Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Break a Leg Ritual

Text
“So this is like the traditional ‘break a leg!’ before a performance, because I’m a theater major. But before any type of performance, instead of just saying ‘break a leg,’ the performing group that I grew up in since I was a kid to high school, we always would say ‘break ALL your legs.’ As like a way of saying ‘you’re even gonna do better than just break a leg, like you’re gonna have a phenomenal performance.’ And then we would- I don’t know how to explain this properly, but we basically lock our pinky fingers together, and then like, bump each other’s hips, each hip twice, and then like, spin, like, turn with our arms. And I was like- everyone in the group that I grew up in performing did this, um, and was incredibly superstitious about it. It was a thing of like, even if you were called to places, you would run backstage to the other side of the stage to find the other people in the cast to do it to. Because it was an incredibly, like, you HAVE to do this. Like, if not something’s gonna go wrong. Um, and so I was incredibly superstitious about it. Like if I didn’t get the chance to do it to everyone, I, like, I was not comfortable on stage and I was like ‘something’s gonna go wrong, I’m gonna mess up, just it’s not gonna be the performance I know it can be.’

And now that I’m in college and I’m not part of this performing group anymore, I still carry it on. Um, especially with this one, like, performance group I’m part of. Backstage before every show that I’ve started since freshman year doing, I teach it to like anyone who’s new in the group, and I do it with as many people in the cast as I can do, and I even like, explain the story of it to people, like ‘this is something I used to do in my past performing community that I was a part of, and we’d say break all your legs,’ and I teach it to them and then like, they go on to do it to other people in the cast and explain it to them. So it’s something I’m like carrying on and spreading to other people.”

Context
C is a current student at the University of Southern California and grew up in Palm Desert, California. She gave the context that she had been part of the same local theater group for her preteen and teenage years until coming to college. When asked to elaborate about some of the logistics of the ritual, C explained how the ritual would be done between two people in the cast, with the goal of everyone in the cast eventually doing it with everyone else. She also stressed the importance of performing the ritual as immediately before the beginning of the performance as possible. She also described how different people in her original group believe in different degrees of consequences for not performing the ritual with everyone in the cast; while some people think it is not strictly necessary, many, including C, believe that there will be “severe and immediate consequences” during the performance for not doing it with everyone. Finally, C explained that, while she is not sure when the ritual began, allegedly everyone who her director had worked with had a similar kind of ritual, which leads her to believe it stemmed from him and evolved to what it is today.

Analysis
As C acknowledged, this tradition takes a widely-known example of theater-specific performative speech and adds an additional physical element as added superstitious behavior. I would say that this ritual combines elements of homeopathic and contagious magic. By believing that not performing this ritual correctly induces bad luck, this theater group exhibits the ‘like produces like’ belief behind homeopathic magic; however, the contact required for the ritual, perhaps to ‘share luck’ amongst the cast, suggests that the connection between two cast members lingers after contact, which is characteristic of contagious magic. There also seems to be an added dimension of promoting the group’s strength and unity; by requiring everyone in the cast to perform this bad-luck-warding behavior together, it reinforces the idea that the group is stronger together. Ultimately, I think this ritual is a perfect example of the multiplicity and variation that is often said to be a core component of folklore, and I would be interested to see if/how this ritual changes after its introduction to USC theater spaces.

Text:

In a discussion about family health practices, a classmate shared a folk remedy rooted in his heritage. When a family member falls ill, his father employs a traditional healing method. This involves igniting a tissue, placing it on a glass, and then setting the glass on the stomach of the sick person. The belief is that the burning tissue creates a vacuum within the glass, which then draws out the infection from the individual’s body.

Context:

My classmate explained that this practice of using fire and a glass to cure ailments is an ancestral folk medicine technique passed down through generations in his family. They believe that the heat and resulting suction specifically target the sickness, effectively extracting it from within. He recalled this method being applied various times throughout his childhood, particularly for stomach-related issues. The ritual, though medically unverified, is deeply embedded in the familial tradition, and it’s a vivid representation of the intimate trust they place in their heritage and the natural methods of healing.

Analysis:

This folk remedy mirrors the principles of sympathetic magic, specifically of the contagious variety, as outlined by James George Frazer. Just as Frazer described how objects associated with a person, such as a lock of hair, could be used to influence their well-being, so does the use of a glass on the body in this practice suggests a transfer or extraction of ailment. While to the outsider it may seem a quaint or even irrational act, to those practicing, it’s a manifestation of a deep-seated belief in the tangible interaction between physical objects and one’s health. Furthermore, Hafstein’s notion of collective tradition plays a role here, emphasizing the importance of community and shared practices in the development of folk remedies. Rather than deriving from a single innovator, this practice is likely the result of communal beliefs and the collective wisdom of the family, passed down and adapted over time. It represents a lineage of knowledge and a tangible connection to their ancestors, imbuing the act with personal, cultural, and historical significance beyond mere “entertainment value” or rudimentary medical intervention. This traditional method, while not scientifically substantiated, offers a unique lens through which we can examine the interplay of belief, culture, and the human need to find solace in the face of illness.

Text: In the quaint British village near Durham, the ‘Wald Inns’ hotel harbors a chilling tale from the 1980s. A girl’s tragic end in room 212 spawned a series of inexplicable fatalities, sealing the room’s fate and the hotel’s closure within a mere month. Whispers abound that her spirit lingers, eternally confined to that very room.

Context: While sharing eerie stories one evening, my friend from a serene British village recounted the haunting history of ‘Wald Inns.’ The hotel, once bustling, became the stage for a harrowing narrative in the ’80s when a young girl’s life ended in despair in room 212. This event marked the beginning of a terrifying pattern: subsequent guests of the room never emerged alive. The sequence of mysterious deaths led to the hotel’s swift shutdown. Today, the abandoned ‘Wald Inns’ stands as a spectral reminder, with locals firmly believing the girl’s spirit remains, eternally wandering within the walls of room 212.

Analysis: The haunting history of the ‘Wald Inns’ hotel in room 212, where a young girl’s tragic demise led to a series of unexplained fatalities, transcends mere ghostly folklore. This narrative, deeply ingrained in the local community’s consciousness, reflects a collective engagement with themes of loss, the afterlife, and the quest for understanding beyond the tangible. As Domino Renee Perez highlights, folklore figures like the girl’s spirit in room 212 wield power through their actions, often leaving a lasting impact on cultural memory and communal identity (Perez 155). The tale of the ‘Wald Inns’ serves not just as a chilling story but as a cultural expression that probes the boundaries between life and death, invoking questions about justice, remembrance, and the unseen forces that linger in our midst. It embodies a communal narrative that navigates the complexities of human existence and the mysteries that defy explanation, serving as a poignant reminder of the past’s enduring presence in the collective psyche.

Greek American Ghost Memorate

Text: The informant lived in a small apartment in the Bronx. Due to the neighborhood’s known risks, his mother would meticulously lock the door, a practice the informant deemed necessary yet somewhat excessive. Over 33 years, the informant remembers the door never being left unlocked or open without explicit reason. He recalls even if he was moving back from college, his mother would lock the door in between each trip. However, the day his father passed away the informant discovered the door wide open twice, despite no signs of a break-in or any items being disturbed or stolen. The informant also explains there is an old Greek tradition that he heard about from friends that when someone dies, a male family member has to stand outside of the house for a while to prevent the soul from returning to the house.

Context: The Informant experienced this in 2001. He believes that his dad did come back into the house. He viewed it as a good thing though, somewhat contradictory to the original belief that you had to stop it from happening. Instead he took comfort in it. The informant is Christian and believes the spirit stayed around for a bit just to impart good byes to his family. 

Analysis: I think this piece reflects the strong religious belief in the afterlife among the greek population, Christianity is one of the defining parts of their culture, though this story isn’t really christian though it still reflects the belief in an afterlife. I attribute the story, in part, to the Mysticism inherent in the religious beliefs of Greek Orthodoxy. I think you can also gleam the traditional gender roles from this story as well, with the aurdmian of the house required to be male, Greece being a very traditional society, this doesn’t surprise me

SoCal Ghost Story

Text: When the informant was three, her grandmother, who was battling breast cancer, passed away in 1967. Choosing not to undergo the harsh treatments of the time, she died at home, survived by her husband and four children, the youngest being seven-year-old Jerry. After her passing, the grandfather remarried and continued raising the children nearby, renting out their old home. Years later, when Jerry was in college, he and his roommates, Gordy and Bob, rented this family home. Gordy occupied what used to be Jerry’s bedroom, while Jerry stayed in the master bedroom and Bob in another children’s bedroom. left it out on the dining table. Upon seeing it, Gordy was shocked and exclaimed, “What the fuck!” and “That’s the women.”  He explained that a woman resembling the one in the photos visited his room every couple of nights to turn off the lights. Bob also confessed to seeing her well. This revelation was the first time the roommates spoke of any supernatural occurrences in the house, and notably, Jerry never witnessed the apparition of the woman.

Context: The Informant believes her grandma had unfinished business, because she died leaving her cousin as a little kid. She is a devout Catholic but she says she believes in this ghost because she believes Her grandma had to try and take care of Jerry. this took place in Pasadena in 1967 and the ghost part 15 years later. The informant grew up in suburban Virginia in a Irish Catholic home

Analysis: The grandmother’s death and subsequent appearances as an apparition reflect a common motif in folklore where spirits linger due to unfinished business, in this case, to care for a family member. The informant’s integration of Catholic beliefs with the concept of ghosts demonstrates the personalization of spiritual beliefs, showing how individual experiences influence the interpretation of traditional religious doctrines.