Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

A homemade cocklebur tea will cure a horse or cow of constipation

Nationality: American
Age: 65
Occupation: Consultant
Residence: Claremont, California
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English

This informant spent his youth on a farm in Madison County, Nebraska.  His parents farmed many acres and they raised several kinds of livestock.  He first learned this folk remedy from one of his friends in high school.  He is not sure how it came up, but it’s never difficult for immature minds to reach constipation and other digestion problems as their source of conversation.  My informant has only heard of this remedy and doesn’t know anyone who has ever tried it.

The cocklebur is a plant with spines at its leaf bases.  As far as other properties, it is poisonous to livestock, and animals will avoid it while foraging.  Less picky animals, such as pigs, will commonly eat the plant, get sick, and die.

To make the tea, one just has to mash up cocklebur leaves, add water, and mix the combination.  The plant is sickening, so when it enters the animal’s system, the animal will do what it can to reject the poison. In the process of cleansing the animal’s body, all of the other stomach contents are emptied, curing the livestock’s constipation.  In fact, it gives the animal a case of diarrhea.

The consequences of using the tea may not seem beneficial at first, but without treatment, constipation could be fatal or cause serious health problems for the animals.  This folk remedy and others are commonly shared among farmers to prevent the death of livestock when a specific medicine cannot be procured.  Oftentimes, the wellbeing of a farmer is dependent on the health of his livestock, and this sort of information could really be helpful.

If a cow is bloated and sick, you have it chew on a rope

Nationality: American
Age: 65
Occupation: Consultant
Residence: Claremont, California
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English

My informant was raised on a farm in northeast Nebraska and, in his youth, he was active in maintaining the farm with his parents.  One day, about 50 years ago, one of the family’s cows became sick.  The cow became bloated and my informant’s father had to explain that cows are too stupid to know when to stop eating.  This particular cow had eaten too much alfalfa.  This situation can be especially problematic if the alfalfa is really fresh because, according to other farmers, it expands as it is digested.  If nothing is done, there is a significant chance the cow will die.

It seemed likely to my informant that this remedy may have originated when someone gave their cow something to chew on to help it cope with the pain of the bloating, and the cow recovered.  My informant believes that chewing on the rope might ease the stomach and allow the cow to burp and let out some of the air that has it bloating.  Also, this method has proven effective, because if the cow is dumb enough to binge on alfalfa to a point where it endangers its own life, it can surely chew on a rope for hours on end.

At the time my informant first heard of this remedy, he did not know of a medicinal cure for the bloating.  Considering the cows had to be fed, housed, and cleaned, uncommon problems like bloating went without a definite cure and farmers had to ask each other what to do in these situations, and in this way, folk remedies spread from farm to farm.

When a dog eats grass, it’s going to rain

Nationality: American
Age: 65
Occupation: Consultant
Residence: Claremont, California
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English

My source grew up on a farm in northeast Nebraska and recalls learning this indicator when he was 7 or 8 years old.  His grandmother owned three dogs during his childhood, and one day he saw them all eating grass at the same time.  He found this odd, so he asked his grandmother if she forgot to feed the dogs.  She hadn’t, and explained to him that when dogs eat grass, it’s an indication that it will rain soon.  Sure enough, it rained later that day. Afterwards, most of the time he saw the dogs eating grass, rain quickly followed.

It is not out of the ordinary for a dog to eat grass, and it is actually typical if a dog has an upset stomach.  But then again, a coming rain is not likely to make a dog sick.  My informant suggested that there might be an atmospheric change that occurs before a rainstorm that might make dogs believe they have a symptom of an upset stomach, so then they would decide to eat grass.  There is no proof to support this explanation, but it makes sense to my informant considering the likelihood of rain after he saw his dogs eating grass.

However, there were several times that he would see the dogs eating grass and it wouldn’t rain.  In these cases, either the dogs were sick or it was a dry season.  This supports another folk superstition that his grandmother once told my informant.  She would say, “In a dry spell, all signs fail.” My informant’s grandmother knew many folk superstitions, and she would tell them to the family when appropriate.  No one else in the family desired to memorize them all as she had done, but they would remember the ones that she had told them over and over, and they shared those between each other.  These superstitions were likely shared in the same way by many other families.  This particular superstition is likely to be shared mostly by farmers because their occupation and livelihood is dependent on weather patterns, so if there is any way farmers can make use of a weather indicator, they certainly will.

 

Annotation: This particular folk superstition can be found in John Frederick Doering’s article: “Some Western Ontario Folk Beliefs and Practices” in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 51, No. 199 (Jan. – Mar., 1938), pp. 61

USC Football Superstition

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Poway, California
Performance Date: January 2007
Primary Language: English

“Before a USC football game, when walking from the campus to the Coliseum, it is good luck to kick the bases of the flagpoles at the intersection of Trousdale Parkway and Exposition Boulevard.”

 

My informant first heard of this superstition when walking to the first Trojans home game of the 2005 season. He had been to a Trojans football game before, but only with his parents, and they did not pass the intersection of Trousdale and Exposition.  On this particular day, he was walking with a few friends, and on their way to the Coliseum they noticed that everyone was kicking the flagpoles at the intersection.  So they joined in and gave the flagpoles a kick.  My informant didn’t need to ask, and easily figured out this was a traditional practice for good luck.

This tradition is shared by every fan wearing cardinal and gold that passes by that intersection.  My informant suggested that a long time ago, a Trojan fan gave a swift kick to the flagpole, and the football team preformed well and decimated their opponent.  From then on, they probably continued to kick the flagpole before every game and others began to join in.  While this may not be the official history of the superstition, it is likely that it was under these or similar circumstances that the superstition came about.

While many superstitions are believed to affect one’s own luck and fortune, this one is believed to influence the performance of a sports team.  So if a fan passed through the intersection without kicking a flagpole, and the Trojans lost, that fan could be considered liable for that day’s loss.  On the other hand, this is an instance where fans can unite and believe that they actually did something to help their team.

“It is bad luck to stop for any reason on the way to or from a fishing trip”

Nationality: American
Age: 31
Occupation: Park Ranger
Residence: Hawaii
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Hawaiian

My informant first heard this superstition as a young boy when he would go on fishing trips with his grandfather.  Together, they would make sure to prepare the night before and eat a full breakfast so there would be no reason to stop in the morning.  He had just assumed that his grandfather was impatient and didn’t want to miss out on fishing because of a break or a snack.  One day, as they were fishing, my informant asked why his grandfather wouldn’t allow any stops.  His grandfather replied that he and the rest of his family believed that stopping for any reason on the way to or from fishing was bad luck. If one were to stop on the way to the boat, they’d be in danger of not catching many fish.  Also, if they stopped on the way home, they would risk quality of their catch and that the fish would not taste good when cooked later.

His grandfather continued to explain that this superstition has existed within his family and other families for many generations, and that it can be traced back to the story of the anea-holo of Hawaiian folktale.  The anea-holo is a type of mullet and is mostly native to the island of Oahu.  As the story goes, when the family of Ihuopalaai’s sister ran out of fish to eat, she sent her husband to talk to him and ask for fish.  It was also requested that her husband not bring back dried fish, because it would go bad before his return.  After her husband declined bundles of dried fish, Ihuopalaai told him to return home on the Kona side of the island and not to sit, stay, nor sleep on the way until he reached home. The husband started home as requested, and Ihuopalaai asked the fish god, Ku-ula, to send anea-holo for his sister.  While the husband was returning home, he noticed a large school of fish in the sea.  He grew tired and disobeyed Ihuopalaai, and as he rested, the fish rested, too.  As the fish rested, other people noticed the school and began catching them.  The husband had not realized this was the supply sent for his family.  Finally, the husband reached home again and told his wife of the fish.  They fished together and were able to catch more than enough to feed their family, but they could have caught more had the husband had done exactly as Ihuopalaai requested.

This story is the basis for this superstition.  While the family was able to catch the amount of fish they desired, they could have caught more had it not been for the husband’s rests on the way home.  So for this reason, it is considered bad luck to stop on the way too or from a fishing trip, because you risk losing some of your catch or worse.

According to my informant, he has never asked anyone outside his family about the superstition, but he expects that many other families have similar superstitions, because of the story.  He also believes that it’s still used because it’s logical to be rested, full, and prepared before you leave to go fishing, so you can get started as soon as possible, and get home in time to cook what was caught.