Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

The Wendigo

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: April 25th, 2017
Primary Language: English

Background: My informant was a American who has lived across the country and has learned a lot of stories about other people through her travels.She is currently a student at the University of Southern California studying game design.

Main Piece: The Wendigo is a Native American story of a cannibal evil spirit. It is an animal-human hybrid that had white skin pulled hard over its bones so that you can see the skeleton. It’s eyes are pushed all the way back so they looked deep. It’s nails would go through its skin, making it bloody. It would eat people. They would explain it, when they would go crazy in the Native American camps, they would lose their minds and try to eat other people. The Windigo was tied to greed. If you got too greedy, you would become a Windigo.

Performance Context: According to my informant, it’s an old folklore that she knew growing up because she was interested in Native American culture. She might have heard it from one of the Native American camps that she visited while growing up when she was doing her own research.

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because it talks a lot about how cultures apply value to virtue and “sin” (to use a Christian idea). The idea that greed can cause one to lose one’s one mind and succumb to a disease that robs you of your humanity as a marker that lust for money and things are not only deplorable, but by nature they are unnatural and condemnable. This is an interesting idea and strongly suggests the ideals of the Native American culture, esp. of the tribes where this story is prominent and/or originates.

The Mothman

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: April 25th, 2017
Primary Language: English

Background: My informant was a American who has lived across the country and has learned a lot of stories about other people through her travels.She is currently a student at the University of Southern California studying game design.

 

Main Piece: The Mothman is a man with wings and red eyes that shows up on this very specific highway near Pittsburgh. It scares people because they can see it in their rear view mirror. It’s similar to Sasquatch. It comes from a story from West Virginia wherein a bridge collapsed  killing dozens of people. It is said that before the bridge collapsed, and before other events both there, in Pittsburgh, and even in the world, the people saw premonition in the form of the Mothman. The Mothman is a sort of boogeyman that everyone talks about and blames, although the informant does not believe in it. It is as common as Sasquatch in the area, but is about as believable.

Performance Context: According to my informant, the story was heard by her while she lived there as it is a fairly common folk story about the mysterious creature. It is much like most other forms of cryptozoology.

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because this touches upon this idea of cryptozoology, strange animals and animal-like creatures that may or may not purportedly exist. There is also a strong connection with prophecy and premonition with this and other stories. If we see something strange, there must be a reason. It must be some sort of experiment, or some sort of a sign. We start to attribute theorized motifs to the creature and further describe and explain its existence. It is really interesting from the perspective that we are encapsulating our fear of the unknown as well as our loose explanations of nature, which many feel is not meant to be conquered as humans do, in the form of folklore through these creatures.

The Chupacabra: A Second Grader’s Insight to Hispanic Folklore

Nationality: American
Age: 7
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles

The Chupacabra

 

“There was were a animal called a chupacabra that had a black ring but didn’t go all the way around. It had red eyes and sharp teeth. There was 2 soldiers, 4….. I think 5 maybe more and one little kid that was only 10 years old. Then they went to this place and the cops followed them and then the soldiers… well not like soldiers but they were en like strong, with guns and then they locked em up and then dey heard something.”

 

“De chupacabra had a powers that could like freeze em and make them into stone. But the the man who had a knife right here *points to hip* in the case. He was gonna get it to stab him, but he missed so the chupacabra got really mad because he hates knifes and so he froze him into stone. Then he touched him and then he broke apart. Then the boy and the other guys; the boys brother was there and he locked him up. But like he didn’t lock him up he like” *Kid interrupts with question*  “Was the boy mean or nice” he answers, “he was both mean and nice, at the same time. And so he locked the door and let them out and then they heard something and the two brothers went this way.”

 

“The two guys went this way and then the other guys went here. So then they crashed into each other and then they went to a tunnel and that was a tunnel that the two boys were goin’ to. So then… then… what happens was stuff from the ceiling was covered in like dust… then the ceiling fell on them but nothing happened to them. Just the brother, he was like drunk…. But he wasn’t and then… and then the boys friend was a ghost. It was a girl. She was sassy. So then she got them too and they found skulls. And then what happened was they went together and then nothing happened but then something happened and the chupacabra found the family and killed them.” -Carlos Martinez

 

Carlos told me that he heard this story from his parents and it’s told to warn kids against going out at night. He didn’t really know what it meant except that he said that he doesn’t go out at night alone any more after he was told the story.

 

This story was told during one of the sessions for JEP. He knew the story from before and so when we began to tell it he would chime in and try to help us. I got his full version later. Carlos is a second grader at Norwood elementary.


His storytelling abilities are sometimes distracted, but the overall story is very interesting and I think he gets the point. Although he parts of the story are confusing and not completely accurate to the actual story, the gist and goal still gets him to the same place.

Grandmother’s Superstitions

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/21/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Background Information: Elyse is a Junior at college, and she grew up in San Francisco, CA. Her grandmother is Chinese, and has lived in the United States from her 20s or 30s, according to Elyse. I interviewed Elyse about some of the superstitions her grandmother has.

Elyse: So, my grandma tells me this thing like, every time I go around to see her, what she does is she asks me to put my fingers together, kind of like a paddle, and then, you hold it up to the light, and if you have a lot of light coming through it, like a lot of holes in your fingers, it means that you lose money fast. And if your fingers are really tight-knit, it means you save money. So like, I have some little cracks, so that means that some of my money is going to leave through those.

Ankita: And she does this every time you see her?

Elyse: She’s like, can I see your hands, because she likes to read my palms every time I visit her, so she’ll be like, “oh, good hands”, and then she’ll tell me to put my hands together to check this one.

Ankita: Does she do this for everyone she meets?

Elyse: Sort of, she doesn’t do it for everyone, just like family or whatever. Like, it’s definitely not an actual science, and she’s not a palmist or anything either, but yeah…

Thoughts: It seems, from talking to Elyse, that her grandmother has many such superstitions that guide her everyday life. Many seem to be related to luck, prosperity and wealth, and these seem to be important to hold on to in Chinese culture. It is also interesting that her grandmother chooses to read the palms of her family and ensure that they are living by these superstitions as well, perhaps as a way of showing her care and concern for them.

Coconut oil

Nationality: Singaporean
Age: 47
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Singapore
Performance Date: 4/21/17
Primary Language: Bengali
Language: English

Background Information: My mother, since I was a child, has tried to get me to put coconut oil in my hair before I sleep. This is a common tradition among Bengali families, and even though we moved to Singapore when I was young, she has tried to keep this going. I interviewed her about this process, and why she believes it is important.

Ankita: So since I was young, you have always been trying to get me to put oil in my hair. Particularly coconut oil. Can you tell me about that?

Ma: The most important thing here is to lubricate the scalp with the oil, and slowly massage it, because when you massage it the blood circulation will be better. And it stimulates hair growth. That’s what we traditionally believe at least. So that’s why I tell you to put it, before you go to sleep. You put oil, tie your hair, then go to sleep.

Ankita: What else does this help with?

Ma: Blood circulation, longer, thicker hair… It calms you down also. So you can focus better. Not just putting coconut oil in your hair, but also massaging your body with mustard oil and turmeric. These are quite traditional and are remedies too.

Ankita: Where did you learn this? Did grandma do it for you?

Ma: No, she never did, but I saw one of my aunts do it for Raktim (my cousin), and she told me that I should do it too, so I did for you since you were young.

Thoughts: Even though I personally do not follow this tradition and at this moment cannot picture doing it for my own children, should I have any, it is still interesting to consider such folk remedies, and how widespread they are. Putting oil in one’s hair is an extremely common practice among Bengalis, despite there being no scientific data proving whether or not it truly stimulates hair growth or calms one down. It is also interesting to note the organic nature of these remedies – for example, the use of coconuts or coconut oil. Folk beliefs also influence the economy – coconut oil is a widely sold commercial product in India, and particularly in West Bengal.