Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

The M word

Main Piece: 

There’s a superstition in the theater world about saying Macbeth or Lady Macbeth or any like version of that. So you cannot say the M-word in a theater or I take it very seriously. I don’t even say it in like a classroom within a theater. I get really scared of that too. I don’t know why I mean I don’t know why, but I do. And oh my god, one of my professors, I think was Scott Ferris who explained the reason but the reasoning behind it, of why it’s Macbeth and not like any other character like Word or name, but if you do happen to say, the M-word in the theater, you have to go outside you have to spit on the ground, spin three times, something like that. And then or else like something terrible is going to go wrong with your show, or the theater is going to collapse or something’s going to happen. The spirits of Shakespeare will come after you. 

Informant’s Relationship to the Piece:

Me: Have you ever had an experience with like saying Macbeth and like anything bad happening? 

Informant: No. Well, actually, for one show one of our actors said it in the dressing room, and was saying “oh my god, I love Macbeth. It’s such a great play.” And the other actors were like ‘Go outside right now’ and I checked in on them during intermission. And they were saying and they were outside making this-this other actor who said the M word spit and like, spin around. And I was like, ‘what’s going on? I was like, you guys, okay? Like, I’m trying to make sure this show is gonna happen. And they were like, No, he has to do this. And the show went great, nothing happened. I personally have never said it. Um, I know that there’s some people who think it’s so silly and they’ll just say whatever they want, and I think everything turns out to be okay. But there is a part of me that always fears the spirits will come and give us some obstacle.

Context: 

The informant is one of my friends, a 19-year-old theatre major at the University of Southern California. I was told this as we were hanging out in one of the theatres on campus as we were talking about folklore. 

Analysis:

I’m also a theatre major and I think the majority of us have different levels of belief about “the M-word”, where my informant takes it seriously to the point where she won’t even say the characters name unless it’s in one of her lines, but I’ve also met people who don’t really care, and of course, there’s always the one person that says it to annoy the people who really believe in it. But, those people are seen in a different light in a theatre space, because the whole point is to build an ensemble, a community, and when you have a person in the space who goes out of their way to scare people in the group, they take the trust out of the space. So even if you don’t believe it, it’s a sort of litmus test to see who you might not want to work with in the future if they know the superstition and like go out of their way to say it. I also think the “cure” for saying the word is fun because everyone has a slightly different way of doing it, where the steps are all basically the same, but with different variations within it, where like you have to spit over your left shoulder, you have to spin three times, then knock three times and someone has to let you back in. In some variations, you have to say the worst curse word you can think of. 

A Mouthful of Sugar


Main Piece:

Informant: So whenever like there’s like an exam or like something big that we have to do. You take a like, a teaspoon or a spoon of sugar. Put it in your-right hand? Yeah, right hand and then you… Sorry. And then you just you take it like you….

Me: You ingest the sugar straight? 

Informant: Yeah, just sugar straight up. It just supposed to be for good luck. You do it every single time I’ve done it. Ever since I was in like high school. And my mom was just like, hey, do this. And it’s like, good luck for like to be prosperous. That’s all you learn. Like I think Hindus do it a lot. My mom again taught to me and I think it’s like something big.

Context: 

My informant is a 21-year-old Indian American gerontology major at USC, this folklore was told to both me and his girlfriend (my roommate) in my living room. 

Background: 

My informant learned this from his mother and he still does it before every test or interview for good luck. 

Analysis. 

When he was telling me this, I kept thinking of the saying “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”. I think sugar because for such a long time it was so hard to get, it becomes something that is saved for special occasions, so using it for important exams it a way to use some of that luck. I know in kitchen magic you’re supposed to add sugar to sweeten the spell, so it’s cool to see how sugar represents luck and good in multiple cultures. 

Chubby Bunny

Text:

“When you are sitting around a campfire and the smoke starts blowing you, you start saying ‘chubby bunny chubby bunny chubby bunny’ until the smoke moves. Saying ‘chubby bunny’ is supposed to make the smoke go away.”

Context:

QK is a 23-year-old American Recruiter who grew up in Minnesota. She told me this tradition that she did living in Minnesota when she young, and she was sitting by a fire and didn’t want to sit in the path of the smoke. 

Interpretation:

This is something I used to do growing up as well, and I remember sitting around a campfire, in direct smoke saying “chubby bunny” over and over again in hopes that the smoke would go away instead of just moving. I think this tradition is probably specific to places where it gets cold outside and you can’t just go away from the fire or else you will get too cold, so you have to sit by the fire, even if smoke is blowing in your face. It often seemed to work, as if the near rhyme had a magical effect on the smoke that got it to move. It’s a tradition I would even tell younger kids as I got older. I think we have a tendency to try to find ways to control things that are uncontrollable in nature. Even though saying “chubby bunny” can’t actually change the direction of the wind and move the smoke away from us, it is fun to try and when it does move, it seems like magic. 

Hiccups

Having the hiccups means that someone is thinking about you.

G is an Indian American whose family has strong cultural ties with India. This is memorable to him because his family would often talk about this with him.

Context: This practice came up during an interview about Indian cultural norms and practices.

The idea that if someone is talking about you, there will be a response in your body is a fairly common idea throughout Asia. In Japan and China, if someone is talking about you, you would sneeze in response.

Jin Chan

In the mornings, you turn the Jin Chan statue towards the door and chant while stroking his back
金蟾金蟾上外叼钱, 金蟾金蟾上外叼钱
Jin Chan Jin Chan Shang wai diao qian, *repeats*
Jin Chan Jin Chan go out and fetch money

Then towards the night, you turn him back towards the inside of the house and say while stroking his back
金蟾金蟾回家吐钱, 金蟾金蟾回家吐钱
Jin chan, Jin chan, hui jia tu qian, *repeats*
JIn Chan, Jin chan, come home to drop the money

C is an older Chinese immigrant who migrated to the US over 20 years ago. She still has very close contact with relatives in China and regularly participates in Chinese cultural practices.

Context: I interviewed C about Chinese cultural customs and beliefs. A Jin Chan, or 金蟾 in Chinese, is a mythical three legged frog monster represented in statues as a three legged frog with red eyes an standing a pile of coins.

This is particularly interesting to me because according to online sources, the Jin chan should not be facing the door at all as it will cause the money to flow out. My family’s tradition differs in that we see the frog going out as a good thing, something to desire as when he goes out, he is on the hunt for luck and money. He is working his nine to five. When he comes back, he is bringing the wealth and luck he has gathered into the house and sleeps for the night.