Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Who’s a gypsy?

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Bulgarian

My informant’s family is Bulgarian and she was telling me about when she went to Turkey, “Dude, when I was in Istanbul everyone in my family would ask how it was…then they would ask if it was true that all the people there are gypsies” She laughs loudly. I respond, “That sounds like Madame Collet (a french teacher in our high school) talking about you in class.What exactly happened with that?” She yells, “I know! I can’t believe she said that! What an ass. She called me a gypsy in front of the entire class, like what the fuck! And I was like, I’m not a gypsy. She said, ‘you’re Bulgarian all Bulgarians are gypsies’ (She quoted in a fake French accent). Girl, I was bout to lose it! I just gave her a look and was like that…is…not…true…that made me so mad, it was embarrassing. How you gonna call someone a gypsy like that?!”

There is a very great stigma towards gypsies in European cultures, so both these stories would be considered rude or embarrassing towards the cultures they are accusing of consisting entirely of gypsies. This is probably the result of conflict within the different cultures that leads them to accusing each other of being something that is considered a social stigma. Bulgarians and Turks have a history full of conflict, where they often hold each other in a negative light. My informant also went on to say that based on some of her experiences, she doesn’t think that French people like Bulgarians very much.

Dumb Blonde

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Store Owner
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Arabic

My informant told me a dumb blonde joke, which went like this: “What do you call a blonde with two brain cells?…pregnant.”

This joke stereotypes blonds not only to be dumb, but it possibly has a connotation that blondes are also loose. This joke also assumes that the listener will presume from the first line, which does not mention female, that it is about the female. This not only reflects as a stereotype of blondes then, but also of females, which could possibly indicate how females are vied in our society as opposed to their male counterparts, who do not have this stereotype put on them.

Chinese Custom: Wearing White

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 55
Occupation: Lecturer-UCSB
Residence: Goleta, California
Performance Date: 18 March 2012
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Last month when I was home for Spring Break, my mother once again berated me for wearing a cream colored hair bow. She says that in China, wearing white in your hair means that someone in your family has died and it is taboo to wear white in your hair when that is not true. In Chinese culture, the color white is the color of mourning and death. So, a lot of the times people wear white to the funeral.

This has always been interesting to me because in American culture, people wear all black to funerals and white is the color of pureness and innocence. Then, a woman wears white at her wedding to represent her final transference into womanhood. In Chinese culture, brides often wear red and gold because red is the color of happiness and gold represents wealthiness. I feel that color is always such an interesting kind of symbolism in today’s culture. In each society, certain colors mean different things and can transfer different messages. I know that roses are always a big deal because if a guy gives a girl yellow roses, he only wants friendship, they have to be deep red to be romantic.

Flour to Stop Bleeding

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 65
Occupation: Business Owner
Residence: Fullerton, Ca
Performance Date: 4/21/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

According to my informant who grew up on a farm in a poor family, in the old days mothers used to put baking flour on cuts as a folk remedy to stop bleeding. He heard this from one of his brothers, who actually told him that the remedy was a false one. This brother of his had cut his foot when he was younger, and his sister had put flour on it in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. The blood didn’t stop flowing.

Essentially, it was a poor person’s remedy. It may have gotten its reputation as a cure for bleeding due to its absorbency, but would never be very effective on anything larger than a paper cut as it doesn’t really have anything to do with blood coagulation.

Butter on your Burns

Nationality: Mexican- American
Age: 40
Occupation: House Mother
Residence: Harbor City, Ca
Performance Date: 4/21/2012
Primary Language: English

My informant told me that an oft-used folk remedy that her mother used to use on her for burns was cold butter. According to my informant, Cold butter is thought help cool the burn and soothe the irritation, but is in reality a bad idea. The greasy substance could possibly cause infection and become a breeding ground for bacteria.

This was likely thought as a good idea because of its availability in the kitchen where many burns occur, and the cool substance no doubt would feel good against the irritated skin at first.