Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

The Scottish Play

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: February 11th, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background Information:

My informant is a theatre major. She has told me that theatre people are very superstitious, and have many rituals that they do before and after a performance for good luck. Inversely, they avoid saying some things as they believe it will bring them bad luck. One of these things is saying the same of Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” inside a theatre. There are various reasons for this superstition and as many ways to ward it off if it is accidentally spoken. She learned this as a member of the theatre community, and it is a both a superstition that she doesn’t disbelieve, and also a fun initiation ritual to distinguish people new to theatre. She is signified in this conversation by the initials B.I.

Main Piece:

B.I.: So basically you’re not supposed to say the name “Macbeth” in a theatre. Like when one of us accidentally said it in rehearsals, we were told by our director that instead of saying “Macbeth” we should call it “the Scottish play.”

A.: Do you know where that superstition comes from?

B.I.: As far as I know there’s a lot of different reasons that the superstition exists. One of my friends told me that it comes from the fact that the witches in the play chant some actual words that witches said, and so it casts an incomplete spell which brings bad luck to a performance. It’s mostly to do with the witches I think, that they’re casting some kind of spell on the play. I’ve also heard that when the play was being performed some time in the past, the props director stole a cauldron from an actual coven of witches, and they cursed anyone who said the name of the play in a theatre.

A: And what kind of bad luck does saying it bring?

B.I.: Well I’ve actually never seen it bring any disaster, but from what I’ve heard people say that the actual performance will be disastrous, like people will forget their lines, and the lights or mics won’t work, that kind of stuff. Sometimes the actual play itself will go bust too, and it’s run will be cancelled. I’ve heard people say that the theatre could burn down too, or that it could flood.

A: If someone does say “Macbeth” what are they supposed to do next?

B.I.: They spin around in a circle and say “Macbeth” three times, sometimes outside the theatre, and then they come back inside. I’ve heard of people spitting too, maybe to get the word out of their mouth, but that’s not something we really do. It’s a kind of cleansing thing I think, like they’re forcing the witches and the curse outside of the theatre.

Performance Context:

After watching an episode of “Blackadder” in which two characters seemed to satirize the ritual of what to do should someone say the name “Macbeth,” I asked my friend in theatre whether or not she had heard of this before, and she related to me this ritual in person.

My thoughts:

I had often heard of this superstition before, and especially the parody of the cleansing rituals in the BBC comedy Blackadder, in which two actors have increasingly complex and violent ways of counteracting the curse, which the titular character keeps inciting in order to annoy the actors. Ghosts are a common theme in theatre and film superstitions, such as in the superstition surrounding the ‘ghost light’ that she later told me about. In the cleansing ritual, the use of the number three in the amount of times one must spin around is particularly important, as the number three often appears in folklore as the number of tries before a hero wins a fight, or the amount of trials a hero must face in a tale. This use of threes is part of Axel Olrik’s Epic Laws of Folk Narrative, and so therefore has often been noted in reference to folktales in particular, and extended to all aspects of modern life. I have heard of people turning the lights on and off three times before they go to bed, or checking three times that the front door is locked.

Ghost Light

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: February 11th, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background information:

My informant is a theatre major from New Jersey, now living and studying in Southern California. She has told me about many superstitions from the theatre and film world, and this particular one is about the ‘ghost light’ that must be on all sets. There are two reasons for having this light, a practical and a superstitious meaning. I have physically seen this light on one of the sound stages in Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, where the guide concurred with what my friend told me about ghost lights. She doesn’t believe in this superstition, and finds it a little creepy when working late at night when this is the only light on. She is signified in this conversation by the initials B.I.

Main piece:

B.I.: Basically ghost lights are a kind of bare bulb light, usually, which is left on all the time on a set or in a theatre. They’re a bare bulb lighting in a metal frame, in a tall stand. They serve two purposes. Practically, they’re for lighting up a stage or a sound stage out of hours as normally there would be no lights on if a person was working out of hours. The second reason is more superstitious. They say that the ghosts of the stories haunt the sound stages and the theatres, I don’t know if they’re literal ghosts or metaphorical ones, and that the light drives them out. It’s said that all theatres and sets have ghosts, and sometimes people say that having the one light on allows for the ghosts to perform on the stage out of hours, so they’re not unhappy with the living and leave the actual performances themselves alone.

 

Performance Context:

This piece of folklore was related to me in a larger conversation about film and theatre superstitions, in which she related to me the superstitions about “The Scottish Play.” I asked about this superstition in particular after seeing a ghost light on set on a tour of Warner Brother in Burbank.

 

My thoughts:

It seems that the entertainment industry is very focused on superstition. This seems to me to stem partly from the insecurity of success in film and theatre, and the ability to be famous one day and ruined the next. Whilst these are standard facets of the industry, these kinds of superstitions act as a kind of regulating influence, a way for humans to control both their personal fate, and in general the uncontrollable. Overall, one could see most forms of mythology and legend as ways of putting order on those things which are physically unknowable by humans. The idea here that it may be the ghost of a particular performance locates the tale very clearly in the film/theatre world, yet the practical usage of the light as a way for people working out of hours to see both legitimizes those working under the guise of needing light, but believing in the superstition, and actually allows them to get work done. As many sound stages sets in particular do not have overhead lighting, as light is normally moved around during the production, the presence of one stable light allows people to work out of hours without having to interfere with the set.

Building Houses for the Huldufólk

Nationality: Icelandic
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Dublin, Ireland
Performance Date: March 11th, 2017
Language: Icelandic, English

Background Information:

My informant is a 23-year-old student originally from Iceland, but studying in Dublin. She was born and raised in Reykjavik and moved to Ireland in her 20’s to come to University there. She informed me that not only was belief in the huldufólk common, she herself believed in them and that many Icelandics go out of their way to please them, and that to apply for planning permission in Iceland you need to have someone look at the site to check that you would not upset the huldufólk by building there. She related this particular facet of belief to me when I told her about fairy forts. She was an active bearer of this tradition and was taught it by her parents, and their parents before them. It is one of her favorite pieces of Icelandic heritage and plans to carry it on whether or not she decides to stay in Iceland, as it is a family tradition. She is signified in this conversation by the initials A.J.

Main Piece:

A.J.: The huldufólk are kind of mystical creatures. They are generally depicted as all grey, and they live in rocks and under the ground. They are not malicious, they usually help humans and are not so much tricksters as they are simply respected in Iceland. Nobody really says bad things about them. People give them offerings at the summer solstice and at Christmas. This is usually to thank them for a good harvest last year, and to look after the next one. Actually, when people are building new houses in Iceland, or in the Faroe islands as they also believe in the huldufólk, you have to get a person to check that you do not disturb them by building there. When you have built the house, you have to get a stone and put it in front of the porch of the house. You have to find the stone usually from specific places where you’re not disturbing the folk already living there, and it’s a big day out to go and get a stone. They’re pretty big, maybe a meter cubed in size. And you take it back to the house and paint on a little door and some windows. In this way, you’re offering the huldufólk a home and they in turn look after you and your home. At the summer and winter solstice you can then place your offerings to them at the stones. We have one at our house and it’s a really common thing to have, as they offer the house protection. They’re also a nice Icelandic tradition that I’d like to carry on, as I have really fond memories of getting the stone and painting it with my family.

Performance Context:

I interviewed my informant over the phone, as she is in Ireland and I in California. After discussing the huldufólk in class, I asked her whether she knew anything about them and she related this to me, as it is the most common household tradition to do with the huldufólk.

My Thoughts:

This custom reminded me a lot of the fairy forts in Ireland, and the idea of putting little bits of food out for the fairies. It was interesting to see a similar custom in Iceland, and suggests a strong Celtic influence on Icelandic culture. What was astonishing to me was the level of belief in the huldufólk, which was absolutely different to belief in the fairy folk in Ireland. The one thing that struck me was the level of community in going out and finding the appropriate rock, and this connection to the landscape. Iceland, being a volcanic creation, relies heavily on the landscape for tourism and also for the production of geothermal electricity. Therefore, connecting their huldufólk to the land seems like a natural progression, for a country so intrinsically tied to the landscape.

Goody

Nationality: Irish
Age: 56
Occupation: IT Technician
Residence: Dublin, Ireland
Performance Date: March 29th, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Irish

Background Information:

My informant is a 56-year-old IT technician from rural Ireland. He related to me a story about the kinds of foods his mother would make for him at home when he was sick as a child. This particular food, called goody, but pronounced ‘goddy,’ was a mixture of bread, milk, and sugar that was boiled together as a kind of folk-cure for general ‘unwellness.’ Despite associating it with being sick, it is one of his most memorable childhood foods. He is signified in this conversation by the initials D.O.

Main piece:

D.O.: My mam would make goody for us when we were sick as kids. I think it’s similar to the flat 7up thing, you’re trying to get sugar back into your system if you’ve been ill. What you do is you boil up a pot of milk, not too hot, and then you rip up pieces of white bread usually and throw them in, until most of the milk is soaked up, but the bread is pretty wet. Kind of like very eggy French toast. And you let that boil for a minute and then add in sugar and mix it up, and it kind of turns into a thick soggy bread mixture. It’s great though, kind of like bread and butter pudding for children.

A: And why would she give you that, and not soup or anything?

D.O: It was probably a combination of getting some sugar back into your system, and giving you something you actually wanted to eat even if you felt terrible. It was also made up of cheap things that you’d have in the house – bread, milk, sugar – so it wasn’t using up valuable resources. It was said that it would soak up all the badness in your stomach if you were sick and it would settle nausea because the bread would soak up the acid.

A: Where did your mam learn it from?

D.O.: It’s a common food back home, it would usually be the first port of call when you were sick. But I think it’s always been popular, but not as much anymore with modern medicine.

Performance Context:

The interview took place over the phone as he is in Dublin and I am in California. The context of the conversation was folk medicine in the vein of the ‘flat 7up’ cure.

My Thoughts:

This kind of folk remedy relies on children’s love for all things sweet, whilst serving an actual medicinal purpose by using the bread to soak up the acid in a person’s stomach if they had a stomach bug. It served many purposes outlined by the informant, but perhaps one not present is the idea that when one is able to eat again, they are getting better. A kind of placebo effect, similar to the idea that people who have doctors with white coats get better faster, by giving children sugary food that they would not normally get when they are well, which they want to eat, they feel like they must feel better, which in many cases leads to people actually recovering faster. Therefore, this folk remedy may well have two scientific bases behind it, despite it being labelled as “folk” and therefore seen in opposition to modern medicine, and actually be a good way to help cure viral infections which are not affected by antibiotics.

Walking on the Grass at Spelman College

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 1st, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background Info:

My informant is a 20-year-old domestic exchange student at the University of Southern California, from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. All universities have some kind of folklore surrounding them, both individually and on the level of the university system in general, such as the ‘hook-hand’ legend. This one in particular was learned by my informant during her orientation week at Spelman, and she has been an active bearer in not only following this ‘rule’, but passing it on to new students.

Main Piece:

Spelman College is an historically black women’s four-year liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. The particular superstition I collected about this college is that Spelman students do not walk on the grass. This seems to have stemmed from a prohibition on walking on the grass for aesthetic reasons, as not to trample it. Firstly, the superstition suggests that the person who walks on the grass will not graduate on time, if at all. There are similar superstitions to this all over the world, for example in the University of Dublin, Trinity College, it is considered bad luck for the bell to toll while you are walking under the campanile, as it is believed that you will fail your exams. It is therefore traditional for people to stand under it when they graduate, as they have no more exams to do. In Spelman, however there is a saying that has grown up around this grass superstition – that “Spelman women do not cut corners.” Therefore, a kind of metafolklore has developed around this original folklore, which encompasses the values of the college and makes a didactic lesson out of a botanical necessity.

My thoughts:

This was the first and only piece of metafolklore I collected. This was interesting as it was suggestive of both the amount of people who actually abided by this rule not to walk on the grass, and in it’s metafolkloric form, encapsulated the community feel to the college and the dedication and intelligence of those in attendance. It is also interesting that this kind of folklore, a prohibition on walking somewhere, exists in many different universities across the globe, and emphasizes the college system as a hotbed of folklore. It also distinguishes one as an in-member of the community if they are to avoid walking on the grass, and therefore acts as a kind of initiation rite into a new community.

For the oikotype of this legend from Trinity College Dublin: http://campus.ie/surviving-college/college-life/5-best-trinity-college-myths-are-probably-true