Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

King Cake

Text (traditional foods/folk belief)

“I bought King Cake one year. I thought it was just going to be a slice, but it was big enough for multiple people.”

Context 

My informant has attended the Mardi Gras parade twice and tried King cake once when she went with friends.

Q: “What is King Cake?”

A: “King Cake is a large type of cake in a circular shape but hollow in the middle almost like a rope that is decorated in icing and sugar of the Mardi Gras colors: green, gold, and purple. It typically has a tiny toy baby in the center of it that represents baby Jesus and is a symbol of a year of good luck and prosperity to whoever finds it in their slice”

Analysis

King cake during the celebration of Mardi Gras is a collective ritual most people participate in to celebrate and participate in the cultural experience as well as hoping to find the plastic baby looking forward to prosperity in the coming year. Stemming from Frazer’s ideas of belief and sympathetic magic, this shows how non-scientific belief has an influence on the natural world implying good luck and warding off bad energy. It’s a form of homeopathic magic as “like produces like” or finding the baby Jesus produces good luck and prosperity. This custom is rooted in European traditions dating back to the Epiphany, a Christian holiday representative of the Magi visiting baby Jesus. Originally, a baby Jesus figure was hidden in bread and whoever found it would be king or queen for the day. After the spread of this tradition in New Orleans, bakers would add their own spin on the ritual varying decorations and selling the cakes during Mardi Gras season. The cake is very large and meant to be shared and eaten with others as a community bonding ritual that brings people together in celebration and festivities reinforcing communal cultural identity. This is an example of the ways folklore changes through time based on the cultural context of a community. Steering away from medieval societal structures, the context in which the toy baby Jesus was used changed from an aristocratic nature to an uplifting optimistic symbol of luck and prosperity brought by the baby Jesus. Also exemplary of religious folklore, this practice is a for Catholic belief to be communally shared, and enjoyed by festival participants bringing people together to cherish and understand more about the religious custom and how it has evolved through time.

Throwing beads

Text (ritual/folk belief)

“Throwing and collecting beads is a traditional practice and brings good luck.”

Context

My informant has lived in Louisiana for 4 years and participated in the Mardi Gras festival twice where this practice occurs collecting many beads to wear around her neck in participation of the celebration.

Q: “What is the significance of beads at Mardi Gras parades?”

A: “The practice of throwing beads on Mardi Gras stems from 19th-century French customs where the king would throw jewels and gold to the ‘common people’”.

Q: “How do you get beads?”

A: “The people on floats are above you at the parade and you can reach your hands out or jump and wave to insinuate for them to throw beads down, or people also commonly will flash their boobs to get beads. I didn’t do that though haha. There used to be a legend that University of Lafayette students wore beads to stand out during Mardi Gras and the custom spread to now where beads are commonly worn and exchanged at the festival”

Analysis

Originating in the 19th century, bead throwing is a traditional ritual/practice taking place where those of higher status or class would assert their position originally throwing any small trinkets to spectators of the parade. The evolution to throwing beads began in the 20th century as people of higher status would begin to dress up themselves and their floats in beads colored in line with the Mardi Gras theme as a symbol of creativity and expression. Today these beads are representative of the Mardi Gras season expressing appreciation for and participation in New Orleans cultural practices asserting a shared cultural identity. The traditional custom of wearing brightly colored beads and the ritual of exchanging or throwing said beads act as a way to show participation and involvement in the festivities as well as a symbol of good luck. Frazer explores the concept of homeopathic magic and the idea that like produces like. Many people partake in bead-throwing rituals in hopes of receiving good luck for the coming year partaking in this homeopathic ritual. His work provides a framework for analyzing the role and significance of rituals, symbols, and practices in various cultures. Recently, however, there has been some controversy regarding the environmental friendliness of throwing around thousands of plastic beads. Many people have called for more sustainable alternatives to this practice which is an integral part of Mardi Gras culture. This conversation touches on the adaptation and transformation of folklore over time to be more accommodating to 21st-century ideals and the evolution of folklore practices to fit the modern standards of societal and cultural norms in the United States.

Wear Green on St. Patrick’s Day

Text:

In the United States on St. Patrick’s day people are encouraged to wear green or else they’ll get pinched. It is thought that wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns because they like to pinch anyone they can see. Also some people think wearing the color will bring good luck as green represents the Irish Nation.

Context:

Growing up in America K.L. would always be told to wear green on St. Patrick’s day or else he would get pinched by a leprechaun. He said, ” in actuality if I didn’t wear green one of my friends would probably pinch me and not an actual leprechaun. I never believed it was real but it was just fun to go along with the superstition”.

Analysis:

If I didn’t talk to K.L. I would have assumed that if people don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s day, others may interpret it as people not supporting Ireland. This being why people pinch one another if they don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s day. I also think the belief that a leprechaun pinches people who don’t wear green helped spread interest in Irish culture in the United States.

Picking and Burning Sage

Text:

My informant, from Rosebud, South Dakota, describes the use of sage in Lakota culture: “So sage is a thing that we use in Lakota culture, it’s kind of a thing, to put it in more modern terms, it’s kind of like clorox wipes for Lakota people, because it’s very much a cleansing feeling. Has a lot of different uses. It can be used as a gift between people. And picking it is a thing in of itself. Because you can’t pull it, you have to cut it at the stem, say a prayer, sometimes you leave some tobacco as a “thank you” for getting the sage. A lot of people burn sage in their house to kind of cleanse it almost? Like if they’re feeling a little like, down, depressed or anything, sage helps kinda cleanse that area of the house. And a lot of ceremonies will center around a bowl of burning sage and you’ll kind of like waft yourself with it. It’s used a lot in like, Sundance, Sweat, and everything.”

Context:

“I’ve never picked sage myself, I’ve seen it be picked. And burning it, I think just, I don’t know if it’s because of some factor or if it’s just familiar, but every time I smell sage, or like burning sage, it just gives me this sense of like calmness? And serenity. Which nothing else really does. So I guess in a sense it works. I think the sage has always been a part of my life and I haven’t really known anything different. And I think knowing that it’s not as wide of a thing just makes it all the more special to me. I mean, we were hunter-gatherers, back in our day, we used the land to survive, and sage. And I think it’s just a tradition that’s carried on since that.”

Interpretation:

The rituals of picking and burning sage seem to represent a connection between the group and their past. The informant emphasizes how important it is to him that this is something that feels unique to his group, and is representative of where they came from and who they used to be, and who they still are now. The sage represents a connection to the earth, picking it carefully and leaving tobacco behind in return suggests values of gratitude and respect for nature. Sage seems to be a versatile object, used in multiple ceremonies and rituals, of various scales. The smell of sage seems to represent to the informant the familiarity of home.

Don’t Clip Your Nails After Sundown

Context:

The informant, NM, is a Junior at USC and my roommate. She was born in New York, later her family moved around the Midwest, and now they reside in Texas. Her mom and dad were born and raised in India and incorporated their heritage into their lives in America. Natasha grew up surrounded by Indian culture and Hindi practices, so she was taught many superstitions and folk beliefs that she has held with her.

Main Piece:

NM-I have lots of superstitions!!

Interviewer- (laughs) Okay, well just pick your favorite.

NM- Okay well I don’t know if this is necessarily my favorite but it’s definitely the most bizarre. So, in India there is this superstition that if you clip your nails after the sun goes down you’ll have bad luck and misfortune brought into your home.

Interviewer-That’s so interesting and specific. Were you taught this as a child, and what was the reasoning or meaning behind it?

NM-Yes, it’s always just been unknown thing not to do that. I don’t know all the details behind it, but I know that it’s so that we don’t upset or disrespect one of the goddesses. She is supposed to come into your home at night and bless it.

Analysis:

The informant’s superstition is one that’s held sacred within the Hindu religion. The goddess that the belief references is, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune. It is understandable that unsanitary things like fingernail clippings would be considered disrespectful to her and result in misfortune. This folk-belief could also be a function of safety and overall cleanliness. The belief has been around for a very long time, way before electricity. Thus, doing things like trimming your nails with whatever sharp instrument you had, with minimal lighting, could have realistically resulted in injury. Additionally, the societal fear of misfortune being brought upon your home as a result of uncleanliness could act as a form of accountability. This emphasis on cleanliness is a common theme within the philosophies of Hinduism.