Category Archives: Homeopathic

Name in the Honey Jar

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Miami, Florida
Performance Date: April 28th, 2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece: 

“So when my grandma would think that someone had ill will towards you, she would write their name on a piece of paper and stick it in a jar of honey, and put it in the freezer. So it’s the idea that like, it would you know, ‘sweeten’ the person or like make them change their opinion [of you] or influence them in a way.”

Background: 

My informant is one of my friends who lives in Miami, Florida, and is of Cuban and Iranian heritage. This is a folk belief that her grandmother holds, and practices for both herself and the rest of my informant’s family members whenever they supposed someone had “ill will” towards them. This belief seems to have been passed down from my informant’s great-grandmother. When I asked if my informant believed in the custom, she confessed, “I think I want to believe it, it definitely gives me a sense of comfort,” then added, “I kind of feel like, ‘what do I have to lose by it?'”

Context: 

This piece was brought up when my informant and I were talking about the different kinds of superstitions we’d heard in our families growing up. Since she’d already told me a piece of Iranian folk beliefs from her father’s side, I asked if she knew any Cuban ones, and she provided me with the above piece. 

Thoughts: 

I’ve never heard of a custom like putting someone’s name into a jar of honey to “sweeten them,” so I enjoyed this folk belief for the content, but I also found it to be a good example of Homeopathic magic, whether my informant’s grandmother intended it or not. In this piece, the desired event is for the person intending to inflict ill will on— for example— my informant, to change their mind about doing so. In order to do that, my informant’s grandmother wrote the person’s name down on a slip of paper, and stuck it into a jar of honey, which is the mimetic action that is supposed to represent the kindness said person should show towards my informant instead of trying to inflict ill will. I’m not sure what putting the jar of honey in the freezer does, but the action of freezing could be to solidify the behavior that the person should show the informant without worrying that it will melt, and thus undo their way of thinking. 

However, this custom could also be interpreted as a combination of two types of magic: Homeopathic and Contagious. One element of the performance is to take the person’s name— which is deeply connected to their identity— by writing it down on paper. Contagious magic usually requires a physical part of someone’s body/identity, which can’t be done with a name, but it seems that writing it down is the equivalent of making it physical.

Peruvian Kiss Greeting

Nationality: Peruvian-American
Age: 23
Occupation: Producer
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

A: Peruvians greet each other by, uh, at least I do, by kissing — kissing the other person like, cheek to cheek on both sides.

L: Ah, like la bise in france.

A: Yeah. And whenever you go to, like, a gathering of some sort, you have to greet every single person. Like, when you enter they do that, and other people, when they enter are expected to come by and do that. And when you’re leaving its the same thing. 

L: Oh god, how do you–how do you–? Is 50% of that time just spent greeting and —

A: It takes like, ten minutes to leave. You don’t have to do it to, like, there are exceptions. Like, uh, you don’t have to do it to, like, people that aren’t Peruvian. You don’t do it to Americans. You don’t have to go looking for all the kids. Only the ones that are, like, are around. 
L: But it’s like, aunties, uncles, grandma, and grandpa are a must?

A: Mm-hmm.

Thoughts:

The first thing that came to my mind upon hearing this folk tradition was how similar it is to the la bise tradition in France. Both of these traditions are greetings where people kiss each other on the cheek. To learn about the similar French custom, please visit https://www.cia-france.com/blog/culture-french-traditions/la-bise-in-france/ .

The informant is Peruvian, so it is most likely that Spanish colonization brought this custom over the pond to this South American country.

Throwing a Fallen Tooth

Nationality: China
Age: "No no no, don't tell them my age"
Occupation: Elementary School Teacher
Residence: Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Performance Date: 2/24/2021
Primary Language: Chinese

Backgrounds:

Ms. Z is an elementary school Maths and Chinese teacher in Shenyang, China. We were having dinner together when I mentioned my folklore collection project. She then shared some of the interesting folklores she’s learned of from the kids in her class or from her colleagues.

The Main Piece:

Z: I’ve got this one from one of my colleagues. So, when a kid’s tooth falls, we should throw it out. If it is the tooth from the upper jaw, we throw it downward. If it is from the lower jaw, we throw it upward. You know, in elementary school a lot of kids will have their teeth fallen, and when this happens I’ll tell the kids to do this. It’s believed this will make their new tooth grow faster.

Analysis:

This piece of folklore reminds me of the concepts of contagious and homeopathic magic. We can see the connection that the direction to which we throw the fallen tooth is the same as the direction towards which the new tooth will grow. So throwing the fallen teeth from the upper jaw downward is believed to make the new teeth to go down(come out) faster. There is also this link between the kid’s fallen tooth and the kid him/herself. So this practive is a combination of homeopathic and contagious magic. It also reveals the wish that the new teeth should grow faster, which represents the hope that the kid should grow up quicker.

Opening an Umbrella Inside of a Building

Nationality: China
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Shanghai, China
Performance Date: 5/2/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Backgrounds:

P-M was born in China and finsihed his middle school and high school in LA, California. He is currently studying at USC. P-M shared this piece of folklore with me after I asked him whether he know of any interesting folklore when we were chatting after dinner.

The Main Piece:

P-M: You know the umbrella one?

Me： What？

P-M: The umbrella. So, if you open an umbrella when you’re inside……

Me：You don’t grow tall?

P-M: Exactly.

Me: Why?

P-M: Uhhhhh…… It’s more of a rumor. Think of an umbrella, indoor. Like, this shit, is like a ridiculous misbelief.

Me: but why is it there? How did u learn of it?

P-M: Where it’s from, when it’s from, I dont know. I’ve heard of it from my grandma grandpa generation. But nowadays people don’t take it that seriously.

Analysis:

The interesting thing is that I’ve heard of this belief myself as well. I want to try and explain why there is such a folk belief. A roof sets a limit to how high one can go. An umbrella, when opened, is like a roof. With only one roof, a person can handle it, but when an umbrella is opened indoor, there comes a double roof: the roof of the umbrella and the roof of the room. The two roofs combined might limit one’s growth.

Be careful where you throw out your nails

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 30
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/12/21
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Main Piece:

YS: Let’s go with this one first because I can tell it more accurately

YJ: So we’re skipping the first one?

YS: Yeah, I can’t remember enough to tell it properly. There’s this guy, it’s not like he’s poor they’re a bit well off, middle of the road. What happened is that the son clips his nails, gathers them all, and he threw them out into the street. His dad scolds him to not to throw them out into the street like that.

YJ: What time period is this again?

YS: Ancient Joseon times, medieval Korea. So a couple days later he went off in the street to hang out with his friends. He comes back home and he finds this exact same guy at his home talking to his father, a doppelganger, acting like nothing’s happened since he left the house earlier the day. He’s worried about his identity and he asks who the man is. The family is shocked at two identical people. He speaks the same, has the same habits, everything, even shared memories. The imposter turns out to be way more sociable and calmer, and he’s appealing to his family with rationality and the family is siding with him in the imposter’s accusation. The real son is about to get kicked out of his house by his father.

One thing I have to point out though, every Korean story is going to have a passer-by Korean Buddhist monk just walking around.

YJ: Why?

YS: It’s just how it is with how Confucianism discouraged individual names in stories.

YJ: Huh.

YS: Anyways, the monk arrives and said he sensed some foul deeds/energy here. Father says there’s a faker impersonating his son. The imposter son is being very calm about the situation. The monk sees this and says he knows what’s going on. He brings out a spell tag and the imposter start to shiver. The monk attaches the tag to the man and the imposter shrivels into a mouse. Monk asks the son what he did the day before. The son says he threw out his nails into the street. The nails you threw out was eaten by the mouse and inherited all your memories and transformed into you as he ate a part of you.

Background:

The informant, YS, is my brother who has heard many Korean folktales from our parents before I was born. As my brother mentioned, a wandering monk will always be the nameless benefactor that helps resolve a supernatural situation for the nameless protagonist of the story due to Confucianism and Buddhism’s influence on Korean culture and tradition before Christianity takes root in the country. My brother likes these types of folklore as he is an avid fan of mythologies and belief systems all over the world despite having been active debater against organized religion as well as having it be a fond memory of his country and family’s history before Christianity began phasing things out on the traditional spectrum of Korean culture.

Context:

My brother told me this story in a series of story-sharing sessions we had for the project and as for my own enrichment while he was forced to stay home with the family during the Covid pandemic. He is intimately more “Korean” than I am and has heard many of the stories my parents have heard from their parents before I was born. This was one of the stories he remembered with clarity among many he could not remember as accurately.

My Thoughts:

Hearing the story for the first time definitely had me guessing where in the world the story would go next between doppelgangers, wandering monks, and consuming nails to literally become another person. Once again, Korean folk elements are present within the Buddhist and Confucian elements to the story, seeing as though the rat was not killed for its actions. While individual names are still discouraged, an important lesson of self-respect and self-preservation in owning one’s own identity can be drawn from the tale. If I’m remembering correctly, my parents and my brother especially always told me to be extra careful when clipping nails as to not misplace any. While I’m sure this was mostly advised so as no one would step on them on accident, this particular story could still serve as foundation for not being careless with ones own body, even down to a smallest nail. Ironic that in trying to not make an archetype of heroic figures and characters, the restriction created a whole new set of archetypes based Confucian influences of the helpful monk.