Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Protect My Grandchildren Ritual

Age: 20

Text: This practice comes from the person’s grandmother’s side of the family. The ritual blends cultural traditions with personal spirituality and takes a modern tweak of a ritual that was rooted from an official Baha’i ritual.

Context: “Ever since I was a child, whenever we visited my grandmother, she would burn incense. It wasn’t for any special celebration or event; she just did it whenever we came over. She’s Persian and has practiced the Baha’i faith most of her life, but this incense thing wasn’t strictly Baha’i. I see it more of a cultural and familial tradition. She always said it was to protect us from demons, especially the kids. When I first saw this happen, I just never really understood this practice; mostly because when I was a kid, it was just literally smoke. But after growing up, I really started to appreciate the gesture and protection of my grandmother.”

Interpretation: Burning incense as a protective act is a tradition present in many other cultures. In Persian households, this practice often blends Zoroastrian or folk beliefs with newer religions like the Baha’i faith. In this case, it functions as a quiet, domestic ritual of care, centered on shielding children from unseen harms. Though not explicitly religious, it holds a strong spiritual meaning and demonstrates how rituals can coexist alongside formal religion as intergenerational protection.

Chinese Acupuncture

Age: 21

Text: Acupuncture is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine involves inserting fine needles into specific points on the body to balance qi (energy flow). It’s often paired with moxibustion, the burning of herbal heat sources near the skin.

Context: “My uncle had chronic back pain, and instead of going to a Western doctor, he went to a traditional Chinese acupuncturist. They placed needles all down his spine and in his legs. After a few sessions, he swore he felt better. My family really believes in acupuncture. They think it works with your energy, not just the muscles or nerves. When I still did sports during high school, I regularly went to a clinic for acupuncture because my mom really pushed and swore that it would make me feel better. I went regularly and I won’t lie, I think I only really felt the effects when my pain was really bad or just really exhausted. Either way, it did help in the long run in my opinion. ”

Analysis: Acupuncture is one of the most widely practiced elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is based on the belief that health comes from balanced energy (qi) flowing through pathways called meridians. The placement of needles stimulates these points to restore balance, reduce pain, or treat illness. While now recognized globally, acupuncture is still practiced in many Chinese communities as both a clinical treatment and a cultural ritual. It reflects a worldview that links the body, nature, and energy systems and offers an alternative to Western biomedicine that prioritizes harmony over symptom suppression. From what I’ve seen, it’s slowly (even though it’s been around for a very long time) entering people’s awareness because chiropractic is becoming more popular and I’ve seen people get confused between the two. More and more people have been using acupuncture as it is an easy way to soothe aches.

Snow Traditions 2

Nationality: American
Age: 14
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Morris Plains, NJ, USA
Language: English

These were local rituals done to bring about a snow day. Kids would pressure each other to do them before bed, hoping the more people who did them, the more likely it would be that a snowstorm came. 

“I remember when we first turned our pjs inside out before bed. [J](his brother) told me about it for the first time. We turned our pjs inside out, flushed ice cubes down the toilet, and put a spoon under our pillows. All of these done with a lot of people hopefully would bring more snow to town. I remember telling a big group of friends they had to send pictures of their inside-out PJs and spoons under pillows to their moms to send to my mom.” 

This ritual doesn’t have a designated time besides whenever a kid can’t take another day of school. These rituals are passed between friends mainly in cold communities. The peer pressure to participate is very interesting because it shows the heavy belief these kids take in turning pajamas inside out or putting a spoon under their pillow. Kids are very superstitious before they learn how the world works scientifically. Most people grow out of these superstitions after they learn about precipitation. 

Snow Traditions

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Morris Plains, NJ, USA
Language: English

These were local rituals done to bring about a snow day. Especially when the informant was younger, there were lots of snowstorms in the area, and these rituals were said to help bring them. 

“The best days were always snow days because we had no school and everyone was free to do cool things like sled or make some money by shoveling snow. When we were young, like young, young, like 3rd or 4th grade we did all those things. We were flushing ice cubes, putting white crayons on the window sill… those other things. My mom actually found a white crayon on the windowsill of the basement the other day.” 

This ritual doesn’t have a designated time besides whenever a kid can’t take another day of school. It is a special kind of kid belief where flushing ice cubes creates snow or a white crayon will turn the ground outside white. It is also interesting because these rituals are only practiced in cold places, like the northeast of America. 

Feeding Birthday Cake

AGE: 21

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 4/19

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: Canadian 

OCCUPATION: Student 

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: Westlake Village 

Text

Interviewer: What’s a tradition you and your family have done during the holidays or certain celebrations?

SA: “One small but meaningful tradition in my family happens during birthdays. I only recently learned that this is an Indian thing–but the person whose birthday it is feeds cake to the people closest to them, and they get fed cake by those same people. It’s a simple act but deeply rooted in affection and closeness.”

Interpretation

A lot of the rituals, superstitions, and other traditions that SA had described to me in her family and her culture surround concepts of love, devotion, and affection. I think it’s so beautiful that there are so many distinct rituals that surround the concept of love and adoration. The only rituals or traditions I can think of at the moment in American society is either Valentine’s Day or someone’s anniversary. But on the topic of birthday rituals, in Korean culture it’s typical that the person’s family will make them birthday soup. The next chance I get to interview SA, I would love her to expand on how she found out it was an Indian tradition and whether she would like to continue this tradition with her family in the future. Since it involves cake, did this tradition begin as the modern world developed or has cake replaced something else used in the past? Either way, what a beautiful and familial tradition.