Author Archives: Daniel Kang

Whistling at night attracts snakes to your bed.

Nationality: Korean
Age: 55
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: Korean

When you whistle at night you attract snakes to your bed.

My informant first heard about this proverb from her mother.  Due to this superstition my informant never whistled at night as a child as she did not want to bring harm to her family. She lived in a small country town in Korea, thus this environment helped this superstition gain steam. In her specific city, snakes were prevalent all over the neighborhood. She believes now that this proverb was told to discourage children to make noise at night, as this bothered the neighborhood. She also once witnessed her sister whistling while she was about to go to sleep, my informant then quickly told her the proverb so she would not brings snake into her bed.

This is actually quite an interesting usage of folklore as it was used to discourage children from doing a certain thing that bothered other townspeople. It also makes sense as snakes were prevalent all over the town and children usually hate snakes, thus the adults used a familiar animal to discourage children from whistling for generations as adults constantly passed this folklore down.

When your ear itches, someone is talking about you.

Nationality: Korean
Age: 49
Occupation: Travel Agent
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: April, 2012
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Whenever your ear itches, it mean’s someone is either saying good things about your or bad things about you, depending on which side of your ear itches. Specifically when your left ear itches, bad things are being said; when your right ear itches, good things are being said.

 

My informant’s mother told her this proverb when she was 10 years old. She stated that one day while my informant and her mother were walking home from school, her mother said “My ear itches, someone must be talking about me.” My informant then asked what that meant and she explained this superstition to her. She then always answered with that statement when someone she knew said that their ear itched.

She said that this proverb was passed down from her grandmother to her mother. She believes it was a simple superstition due to the fact that Korean women are known to gossip frequently. Thus every time someone’s ear itches either good things or bad things are being said about them. She believed as a child if her ear itched a lot a certain day either people liked her a lot or despised her. My informants analysis makes a lot of sense as it provides quite the answer for a simple body reaction.

The Meaning of Greens

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English

This piece of folklore is actually a custom among Marijuana smokers. This custom states that whenever it is someone’s first time smoking that they get to “greens.” Greens is basically a name for a custom where a person gets to light the marijuana first whether it be in a pipe or a rolled up joint. My informant states that he heard this through his friend who is a big fan of marijuana. He states that offering the person who either put the weed in the pipe or rolled a joint is a huge deal and demonstrates a large amount of respect for the person that did the tasks.

He states that greens is important to smokers as it demonstrates their kindness and also is a common courtesy for guests when the smoke for the first time or smoke with the group for the first time. He states that it is comparable to offering someone a drink of water when they enter your home. He also states that by explaining greens and passing it on, that everyone now is a part of it and keeps the cycle going.

I think this is a very interesting piece of folklore due to the stereotypes users of marijuana have in our culture. They are known as lazy and selfish people, yet this illustration demonstrates that friendship and courtesy that there is in smoking. It is also interesting that the drug culture always seem to have rituals or ways of order to not mess something up. It basically proves that among drug users that there is a personal courtesy or secrecy among them, thus users can decipher first timers from consistent users easily. For example if a first-timer did not offer greens or did not know what greens was.

Cigarette Ritual

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English

My informant states that he and his close friends share the practice of choosing a cigarette in a freshly purchased pack of cigarettes and flipping it over, so that out of all the cigarettes that have the butt sticking out, there is one odd white one. This supposed cigarette that is odd one out is a lucky cigarette. My informant states that he always save this cigarette for a bad day and once he smokes it he will either have a good day or a great night. But the one catch is that the buyer of the pack cannot choose the lucky cigarette, a friend must always be at the time you purchase a new pack and also choose it at the point to get the luck charm.

My informant believes in this whole-heartedly and thus tells this to all of his friends and makes sure that they follow the rules and also reap the benefits of this superstition. He states that he was told about this through his older friend, when he bought a pack of cigarettes for the first time.

This is an interesting piece of folklore, as it is a fun practice for such a bad habit. I believe whoever started this piece of folklore was trying shed a positive light on smoking cigarettes. It is also an interesting ritual started by visuals as the image of a cigarette just being the odd one out in a pack of cigarettes is like finding a four-leaf clover in grass. The visual of picking a certain “blessed object” appeals to people to brighten up their day.

Legend of Blackstar Canyon

Nationality: Caucasian- American
Age: 27
Occupation: Student
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
The Warning Sign

This sign warns individuals that the county is not held responsible.

My informant tells me that there is a very eerie hiking path within a canyon in the city of Orange. This canyon warns it entrants that the area is not maintained by the city and also the government is not responsible for any injuries or loss that occurs in this place. He states that this was a local spot to hang out in during high school, to either go do drugs or go and get scared. My informant states that kids in high school would take flashlights and cameras, to go and take pictures of the haunted landmarks while night-hiking.

The landmarks that are known are the haunted tree, overturned bus, the forsaken campsite, and also man known as Blackstar Bill. The haunted tree is supposedly haunted by the ghost of many unfortunate people that were punished with nooses there by white supremacists. These ghosts are miserable and angry and if you do something disrespectful to the tree, ghosts will appears. My informant stated that his friend decided to urinate on the tree and they heard noises, thus they ran away as fast as they could. The overturned buss is another landmark that is known for being haunted, as children died there unfortunately as the bus driver loss control. The forsaken campsite is known to be a very eerie-looking campsite that looks like it has been left alone for a long time. Supposedly there are very insane people that live at this campsite that are the remnants of an abandoned mental institution. There also is reasoning that this campsite is home to Satanists and White Supremacists who meet here. Lastly Blackstar Bill is a deranged mountain man that lives within a cabin in the woods. He will shoot at you with no regard for human life and will state that you are trespassing on his property, thus he has the right to kill you. These are the landmarks that kids usually try to get to a night and take pictures of. My informant states that he once went there and saw odd red eyes within the overturned bus and never has gone back. He also states that there are signs along the hiking trail that state that police will not help you beyond these points.

My informant states that the Legend of Blackstar Canyon is still prevalent within many Orange County high schools. He states that he told his younger brother about this myth and that he already knew about and also ventured there before.

This definitely is a legend quest that offers high school kids on a boring night a thrill. What is interesting is that the landmarks are shared by many different high schools, yet with different stories at some parts. An example of this would be the haunted tree; instead of summoning a ghost when you anger the tree, another version is that you summon a very demonic creature that resembles a chupacabra. This could possibly be a latino spin on the legend, but this demonstrates how legends change for different people. What makes this a legend is the fact that there have been sightings of Blackstar Bill by many people. However the meeting site for occultists cannot be proven. Either way high school kids perform this ritual to state that they have been there and survived. It is basically a rite of passage for these high school kids, once they can drive and get there.