Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

The evil eye sees celebrations

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 7, 2013
Primary Language: English

“We don’t have bridal showers or wedding showers, because the evil eye will see, and you won’t have a baby or a husband. You better not celebrate too soon. So, even if you have a bridal shower or a baby shower after the baby’s born, that’s a bad idea, because you’re not trying to bring attention to the good things you have in your life.”

 

My informant learned this from her Italian grandparents. It seems to be a common theme across cultures that drawing attention to good fortune will somehow jinx it; in this case, they believe that celebrating a marriage or a baby will draw the attention of the evil eye. This is interesting because my informant and her family are devout Catholics, and the evil eye is not a Christian belief. This shows how folk beliefs can get passed down through generations and endure through different religious traditions.

Italian Christening robes

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 7, 2013
Primary Language: English

“On the Christening robes of babies, they have these little charms, little golden charms. There’s a monkey fist, a bull horn, all different ones, and they’re all supposed to keep the evil eye away.”

 

My informant comes from a devout Italian Catholic family. Although the evil eye is not a Christian belief, it has seeped so deeply into the culture from pre-Christian folk beliefs to the extent that a modern Catholic family believes in it enough to take precautions against it harming their infants. Again, there is the idea that celebration can draw the wrath of the evil eye; even a religious celebration is dangerous.

Dots to fend off negative thoughts

Nationality: Indian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 7, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

“If you’re doing something where you’re gonna be in front of people, or there’s gonna be a lot of people and someone could potentially wish bad upon you, you put a dot somewhere. Your mom or grandma will put a dot on you, and usually it’s hidden or on your forehead. And if someone does think something bad, that will keep the bad thoughts away. So like for weddings, the bride and the bridesmaids will have them, because there’s a lot of people, and they’re thinking about you, and maybe people are jealous.”

 

My informant is of Indian extraction. Although she was born and raised in California, she remembers her mother putting dots on her hairline for protection when she had to give presentations in front of the class. This is another iteration of the cross-cultural trope that seems to imply that celebration or putting oneself on display in a positive way could lead to disaster. The dots serve as protection against the negative thoughts of others, working much like charms or amulets work in other cultures.

Don’t go to bed with your hair wet

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“My mom used to tell me, growing up, to never go to bed with my hair wet. Because that is the cause of you getting sick. But I’ve never gotten sick after going to bed with wet hair. In fact, I do it a lot.”

 

My informant immigrated from Shanghai with her mother when she was five years old. The idea that going to bed with your hair wet could make you sick seems to be a common one among immigrants, as most children of especially Asian immigrants that I interviewed told me the same thing.

Many Asians still rely on traditional medicines, and so it makes sense that they would have traditional folk beliefs about getting sick to accompany this reliance. Especially before industrialization, a cold could turn deadly; any methods of prevention were likely taken, even if they didn’t necessarily make sense. The belief that wet hair makes you sick is likely a holdover from those days; the belief has been passed down through the generations so that, even though we now know that wet hair is unlikely to make one sick, it is still a persistent belief in many cultures.

Do not put money on the table when you eat

Nationality: African
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April
Primary Language: French
Language: English, Spanish, Fang, etc

After a day of shopping with my informant and friend, we went to a restaurant for dinner. Once I was done eating and she was finishing up her last bites I pulled out my wallet and placed it on the table.  She startled me by abruptly saying, “Don’t do that!” Confused, I picked up my wallet checking to see if I killed a bug or something. She then explained that it was a superstition in her country. Now a year later I reminded my informant (a twenty-two year old female from the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa) of that specific event and she revealed that “In my country…you’re not supposed to pull out money or put it on the table until everyone is done eating…It’s okay to keep it down near the chair but not on the table.” When I asked why, my informant stated, “Because you will be broke [laughter].” When asked where she learned this from the informant claimed “everyone does it” meaning it is the custom among locals. She admitted not paying much attention to this belief as a child, however, once old enough to pay for her own meals she often forgot to not put money on the table. Days later, “I would be broke.”

As revealed by my informant wealth is a concern among the locals. “A lot of the beliefs in my country have to do with losing money.” I think this superstition hints at a negative attitude towards poverty. I think by placing money on the table while people are consuming food it symbolizes consuming wealth.  Another thought is that exposing ones wallet leaves opportunity for others to think against someone’s wealth. Similar to the evil eye a negative thought may be a form of contagious magic.