Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Split the Pole

Age: 20

Date: 2/27/24

Major: Media Arts and Practice

Year: Junior

Primary Language: English

Place of Origin: Georgia,USA

INTERVIEWER: Okay. All right, so what is a superstition you practice and where did you learn it from? 

STUDENT: Um I guess I practice I do not split holes. and I learned, um yeah, from I guess just like my family, like my parents. they told me that if I split a pole or if a group of people splits a pole in the youngest person dies, first, the youngest person dies first, and since I’m the youngest in my family, and they told me that when I was a kid, I took that very seriously. And so I carry that with me today, even though I feel like that’s kind of ridiculous, but at the same time who’s to say? So, yeah, okay. 

Weird Trees

Age: 20

Date: 2/27/24

Major: Archeology and Cinema and Media Studies

Year: Junior

Primary Language: English

Place of Origin: Houston, Texas

INTERVIEWER: What is the superstition that you’ve heard of and that you practice and where did you hear it from? 

STUDENT: Superstition? Sorry, I got to think. No, cause oh, I have one! I guess I only developed this superstition, this past summer because I was doing like archaeology work in Providence in San Andres . And so there’s like these funky looking trees on the island and like kind of, if you see a tree, like that stay away from them, because that means like someone’s doing like black magic. And so I’m like always looking at like kind of the foliage and being like, is this one of the trees like is today gonna be like a curse? I don’t know. 

INTERVIEWER: That’s really specific, but like it is it is that is kind of weird.. And you learned this from like other archaeologists? 

STUDENT: Well, yeah, like I learned it like in the field because like I kept having bad luck. and so so they were like, oh, like did you accidentally interact with this tree and I was like, I don’t know. So now, like whenever I have like a bad day, I’m like, did I touch the tree? Like, like, I don’t know that I touched the tree today, who knows? Right, okay, yeah. You’re welcome.

Apples & Honey: Jewish New Year Ritual

Age: 63
Occupation: Retired
Language: English

Informant Information:

Age: 63

Date of Performance: 2/18/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Retired

Primary Language: English

Residence: Alameda, California

Text:

“Both my parents were Jewish, and at the new year—which, in Judaism, is a holiday in the fall when apples are in season—you cut apple slices, dip them in honey, and that will give you a sweet, prosperous new year.”

Context:

The informant, a California native from a fully Jewish background, grew up celebrating the Jewish New Year with her parents.

Analysis:

Eating apples dipped in honey is a Jewish tradition during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Their round shape symbolizes the cyclical nature of the year, while the honey’s sweetness represents hopes for a prosperous and joyful future.

Before eating, participants often recite a blessing expressing their wish for a “sweet new year,” reinforcing the ritual’s symbolic nature. For the informant’s family, this ritual was a celebration of their Jewish identity and means of passing down traditions to future generations. The timing, coinciding with apple season in the fall, also reflects the natural alignment between cultural customs and the regional produce available in California.

Fox Window Hand Sign

Age: 20


Date of performance: 2/22/25


Nationality: Chinese


Occupation: Student


Primary Language: Chinese & English


Residence: United States

Context:

The interviewee believes that the hand sign provides a window for the user to see someone close that’s deceased. They originally heard it from other kids while growing up. Despite this knowledge, and influence as a kid growing up, they have never tried the hand sign as a result of superstition. This superstition stems from the fact that they believe that if it’s done incorrectly, the dead will haunt them instead. According to them, they believe that its origins stem from Japan. Furthermore, this concept is also seen in general throughout Asian Literature

Analysis:

I found this concept to be interesting as I feel like I’ve heard of this hand sign before in media. Despite having a faint memory of previous references, I’ve never encountered one with a concept such as this one and its connection to a dead loved one. I feel like I’ve naturally heard of ones with similar ideas that are all connected to some vision of the dead. Much like my interviewee’s interpretation, I’ve heard of one that serves as a lens to the world of the dead in general, with the consequences serving from staring at the ghosts or certain animals.

Mexican Fork – Joke

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Undergraduate Student at the University of Southern California
Residence: Icon Plaza Apartments in Los Angeles, CA
Language: Chinese

Text:

Use your “Mexican Fork”

Context:

“Sometimes, when my family is eating food–and of course we are using chopsticks–someone will try to pick up something difficult to balance with their chopsticks, and we’ll tell them to use their ‘Mexican fork’… aka their hand. Our grandpa used to say it all the time. It is a little… uh… race-y so we only ever say it around family.”

Analysis:

The performer is a 3rd generation Chinese-American, and their grandfather came to America (specifically Lousiana) as a teenager around the 50s. This joke is interesting because it has an America-centered perspective. After all, the default eating utensil is a fork. By saying Mexican “fork” instead of “eating utensil”, it implies that the Chinese “fork” is a chopstick while, in this case, the Mexican “fork” is one’s hands. This could be heavily influenced by the American go-to utensils being spoon and fork and is an interesting reflection of their grandfather’s assimilation into the American folk culture. Additionally, it’s interesting that the performer prefaced that the joke is controversial and only said it in private as it reflects the attitude around the saying changing to be less acceptable over the past 7 decades.