Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

The Magpie Rhyme

Nationality: American (British and Irish Descent)
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Williamsburg, VA
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

“It’s the Magpie poem. I think I told you about that one. Did I?”

 

“I don’t know if you did.”

 

“It was like the ‘One is for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.’”

 

“So, that’s your new saying now?”

 

“That’s that’s my little poem.”

 

“Could you have picked any longer of one haha? You’ll have to practice saying it, like, 15 times. Like really fast and then when you, like, blurt it out.”

 

“Blurt it out, yeah. So, um, yeah so otherwise. I’m trying to think…”

 

“So where did you learn that one?”

 

“Internet haha.”

 

“Internet.”

 

[Laughing]

 

“Do you know where it’s from? Is it…?”

 

“Um…”

 

“Probably, like, a British one or something.”

 

“Yeah, yeah I remember I looked at the origin but I can’t remember what it is now.”

 

 

This rhyme is an example of a saying that has multiple versions, dictated by the occasion. Also, the subject matter itself, the magpie, can be found in various other superstitions, particularly in the British Isles.

Folding Money

Nationality: American (German, Irish, French Descent)
Age: 57
Occupation: Former financial analyst, homemaker
Residence: Del Mar, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English

“My Grandma McLain had a superstition about folding her money. And she believed if you folded it in half that you would always have money. And that’s something I’ve always done with my money ever since I was a little kid. Never bothered to look up that, uh, belief. I don’t know what the origin was, um, I don’t know if it’s an old German belief, or superstition.”

This is a classic example of superstition gone rampant. An idea that someone upheld that was then passed on to someone else, but with no one really knowing its origin or whether there is any real sound reason behind it.

Dinner Prayer

Nationality: American (German, Irish, French Descent)
Age: 57
Occupation: Former financial analyst, homemaker
Residence: Del Mar, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English

“We give our thanks to you, oh God, for rest, food, and play, for loving us and helping us at all times night and day. Amen.”

 

“That prayer, my mom gave Justin, and she came across it somewhere when he was a little kid. And she had given it to him and we just started saying that one.”

 

“What do you mean she gave it to him?”

 

“Well it was printed on paper or something she read somewhere, and so she, I don’t know why she gave it to him, but we liked it and so we just started saying it.”

Bedtime Prayer

Nationality: American (German, Irish, French Descent)
Age: 57
Occupation: Former financial analyst, homemaker
Residence: Del Mar, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English

“‘Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep. Angels guide me through the night, and wake me with the morning light. Amen.’ That one, that was a pray we said, that we learned as children, and then that was what I had you guys say also.”

 

“So, do you know where that came from?”

“No, that’s been around forever and ever. I think mom used to say it when she was a kid.”

 

“So how did it end up on that blanket, or whatever it was that was in my room?”

 

“I, I don’t know. I just now saw that blanket somewhere.”

 

“Oh, you didn’t make it, you just found it?”

 

“No I think someone gave it to us as a baby gift and I just painted, I think I painted it. I don’t remember.”

 

“Wait so did they know that you used that prayer? Or was it just a coincidence?”

 

“Uh, I think it was a coincidence. I would guess the origin is a Catholic prayer.”

 

“Almost seems too uplifting to be a Catholic prayer.”

 

“But, ya know, their belief in the, that everyone has a guardian angel to protect over you. So I think that it was special for children.

 

 

Since as far back as I can remember I’ve said this prayer before going to sleep. I’ve never been particularly religious, but it has just always been something to do, like a ritual. In a way this kind of mentality in approaching religious, or any, tradition keeps them alive. However, this also minimizes, and maybe even trivialize the meaning of folklore.

“Gesundheit”

Nationality: American (German, Irish, French Descent)
Age: 57
Occupation: Former financial analyst, homemaker
Residence: Del Mar, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English

“The whole gesundheit thing. I mean, Grandma Kern’s whole family, they were German. And so growing up, some of the words they would use for things, they’d always use the German word. And, ya know, we just never though anything about it. We just thought that was the word that you use. So, if ya did sneeze, she would always say gesundheit. And, really, it means ‘god bless you.’ And again, I guess it’s because if you sneeze, your heart can, um, stop, and so they’re blessing you in case you died or something.”

 

 

Although this is a distinctly German word, I’ve grown up feeling as if it  were almost mainstream. Many may not know the origin nor the literal translation, but many will understand what is generally meant since it is said under a very specific context.