hmmm

I: You are also not supposed to whistle in a theatre.

M: Oh, wait what happens if  you get cursed? If you say Macbeth, in a play, what happens?

I: yeah, so I mean um normally people will just yell at you, but different places have like. Different ways to counteract you know the curse. I remember like I think at our school you would have to go outside, spin around three times and spit on the floor.

M: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. And if you didn’t do that, what was going to happen. In the show?

I: Just ev- things go wrong.

M: Things go wrong. Okay. Perfect

Context: my informant has been a part of the theatre scene since she was a child and has learned a lot about things that are bad luck and traditions in theatre to the point where she now teaches new actors about the lore as an active-bearer.

Analysis: Like I said above, my informant has been an active bearer for this lore given that she has had to pass down this lore to the younger and newer actors. This is an example of how folklore can come out of authored literature, “Macbeth.” Given how unfortunate and riddled with bad luck many past performances have been of this show, which is referred to as “the Scottish play” when talking about it in the theatre, even just saying the name is said to invoke bad luck and curse your show to go horribly awry. Many theatre members, take this very seriously and will chastise your harshly for slip ups, keeping the folklore circulating to new people and reminding the old ones. Luckily, there are a variety of things to do to ‘reverse’ the bad luck, which almost acts as an initiation to the theatre folklore if they are new. Often afterwards comes the telling of all the times that the Scottish play was mentioned by name in the theatre and how each time things went horribly awry, only furthering the believability of the folklore.

Whistling in the Theatre

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 04/29/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish (a bit)

Main Content:

M: Me, I : Informant

I: You are also not supposed to whistle in a theatre.

…

M: And then you were saying whistling?

I: Whistling is a no no because um back in the day uh theatres were operated by like sailors and they would whistle to each other to get cues, so if you whistled in a theatre, like the thought was a sailor would hear that and then like drop a sand bag on you. You know?

M: Gotcha

I: Yeah so that’s like thought to be bad luck

M: And that’s still functions in todays society even though we don’t have the sailors anymore.

I: Yeah, yeah

M: Gotcha

I:It’s just— don’t whistle in a theatre.

M: cause then you get bad luck, is someone gonna get hurt or just something is going to go wrong?

I: Yeah all of these are just like bad luck for like the show.

Context: This informant has been an active member of the theatre community since she was a child. She has been in numerous productions. She learned this from those around her and then became an active bearer of this folklore by explaining and passing it down to the younger years.

Analysis: After she learned this theatre lore, she then became an active bearer of this folklore by explaining and passing it down to the younger and newer actors. This folklore had a practical usage back in the days when sailors would operate the theaters and communicate through whistle cues. Thus, whistling would interfere and possibly trigger an accident. However, even when sailors exited from theatre operations, the practice of not whistling continued as it was ingrained as part of the culture. While we have moved from modernity to the digital age with amazing technological the folklore persisted because the practicality wasn’t important anymore as it was more about the history of accidents and ‘bad luck’ associated with whistling in the theatre. Now it’s become a part of what we learn from other actors and if you slip up, oftentimes people will correct you, which helps to keep this folklore alive and circulating.

Step on A Crack, Break Your Mama’s Back

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Business Owner
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 04/28/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Content:

M: Me, I: Informant

I: I don’t walk on cracks on sidewalks

M: You don’t walk on the sidewalks. How come you don’t walk on sidewalks?

I: If I walk on a gridded

M: On the cracks on the sidewalk. Yeah why don’t you walk on the cracks

I: I don’t know. Step on a crack, break your momma’s back. You’ve never heard that saying?

M: I have but for the purpose of this I need it *laughing*

I: I think that’s why. I don’t know is the answer. I really don’t know. It’s bad luck. It’s bad luck.

M: It’s bad luck. But to you, is that actually going to happen or no? Do you believe it to be true or is it just that not that your mom’s back will be broken but that something bad is going to happen.

I: I think I do it half for entertainment. 

M: Uh-huh (agreeing)

I: I don’t think deep down inside I believe something bad is going to happen, but I don’t want to take the chance so I just step over the crack.

Context: My informant learned this as a child and while he may have taken it more seriously back then, it still is a part of his life many years later, just in a slightly different way.

Analysis: I think that it is significant to note that he says deep down he does not believe anything bad is going to happen and yet he still avoids sidewalk cracks to ‘not take the chance.’ This is very common with American superstitions as coming from a country that values science and logic so much, you’d think these would all be rejected giving their lack of evidence. However, we must remember that these aren’t based on science or evidence, but rather group belief. While many people would admit that they don’t truly believe in the superstition, they still choose not to run the risk And may even be entertained by it. This is how I think the logical side of our brain makes peace with the emotional side of our brains. Asserting that you don’t believe it appeases the logical side, but still avoiding the cracks just in case appeases the emotional side.