Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Baba Yaga – A medicine woman

Name: Katya

Text: “Baba yaga is a slavic witch that lives in the woods and i heard about her growing up cuz i had a russian nanny.She lives in the woods and is known to have a house that has chicken legs on it which I always really loved as an image and she kind of represents this very powerful woman figure that I think a lot of people do fear but when you really dig into the fairy tales about her she really is a healing witch and I remember learning about her having like all these potions and what I didn’t realize at the time is that she’s basically like an herbal medicine practice practitioner so I feel like Baba Yaga is really cool and I heard since then that basically every Eastern European country has some version of Baba Yaga but she has like a bunch of different names so her reach is far and I feel like there’s something about her as a character that really resonates with people definitely really resonated with me . 

Context:

Where did u learn it from?

Like I feel like as a kid I don’t know exactly where but my nanny would read me Bedtime Stories and stuff like that so I must have been then 

where was your where is your Nanny from?

 She’s from Kazakhstan but her ancestry is Russian 

how do you think people use it? 

I feel like she’s a symbol for a very powerful mother figure “

Analysis:

This is a tale. This is because Baba Yaga has chicken feet and we understand as humans we cannot have that. This genre is often used to make things more child-like and fantasy related. There has been a history of labeling powerful women figures into negative connotations such as witches, and to this informant, represents the mother. Baba Yaga is feared, coming from the notion of a woman having power. Thus, they have created her into a tale that depicts her as fake and as something that is dangerous (as a traveling witch with chicken feet, who in other versions eat children). When my informant mentioned there is a version of her in every Eastern European country, it further emphasizes that this is a tale as it spreads easily.  It also proves to have had a great impact on individuals, especially children, as they pass it down when they grow up. In other tales, Baba Yaga was a donor figure, but in Katya’s telling she mentions how Baba Yaga had negative connotations to many. This highlights that despite what is widely known, the individual could have their own spin on it which illustrates the multiplicity and variation of meaning on the individual scale – i.e. instead of seeing a witch, she sees a positive alternate healing figure.

The Golden Mongoose

Name: Diya

Text:

“ One day in a rural town in India there was a poor family. it was a cloudy afternoon when they had just gotten their crops and were ready for a meal. There was a severe drought happening, so the family gathered what they could as their stomachs growled. Then, suddenly, as they were about to start eating, a guest appeared at their doorstep, asking if they could spare any food. The father replied, “go get him all of the barley we gathered for me.” “Really, papa?” Asked his children. He simply nodded firmly. Then, the family watched as the stranger thanked them, and ate the meal, licking his fingers as if he wanted more. The father of the family noticed, and began to worry, as he had no more of his own food to give. Then, his wife stood up and gave the guest her portion, to which the guest thanked her and continued eating. The children followed suit. Finally, when the family could not satisfy his hunger any longer, and the father was about to offer up his own flesh, the guest stood up and revealed himself to be a deva*. He proclaimed that the family had passed the test of righteousness and are all saved a spot in the devaloka (heavenly abode). The family all rose up with the deva, leaving only their house and a few grains on their doorstep.

An odd Mongoose appeared on their doorstep. it was half golden, while the other half was its normal brown-ish shade. The mongoose previously rolled over on grains of the floor where a great prayer between the gods had happened. That is why half of its body turned gold.

 In order for its other side to turn gold, it would have to search for the location of an equally righteous people. It would sit in front of houses and roll over on many doorsteps. Every house, tirelessly, it would roll over and then shake its head in dismay, its other half remaining brown. But this time, it sensed something different. When it rolled over in front of this family’s house, its other half did in fact turn gold. It said to itself, “this family has matched the giving nature of the original gods!”

* Deva: indian deity 

Context:

Where did u learn it from?

Indian comics: Amar chitra kathas

how do you think people use it? 

It’s not very well known but I think it shows the spirit of giving

Analysis:

I believe that this is a myth, as it informs the individual what it means to live a good life using the emphasis of supernatural figures that is Hindu – the dominant religion in India.  Myth has a large truth value that is respected by many, and in effect imparts values. In this case, it is what Diya said she thought it meant – having a spirit of giving. More specifically, this is a prescriptive of sacrificing oneself in the name of being righteous and humble. The story mentions how there was a drought to exemplify that even in hard times, one must carry the essential value of giving. This will allow one individual to always help another out in the name of community, which could have helped a lot of people/the town live back then when one family had food and the other one didnt (and to this day).

Moroccan remedies for discomfort using Cumin

Informant is from Morocco

  • It is said drinking milk cinnamon cumin powder and honey will help with period cramps
  • Putting cumin powder on eggs will help you with digesting it

Analysis:
The spice trade has landed in Morocco, in which its regular dishes are full of spices.It only makes sense that cumin and other powders would be used for remedies. Nevertheless, Cumin is originally from Western Asia, in which it is used for various dishes and remedies there as well. This remedy could be an example of monogenesis. Even though it is a folk recipe, modern research has confirmed that cumin does in fact help with digestion. Perhaps that is not directly correlated to period cramps, but it would in fact help regardless.

Wishing on eyelashes

Text:

HT reports that he uses eyelashes to make wishes.

“When I find an eyelash on my cheek, I swipe it up with my finger, make a wish, and blow on it.”

When asked what the rules are for this ritual, HT responded with the following:

“You have to keep the wish to yourself. You have to blow it off your finger, it won’t work if it’s still stuck to you. My dad told me that there’s a game you have to play as well, if you notice someone else has lost an eyelash, you hold it between your pointer and your thumb and ask them to guess which finger it’s stuck to. If they get it right, then they get to make a wish. If they get it wrong, then you get to make a wish. But, you have to make a wish for that person, not for yourself. I don’t really do it that way, I just make a wish with the eyelash.”

When asked where he picked up the ritual, HT responded:

“From my parents. When there was an eyelash on my cheek, my mom would say that I get to make a wish, so I just kinda made the connection from there. Other than my dad explaining the game you can play with it, no one really explained it beyond that. I used to kind of pick my eyes for eyelashes, but my mom made me stop that by telling me I wouldn’t get to make a wish if I forced it that way.”

When asked what he likes to wish for and if there are any limits to the kinds of wishes you can make, HT responded:

“I can’t tell you what I wished for cause then it won’t come true. But no, I don’t think there’s any limit to what you can wish for. I guess it is just an eyelash, so you probably can’t ask for anything big, like winning the lottery or something. I don’t know, I just wish for little things here and there.”

Context:

HT is a twenty-four year old man, a recent college graduate, who is currently living at home with his parents. This the response that he gave when he asked to tell me about any good luck charms that he has.

Analysis:

By making a wish and blowing an eyelash away, HT engages in a form of sympathetic magic, where the act of performing a ritualistic action is believed to influence real-world outcomes. In one sense, the practice is a form of homeopathic magic, where the act of blowing the eyelash, which has been imbued with the wish, can be put out into the universe, a magic act that takes the wish from the mind of an individual and into the physical world. The size of the eyelash also seems to have some correlation with the size of the wish that one can make. In another sense, this is a form of contagious magic, wherein a smaller part of his body, his eyelash, will be able to affect the world and he affected in return. Since the eyelash was once physically connected to him, the magic that happens with it/to it will impact him as well. HT’s father’s explanation of the game that involves the eyelashes adds another layer to the ritual’s complexity. The game involves a form of reciprocity, where the eyelash has the opportunity to grant a wish to another person. However, this wish has limits, as it still must pertain to the person that the eyelash came from. It’s possible that the invention of this rule could be a modern adaptation, a way of taking the sting out of someone losing their wish by losing the game. The game elevates the ritual of making wishes with eyelashes by infusing it with interactive elements (albeit voluntry ones, by HT’s admission) and reinforcing its communal significance within the group.

Bench press PR rituals

Text:

CM reports that when he and his friends work out, the way to “PR,” or to get a personal record, while using the bench press machine, is to go through a mental checklist of things to do, typically in a particular order. For example, one might check the position on their feet on the ground, then their back and shoulders, and then how they are holding the bar, in that order. When asked what happens when one does this out of order, he says that it makes it more likely that one won’t get the PR. He didn’t describe this as a strict superstitition, but that it would really affect him if he didn’t go through this checklist in order.

When asked if he has any special rituals or food that he does before attempting a PR, CM reported that he eats sour patch kids. While he doesn’t strictly adhere to the idea that he needs to eat sour patch kids in order to get a PR, he says that he kicks himself if he fails at a PR and he didn’t have any sour patch kids beforehand.

Context:

CM is a male college student at USC. For this interview, he was asked to describe good luck charms for sports and exercises he does.

Analysis:

CM’s PR ritual illustrates the impact of superstition within secular settings. Despite lacking religious or spiritual connotations, CM’s adherence to pre-performance rituals reflects a human tendency to seek psychological comfort and a sense of control in uncertain situations. Since there is still much unknown about bodybuilding as a discipline, despite bold assurances by many trainers and influencers to have scientifically proven methods on the best ways to work out, it makes sense that many people trying to bodybuild will rely on superstitious rituals to some degree. These rituals are reinforced in failure, confirming CM’s bias, as well as his peers’ bias, that these practices will lend themselves to a PR. The magic is performed through the body, whether through the positioning of body parts or the consumption of sour patch kids, but the effect is on the mind, which is considered the ultimate obstacle when working out.