(I didn’t hear this, but my friend did, so even though it was directed to me it was technically my friend serving as the informant:)
A guy approached me at a concert (I have dreadlocks) and said, “I hate to stereotype, but do you have a pipe?”
A lot of people stereotype someone with dreadlocked hair to be a dirty hippie stoner bum, which is not always the case, but why this guy prefaced his question with “I hate to stereotype”…
Interview Extraction:
Informant: “At least in the old times, you are having a baby- I mean you had a baby, right? And before the baby is baptized in that period like, nobody is supposed to see that baby because you know like, evil people or evil spirits can kind of be attached and stay with the kid forever. So, like usually if you have the baby on the stroller it would be covered with something. Or just only parents and relatives would be able to look at the baby or play with the baby. But after the baby is baptized it means that the baby is protected.”
Analysis:
I have heard of this superstition before in a pervious class where I researched Russian folklore, though I thought it was interesting that my informant explained that the tradition of covering the baby before it’s baptism is no longer done. The reason why this tradition is no longer done in Russia, except in highly religious families, probably has something to do with the fact that the Soviet Union discouraged the practice of all religions, not just Christianity. The Soviet Union policy on religion comes from Marxism-Leninism ideology which pushes the idea that religion is idealist and bourgeois, which lead the Soviet Union to adopt atheism as the national doctrine of the USSR.
The ritual of not showing the newborn baby to anyone before the baptism to protect the child from evil spirits is also an interesting idea. This is because this shows a blending of Christian and pagan beliefs, which is also known as ‘double belief’. The Christianization of Russia occurred during the mid 10th century, and instead of replacing the Slavic pagan beliefs, the Russian peasants saw this new religion as something to add on to their old religion. Russian superstitions today still feature customs and beliefs that are a mix of the Christian and Slavic pagan beliefs, which can be seen the the Russian baptism ritual.
My informant was born in 1977, Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia). On completing her undergraduate education in Moscow, she moved to California to earn her graduate degree in theatrical design from Cal State Long Beach. She now works as a faculty member for the USC School for Dramatic Arts. She became a US citizen in 2012.
Interview Extraction
Informant: “The ‘break a leg’ legend. Do you know that story? It has nothing to do with fracturing any of the major leg bones. That in a different usage of the language ‘to break a leg’ is ‘to bend a leg’. So that gives us two possible origins of why when you want ‘to break a leg’ that the old way of bowing, is that you bend the back leg and then take the bow. So that ‘to break a leg” means to get a big bow at the end of the show. And other one is a similar thing on bending, that if coins were tossed on the stage at the end of the show, you would have to then bend down, thus breaking the straight line of the leg in order to pick up the coins that were being tossed on stage.”
Analysis:
The superstition of why you say “break a leg” to an actor is because saying “good luck” brings you bad luck. There are many different origins of why you would say “break a leg” to an actor, and the phrase also changes based on what country you are in. For example, in France you would say “Merde” which is French for ‘shit’. The idea of this is that in wishing for something bad to happen such as the actor breaking their leg, the opposite will take place.
There are may theories behind where this idiom came from, such as the idea that my informant mentioned which suggests that to “break a leg” is a different usage of language that also means ‘to bend a leg’. I like this theory more than the other origin theories that I have seen in my research, such as the idea that to “break a leg” comes from the production of Shakespheare’s Richard III where actor David Garrick became so consumed with his role as Richard III that he did not realize his leg was broken during the performance. This legend is popular because it promotes the idea of being so into your performance as an actor that everything else is forgotten, and all that exists is the part you are playing in the world of the play. This is the kind of mind set that all actors should aspire to accomplish, so it is no wonder that this story has achieved such a high level of fascination in the imagination of people who work in theater, especially actors.
The reason why I like this theory more than the other theories I have seen in my research is that it is very logical. I have always thought that it is interesting that we say “break a leg” to an actor before they perform, but we do not say this to a designer or crew member before they do their job. If this legend is the real reason behind why we say “break a leg”, than the reasoning behind not wishing a crew member to “break a leg” makes sense because only actors have historically been the ones that bend their legs to either bow or pick up the coins that had been thrown on stage for a job well done.
My informant was born in 1949, Connecticut. He works as a costume designer in the entertainment industry occasionally, and serves as the head of the USC costume shop in addition to being a faculty member for the USC School of Dramatic Arts. He has more than 40 years of experience in the theater.
My source is a current college student who was exposed to the belief in the evil eye and the warding off of bad luck from a young age, her parents and her brother also being superstitious. She described to me a personal experience with her belief of the bad luck of the evil eye. As she was biking to school one morning, she was passing a woman when the woman suddenly looked at her with a deathly glare and evil expression in her eyes. This initially startled her as a bad premonition due to the evil eye and as she continued biking to class, her tire caught on a spike, throwing her off her bike and tearing a large gash in her wheel. She attributes her run in with the woman with the evil eye to the ill will and bad luck that she suffered.
There are many people around the world who hold superstitious beliefs in bad luck such as a mirror breaking or spilling salt. My source’s belief in the bad luck of the evil eye is no different. Likely a folk belief passed on to her by her parents or perhaps by her brother, it continues to have impact in her life day to day. Folk superstitions often seem to be so deeply ingrained in a person’s mind that it affects a person’s life in a very palpable way.
Doljanchi is a tradition that occurs when a baby first turns 1 year old. My source first witnessed this with the birth of his baby sister in Korea. In this ritual, a baby is celebrated and his or her fortune is told. The fortune of the baby is told by placing the child in front of a table of foods and objects such as string, books, brushes, ink and money. Whichever object the child picks up will foretell the child’s future. For example, money or rice signify wealth, while a brush means a scholar. People will often bet with money for fun to guess what a baby might choose at such a ceremony. At these ceremonies, entire extended families are often invited, making such events very important in Korean culture.
Doljanchi appears to show the significance that having a healthy child holds in Korean culture. The objects placed on the table as well as the objects that the parents of the child want them are symbolic of faith in one’s children. Predestination appears to be a large part of Korean culture as well, though nowadays the ritual is said to have become much more simply a family gathering than anything else.