Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

French Bread Superstition

Nationality: French American
Age: 24
Occupation: Artist
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 1998
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Theo says he learned this piece of folklore from his father, who moved from France to America in his twenties, carrying with him a heavy sense of French culture that he instilled in his children. Theo was about nine years old when he first heard this superstition, growing up in New York City, New York.

Theo says, “My dad is French, and apparently if you put a loaf bread upside down, it’s bad luck. I don’t know why this is, it’s just an old piece of weirdness. I put the bread upside down once, and my dad yelled at me. He didn’t, like, yell, but he definitely corrected me. And there’s no fixing [the bad luck] after you’ve done it. You’ve just got to not do it.” Theo says this is performed usually in the context of a kitchen or dining table, although he believes it might also apply in a bakery.

When I asked Theo what he thought about this superstition, he said, “I like it. I like, you know, old stuff that’s passed down. Even if it makes no sense.” Theo very strongly identifies with his French heritage, so I can see why and how he would like this superstition, even if he wasn’t sure why he’s doing it.

Annotated: This superstition can also be found documented on Agathoune.com, a website promoting French and American friendship and understanding.

“Debunking the Baguette.” Agathoune. N.p., 19/MAR/2009. Web. 27 Apr 2011. <http://www.agathoune.com/?p=361>.

Persian Pregnancy Magic Superstition

Nationality: Persian
Age: 23
Occupation: Artist
Residence: Eagle Rock, CA
Performance Date: 1995
Primary Language: English
Language: farsi

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Eclipse

Roxana recalls a folk magic superstition from her Persian culture that she learned from her mother at about seven years of age while growing up in Orange County, California. The context in which this magic superstition is relevant, is with a woman who is carrying a child.

Roxana recalls, “My Mom said, ‘When I was younger, I heard that if you touch your pregnant belly on a full moon, your child will have a birth mark wherever you touched your belly. So, when I was pregnant with you,’ she told me, ‘I touched my belly on the full moon.’ And then, when I was born, I had a huge birthmark on my stomach. We tried to remove it because they said it might be cancerous, so now it’s a six-inch scar.”

Roxana feels like she has no choice but to believe this superstition, especially since it seems to have happened to her. She says, “If I’m ever pregnant, I want to keep my hands away from my belly. What if my child comes out with a huge birthmark on his face? I’m like, ‘hand off’ on that day.”

Upon further investigation, I found that the superstition usually applies to pregnant women going outside during an Eclipse, not a full moon (which makes more sense, since Eclipses are much more rare).  However, Roxana seemed pretty sure her mother had said a full moon, so I’m not sure if she made a mistake or simply was taught a different version of the same superstition.

Another superstition involving pregnancy, but with Mexican-Americans, warns that if a pregnant woman walks outside during a full moon the baby will be born with a harelip, or with the features of a wolf. To prevent this from happening, these women are encouraged to tie a bunch of keys around her waist so the keys deflect the moonlight. While this isn’t the exact Persian superstition, it provides variety to a very similar superstition, making this cautionary performance unarguably folklore.

Persian Protection Superstition

Nationality: Persian
Age: 22
Occupation: ARTIST
Residence: Eagle Rock, CA
Performance Date: 1992
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

Roxana remembers a Persian tradition her family has held since before she was born in Orange County, California. She first remembers performing this folklore when she was about four years old, as taught tao her by her mother.

Roxana recalls, “If I’m going on a long trip, while I’m walking out the door, my Mom will make me walk under the Koran. It’s so my voyage is blessed. The ironic thing is we’d be going somewhere like… Vegas. The most sinful place in the world. But I’d have to walk under the Koran. It doesn’t make sense [laughs].”

When asked what she thinks about this piece of folklore, Roxana replied, “It’s ironic because we don’t practice anything else that’s Islamic. And we’re always going to places like Vegas to gamble, and drink, and there’s prostitution exposed to me at a young age, but yet we have to walk under the Koran to get there. It’s something that was engrained in [my mother] as a child so she can’t stop doing it. But then I have to be exposed to it because of that, and I don’t really care for it.”

I, on the other hand, have a different opinion of this folklore performance. I believe the action of walking under a holy object, like the Koran, for safety and wellbeing on a journey is a comforting act, one that shows how much your family loves you and hopes that good things will fall upon you while you’re away from home. I don’t think that it should matter if you’re going somewhere a bit “sinful,” like Las Vegas. It’s the sentiment of hoping your loved ones are safe and happy that would matter to me, not so much whether or not I was specifically following the Koran’s teachings.

Folk Belief

Nationality: Hispanic; Mexican; American
Age: 70
Occupation: Cosmetologist
Residence: Three Rivers, CA, USA
Performance Date: March 24, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

It is common in the Catholic Church to make the sign of the cross when praying and other important, specific instances during mass. Nowhere in doctrine does it specify that one has to make the sign of the cross when passing a Catholic church or emergency, though my grandmother does. She replied when I asked her about her doing this with, “It is what Catholics do – we…or I guess my family at least…have always done this…we show that we are Catholic as a reminder not to other people, but to ourselves.”

I can agree with this, but will also point out the variation and deviation from doctrine involved in religious practice that is present. It may be another example of seeking agency against the structure of a dominant religious denomination. Either way, as with belief in ghosts and aliens, we see people choosing to act as they wish and believing what they want, even if it is in contrast to or modified from the norm. Again, I will suggest it is an attempt of individuality and identity creation.

Folk Belief- China

Nationality: Chinese/Australian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Melbourne, Australia
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: English

Belief: Never give shoes, watches, and clocks as presents to someone

The informant learned the above Chinese folk belief from her mother, around the time that she “first started give presents,” which was about the age of 12. The item is to be performed “any time you’re going to give a gift.” The informant views this belief as “embedded” into her life, claiming that she “gets paranoid” about receiving these items as presents, since the belief was reinforced “so many times and for so long.”

Though the informant stated that giving the above items as presents is considered bad luck for the recipient according to this Chinese folk belief, she was uncertain why. Simply not giving these items as gifts to others serves here as a protection, as do many forms of folk belief, against bad omens. While the informant didn’t seem to know much about the reasoning behind this item, it was clear that, as with most folk beliefs, the belief was a product of her social circumstances and formed a part of her identity as Chinese, even though she lives in Australia.