Author Archives: Bianca Collins

420 Tradition

Nationality: French American
Age: 24
Occupation: artist
Residence: LA, CA
Performance Date: 2001
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Theo recalls learning a tradition from his friends in high school regarding an unofficial holiday celebrated by people who smoke marijuana. He was about 14 at the time, attending school in Princeton, NJ.

Theo says he first learned this tradition on his first April 20 (4/20), a day when pot-smokers celebrate their favorite green, usually by smoking profusely for most of the day. It was the night before 4/20, and he and his friends all prepared by making sure they had adequate amount of marijuana to smoke the next day. Then, they waited up until it was 4:20 AM, and each of them smoked their own “persy” (personal) joint to celebrate the first of two 4:20’s they would experience that day.

When I asked him what he thought about this tradition, he replied,  “I still do it to this day. Why not make the most of a day where literally everyone who might ever smoke IS smoking?” Even though he (and many) is an avid, regular marijuana smoker, for some reason, this holiday enthuses even the most common smoker.

The interesting thing is, no one seems to know why it’s celebrated on 4/20. Even Theo wasn’t sure. He said, “Uh, I don’t really know why. I think I heard somewhere that it’s Bob Marley’s birthday, or … another reason but I can’t remember why. It’s just synonymous with smoking weed somehow.” It doesn’t really surprise me that the pot smokers wouldn’t feel like they needed to know exactly WHY they were smoking on that day, simply that they were ALL smoking together. It provides a sense of unity and identity to a folk group, and there is variation and multiplicity in events occurring on this day. Therefore, to celebrate 4/20 at all is to participate in performing folklore.

Persian Mirror Magic Superstition

Nationality: Persian
Age: 22
Occupation: Artist
Residence: Eagle Rock, CA
Performance Date: 1996
Primary Language: English
Language: FARSI

Roxana told me she heard this Magical Superstition from her Mother when she was quite young. She was playing with compact mirrors at the time, so Roxana estimates she was about seven when she first heard this superstition in her home in Orange County, California.
She says, ”So I was young and sitting in the living room and it was really sunny. I had a compact mirror in my hand, one of those stupid toy princess ones – and I was playing with it in the room, making reflections with the mirror on the walls. And she said, ‘Don’t do that. When I was little I did that and someone told me not to do that, because if you reflect the sun with the mirror, then your father will die a week later. And a week later my Dad died.’ So then I got freaked out because her dad Did die, you know? So I got freaked out and stopped.”
Now, Roxana says if she’s standing by a window with the sun coming through it, she’ll stand facing the sun so the mirror isn’t reflecting the sun’s light. I believe being told this superstition at such a young age makes it hard for her not to believe it now, whereas those of us who have never heard this superstition will likely find it hard to believe in. I also believe the severity of the impact upon Roxana’s family – her grandfather dying a short time after her mother was seen reflecting the sunlight and chastised for doing so – as connected to this piece of folklore makes it difficult for Roxana to simply disregard the action.

Persian Evil Eye Protection Superstition

Nationality: Persian
Age: 22
Occupation: Artist
Residence: Eagle Rock, CA
Performance Date: 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

Roxana can’t even remember the age at which she learned about the Evil Eye and how to combat it, but she is certain she learned this folklore protection superstition from her parents when she was growing up in Orange County, California.  She believes both her parents learned their techniques to rid the Evil Eye from their own Persian parents, and passed the knowledge down to her. The context in which this folklore is performed, Roxana says, is, “If my Mom hears people complimenting me, she’ll burn esfand for me so I don’t get [evil eye]. Like when I broke out freshman year, she said, ‘People have jinxed you. They’ve looked at you with evil eye, with jealousy, so bad fortune has come onto you.’ This is what she’ll do to prevent it. Literally, when bad things happen to me, she says, “it’s the evil eye” Although her parents have been warning her about the Evil Eye since she was a young child, she recalls an incident that occurred in 2007, when she was 18 and had just gotten into college. Roxana remembers, “We went to a family party, and I saw a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in a couple months. They did their usual, ‘Oh Roxana, you look beautiful, you’re such a nice girl, you’re in college, you’re going to be so successful.’ Then we go home, and my mom turns on the oven and puts on esfand – it’s like an herb that smokes a lot – and she says, ‘Come here,’ and started waving all the smoke in my face. And she says, ‘They jinxed you at the party. This will take away all the chemsh (evil eye).’” Roxana says she believes in the power of the Evil Eye, and incorporates it into much of her art. Although this is a tradition that has never been a part of my life, I see why Roxana and so many people believe in the power of this folklore performance to take away bad vibes. I believe that bad mojo and jealously from others can indirectly interfere with one’s own personal goals and good intentions, so I can appreciate the action of using smoke and herbs to force the negativity away. Annotation:  This  Evil Eye Purification Ceremony is also seen documented in Living Tradition of Iran’s Crafts, a book published in 1979 by Jasleen Dhamija.

Dead Baby Jokes

Nationality: Cauacasion/American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 2001
Primary Language: English

1.             Q. “What’s funnier than a dead baby?”

A. “A dead baby in a clown suit”

2.             Q. “What’s the difference between a Corvette and a pile of dead babies?”

A. “I don’t have a Corvette in my garage”

Jonathan doesn’t remember from whom he learned his Dead Baby jokes, but he believes he was in about 8th grade, in New Jersey, when he first heard the joke genre.  Jonathan says the context in which one might tell a Dead Baby joke is whenever anyone else brings up a dead baby joke, to add to the laughter. When I asked Jonathan what he thinks about the Dead Baby joke genre of folklore, he shrugged, and said, “Well, I picked out the funny ones. I liked ‘em. The ones I liked stuck in my head.”

I, however, do not think these jokes are funny, and believe them to be in horrible taste. As a woman, perhaps I’m pre-wired to blanch at anything referring to a dead baby, even a “joke” about one. Perhaps men (who tend to be the bearer of these jokes) don’t carry that same emotional tie to infants, and therefore can recite these jokes with ease and humorousness.

Brian Collins – Initiation

Nationality: Irish/Italian
Age: 49
Occupation: Military Contractor
Residence: Calabsasas, CA
Performance Date: 1982
Primary Language: English

My father recalls a ceremony he learned at the Naval Academy. He was about twenty years old when he experienced this in Annapolis, Maryland, during his junior year in college, about 20 years old.

Brian recalls, “At the Naval Academy, they have a ring dance during your junior year. And during the Ring Dance, they have a ceremony – after you finish your junior year you get your class ring – and so the Navy has, uh, different ships provide water from the seven seas, the seven oceans of the world, and they mix them all together in like a, uh, something equivocal to a baptismal fount. Then your date, who’s wearing your ring around her neck, dips it in the water. And that is symbolic of entering your senior year.  I think it’s just symbolic that you will be travelling the ocean as a Naval Officer.”

Brain thinks that, “It’s a very, uh, symbolic, traditional, you know, military ceremony that’s kind of like a rite of passage. It’s like passing through a milestone. “ Most ring ceremonies have this same sentiment, preparing a young adult for their last year of adolescence (especially in high school). The fact that it is the date of the man entering his senior year who wears the ring and dips it stands out to me. I wonder why it would not be the man himself who dips the ring. It’s considered bad luck to have a woman on board a ship, so I wonder why they are allowed to handle the ring the sailor will likely wear out to sea. Perhaps it is a reminder of female companionship while out at sea… I’m not certain. But, either way, my father wears his class ring often, especially when he’s looking to impress others, and I’m sure he remembers the ceremony fondly when he sees his ring.

Annotated: This ceremony can be seen as documented in the United States Naval Academy website.

“The Bonds of Gold.” United States Naval Academy. N.p., 2008. Web. 28 Apr 2011. <http://www.usna.com/Page.aspx?pid=563>.