Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

La Lechuza

Language: Spanish

“La Lechuza is an old woman who people seek out to make deals with. The tale is, if you want to cause harm to someone, you can send the witch to carry out the action. You bring a photograph of your target and a personal item, like a piece of hair or a toothbrush, and the witch will transform into an owl and spy on your target. The owl will then follow the person and curse them. If anyone has unexpected illness or misfortune like losing all their money or job, that is said to be her work as well. If someone dies with no apparent cause or unexplainable illness, that is her work as well. I remember hearing it from some older kids in my neighborhood when I was younger.”

Analysis:

While I was listening to my informant, I got the idea that this type of legend would be used to explain a train of misfortune that someone could face, but when I asked my informant how they viewed this legend, they responded that they recalled that it was mostly used as a cautionary tale for when dispersing property among families or not to cross others. I thought that this was really interesting, as La Lechuza represents both misfortune that’s unexplainable and misfortune that you could receive as “karma”. Unlike other childhood legends I’ve heard, this one seems to follow you into adulthood, rather than just being a children’s warning.

Ratoncito Pérez

Language: Spanish

“I don’t remember the story super well, but it’s kind of like a version of the tooth fairy. The story goes that there once was a mouse that wanted to be a dentist, but couldn’t find any teeth to use. He then saw that children’s teeth would fall out, so he would go to collect them during the night. He felt bad for just stealing the teeth, so he would leave money or candy behind as sort of like a “thank you” for being able to keep the teeth. After that, children would leave their teeth underneath their pillows for the mouse”

Analysis:

I think it’s so cool that there are so many versions of “leaving your teeth for a creature to collect for money” around the world. When I think back on it, I think that losing teeth as a child can be an incredibly traumatic thing, so involving a reward and a mythical creature of some kind definitely makes it a lot easier for younger children to understand. I also think the inclusion of him being a dentist is beneficial, as since children (and even many adults!) fear the dentist so much, having kids feel like they’re “helping them out” may help them overcome some of these fears.

Don’t cross your eyes!

Nationality: American

Age: 22

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Orange County, CA, USA

Date: 04/05/2025 

Language: English

Description: 

When I was a kid and still now, because now my mom just finds it funny. But when I was a kid, it was like a pretty serious topic. She used to say that if I cross my eyes and someone slaps you on the back, then your eyes would stay crossed that way. And so sometimes, like when I was joking about it as a kid about across my eyes she’d threate to like, come back up and like, uh, hit my back. Not in like an abusive way, but in, like, a funny way. She would tell me how she had this one friend. This boy. And he was like making fun of that or something, and was like walking around crossing his eyes being, like, see, see, like, you can’t get me because it’s not real. And then, he was crossing his eyes, and someone came up and hit him on the back, and he stayed cross-eyed, and she would say he stayed cross-eyed forever, and he could never go to school, he could never do his work, because he couldn’t see straight. And glass never fixed it, and you can’t get surgery to fix it. And it was like something she used to tell me a lot. So, now sometimes we have a bit where I cross my eyes and she’ll come back and then hit me on the back and then I get all nervous about it still. Like, I still get nervous that my eyes are gonna stay that way.

Subject’s Opinion 

Subject: I don’t know who told her that story. It had to have been like, a friend of a friend. It was like, probably one of those things you know where you hear down the grapevine. 

Analysis 

This cautionary tale, as the subject points out, becomes legend as it’s spread through parents to inform each other’s children about the “dangers” of crossing your eyes. In this case, the form of ostention the subject’s mother participates in to this day led me to consider the lingering effects of these cautionary legends. Even though the subject, now an adult, no longer believes in the legend, she still has some anxiety when the ritualistic slap is performed. This indicates that since the subject once believed in the legend, it’s difficult to dispel the belief completely, which in turn reminds me of ritualistic practices that reverse or undo these legendary effects.

Kissing Bench

Age: 17

Date of Performance: 4/01/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a high school student. She referenced a myth at her local university regarding the “Kissing Bench.” It’s said to give couples good luck if they embrace while sitting on the bench in the center of the university campus.

2. Context

“I heard this one from a friend when we were walking around the campus, actually not too long ago, probably a few months ago. They basically just said that both of their parents went here and they told them about this tradition on this bench but apparently, it can also be applied to friendships and if you hug on it you’re supposed to have good luck in your friendship too. I don’t know, it’s kind of wholesome, I like it.”

3. Analysis

This is a myth, in that, it is not subject to literal truth, but rather rooted in a playful, social commentary. It is a fun, light-hearted tradition to engage informants with the university campus and create tradition in the environment. We talked in lecture about the role of folklore in formulating tradition and how it shares culture through storytelling across generations. The Kissing Bench feels like a myth that transcends generations in that it can be applied to various points of time, and it involves a long-standing object, making it more applicable to multiple people.

Dream about Grandfather before Passing

Age: 59

Folklore: “Two nights before my grandfather died, I had a dream about him sitting on my bed and he was saying goodbye to me. It was a very real dream and he and I talked for a long time, although I don’t remember what about. He said that it was time for him to go. Two days later, my grandfather passed away. I got the message on my answering machine that he had died, but I already knew he was going to die because he and I had talked about it.”

Context: This story came from my mother, who experienced this when she was 21 years old in college. It felt real to her and her first dream where she was actually communicating with someone so it felt unfamiliar. She was in her dorm room and her grandfather was in Germany. 

Interpretation: This memorate reflects a common motif of the dead appearing to loved ones in dreams before or after their death. It feels more than just a coincidence because of the timing of the dream. It was both a supernatural experience where she connected with someone far away and personal closure as she was away from her grandfather. This is her own personal experience that validates a greater folk belief.