Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Frog Tail Saying

Folklore:
“Sana sana colita de rana.” – “Heal heal little frog tail.” – A saying used to help with healing if someone got hurt.

Context:
Informant is a Mexican American senior at USC. Her family originated from Chihuahua Mexico, and she grew up frequently hearing this saying from friends and family. She remembers hearing it from her grandma. The folklore is a part of a larger saying, but the informant commonly used the shortened version.

Analysis:
The folklore is something that shared between elders to youth, who commonly are energetic and prone to injury. It is shared throughout the generations and may even be shared from youth to youth, having learned it from their parents or elder figures.

Kiss the Ring to Graduate

Folklore:
Don’t step on the emblem at California Baptist University or else you won’t graduate. You can break the bad luck by running as fast as you can to the ring statue and kissing it.

Map of the University from the Emblem to the specific Ring Statue

Context:
The informant is a freshmen at Cal Baptist University, where he learned from his First Year Experience Leader this folklore. There is a specific emblem placed on campus where if you step on it, he was told he won’t graduate unless he runs to a ring statue nearby and kisses it. His friends were forced to do it after they stepped onto the emblem. The informant noted it likely was to show respect to the university and a possible hazing ritual from upper class man to lower class men. It showed they were a part of the community.

Analysis:
The story and superstition is shared within the community and specifically shared from upper class men to lower class men. The experience helps build camaraderie between the students and create a distinctive identity for its members. It also on a practical level, helps discourage disrespect against the university and encourage attention to detail and care for the campus and its members. The bad outcome being failing to graduate also emphasizes the communities interest in education.

No Hitter Superstition

Folklore: Don’t talk about a no hitter game in baseball until the 7th inning or else the game will change.

Context:
The informant was a baseball player and noted how it was bad luck to talk about a no hitter game until it reaches the 7th inning. They noted it may not always be the 7th inning, but “there is a certain inning” in which it becomes okay to talk about it. In fear of “the baseball gods” or the game turning following speaking it into existence. The informant noted how the game is reliant on rhythm and keeping the rhythm of the game.

Analysis:
The folklore is a superstition meant to try and control the affects of a game and not ruin good luck. The event of a no hitter game is a rare one, which tends to create a ritual to help the rare event continue. The community creates these rituals to help take part in the event as a community by trying to help their players or team through performing or preventing certain things for their team for the desired outcome.

Dunkin Ghost

Folklore:
At a Dunkin’ Donuts near USC, there is a Dunkin Ghost that haunts which causes random acts of high jinx during odd hours of service.

Context:
The informant works at the Dunkin Donuts near USC and told a story about their experiences with the Dunkin Ghost. “My story is about my job at Dunkin… I have been working at Dunkin for 2 years now… I don’t know how long the Dunkin Ghost has been a thing… a beeper would go off with no one entering…moved the trash can to the middle lobby… very heavy and knew that they didn’t move it… the alarm didn’t go off and it showed no one on camera.” The ghost was used to explain weird happenings around the store.

Analysis:
The folklore tends to be used as an explanation for things without explanation or for things that are done outside of expectation. It is a folklore shared within a service and work community which are held to certain expectations and rules. The explanation of the Dunkin Ghost is able to explain away the weird happenings or happenings that don’t meet those rules. Though in some cases, the ghost is used to explain happenings that don’t have a reasonable explanation.

The Motel Wife Ghost of Santo Domingo

1. Informant name- M P
2. Date of Performance- April 4,2026
3. Age- 59
4. Ethnicity- Dominican
5. Career/Occupation- Retired
6. Hometown- Santo Domingo
7. Informant’s language- Spanish

Story –

In Santo Domingo on the 27th of February a woman and her boyfriend died after a few days of getting married to each other by a car. After everything that happened in that area in the morning around 4 or 3 in the morning she would come out to people. What the people would do when they saw her was they would get into a big car accident. In addition, a friend of my sister was going to get married. It was a Monday and they were gonna get married on Tuesday. He went on a car drive on the 27th of February and died right there , right where she died. She always came out and a lot of people would die there.

Context- 

This story was told to me by my grandma over a motel corner in the Dominican Republic.

Their thoughts-

My grandma is someone who is really connected with spirits so ah bee lives this story heavily. She told me that she was always warned of this corner and would never drive it. She also said when she ever walked past this corner that she could feel a heavy pretense. Over all she believed that there was actually a spirit there.

My thoughts-

Although I do in some form believe that there are entities beyond us I think that all the car crashes here could have been accidents. The ghost of this woman was said to come out really early in the morning so perhaps the people who encountered her were just really tied. For all the crashes that can possibly be chalked up to it being a dangerous corner because many of the streets in the Dominican Republic are behind on upkeep and overall dangerous. With that being said I’m not the most convinced of this story but I also do not believe the story.