Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Folk Game

Nationality: American
Age: 27
Occupation: Accountant
Residence: Tustin, CA
Performance Date: March 23, 2011
Primary Language: English

“Quick. Make a wish. Now point to a cheek. Ok. Your wish will come true.”

Melissa Johnson is an accountant from southern California. She explained this folk belief to me, that this is said when an eyelash falls onto one’s face. If you point to the correct side of your face, your wish is supposed to come true. She got this from a friend who said this to her. She doesn’t really believe that her wish will come true, but feels it’s fun to do anyway, like making a wish when you blow out the candles on your birthday cake or when the clock hits a certain time.

I think this is why anyone does this, and it’s an interesting display of the continuum of belief. She doesn’t believe in wishes enough to say that she believes pointing to the right cheek will make her wish come true, but she believes in it enough to go through the process of wishing on a fallen eyelash.

Folk Medicine-Persian

Nationality: Persian
Age: 82
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Santa Ana, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2011
Primary Language: Persian

Whenever someone has an irritated eye or eyes, my grandma suggests to them that they should pour tea in their eyes, once it has been cooled, of course. My grandma was born in a village outside Tehran called Aghasht. She moved to Tehran when she got married and moved to the United States in 1986. She prepares this tea in the same way she prepares the tea we drink, using tea leaves and a samovar on the stove. She assures me that the health benefits of tea are lost in the “dust” that is used for the tea bags sold in stores. Once the tea cools, it can be poured in the eye with a spoon a few times, as she does sometimes, or one can be more innovative and use an eye dropper. The tea reduces the redness and itching associated with eye irritations and sometimes infection.

My entire family has adopted this as a first resort to eye irritation, probably because it has a high success rate. I have used this remedy myself to fix eye irritation and for me, it helped. I was surprised to find that the tea did not feel like water; it felt almost like it was scratching my eye. It caused me to tear up quite a bit, but after putting the tea in and washing it out, the redness and irritation had reduced.

I have heard recently that people put teabags on their eyelids to reduce redness, puffiness, and dark circles. This seems like a modified version of my grandma’s remedy.

Annotation: This remedy can be found in the following book:

Roberts, Theresa K. ABC’s of Bumps & Bruises: a Guide to Home & Herbal Remedies for Children. Houghton Lake, MI: Theresa K. Roberts, 2008. Print.

Joke/Blason Populaire/True Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 14
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mount Kisco, NY
Performance Date: April 16, 2011
Primary Language: English

“How long is a Chinese man’s name?” After the interlocutor’s response (unless there is none), the line is then repeated: “How long is a Chinese man’s name?” If the interlocutor still does not understand, this part may be restated with different intonation, making clear that the line is a direct statement, as opposed to a question: “How Long is a Chinese man’s name.”

The informant stated that he learned the above joke (and riddle) about two months ago from a friend who told him the joke on the school bus. He said that he would tell the joke to both friends and family and at no specific time. However, he would not tell it to Asian people that he did not know well. The informant thought that this was an unusual and “unique” type of joke and that it is funny.

When I heard this joke for the first time from the informant, I had the typical and expected response: “I don’t know, how long is it?” Then, when he repeated it for me again, I understood the structure and purpose of the joke. Like the informant stated, the joke is rather unusual and unique, owing to the fact that it makes use both of a group stereotype—namely, that Asians have what might seem to many Westerners an abrupt and odd form of nomenclature—and of a quasi true riddle structure in which the answer (here, precisely that there is no answer, or response which should be given) is contained in the question. This piece of folklore thus incorporates not only the generally pervasive genre of jokes in which people of nearly every age group participate, but also the scarcer genre of riddles, which is more commonly found among children (though the informant here is perhaps a few years past childhood) who, being themselves novice language users, take greater delight than many older individuals in the enigmatic applications of language so often found in riddles.

Folk Belief- Runners/Race T-shirts

Nationality: American
Age: 41
Occupation: Registered Nurse
Residence: Mount Kisco, NY
Performance Date: April 15, 2011
Primary Language: English

Belief: Runners should never wear the memorial t-shirt that they receive while registering for a race during the race that the t-shirt commemorates.

The informant stated that she acquired this belief through a friend and fellow runner about 10 years ago when she started running. The belief is to be followed in practice for any race. For the informant, wearing a race t-shirt while running the same race is something you “just don’t do if you’re a serious runner,” and doing otherwise would make you feel out of line. She also emphasized, though to a lesser extent, that wearing the race t-shirt during the actual race might make one feel uncomfortable as though it were a bad omen and that something undesirable, such as an injury, might occur during the race.

Two aspects of this runner’s belief conveyed to me by the informant seemed particularly interesting and worth noting. First, the informant understood the belief, or more specifically its manifestation in practice (i.e. not wearing the registration t-shirt during the race) as a way of determining the insiders—the seasoned or “serious” runners—from the outsiders, who are presumably novice or more casual runners. Never wearing one’s race t-shirt while participating in that same race is thus a tangible way of asserting one’s identity, or their belonging to the former class. The second thing that seemed apparent to me, but not so much to the informant who looked upon the belief as something they simply adopted and practiced without thinking too much about it, is that this specific runner’s belief may be connected to an anxiety that doing the opposite—that is, wearing the race t-shirt while participating in the same race that t-shirt commemorates—could serve as a form of jinx. On this understanding, wearing the t-shirt during the race would be a sort of premature celebrating, since the t-shirt is meant to commemorate a successful finish to its respective race, and so the t-shirt should not be worn by any runner who has not actually finished the race, lest something bad should occur while they are attempting to do so. The belief could thus be seen as serving a very practical purpose in that it prevents the runner from incurring bad luck.

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Folk Belief-Persian

Nationality: Persian
Age: 60
Occupation: Manager
Residence: Santa Ana, CA
Performance Date: April 18, 2011
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

“When someone is going on a journey, or a long trip, we usually put water behind them. Like, we pour water on the ground after they leave, so that it makes them to come back.”

            My mom was born and raised in Tehran, Iran, and moved to the United States in 1976. One of the traditions she always kept was throwing water on the ground behind the car when someone leaves on a long trip. She prays and also makes each traveler kiss and walk under a Qur’an. She explained that because long trips are often dangerous and uncertain, she prays for our safekeeping. The water, she says is to make sure we come back. She’s not quite sure why, she thinks the water keeps a path on the ground on which we can return. It’s a very widespread custom among Persians that is meant to help handle the stress of knowing loved ones could be in harm’s way, too far away to be helped in time.

            I noticed that this folk belief, like many folk beliefs, is supported by a folk religious element. This makes practices that seem to invoke magic more acceptable among religious people. Water is given a mystical power as a path back home, but because that goes against religious teachings, in which magic is dismissed as a black art. In this case, the water is given this power by prayers to God that are not delineated in any sacred text. The Qur’an itself turns into a magical object, as well, in this case, but this is acceptable because it is assumed that the belief is in the word of God written inside that provides protection for the journey; however, it is used as if the book itself had its own separate powers.

            Because travel is a liminal time, the leaving ceremony is highly ritualized. Kissing the binding of the Qur’an and walking under it while saying certain praises to God should be done right in order to ensure a safe trip. Forgetting to pour the water or perform some other part of this ritual could lead to trouble down the road.