Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

How the Leopard Got Its Spots

Nationality: South African
Age: 55
Occupation: Computer Tech
Residence: Dallas, Texas
Performance Date: 5/1/13
Language: Afrikaans, English

Item:

“The Leopard used to live on the sandy-coloured High Veldt. He too was sandy-coloured, and so was hard for prey animals like Giraffe and Zebra to see when he lay in wait for them. The Ethiopian lived there too and was similarly coloured. He, with his bow and arrows, used to hunt with the Leopard.

Then the prey animals left the High Veldt to live in a forest and grew blotches, stripes and other forms of camouflage. The Leopard and the Ethiopian were hungry and consulted Baviaan, the wise baboon, who said the prey animals had “gone into other spots” and advised them to do the same. So they went searching and came to the forest. They could smell Giraffe and Zebra there but could not see them. When night came, they managed to catch Giraffe and Zebra by sound and scent. Asked why they looked so different, the two prey animals demonstrated how easily they could disappear against the forest background.

So the Ethiopian changed his skin to black, and marked the Leopard’s coat with his bunched black fingertips. Then they too could hide. They lived happily ever after, and will never change their colouring again.

The second version is told by the native Africans and goes as follows:

The leopard used to be as white as snow. It was always difficult for the leopard to catch its prey and had to work very hard at it. After the hard work it would go and rest in the shade of the tree.

The wart hogs used to love playing and rolling in the mud in the nearby waterhole. They still do this today.

One day they were playing like this and heard the roar of a lion. They got such a fright and ran right over the leopard leaving little brown spots on the beautifull white coats.

At first the leopards were very upset but then they realized it was much easier to catch their prey and to this day they have kept their spots.”

Context:

The three items of folklore I collected from this informant were the only three out of all the items in my collection that were not a result of face to face interaction. The text above was sent to me, from the informant, via email. I also corresponded with the informant over the phone to receive the context behind her stories. That said, the informant, who lived most of her life in South Africa (she moved to Dallas, Texas with her family in the 90’s), heard both of these variations of this classic African legend when she was a child. She recalls hearing them in elementary school and listening to a version of the story on a cassette player. She likes the second version of the story better because of its depiction of how animals actually congregate around watering holes in real life.

Analysis:

From my research of this tale, I discovered that the first version of the story the informant related is a variation of a Rudyard Kipling story entitled “How the Leopard Got His Spots.” That said, I theorize that Kipling’s version of the story became the canonized version from which all future stories referred to and grew out of.

Both variations of the tale focus on the relationship between predator and prey, reflecting the age of the story. The first variation of the story, in particular, features a human as a hunter. That said, the story might be as old as the hunter gatherer society it depicts.

Here is a link to Rudyard Kipling’s “How the Leopard Got His Spots”:  http://www.sff.net/people/karawynn/justso/leopard.htp

New York Slang

Nationality: American (ethnicity: Jewish)
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California (Originally from New York City)
Performance Date: 4/30/2013
Primary Language: English

Item:

“Um my friends and I theorized a lot about the probable etymology of such words [New York slang], for example there was ‘brick,’ uh meaning cold, and we guessed that that was uh, that dated back to a black person who walked outside when it was cold, tried to pronounce ‘brisk’ and instead said ‘brick.’ Uh then we also had ‘gas,’ which means to lie about something, as in ‘you’re gassin’ me,’ uh which we theorized just as the lack of substance of the gaseous state. Uhh we also had um “catching the whops,” which is one of my favorites. It means “to get a blowjob.” I don’t know where that’s from, but I heard that it dates back to early 90’s Bronx. Um and we also had ‘boys,’ so that means an area is dangerous if you say ‘it’s boys.’ And that has roots in ‘boys in blue,’ which is meant to be police. Other variations on it are ‘hot boys’ as in ‘yo this is hot boys, let’s not spark this blunt here.’ And that brings up another one. We call weed ‘buddha.’ My guess on that one is that uh many stoners are perceived as being casually in to Buddhism, you know.”

Context:

The informant, who is from the Bronx, moved from the private school that he had attended his whole life, to public school, when he was a sophomore in high school. In public school, he encountered all sorts of slang words that he had never heard before.

Analysis:

This account reveals a blason populaire that the informant and his friends had about African American speech. In regards to the etymology of these slang terms, however, I have no theories of my own to posit. A greater question is raised, though, from this inquiry into New York slang, and that is, why is it so unique? I have talked to many people from other parts of the country, and I’m familiar, even if I don’t say them, with all of their slang words. New York slang, on the other hand, is its own world. I had not heard any of these slang words before I met the informant.

Challah & Zechus

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/24/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew, Italian

“There is a tradition that when a woman is having trouble getting pregnant, that if she or other people in her name make challah in her name then it’s a zechus for her and in her name, so she will then get pregnant.”

A zechus is a merit in someone’s name. The superstition of baking challah bread in someone’s name and then them being able to be pregnant could have to do with the community coming together to support that woman in her efforts to conceive. Accordingly, if the woman in question is able to conceive, sometimes the people who helped make the challah bread feel a special connection to that child, and the community protects her or him. This superstition is one I have never heard of before, but the mixture of community support and religious faith is endearing.

Jewish Evil Eye

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/24/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew, Italian

“There is something called the “evil eye,” which is when you do not want to attract attention to yourself because you might get the “evil eye.” Other people cannot give the evil eye, but it’s a spiritual thing. I once had a family friend who when she visited would say “oh your so ugly” and “oh such ugly children,” because she did not want to give us the evil eye. Saying “oh such beautiful children” would give the children the evil eye. It is kind of like bad luck. Another example would be that people don’t buy things for their baby when they are pregnant.”

There are many variations of the ‘evil eye’ and it is used across the world to express a certain “look” that is bad luck for the person receiving it. Hamsa, for example, means five and is a symbol of a hand often used in Jewish jewelry or in talisman. Each of the five fingers of the hand represents one of the books of the Torah, Michal explains. An evil eye is in the center of the hand, because the eye is said to cause bad luck to anyone who gets the “look.” This look can come from a person unintentionally, so people need to be careful how they act around other people.

Michal, who calls her family very Jewish, claims that if you wish not to receive the evil eye then you should not boast about yourself, and you should avoid talking about your belongings, any good luck you might be having, and especially you should not talk about your children.

Therefore, when Michal’s aunt calls her nieces and nephews “so ugly” she is trying to protect them from other’s jealousy, because that jealousy could give the children and the family the “evil eye.”

Virgin Mary Statue at Weddings

Nationality: Italian-American
Age: 26
Occupation: Graduate Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/23/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

“My family says that if you put a statue of Mary out when its raining on your wedding day, then it will stop raining and the sun will come out. My great-grandmother told my mother that. It worked for my mother and my cousin on their wedding days.”

Similar to a previously posted story about burying Saint Joseph statues to sell a house, Emily tells the story of displaying Virgin Mary statues on one’s wedding day.

Having it rain on one’s wedding day is notoriously bad luck, with some saying it can represent the tears in the future to come. The Virgin Mary is the protector of domestic bliss, and is often see as a woman with a child.  As such, bringing out her statue at a raining wedding would correct the weather and allow the bride and her husband a joyous day. This instance of sympathetic magic, using a statue of the Virgin Mary to compel good luck for a wedding ceremony, is somewhat less well known as the ritual of burying Saint Joseph to sell a house, but Emily swears it works the same way.