Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Eyelash Wish

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

In the occasion that someone’s eyelash falls out in the company of another and that person can grab the eyelash for the person who’s eyelash it is to wish on. The person who grabbed it will put it on their finger and the person who’s eyelash it was will then wish. My informant was taught this by his family and he did this almost exclusively with them. As one would have to touch someone’s face it is a fairly intimate gesture that one wouldn’t do with casual acquaintances. One can grab their own eyelash that detached and still get a wish, but the main point of the act is to have someone else do it for you. It loses some of its meaning if one does it to themselves.

This is a form of contagious magic as the eyelash used to be in contact with the person and they use this link to make a wish on it. My informant no longer believed that it would result in a wish being granted but saw it more as a gesture of intimacy between family members or close friends. While the basic theory of the magic would lead to one person being able to do it the fact that my informant said it wouldn’t be same alone proves that intimacy is a main feature of the method.

 

Clipping Fingernails

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English

Clipping nails out of order

When my informant was a child he can remember his mother telling him that clipping his nails in order was bad luck. If one clipped the first three in order one should switch the order for the last two in order not to cause bad luck. This applies to both fingernails and toenails. He says that while the only practices it occasionally, if it does occur to him while trimming he does take care to go out of order.

He told me that his mother learned it from her mother and he supposes that it was passed down like that for some time as he has no knowledge of where that superstition started. He also says that while he does not practice it every time, it is something he would pass on to his children if he has any. So while the reason for the tradition is lost it still lives on in those who learn if from family.

The fact that he only does it sometimes proves that the reason he would trim them out of order isn’t to avoid back luck its to comply with something he was taught by his mother. For him it has become more of a tradition that something seriously done to avoid bad luck. There is nothing else that my informant told me that would make this practice stand out as more than just another practice to avoid bad luck.

Mochi Pounding

Nationality: American
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Mochi Pounding Tradition

The beginning of the mochi pounding tradition began in Japan and done mainly in festivals, but when Japanese immigrants came to Hawaii the tradition became part of the culture there. Instead of in festivals it became an activity done with close family and friends. Mochi is made with pounded rice and is often used in deserts. Mochi pounding is done before the New Year in order to have okasane, a shaped piece of mochi, ready to place by the door for good luck in the coming year. The mochi is made by taking rice and soaking it and then steaming it to make it soft. The rice is then pounded by a mallet, traditionally called a kine, in a bowl shaped stone called an usu. The usu is heated with hot rags first in order to keep the rice paste hot. Each family traditionally has their own rhythm used to pound the rice. Generally it is the men’s job to pound the rice into mochi while the women are inside preparing the ground up rice into the final product. While the mochi is still hot one woman will pull the mochi into approximately the right size and the rest of the women will shape the mochi. The first batch is made into the okasane, but the rest is eaten. Traditionally the mochi is flavored with red bean paste, but chocolate and peanut butter flavoring has become popular as well.

The reason that this tradition is considered good luck might have something to doing something that requires a lot of effort as something to show going into the New Year. Putting it at their door could be related to leaving the old year and moving into the new one. While most people no longer believe that pounding mochi to make okasane is necessary for good luck, the tradition has become a way to connect with family. It brings the family together to do something together and enjoy the fruits of their labor. This distinguishes the Hawaiian tradition from the Japanese one which it came from.

Herring at New Year’s Eve

Nationality: American
Occupation: Owner of a fire sprinkler company
Residence: Chino Hills, California
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

One eats herring on New Year’s Eve for good luck

When my informant was younger he can remember celebrating New Year’s Eve with his family. For most of the night the kids would be separate playing games while the adults played cards and talked. When the count down to the new year started the whole family would gather up and right at zero one of the adults would hand out a piece of herring on a toothpick and everyone would eat it. While this was happening everyone would wish each other a happy new year.  This was supposed to ensure good luck for the new year.

My informant no longer partakes in this new year’s eve ritual, but he remembers it being important in the past. My informant has polish ancestry and this is where the ritual came from. He told me that he has heard of other polish families doing this ritual, but not from others. When asked my informant could not remember the particular reason for choosing herring as the food though. The tradition may have come from a desire to start the year off right and people associated herring with being a food item that would go along with that sentiment.

If you tell a lie, god will strike black spot on your heart

Nationality: British
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: London, England
Performance Date: 4/20/12
Primary Language: English

“If you tell a lie, god will strike black spot on your heart”

My informant was first told this by his father when he thought he was telling a lie. It reflects the strong religious beliefs of his father. I asked my informant what would happen if he had a black spot on his heart, and he wasn’t sure. Despite this, this threat succeeded in scaring my informant into telling the truth.