Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Icky Tea

Nationality: Minnesota-white
Age: 40s
Occupation: Artist
Residence: Altadena, CA
Performance Date: April 23, 2012
Primary Language: English

The informant talked about a folk remedy she learned from her mother and passed on to her children.
“You make it at the first sign of cold symptoms: scratchy throat, watery eyes, aches.
It is equal parts bay leaf, sage, and cinnamon. The cinnamon at the bottom gets all slimy like snot.
I had drank all the water at every rest stop from utah to minnesota and I had got some sort of water sick or something. Originally it had cayenne pepper and lemon in it too. That was practically un-drinkable. Now we separate it out into cayenne and lemon then the tea.
My grandma said if I didn’t get better in 12 hours, they’d take me to the hospital because I was like, 12 and really sick. But we upped the dose and I she got better really quick.
Now we take the cayenne as a pill,  drink lemon-honey tea and do the rest of the icky tea in a cup.”

No one quite knows what about this works but, I tried it last time I was sick and it worked like a charm.

Door Placement

Nationality: half Thai half Malaysian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 20, 2012
Primary Language: English

The informant learned this piece of folklore from her mother about how to build a house in China.

“You shouldn’t buy a house with a front door and the back door directly across from each other, because um, they say all the money is going to come in and go straight out.”

I remember hearing something about this being a concept of Feng Shui. I do not know if this custom is directly related but they are certainly correlative.

T Intersection

Nationality: half Thai half Malaysian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 20, 2012
Primary Language: English

The informant is talking about folk beliefs she learned from her mother about houses in China:

“You shouldn’t buy a house that’s at the end of a T-street, cuz then all the bad spirits will go into your house.”

This reminds me of a similar practice I have heard of, I believe in Feng Shui.
This could also come from the fact that houses at the end of T streets are more likely to be run into by automobiles. It could also just be due to the fact that a house in this position may just be more visible.

Teapot Orientation

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 8, 2012
Primary Language: English

The informant is recounting a folk practice/superstition she learned while at a restaurant with a Chinese friend.

“It’s considered bad luck to have the teapot pointing at you.”

She doesn’t know why her friend believes this and does not believe it herself, though her best guess is just so that if it spilled, it would not spill on her.

 

Her explanation seems like a plausible reason behind the folklore but I wonder if there is a more spiritual reason commonly accepted.

Earwick, Nosepick, Facelick

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Actress
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 25th, 2012
Primary Language: English

Earwick, Nosepick, Facelick

It’s a game the source’s mother, used to play with her, her brother and her sister. The rules of the game are as follows: “two people race to see who can complete three tasks first. They have to stick their finger in the other person’s ear and nose, and then lick their face. The game can be started by either person at any time.”

When the source and her siblings were kids, they thought it was just a game, but when they were older, their mother explained that it wasn’t really a game at all. It turns out she was testing for cystic fibrosis. She was really only trying to lick their faces, and if it tasted salty it would mean they had cystic fibrosis. Healthy kids are supposed to taste like flour.

The source’s mother invented the game so her kids wouldn’t run away every time she tried to test them. She added the steps of picking the nose and ear because it made the source and her siblings laugh.

 

I believe that while the game started as a way to practice a folk medicinal test, the reason why it caught on in the family, and why they still occasionally play it now is because it is a way for the family to playfully get close to each other. All of the actions performed in the game are fairly intimate gestures, and at the heart it’s a way for the family to stay close.