Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Sports Ritual

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: South Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: April 21, 2008
Primary Language: English

Volleyball Ritual

Ritual: Pretending to Strap on Rockets to our shoes

Collector’s Analysis: All the middle blockers would be the last to stretch and after stretching, Noah and his teammates would make a gesture as if we were “strapping on rockets” to our shoes so they would be able to jump higher during the match. They hoped that it would bring us good luck.

Again, pre-game rituals are seen as a token of good luck. Ironically, when Noah’s team was not doing as well, they adjusted their pre-game ritual to ensure it followed the “original” variation, if there even was one.

Custom – Oregon

Nationality: Colombian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Portland, OR
Performance Date: October 19, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Making a Wish on a Shooting Star

When one sees a shooting star, he is presented with a rare opportunity.  If he immediately makes a wish after he has seen it, and tells nobody of the details of his wish, it will come true.

I first came across this piece of folklore when I was driving about six months ago on the Interstate 5 highway.  On the way to the Weekender for the USC versus UC Berkeley football game, I was with my friend Alex and a couple of others.  I do not quite remember where we were; wherever it was, it was far removed from any city lights.  We could see the stars above in a way that was utterly impossible in the bright city of Los Angeles.  As I watched the road ahead, I suddenly saw a flash of light across the sky.  It was a shooting star.  Startled, I announced my sighting.  Immediately my friend Alex told me to make a wish.  As I was about to tell her my wish, she stopped me, saying that if I told anybody before it came true, it would not come true at all.

I knew very little about this belief; I have lived all my life in the urban area of Los Angeles county, where stars are rarely seen.  The towering lines of skyscrapers, along with the smoggy air and blaring city lights crowd out the feeble light of the stars.  As shooting stars are themselves a rare occurrence, and coupled with the fact that I rarely see the stars, it is understandable that I had never before seen a shooting star.  None of my friends who had lived around this area in the car had ever heard of the wish-making belief either.  This can perhaps be attributed to our geographic location – without clear view of the sky, beliefs and rituals concerning the stars are understandably rare.

However my friend Alex, also a freshman here at USC, was from Portland, Oregon.  She explained how in her city, a small suburb off of Portland, the stars crowd the sky every night.  This is one of the main things she misses here in Los Angeles.  With such greater visibility of the stars, I speculated that it was natural that beliefs such as the one she related to me had developed in her area.  It is understandable that in any area where the stars are a very real, visible part of the night, beliefs concerning them will arise.

After doing some research on the internet, I soon found that perhaps I had been isolated in my little town of Hermosa Beach.  Numerous references to this idea of making a wish after seeing a shooting star existed.  From movies to novels to blogs, it seemed everybody except me had known about this belief.  An NBA.com article used the phrase “Wish a upon a Shooting Star” for its title.  Megan Quant published a children’s book entitled The Shooting Star Wish. A Disney movie starring Katherine Heigl, which debuted in 1995 was entitled “Wish Upon a Star.”  In this movie, sisters wish to swap places with each other after seeing a shooting star; the next morning, to their surprise, they have swapped places, finding themselves in each other’s bodies.  From Hollywood to the media and even to the libraries of children, this belief that one should make a wish after seeing a shooting star is very popular.

This is a very novel idea.  In this age where so much emphasis is placed on pure science and cold reason, this idea invokes the concept of wishes magically coming true.  When so many say that there is nothing that we cannot see, this belief is rooted in the unseen.  In a world where everybody is told they must fend for themselves, this belief offers a ray of hope that is beyond the scope of this human world.  It is appealing to say the least; perhaps its appealing nature has led to its widespread propagation throughout the American culture.

Ritual – University of Southern California

Nationality: English, German
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Berkley, CA
Performance Date: April 25, 2008
Primary Language: English

Kick the Flagpoles

Before home football games at the University of Southern California, many people either park, party, or eat somewhere on campus.  As the game nears kickoff, the thousands of dedicated fans stream south toward the Coliseum.  On the way they pass a series of towering flag poles shows on the left which over look an entrance to the south side of campus from Exposition Boulevard.  Every fan makes it a point to kick one of the bases of the flagpoles as he passes for good luck.  Since it is supposed to bring good luck on the Trojans, fans of opposing teams will almost never kick the flagpoles.  With literally thousands of fans kicking the noisy bases, it creates a racket which can be heard for blocks.

This tradition is specific to USC; as far as I know, no other university has such a tradition.  My friend Grant reminded me of this tradition when were we discussing the many traditions of USC.  A freshman here, originally from Berkeley, California, he had no idea as the why this kicking started.  Although I have lived about half an hour from USC all my life, I had no idea either.  We both learned this ritual when we went to our first home football game here.  I remember walking past the imposing poles when a large man, probably a graduate student or upperclassman, said “Hey, you gotta kick the flag pole, man.” “Why?” I asked.  “I don’t know dude, its good luck.”  We kicked the loose base of the flag pole, everybody smiled, and then continued on our trek to the Coliseum.  We probably discussed the tradition for a while, but like the big fan who had told us about it, we could not conclude much else about the ritual other than that it was for good luck, presumably for the Trojans.

After we thought about the tradition a second time for this collection, we hypothesized that the tradition may have started unintentionally.  The bases of the flagpoles are extremely noisy when kicked.  As they are placed on the edge of campus, they can be viewed as the last markers of “Trojan territory.”  As such, perhaps a person accidentally kicked one of the bases on his way out.  Seeing the drunken nature of many tailgate parties, this sort of stumbling is not at all unlikely.  So, perhaps one from the other legions of fans marching over to the Coliseum heard the noise initiated by the drunken stumbler.  Interpreting it as a type of rallying cry, one last bang before leaving the comfort of Troy and entering into the battlefield of the Coliseum, these fans picked up on it and began kicking the bases of the other flagpoles too.  Delighted by the loud, resounding clamor they were making, they soon decided to do it the next game, as well.  It is possible that in this way the tradition started.  A quick internet search revealed that nobody really knew how the tradition started; several sites speculated something along the lines of the idea outlined by the above paragraph.

Anyhow, the tradition allows dedicated Trojan fans to participate in a group activity.  As freshmen learning the tradition, we felt that we were in a way being initiated into the Trojan family.  Like all those proud Trojans before us, we too now knew that we were supposed to kick the flagpoles on the way to the Coliseum before a home game.  Although we do not know the true origins, it does not matter, as it has developed into a true Trojan tradition – and so we proudly kick away as we walk to the Coliseum, contributing to the joyous clamor which embodies the spirit of Troy.

Superstition – Hawaiian

Nationality: Hawaiian
Age: 22
Occupation: Inter-varsity Staff
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

Folkore: Hawaiian superstitions and beliefs

There’s one part of the islands on a mountain called the Pali Highway. You can’t carry pork with you. There was a group of people who went there and they had pork and the car stopped completely and won’t start.

Analysis:

My mom heard these from a storyteller who collected ghost stories. She’s pretty superstitious so she’ll make sure you’re clean after the beach and that you respect people’s graves and such. But I don’t know the origin of the night marchers.

My Analysis:

Pork is a sacred symbol to the indigenous people, so to carry it with your would be disrespecting the core of the island. It is imperative that one release it so that good fortune will be on your side.

Superstition – Hawaiian

Nationality: Hawaiian
Age: 22
Occupation: Inter-varsity Staff
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

Folklore: Hawaiian superstitions/beliefs

1. Don’t take black sand from the beach or you’ll anger the goddess of the volcano. She’s temperamental and stuff. You have to dust yourself off after you sit down.

2. Then there’s the night marchers. The ghosts of soldiers who walk on a specific trail they march one. There was one kid whose bed was on the trail and it’s not good to be there. You’ll get a fever and stuff.

Analysis:

My mom heard these from a storyteller who collected ghost stories. She’s pretty superstitious so she’ll make sure you’re clean after the beach and that you respect people’s graves and such. But I don’t know the origin of the night marchers.

My Analysis:

Hawaiian superstitions are interesting. The first one deals with the beach, a big tourist staple in Hawaii.  Because they surround the entire volcanic island and are considered to be the property of the gods, they are sacred.  Superstitions and myths are often intertwined, as this one is.  Dusting off black sand to not anger the gods signifies a reverence for nature and for a sacred truth.