Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Chinese Architectural Superstition

Nationality: Korean
Age: 54
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Cerritos, California
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

“A house that has a staircase that leads directly to the front door is a cursed house.”

 

My informant first heard about this superstition from her friend Mrs. Jin.  Mrs. Jin had been boasting about how she had been able to rent a beautiful house in Irvine for the cheap price of $1100 when it should have been $1700.  She told my informant that the owner of the house who rented it to her was a Chinese man.  He was aware of the old Chinese superstition that a house with a staircase that runs into the front door is cursed, leading to inevitable death.  Mrs. Jin and my informant laughed about that notion because they were at church function at the time, so as Christians they found the superstition preposterous.  Eerily, Mrs. Jin that same week went in for a bypass surgery that should have been simple enough, but she died from complications.  Now she is uneasy about the superstition.

Mrs. Jin’s death and her renting the “cursed” house could have been a mere coincidence.  A front door that connects directly to the staircase can cause uneasiness because good fortune can fly out the door easily, or perhaps death can easily find you since the stairs are a direct pathway to your room.  I am a Christian, so I should not pay attention to such superstitions about death, but to be on the safe side, I myself would never live in a house like that, especially after hearing about what happened to Mrs. Jin.

Korean Dream Superstition – Pigs

Nationality: Korean
Age: 51
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Cerritos, California
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

“A dream about a pig is a very good sign promising riches.”

 

My informant first heard about this superstition from her mother when she was about eight years old, living in Pusan, Korea.  Her mother told her that pigs were a welcoming sign because it would mean the household would flourish with wealth.  That is why dreams with pigs in it were always a delight in Korea.  Her mother was discussing that if she married a man with the Chinese sign of a pig, she would most likely live in riches.  My informant also told me that many people are carefully strategizing to become pregnant in the year 2007 because this is the year of the Golden Pig in the Chinese calendar.  The Golden Pig is unique to the ordinary pig sign because it only comes once in a thousand years.  People believe that if they are to bear a child in the year of the Golden Pig, that child will bring propitious results.

I am not surprised pigs are considered the signs of wealth in Korea because of the nature of the animal.  Pigs are stereotypically obese, food-grubbing, and filthily self-indulgent.  Having a dream about a pig reminds the dreamer about his or her self-indulgences or greed.  Since most people are in a great desire for more money, the pig’s self-indulgence for food would mean indulgence in money for people.  Pigs also provide very good meat, pork.  Therefore pigs can conjure the image of meatiness, sufficiency, and fullness.

Korean Superstition – The Ill at Funerals

Nationality: Korean
Age: 51
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Cerritos, California
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

“The physically ill in Korea do not attend funerals in fear that death will find them.”

 

My informant first heard about this superstition when about a decade ago, she was puzzled by her mother-in-law’s unwillingness to attend her (as in the mother-in-law’s) brother’s funeral.  When Gwi questioned her opposition to attending, her mother-in-law who is from the rural city of Daegu in Korea, explained that she was already ill.  Spirits at the funeral could sense an ill person’s presence and would follow her home.  She was afraid of the spirits following her after the funeral to take her with them, so she avoided going.  This kind of superstition is wide spread among the country folks in Korea.  They would never attend a funeral no matter how beloved the deceased was to them if they are ill because they believed the spirits would mark them as the next to die.

If I were battling a fatal disease, I would feel too vulnerable to go to such a gloomy and morbid ceremony.  Not necessarily that I believe spirits would follow me home, but I would be afraid to watch a funeral because death would just seem so real and closer to me.  However, I would still find the courage to attend a beloved’s funeral because perhaps I may find consolation in that death does not have to be so scary and remote as many people make it out to be.

“Step on a crack, and break your mother’s back.”

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, California
Performance Date: December 2006
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“Step on a crack, and break your mother’s back.”

My informant first heard this rhyme while he was walking home with his friend Amy after school.  He was a seventh or eighth grader in middle school that was located in Downey, CA.  To pass the time away and to forget about the fatigue from walking in the blazing sun with their heavy backpacks, they began to play a game.  The game started when Amy noticed that David kept stepping on the cracks of the sidewalk.  She chanted, “Step on a crack, and break your mother’s back.”  They skipped over the lines all the way home.  If one of them would accidentally step on a line, the other would shrug and say, “Oh well.  Your mother just broke her back.”

I have heard this rhyme myself many times from elementary school to middle school.  There is another variation: “Step on a line and break your mother’s spine.”  It would be a fun game to play while walking home from school or when we played hopscotch, a game in which you would have to jump over boxes and not touch the lines, someone would always chant this rhyme.  I believe the rhyme stemmed from how “crack” and “back” rhymes and since the point of the game was to not step on the crack, kids would warn that in doing so you would break your mother’s back.  That would keep you within the rules of the game of not stepping on the crack.

If you eat raw meat, hair will grow on your chest. – Superstition

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, California
Performance Date: December 2006
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“If you eat raw meat, hair will grow on your chest.”

 

David first heard this urban legend from his grandmother who is originally from Mexico.  When he was seven, he was very impatient when it came to supper time that he would take a slab of meat before his grandmother was finished cooking it.  She warned him that if he ate raw meat, hair will grow on his chest like a werewolf.  After hearing that, he became afraid so he stopped picking at the uncooked meat.  Contrarily in high school, David had a friend who desired chest hair badly.  His friend had heard that urban legend, too, so he always ate raw meat as safely as possible.

I believe that this urban legend came about because devouring meat and chest hair are both signs of masculinity.  Hundreds of years ago, men were arduous game hunters.  Even now many of the restaurant ads that target men display huge platters of meat.  Hairiness is also a masculine quality, especially chest hair.  Many young teenage boys are zealous upon spotting their first chest hair because that would signify manliness.  Therefore I can see how some people may link eating raw meat to chest hair.