Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Tiger’s Wedding Day

AGE: 53

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 02/19/2025

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: American 

OCCUPATION: Attorney

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: New York 

INTERVIEW SUMMARY:

When asking my mother of any proverbs she grew up on she told the story of the Tiger’s Wedding Day. Whenever it was raining on a sunny day, her mother [my grandmother] would say “it’s tiger’s wedding day,” referencing the tale. While my mother does not remember the exact story of it, this is the basic premise of how the story goes:

The Tiger, the King of the Mountain, was getting married to the Fox. During the wedding ceremony, the Cloud fell in love with the Fox, causing it to weep.

This story comes directly from the translation of sun shower from Korean to English. In Korean, the term for sun showers is yeowoo bi (여우비), which directly translates to “fox rain” in English.

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

I think it’s interesting how our culture can weave into parts of the proverbs and phrases we use and pass down generations. Even though my mother didn’t remember the actual story itself, she remembered the phrase that her mother would say every time there was a sun shower. Storytelling is such a deep part of Korean culture (and especially culture as a whole), so there is no surprise that it shows up in the every day phrases my family uses.

Shaking the luck out of your leg

AGE: 53

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 02/19/2025

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: American 

OCCUPATION: Attorney

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: New York 

Interviewer: Are there any superstitions or other phrases you remember being used around your family growing up?

TL: “Well there’s not anything distinct that I remember people saying, but my grandma was a very superstitious woman. There’s a saying in Korean that when you shake your leg [like a habit], all the luck will come out. When my grandma first met your dad, she saw the dent in his forehead and lost her mind. She thought all the luck was about to come out of his head.”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

This superstition of “losing your luck” reminds me a lot of when parents will tell their kids scary stories to prevent them from going out and causing trouble. For example, the story of La Llorona or of skin walkers. In East Asian cultures, there’s a lot of superstitions and phrases surrounding luck. Such as, in Chinese culture, having an “auspicious nose” means you have a lucky nose and you’re bound for success and wealth. In this case, I guess my great grandmother saw my dad’s “deformity” (for lack of better terms) and deemed it as unlucky. Although he wasn’t born with the dent, but was just dropped as a baby, there is some tie between body parts and the luck they hold. Could breaking a bone cause luck to pour out of me then? And would there be a way to earn it back or is it gone forever? These are some questions I have about this concept.

Angel Numbers & 11:11

Age: 18

Date of Performance: 2/13/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a freshman student at USC. She referenced a proverb in number form that she says, which is “11:11,” pronounced “eleven, eleven.” It is meant to symbolize good luck, and she mentioned how she makes a wish every time she sees it.

2. Context

“Every time I see 11:11, I say ‘eleven eleven’ and make a wish. I love angel numbers and 11:11 specifically. Also, 444 is my angel number, I’m locked to it. With 11:11, it’s just that I always see it, all the time, I’m just on my phone and I always see it.”

“A family friend died at 11:11 so that is also like a connection to it. With 444, I kept seeing it when I was doing college tours. Someone was wearing a 444 necklace on one tour, I went to my next tour and someone was wearing the same necklace, and I think it helped me with my college collections.”

“Last year on 11:11 I would always wish to get into USC and it worked!”

3. Analysis

“Eleven, eleven” is a brief proverbial saying which is widespread across many communities and cultures. Angel numbers, as they are known, have become reflections of good luck and good tidings throughout history. Repeated numbers in a row have different meanings for luck in different categories of life, and it is tradition to repeat the saying “eleven, eleven,” and then make a wish. It can be seen as an arbitrary thing in nature, given that it is numbers in a row; however, the coincidence of numbers being in order is seen by some as having a tie to cosmology and therefore, a connection to luck.

BREAK A LEG!

Nationality: American

Age: 20

Occupation: Student 

Residence: San Diego, CA, USA

Date: 02/20/2025 

Primary Language: English

Language: English

Description: 

“I thought this was common knowledge, but apparently it’s not in theater. You’re not supposed to say “good luck”. You’re supposed to say, “Break a leg”, uh, apparently saying, good luck is bad luck. Actually, I don’t remember why that is, but I know why you’re supposed to say, break a leg. I was told that in the old days, there was a piece called the leg that held up the curtain. And if in the olden days if it was too fragile, or if you were too loud, you would…you could actually break the leg and the curtain would come down. And so if you were to nail it, you would be so good that the curtain would come down. So, that’s why people say, break a leg.”

Subject’s opinion: 

Interviewer: Can you talk about how you you might have used it in your personal experiences? 

Subject: Yeah, I, I tell my friends break a leg all the time, even if it’s not in a theater related context. If someone ever says good luck to me before I go on stage, I correct them, because I do not want that bad juju. 

Interviewer: What would you say to me, exactly, if I said good luck to you before you go on stage? 

Subject: I’d say…actually, I probably wouldn’t say anything, but it would bother me. It would actually bother me, and I’d go on stage and be thinking about it. It’d mess me up. 

Analysis: 

A student actor himself, the subject expressed surprise regarding how little people knew of the origin of “break a leg.” Many in the theatre space take the phrase for granted, but few investigate the spirit from which it originated. In fact, most have made their own speculations, drawing links to origin stories that involve the literal breaking of legs—sometimes even monogenic—rather than acknowledging the phrase’s roots in stage logistics. It’s interesting to consider how the oral history of the phrase shifted in this case. “Break a leg” is a visceral image; the opposite of what a performer would want. Once its supposed original reference to the legs of a curtain became more obscure, the phrase’s intensity and ironic appeal may have been a key factor in its longevity. Perhaps if the context was understood more widely, the phrase wouldn’t have the same popularity. 

“The Girl Who Turned Into the Moon”

Age: 20

Date: 03/27/2025

Language: English

Nationality: Chinese

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

1. Text:

“When I was little, my mom used to tell me a story about a girl who didn’t feel like she belonged in her village. She was kind and quiet, and she loved to watch the moon from her rooftop. One day, she disappeared — no one could find her. But that night, the moon was bigger and brighter than ever, and people said they could see the outline of a girl’s face in it, like she was finally where she belonged. The story goes that she was so gentle and luminous that the sky took her in. And now, whenever you feel alone, you can look up and remember that she’s still watching over the ones who don’t quite fit in.”

2. Context:

The informant said her mom would tell her this story whenever she was feeling out of place or left out. Annie said she used to imagine that the moon girl was her imaginary friend — someone soft, calm, and always there. She now sees the story as a metaphor for girlhood, sensitivity, and the quiet power of being different. “It made me feel like there was a kind of magic in being misunderstood,” she said.

3. My Interpretation:

This legend is a beautiful example of celestial transformation as emotional metaphor. The moon becomes a symbol of refuge for girls who feel unseen — turning isolation into radiance. The narrative draws on themes of longing, gentleness, and visibility, with folkloric echoes of moon goddesses and star maidens. It affirms that softness is not weakness, and that even those who vanish leave behind light.