Author Archives: Claire Birnbaum

Ritual

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Residence: Encino, CA
Performance Date: March 1, 2007
Primary Language: English

“On the first of the month I always say Rabbit Rabbit- without fail… I usually try to say it before my feet touch the ground… as I’m getting out of bed… but sometimes I forget until later on in the morning, but I always say it at some point”

Lindsay is my 22-year-old best friend and roommate. She grew up in Encino, California also known as “The Valley” but after graduating from USC last year, she lives with me in Westwood, California. Lindsay is superstitious about a few things, she religiously says “Rabbit Rabbit” on the first of the every month “because its good luck and I feel uncomfortable if I don’t.” Lindsay and I discussed her superstition on the 1st of March, when I heard her say “Rabbit Rabbit” while making breakfast. I had heard of it before and occasionally said it myself, when I remembered, but I wasn’t a true believer like Lindsay.

She learned about this superstition and ritual from the kids’ network Nickelodeon when she was young, probably when she was about 8-years-old. Since she learned about it she has always performed the ritual. She doesn’t have a reminder, it is all instinctually ingrained. She actually taught her brother and sister about the superstition, and now all three of them say “Rabbit Rabbit” on the first of every month.

The superstition is really a ritual for Lindsay, she always performs, “without fail” like she explained. It is part of her identity, and what is important to her, so it makes sense that she would want to share it with me. Though Lindsay did share it with me and her siblings, it is also a private ritual of hers that she doesn’t usually advertise. To her, it is of the utmost importance and very significant in her own life. From her relentless practicing of the ritual its value and significance is obvious. Lindsay probably shared this item with me because it is part of her identity, both the belief and the practice. She firmly supports the notion that saying “Rabbit Rabbit” is good luck for the month. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the superstition and investigates its origins, its uses, and its variations like “Being the first to say “rabbit rabbit” to a person on the first of the month will bring good luck. Once someone says rabbit rabbit to you, you are no longer allowed to repeat it to anyone, thus having bad luck for the next month” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit. (3.20.07).

Rhyme/Game – Encino, California

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Residence: Encino, CA
Performance Date: March 17, 2007
Primary Language: English

“No cuts, no butts, no coconuts!”

Lindsay is my 22-year-old best friend and roommate. She grew up in Encino, California also known as “The Valley” but after graduating from USC last year, she lives with me in Westwood, California. Lindsay is a fair and practical person, which extends back to when she was a little girl and the notion of cutting in line. As a little kid, Lindsay was taught about the rules of cutting in line: the correct way to “cutsies” was to ask, but of course with asking came anger from the back of the line which is when it is appropriate to use the rhythm “No cuts, no butts, no coconuts!” Lindsay learned the saying from her friends at school, who in turn learned it from their peers or possibly even older peers. “It was playground rules, all kids knew them, but no one knew where they came from.” Lindsay’s contribution to this collection of folklore was shared with me at Starbucks, as she sang the rhyme, she also pointed her finger in beat with the syllabus. “If you yelled out ‘no cuts, no butts, no coconuts’ you meant business,” Lindsay recalled. “There were rules and a general understanding about ‘cutsies’ and if you abused the rules then there was a consequence.”

I also used the saying when in elementary school and I don’t recall from whom in particular I learned it from, it was general schoolyard rhetoric. Lindsay and I both agreed that the saying was powerful, yes teachers could say no cutting in line but if you heard that rhythm coming from your peers it was serious. Lindsay explained that the singsong rhythm was significant because although it was a schoolyard song, it also provided a foundation for following rules later on in life.

Lindsay’s performance of the rhythm shows how ingrained and mesmerizing children’s rhymes can be. She probably hadn’t recited the rhythm in 15 years but it didn’t matter, she didn’t waiver in her performance.

Game

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Residence: Encino, CA
Performance Date: March 15, 2007
Primary Language: English

“Personal Jinx… I think the saying was ‘personal jinx, you owe me a coke.’ If I said the same word at the same time as one of my friends said the same word, then whoever called out jinx first was the winner and the other person owed the winner a coke and couldn’t talk until the winner said her name 3 times”

Lindsay is my 22-year-old best friend and roommate. She grew up in Encino, California also known as “The Valley” but after graduating from USC last year, she lives with me in Westwood, California. She is the middle child, having one older sister and a younger brother. Lindsay and I spend a lot of time talking to one another but it was fun for her to think back on childhood memories for this collection project. Lindsay remembered how enthusiastic her friends and her would be about the game and how seriously they took it, “sometimes the person who was silenced by the jinx wouldn’t be allowed to talk for 15 minutes… and when you’re a 13-year-old girl, that’s very difficult… but we did it.” The Game itself is widely spread, almost everyone I know, has participated in jinx or knows about it. Lindsay even admitted that even now sometimes if her and a friend say the same word at the same time then she says personal jinx and everyone laughs because everyone has those memories back in grade school. There is something very universal about children’s games and that universality unites our generation. Lindsay said she learned about the jinx from her friends at school, that “one day I observed a jinx and that’s how I learned it… but its also been in television shows but I’m pretty sure I knew about it before I saw it on TV.”

To Lindsay, this game embodies childish antics. Lindsay, like most other kids, learned most of her social interaction skills while at school and this game was just another way of socializing and learning to be part of a group. The game was also an equalizer, you didn’t have to be the smartest or the most athletic to win, you just had to talk to your friends to participate.

The amazing thing about this game is that even in examining the rules, there is something quintessentially American about it because to lift the jinx, the winner must say the losers name 3 times. The number three seems random, but it’s a comfortable number just like the 3 Little Pigs and others. Even Axel Olrik’s Epic Laws describe the use of 3.

Folk Craft/Superstition

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Wife, Mother
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2, 2007
Primary Language: English

“The Worry Doll, well I actually have multiple dolls, probably about 40 in total. They were a gift, brought back for me from El Salvador. The tradition is that the dolls are supposed to be carried by their owners at all times… so I have one in my car, one in my purse, and the rest at home. I tell the dolls my worries, and they serve as protectors and are believed to bring good luck.”

Pamela is a native Californian, though she has traveled throughout the world, and even lived for short periods in other countries like Germany and Japan, she could never leave California. Her mother was born in Arkansas and her father in Minnesota, they raised Pamela and her two brothers in the Hollywood Hills. Because she is my mom, I also have worry dolls and follow the same practice as her. My mother has passed many things on to me but the dolls are definitely a favorite treasure that we both value. Our housekeeper, Gladys, who is originally from El Salvador brings us home Worry Dolls each time she visits. The tradition according to Gladys is that the dolls are handmaid and then given as gifts by their creator, “El regalo… es muy muy importante porque la muñeca es una extensión de la persona.” Although my mom and I don’t make our own dolls, we have still given dolls to close friends to carry on the tradition of the worry dolls.

My mom admits that she occasionally shares her worries with the dolls, but rather she relies on them for protection. She keeps the dolls by her bed at home to also ward off bad dreams. Though the dolls have an intended meaning for Gladys, my mom has adopted many of those uses but has also enacted her own superstitions onto the dolls, like the protection from bad dreams. The dolls are supposed to make life more enjoyable and safer and I suppose their purposes depend on the particular person.

For my mom and I, the doll is a constant, there isn’t a day that we don’t carry dolls with us so I was certain that she would want to be interviewed about them, “They are now a part of my existence, and I have passed them on to friends that I feel need a little extra support in life.” My mom and I discussed the dolls at her home in Beverly Hills. After further investigation of Worry Dolls on the Internet, I mostly found Worry Dolls from Guatemala and have yet to find more information about Dolls from El Salvador.

Worcester News reported on Worry Dolls…

“Worry Dolls Help Neal in His Quest for the Title.” Worcester News 19 Apr. 2007. 24 Apr. 2007.

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/sport/wnsportroundup/display.var.1342308.0.worry_dolls_help_neal_in_his_quest_for_the_title.php.

Superstition

Nationality: Tongan-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Office Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: French, Spanish

“My mom always told me, if you sweep at night… then you’re sweeping money out the door”

Joe is a friend of mine who works in my dad’s office. He is 20-years-old and was born and continues to live in Los Angeles. His mom, who was raised in the Tongan Islands, raised him with many superstitions, which he still follows today. Joe’s grandfather is French and his grandmother is Tongan. I went to visit the office, which is when Joe told me about this Tongan superstition. No sweeping, vacuuming or any other sort of cleaning where dirt is removed from the household should be done at night because it is bad luck. Joe follows this rule when taking care of his own apartment here in the city but was also raised with this notion.

When Joe told me this superstition, it was the first time I had heard of anything like that. Because we were in the office, many other employees heard Joe and I talking about this superstition and a few other people had heard of something similar, except the saying said “if you sweep at night you will sweep away all your luck.”  Though the language is slightly altered, it’s the same idea. Joe believes that this is true and so he never cleans at night, which is another reason he shared it with me because I recently moved into a new apartment and he wanted to pass along this superstition to me so that I don’t sweep money or luck out the door.

This superstition was passed down from generation to generation in Joe’s family so it has a lot of value to him. The superstition also tells a lot about how he was raised and about his Tongan heritage. Besides sharing the superstition with me, he also inspired me to research the saying. I found that it is a superstition in many parts of the world. http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php?blog=5&cat=85 and http://www.belizeans.com/tales.htm.