Main Piece: Me: Can you tell me about your lucky shirt? When did you get it? How is it lucky and what does it mean to you? Kevin: Alright where do I begin. So… first of all my lucky shirt does not fit me anymore and it isn’t really lucky to me anymore but it was before when I was younger. I got my lucky shirt…uuuh.. when I was around 9 years old. It was actually a gift from my mother. I used to go to church quite a bit and one day the church was uuh having sort of a fair. It was like a Christmas event so the children could play. My mom wanted to me to dress in the same suits I always wore to church but I didn’t want to. Like I knew the event was not that formal and I really wanted something more comfortable and cool. (while saying cool, Kevin made quotation marks with his hand indicating that he no longer thought it was so cool). The night before the event my mother surprised me… I was in my bedroom and she brought like … you know those.. like button down shirts. The ones for kids that come with the undershirt included. Aww man… Memories! I could remember like if it was yesterday! Uuhh. The button shirt was whiiitte with green stripes. The undershirt was almost a light green shirt. Well getting to why it was my lucky shirt. At the fair, one of the games was basketball. Oh o forgot so during the fair my mother let me take off the button down shirt so I only had my green undershirt on. I don’t remember why I took it off… I think maybe because it was hot or like I was running to much playing or something like that. Going back so I was playing and in the basketball game I was doing so good. I forgot to tell you! I was actually in my city basketball league. After that day I began wearing the shirt as an undershirt for my uniform. I am not lying to you!! ( Kevin was making a face expression that resembled he was passionate about he was saying) After that we I played so amazing!! We won every single game after that except one. Guess which one?! Me: I don’t know. Kevin: The only game we lost was the one where I freakin couldn’t find the shirt. Me: No way Kevin: Why would I lie to you? I am serious. I literally cannot explain why but that shirt was lucky. Me: What does the shirt mean to you now? Kevin: The shirt has some sentimental value but like it is not lucky to me anymore. Context: Kevin and I were playing video games and when we took a break to eat I asked him if he could help me with my collection of folklore. He agreed and allowed me to record the conversation with the condition that I would not post the video interview. He also allowed me to post a picture of him in his lucky shirt as long as I did not capture his face. We both sat of the couch and the interview began. Background: Kevin is a 20 year old attending California State University Los Angeles. Both his parents are from El Salvador but he was born and raised in Huntington Park, California. My thoughts: Kevin’s lucky shirt is common example of folk belief and how people can place superstition on objects. It is not taught in any institutional place that an object can bring you luck. This belief has been transferred from different people who believe that their object brings them luck. For example, in the instance of Kevin, he was not taught that he could have a lucky object that would allow him to win every basketball game he played. He just learned it from his own experiences. 
Author Archives: jaesonsa@usc.edu
Una Limpia
Main Piece:
Raul: When something or just everything goes wrong for a long time, you need a limpia (cleaning). Limpias help take away all the bad vibes you have around you in order for things to go good. A typical limpia is done by someone who is experienced and knows their way with bad spirits or vibes which is a curandera (healer). When you go to a curandera, they have cosas que usan (things that they use) to scare the bad vibes. They like pray and rub an egg around you. Then they move on to hit you with some leaves from a tree called el paraiso. After the curandera is done with this, all the bad vibes should have been scared away and your goodluck should come back. This means that things will not go bad for a couple of months until you need another limpia.
Me: How did you first learn about it?
Raul: Well… my mom would always talk about it with my aunts. They would always say that they needed a limpia because they were not able to get the job they wanted or they just felt that there was some evil spirit around them that they couldn’t do anything right.
Me: Did you ever see how a limpia is performed?
Raul: I actually did. At first it was really weird with the curandera pretty much smacking someone with some leaves. But in the end it was pretty cool.
Context: The participant walked into the kitchen when I was interviewing his mother on a piece of folk medicine. After I concluded with her interview, he asked what we were doing, and I let him know I was collecting folklore Background: Raul is a 27 year old who was born in Mexico but what brought to the United States when he was 17. He is fluent in Spanish and learned roughly learned English in the few years he attended high school. Analysis: Una Limpia is an example of folk medicine. It is based on curing a “folk sickness” of having bad luck. It is interesting to see how people believing that performing these acts, they can be cured from an abstract thought created by humans such as luck. I am curious as to how someone diagnoses themselves and determines whether they need a limpia or not.
Evil Eye
Main Piece: Raul: Whenever you see a cute baby you should always touch their hand or something so you don’tgive them the evil eye. Some people just have some kinda power that makes babies sick. This iswhy all Mexican babies have that red and black bracelet because it protects them from the evileye. But when babies don’t wear them and get the evil eye you have to pass an egg that youhave to warm up with your hands so it won’t be so cold around the body in a cross way whilepraying. The coolest part about this is when they are done with the prayers and rubbing theegg, they crack it open on a glass of water and if they had the evil eye then the yolk of the eggwould like um make somewhat of an eye. Then you just have to put the glass of water with theegg under the crib and let the baby sleep. I remember my mom would always cure my cousinsof the evil eye and would let me crack the egg. Everyone I knew at some point had experiencethe evil eye and had the whole egg thing done to them. Context: The participant walked into the kitchen when I was interviewing his mother on a piece of folk medicine. After I concluded with her interview, he asked what we were doing, and I let him know I was collecting folklore. After explaining what folklore is he said he had a legend that originated where he was from. After he told the legend he told me about the evil eye. Raul noticed I was writing everything he said down so he told me about the evil eye in English only. Background: Raul is a 27 year old who was born in Mexico but what brought to the United States when he was 17. He is fluent in Spanish and learned roughly learned English in the few years he attended high school. Analysis:This piece of folklore incorporates two categories of folk belief which are folk medicine and folk protection. The babies are supposed to where this magic bracelet that protects them from the evil eye. If the baby somehow does catch the evil eye then there is a remedy for it. This piece displays the power folklore has and the influence it has on peoples actions. This belief is strong enough to make parents put bracelets on their babies and even do these remedies to safeguard there children. This piece is also shocking because my parent also believed in the evil eye. I surprised because there is no report a child ever dying from the evil eye. It is not scientifically proven yet so many people believe in it.
The money under the rock
Main piece: Me: So what is this legend you were talking about Raul: In “el rancho ay un dicho” (the ranch there is an old saying” that about 30 years ago there was this man named Jose Garcia. “Era un Narco” (he was a drug trafficker)… everyone new Garcia cuz he used to drive up the road of the ranch “en chinga” (in a hurry and really fast) in his brand new truck. The story goes that he got super rich from selling drugs. “estaba bein loco” (he was really crazy!). “Hacia un pinche desmadre en el rancho” ( he used to make a mess in the ranch). He was always fighting with other Narcos (drug traffickers). You would hear gunshots of Garcia fighting other people all the time. Until… one day… no one know “que paso” (what happen). Some people say he went crazy from killing lots of people. “Otros dicen” (others say) that he took to0 many drugs. “Un dia cuando toda la jente estaba en el rancho celebrando la fiesta de elote” ( one day when everyone from the ranch was celebrating a corn festival) he and screamed “Escondie to mi dinero abajo de una piedra”. He got then got his gun and shot himself in the head. Me: Has anyone every found the money? Raul: No! Cuando tienia “When I had like” 14 years old me and my brother looked for it. For like a month “saliendo de la escuela” (coming straight out of school) me and Lupe would go home… got our shovels… and look. Nothing!!! Me: Do you think the money exist? Raul: Por supuesto!!! (of course). I know for sure. If I live in Mexico still… I would be looking for it right now. Context: The participant walked into the kitchen when I was interviewing his mother on a piece of folk medicine. After I concluded with her interview, he asked what we were doing, and I let him know I was collecting folklore. After explaining what folklore is he said he had a legend that originated where he was from. Background: Raul is a 27 year old who was born in Mexico but what brought to the United States when he was 17. He is fluent in Spanish and learned roughly learned English in the few years he attended high school. He learned this legend from a classmate when he was 14 who claimed that his uncle had told him the story. He said that his uncle had been at the festival. Raul had asked his mom about it and she also had told him a similar variation of the story. My thoughts: This legend is a classic example of some hidden treasure that has been lost for years. The money the “Narco” hid is a prevalent motif that represents amassing a large amount of money and then dying in a tragic manner that causes the money to be lost. However, this piece is more refined, contemporary, and specific to a little ranch. While in many other similar legends, usually the treasure is a large amount of gold rather than money. In addition, instead of being lost at sea, the treasure is lost in a ranch. It meets all requirements I learned in my Forms of Folklore class. It takes place in the real world and it could be true.
Cinderella
Context: This piece is was an interview that I directly copied every word said. The participants name is Jonathan. I had asked the participate in advance over phone if he had any folklore and he asked what I meant by that. After giving a few example he said he actually did have something to share. So we met in his apartment a few hour later. We entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. Background: Jonathan is a 19-year-old college student whose ethnicity is half Cuban and Half Mexican. He is a sophomore attending UCLA. Main Piece:
So Cinderella is a girl that has to live with her step mom and her step sisters because her dad died. She is treated really bad and is pretty much the maid of the house. She has like little animal friends that um help her clean and talk to her. It is announced that there is going to be a ball and Cinderella really wants to go to meet Prince Charming and get out of the house. Her evil step sisters and her step mom don’t want her to go so they rip her dress and lock her up. But then a fairy godmother comes and transforms a pumpkin into a like really nice carriage and gives her a new dress. But then she gives her some conditions which is that everything would go back to normal at midnight. So Cinderella goes to the ball and Prince Charming and her fall in love. But then she runs out because it’s almost midnight but when she does she leaves a slipper behind. Prince Charming is going crazy looking for her and goes around with the slipper for girls to try them on. The step mom locks Cinderella up when the prince is coming but with help of her animal friends she gets out and tries the slipper and since it was her it fits so they live happily ever after.
Analysis: This Cinderella tale is one of the most widespread and famous tales. Alan Dundes said there must be multiplicity and variation. This story embodies multiplicity and variation. The Cinderella tale has a centralized theme that anyone could be a “princes”. It serves the purpose of demonstrating that you can become anything you want to. I am actually shocked by how many variations there are for this tale. If you would like to read popular variations of the tale you can rea Cinderella: The Ultimate Collection by Charles Perrault.