Author Archives: Maia Nelson

Sasquatch

Background: Informant was born and raised in Florida, with a very religious father. This story was told to me in person.

Informant: My dad always told me that sasquatch was gonna get me… whenever we’d go up to North Carolina or went to a cabin in the woods. It was definitely a cabin in the woods story. One time I woke up in the middle of the night and I could’ve sworn that Bigfoot was outside and I totally freaked out.

Me: What did you do?

Informant: I immediately went and woke up my dad and told him that Bigfoot was outside. I was so scared.

Me: what did your dad say?

Informant: He didn’t care. He just told me to go back to sleep and that Bigfoot wasn’t out there. 

Thoughts: It’s funny to think about the line that parents will draw in order to play a prank on their children and when they aren’t invested enough to keep up “the bit.” Obviously, my informant’s dad doesn’t really believe in Bigfoot if he was able to wave it off and tell his son to go back to sleep. If he really believed in Bigfoot or had even the slightest thought that. Bigfoot was real or was worried about it, the thought of Bigfoot being outside would have woken him up instantly and he would’ve responded to his son in a different way. 

Hunting Trolls

Background: Informant has a Norwegian background from his fathers’s side and was raised being told about these Norwegian traditions and holidays, and this anecdote was told to me over a FaceTime call.

Informant: We would have a special toll hunt on the seventeenth of May… or syttende mai. Kind of like an easter egg hunt but trolls.

Me: Why did you hunt trolls?

Informant: Umm… it’s because trolls have a negative connotation, like how you’re supposed to clean your house in Chinese tradition on Chinese New Year to get out the bad luck… for us it was trolls.

Me: Did you get a prize for finding the trolls?

Informant: Yeah, we would get rewarded in chocolate.

Thoughts: Syttende mai in Norway is also known as Constitution Day, which is an official public holiday throughout the country. Essentially, it’s a country-wide party—people dress up in traditional costumes, with a lot of parades and drinking and ice cream. Syttende mai is not celebrated in any large way outside of Norway, as it would be like celebrating the Fourth of July as an Irish person—it just doesn’t really make sense to. It’s interesting to me how the informant’s mother brought together various folklores in order to give her children meaning on syttende mai as children born and raised in America. Trolls in Norway are seen to be creatures that are evil and dangerous, and beings that belong in the wilderness, not by the home, so there is even meaning behind the act of hunting trolls in Norwegian folklore, especially since the informant was rewarded for finding the trolls.

Norwegians Are Born With Skis On Their Feet

Background: Informant has a Norwegian background from his fathers’s side and was raised being told about these Norwegian traditions and holidays, and this anecdote was told to me over a FaceTime call.

Informant: Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. It’s an old Norwegian expression just because Norwegians are good at skiing and winter sports.

Me: Where did you hear it?

Informant: My great-grandma told me about it. 

Thoughts: This one is pretty self-explanatory, but there’s something funny about how straightforward it is as an expression. It is also a pretty well-known fact that Norwegian people are especially good at winter sports—they’re known in the Olympics as “the ones to beat,” and even now Norway holds the most medals in the winter olympics. 

Santa Lucia

Background: Informant has a Norwegian background from his fathers’s side and was raised being told about these Norwegian traditions and holidays, and this anecdote was told to me in person.

Informant: It’s a Swedish tradition, it’s like mid-December. Saint Lucia was a martyr and her name is after lux, the Latin word for light. The Santa Lucia celebration is a celebration of light in mid-December when it’s really dark in the Arctic in Scandinavia. You sing this song about her and then you walk down the aisle and everyone carries candles and little lights. 

My informant sung a portion of the song as well for me.

Thoughts: It’s interesting what exactly is the most meaningful to different cultures in different parts of the year. For instance, in Scandinavia, it’s dark almost every hour of the day in the depths of winter, and it makes sense that Scandinavian people would want to celebrate light in the darkness. It’s also interesting to me how many Scandinavian countries have so much in common culturally—even though my informant is Norwegian, and not even from Norway, he has a lot of knowledge of other Scandinavian holidays and culturally important events because they’re all so related.

Don’t Go to Bed With Wet Hair

Background: Informant spent his whole childhood, from age 2 to 18, in China. This was told to me over a FaceTime call.

Informant: One of my Chinese friends never goes to bed with wet hair. She said it’s a superstition that you aren’t supposed to.

Me: Why is that?

Informant: Like… you’re not supposed to shower before bed since your hair will be wet when you go to sleep. Going to bed with wet hair is bad luck and you could get sick from it, which is bad luck.

Thoughts: This is an interesting superstition, because there’s really some truth in it. It is possible to get sick from being cold and wet, however going to bed with wet hair probably isn’t enough for that to be the case. What I find even more interesting is that being sick is associated with bad luck.