Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Cabbage medicine

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/17/2017
Primary Language: English

Cabbage medicine

 

Informant: TF was born and raised in Villa Park, California. His father works in commercial real estate and his mother working as a manager for Choc Hospital. He has one older brother, a twin sister, and one younger brother. TF is half Lebanese and strongly connected to his Lebanese background. He is a first year student at USC. The informant heard this type of medicine from his grandmother who used this kind of medicine all the time when she was a child.

 

In the beginning of this semester a friend injured his knee. He fell on it while carrying heavy weight. The next day he came to practice and his knee was all swollen. He told us what happened and than my informant TF suggested to put cabbage on it. Both my friend and I were confused thinking he must be messing with us, but then he explained:

 

“Cabbage is used to reduce the swelling. If you hit or injure yourself, you can remove the swelling and bruises with the help of this old folk medicine. Just wrap around two cabbage leaves onto the beaten spot.”

 

This folk medicine sounded really strange. Putting a vegetable on your swollen knee will make the swelling go away sounds ridiculous at first, but if the cabbage leaves are able to absorb the fluids it would reduce the swelling and in that case it makes perfect sense. Of course our friend didn’t try this method, but it is an interesting method and if it happens again I would like to try it and see if it works.

Ginger tea for headaches

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/17/2017
Primary Language: English

Ginger tea for headaches

Informant: TF was born and raised in Villa Park, California. His father works in commercial real estate and his mother working as a manager for Choc Hospital. He has one older brother, a twin sister, and one younger brother. TF is half Lebanese and strongly connected to his Lebanese background. He is a first year student at USC. The informant heard this type of medicine from his mother who learned it from her mother who used this kind of medicine all the time when she was a child.

 

Where did you get this information?

“From my mom and she got it from her mom and so on.”

 

So how do you prepare it, and how does it work?

 

“So ginger is traditionally used to treat headaches. You’ll want to mix half a teaspoon ginger powder into a glass of water and drink. Or pour 1 cup of hot water over 1 teaspoon of freshly ground ginger. Let it cool slightly and then drink it. Simple as that. Ginger is particularly effective against migraine, and also helps control the nausea that often accompanies migraine.”

 

Does this folk medicine mean anything to you?

 

“It does, my family has been using this recipe for generation. It became a traditional cure for headaches in my family.”

 

It’s interesting how even with today’s medicine folk medicine is still used. This is proof of that. The recipe so simple and healthier than taking a pill. At the end of the day it’s cool to know that my informants family has been using the same recipe for headaches like his ancestors before him.

Predicting Future Children

Nationality: Hong Kong
Age: 48
Residence: Minnesota
Performance Date: April 12, 2017
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

When I was little, somebody had told me about this thing… that you can do, uh… supposedly, it’s supposed to help you predict how many kids you’re going to have when you’re older. Um… so what you do is, you make a fist, a tight fist, with your thumb over your other fingers and your hand… like, your palm is facing up, but you’re in a fist… and then you… with your other hand, squeeze the part of your palm that’s open, under your pinkie, and then there’s supposed to be these little balls or bulges or something that appear on your wrist… uh, and that’s the number of kids you’re going to have. And I think… I think the left hand is how many boys you’re going to have, and the right hand is girls. And I… I think it worked for me. I don’t remember if it was exactly right from when I was little, but I think it was pretty close to… to what I ended up having.

 

Thoughts:

The fact that this is something taught to girls at a young age reveals that there is a societal/cultural pressure on females to have children, and to start thinking about having children and fulfilling this social role from an early age. The desire to “predict” the number and gender of children a girl will have is perhaps a way for her to start preparing to have these children, as she enters her pubescent years.

Don’t Shower When Sick

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ventura, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“So when I’m sick, my mom tells me not to take a shower. Like even if I’m sick for a week, she doesn’t let me shower. She says not to wash your hair because it will make the cold worse. If you sit around with wet hair your body will absorb the cold wetness and it will make you miserable. And even when you aren’t sick, you can’t wash your hair and go out in the cold with wet hair. You need to dry your hair before going out. Also you can’t have your feet uncovered or you will get sick. That’s why I always wear socks when I’m around the house.”

The informant was born in Ventura, CA but her father is from Mexico City and her mother is from Guadalajara. She is bilingual in Spanish and English and partakes in many of the Mexican customs.

She said her mom always told her this, and her dad agrees as well. However, it’s her mom who constantly reminds her to put socks on if she’s barefoot, or to dry her hair before she goes outside.

My parents have told me similar things about not going out with wet hair if it’s cold outside. I’m not sure it really impacts your health in that way, but it’s a very popular myth. I always wondered why Hispanics and Latinos are always usually seen wear some type of footwear, even indoors, and now I understand why.

Don’t Watch a Dog When it Poops

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ventura, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The informant was born in Ventura, CA but her father is from Mexico City and her mother is from Guadalajara. She is bilingual in Spanish and English and partakes in many of the Mexican customs. The following is a superstition that is common within her community and family. 

“I’ve definitely heard other people say this too, but I originally heard it from my mom. She says, if you ever dare stare at a dog while it poops you will get a pimple on your eye. So, for example, when I had my dog, my mom would see it pooping and she would see me watching it and my mom would be like DON’T LOOK AT IT! But it’s one of those things where you kinda want to look, since you’re forbidden not to and it’s more exciting. So one day I just decided that I was gonna look, and you know what? I was fine! I didn’t get a pimple on my eye, even those I was nervous I was going to.”

The informant originally heard it from her mom, but says people in her community all believe the same thing. She also said it applies to any dog anywhere. It’s not just your own, and it can be when you’re out in public as well.

I personally had never heard of this ever before, and when she told me about it I was laughing so hard. I think it’s so fascinating how something can be made such a big deal just by believing it. Since I had no idea this was a thing, I obviously never thought twice about seeing a dog poop. But for her, she said it was this big thing when she was younger. She said she was so curious because it seemed like such a bad thing to do that she always tried to sneak a peak when her mom wasn’t looking so she wouldn’t yell at her.