Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Hawaiian Folk Belief on Whistling

Nationality: Hawaiian
Age: 43
Occupation: Mother
Residence: Maui
Performance Date: April 23, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Hawaiian

Note: The form of this submission includes the dialogue between the informant and I before the cutoff (as you’ll see if you scroll down), as well as my own thoughts and other notes on the piece after the cutoff. The italics within the dialogue between the informant and I (before the cutoff) is where and what kind of direction I offered the informant whilst collecting. 

Informant’s Background:

My mother’s mother’s mother and even from before her are from Hawaii but some England roots are interjected into the bloodline as well. My mother’s father’s father’s father hails half from Hawaii and the other half from China and Portugal. But what is funny about most Hawaiians, is that they are not only Hawaiian. They are also Caucasian, Portuguese, Chinese, Filipino, Samoan, Japanese, Korean, e.t.c…….Plantation workers were brought in to work the sugar and pineapple fields and they brought their culture with them.

Piece:

In Hawaiian we call it (taboo) Kapu, which means sacred, don’t touch or you die, just don’t do it. Hawaiians of ancient Hawaii had many taboo, thank goodness which no longer exist, as most kapu broken would end with death. When I was little, my Tutu, my mother’s mother forbid us to whistle after sunset. Whistling after sunset was kapu because whistling at night would summons evil spirits. To this day 35 years later, I don’t dare whistle after sunset……

Piece Background Information:

Informant already mentioned within their piece that they learned about this taboo through her grandmother.

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Context of Performance:

Via email.

Thoughts on Piece: 
If you google “whistling at night”, there are plenty of accounts, mostly from Japanese, Native American, and Hawaiian cultures, of how whistling at night can invite evil. And in relation to the legend of the Night Marchers, shared with me by the same informant, apparently there are Hawaiian accounts that whistling at night will summon these legendary figures. While there can be no scientific or evidential basis for how whistling at night could summon spirits, perhaps this is also a method for parents to get their children to behave as whistling, or making noise, at night can be disturbing.

Balding

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/21/17
Primary Language: English

Informant Information:

Clerisse Cornejo is a student at the University of Southern California. She comes from a mixed background (Japanese/Mexican), and is originally from Fontana, CA.

Tale:

“So the tale is a wive’s tale, very common among a lot of Latino families. Uh, so as a child in order to make your hair grow thicker for the rest of your life (supposedly) you’ll get completely balded. The idea behind this is that as your hair grows back it’ll grow back thicker. I’ve looked into it there’s no actual evidence anywhere that says balding your kids will make their hair more thick and beautiful but that did not stop my mother from balding me as a two year old. I think the tale is mostly on my mom’s side and it was more common for the people (kids/cousins) that came before me. I have some cousins on that side of the family that were never balded as babies, so I think the practice has finally fallen out of use in my family.”

Q: Was there a ancient myth/tale associated with balding?

“Not that I know of.”

Analysis:

The informant mentioned that this practice is common in Latino families, and after investigation, it’s actually very true. I was able to find many articles detailing exactly what the informant said, especially on the belief that the informant mentioned. Apparently, it is common practice in Mexican culture to shave the heads of infant baby girls so that in the future they can have great hair, but I wasn’t able to find the origin of this old wive’s tale.

Pase del Diablo

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/21/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Informant Information:

Frank Pol is a student at the University of Southern California studying Computer Science. He is from a Venezuelan background, and is originally from Weston, FL before moving to Los Angeles, CA for college.

Story:

“My dad, so in Venezuela where my dad is from, they have a mountain called the Avila and it has a bunch of hiking and biking paths all the way down. I would take them all the time. So there’s this one that him and his family called Pase del Diablo. It’s basically just a super deep drop they would never do on their bikes, because there’s a story of people always trying to do it but they always end up dying because it’s hard to land. The whole area was protected so you weren’t supposed to be up there according to the government, but because the government doesn’t mean anything in Venezuela they still go up there.”

Q: Before your dad started biking, was this place familiar for this atmosphere?

“Yeah from the way he told me it was a story that was told to him by older friends.”

Q: Have you ever had a personal experience with this mountain?

“I just saw it from a distance. We didn’t make it to the waterfall but yeah we didn’t see the actual thing but we passed the path and he told me the story.”

Analysis:

The informant had heard of this tale from his father, and didn’t really know much about this belief other than what his father had told him. After conducting further research, I could not find the specific pass in the mountain that he mentioned, nor any mentions of a “devil’s path” on the mountain of Avila. It must only be a belief held by his father and his father’s biker friends.

Barefoot in the House

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

Informant Information:

Michelle Pina is a student at the University of Southern California. She is from a Cuban background, and is originally from Miami, FL before moving to Los Angeles, CA for college.

Urban Legend:

“Whenever you’re walking around the house with your bare feet, no socks or shoes, when your grandmother or your mom sees you they’re gonna get mad because they think if you walk around barefoot on the ground you’re gonna get sick. Like because they think the ground is cold and your feet are awesome receptors of temperature so if your feet are cold your body’s immune system slows and you get sick.”

Q: Have you ever asked your grandmother/mother why they think that?

“I think it’s from their mothers telling them about it”

Q: Did you ever do research?

“Me in a fit of rage after my grandmother yelled at me for not having slippers in the house, I decided to do my own research and found that it was just an old wives tale and I told my grandmother and my mom and my mom believes me and my grandmother doesn’t.”

Analysis:

The informant’s old wive’s tale is fairly common among other Hispanic households. The informant told me her grandmother said this was supposed to prevent sickness. This is true in the present sense, but this wive’s tale could be traced back to class ranking. In Cuba and many other Hispanic countries, being barefoot is associated with being poor, as the many people in the country that are barefoot are peasants on the streets. Though this might not be what the informant’s grandmother intended, it could definitely be the origin of this old wive’s tale.

Bears and Menstruation

Nationality: American
Age: 62
Residence: Massachusetts
Performance Date: April 10, 2017
Primary Language: English

My mother grew up in rural California. She spent a lot of her time outside and hiking. When she was a Girl Scout, she heard that when you are on your period you should avoid going in the great outdoors.

JE:”I always heard growing up that it wasn’t safe to hike or go camping while you were on your period. Apparently bears and other predatory animals can smell it and are more likely to attack. When I was growing up, two women were killed by a bear and the rumor was that it was because one (or both) of the women were menstruating.”

Me: Who told you this?

JE: My Girl Scout Leader was the most distinct person I can remember. There were some men at my church who wouldn’t let their daughters (my friends) because they thought that women should not hike, camp or even venture into the back county during their periods because it will attract predators who will come and eat them. This cautionary advice goes for women around the world. ”

Analysis: I researched the validity of this superstition, and it holds little scientific evidence. The superstition has a strong hold on people because it’s a pretty visceral- blood, gruesome attacks, young girls, etc. To me, however, it seems like a fear of bears morphed into an unfounded belief. At one point, this was perhaps a good way to keep young girls from exerting themselves in the woods when their families believed women should be at home. The stereotype only reinforces the idea that women are not as suited to survival in the wilderness as men.

For the Yellowstone Bearman’s advice on this folk belief, see:

Bears and Menstruating Women