Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Superstition – Guatemalan

Nationality: Guatemalan
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 31, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Folklore: Superstition and belief

Also, one time, told by my mom, this guy was tending his horse and a person came out of nowhere. It was a silhouette (individual thing, doesn’t happen to everybody), he was freaked out and the guy told him straight out, “I’m the devil.” But he says, “whatever” and shoots the figure. But the figure made fun of him, saying “Ow! That hurts!” and just starts laughing.

Analysis:

The guy was either drunk, maybe the person was having religious issues. It’s basically saying to believe there are other powers in this world. I believe there’s a fourth dimension I don’t see. I do believe there’s things we don’t see that are against us. When I pray and stuff, you can still fall into temptation of evil or lust. And I think the angel goes back to God, saying there’s too many demons in the way. The enemy’s against you but the word of God is for you.

My Analysis:

Once again, in the Latin American countries, many of the indigenous people mixed the Christian faith (angels) with magic and mysticism (the mysterious figure). The feelings were often dark and fears of evil were widespread.  In this story, it kind of ends on a weird note – one of laughter.  It is nearly an antithesis, but also a display of the man’s weakness against this mysterious figure.  It plays once again on people’s fears of the devil, and it’s sometimes hard to predict what shape or form he will take.  The devil also cannot be killed, and takes on a aura of invincibility in this tale.

Superstition – Guatemalan

Nationality: Guatemalan
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 31, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Folklore: Superstition

“Cadejo”

In Guatemala, when you’re out at night by yourself, it comes out. My mom told me this story. The word is a hybrid of cat and bunny in Spanish. Mom says it’s a creature that comes out at people when you’re by yourself.

It’s white and small if you’re a girl. And it’s black and very big if you’re a guy and you’re by yourself.

Someone saw it, he was so scared that he died, just out of being scared. It doesn’t do anything to you, it’s just there, it stares at you. Actually, wait, never mind what I said. If there’s a drunk lying down on the street, it sits down next to you until you wake up. And sometimes it acts as a guide.

But there’s also this saying that if you’re a woman and a black one comes out, it chases you and barks at you. If it’s a white one to a guy, it means bad luck. It’s known for the sound it makes: it whistles and screams like a human being.

If a person heard the screams and starts looking for the person that he thinks is injured, the whistling goes farther and farther away.

To prevent it from happening, you walk with a little kid and nothing ever happens. I believe little kids are like angels.

In Guatemala, they carry their little kids when they go out. In Guatemala, especially that place, it’s the definition of darkness, literally, freakily kind of dark. We’re talking like “Wow.” I know, I’ve been there. These people believe it’s real. I guess someone saw it and it spread.

Analysis

It’s from Guatemala, from specifically a region, “The Progress,” or “El Progreso” in Spanish. It’s about 70 kilometers south of Guatemala City. The majority of the population there is indigenous, but not me, I have pure Spanish conquistador blood in me.

It’s very rural, not like a city, it’s a village. I’ve heard it there commonly too. If you go for a BBQ or hangout with my family, one or two things usually happen.

You joke around and tell stories about memories in Guatemala or these kind of dark tales. I heard it as a kid from my mom and then I wrote it down for one of my papers in junior college. My dad says he saw it, but I don’t know what’s up. He didn’t make a big deal of it.

I think the people are more inclined to believe things. They’ll say things, supernatural things, especially negative things, and they’re more inclined to believe it. The indigenous people are very witchcraft-oriented.

My Analysis:

This story plays on a fundamental fear of the dark, mixed with mysticism. Black and white are considered universal symbols of death, so to have something in this color cross your path would signify bad luck or coming misfortune.

Superstition – Chinese

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, French

Folklore: Chinese superstition (numbers)

The number four is bad because it means death. Mom told me when I was small. She said sixes and eights are good. Six means it flows well according to well. Eight means you’re going to be rich and wealthy. Everyone concurs with that.

If you go to China today, you can choose cell phone numbers. There are cards you can refill. Numbers with sixes and eights cost more, like 20 to 50 percent more. Hotels don’t have the fourth floor or the 13th floor (only after foreigners came in.) When in red envelopes, they give you 6, 6, 6. They give you $666 yuan or $888 yuan. It’s like good numbers. They never give $500.

Analysis

It’s bad luck just because it sounds like death. The character for death sounds like the character. So when you say it without context you can’t tell the difference between the two. Therefore, the number four is bad because no one wants to die. So people just kind of hold on it from generation to generation. Chinese people don’t like death.

My Analysis:

The number four symbolizes death, an idea that scares many Chinese people who do not believe in an afterlife.

Swimming Culture – California

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: La Jolla, CA
Performance Date: April 22, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Vietnamese

Folklore: Swimming culture

What people just know:

-if you’re on the wall, you don’t push off right before someone is coming or is going to turn

-floating on the wall in the middle of a set means you’re “weak sauce”

-people usually don’t REALLY have cramps.

-being the lane leader means you can’t slack off.  If someone’s in front of you, you can’t just catch up and ride the drift …people in the front hate this

-if you’re slacking…its obvious. Cheaters piss people off cause everyone else is dying as they suck it up.

-the words “for time” or “test set”= instant dread

-the right most lanes are the “fast lanes.”

My Analysis:

The most interesting point that Jen made about what only swimmers know is the joke of “cramps,” usually used as a lame excuse for people to skip practice.  It becomes a phrase that everyone knows to be false, yet people have accepted it and are continuing to use it to ditch. When someone says they have cramps (menstrual cramps or stomach aches), they are usually mocked by other swimmers.

People who use excuses to be lazy are really frowned upon in swimming because the sport is so physically grueling: waking up at dawn, cold water, exercising all muscles in the water.  People who do not know or understand the unwritten rules of floating on the wall or being the lane leader are shunned and cause a lot of annoyance.  Everyone is expected to hold up their part and carry the same work load.

What people just do:

-changing in front of people is no big deal.  Panties and bras a basically the same as a suit, and for many, being naked is not much less. Even around non-swimmers, swimmers typically don’t really care about showing skin

-morning practice. if you don’t wake up early…you’re not that hard core.

-parkas, ugs, pjs, and sweats = standard swimming gear

-swimmers don’t know what to do in a pool with pool toys and no lane lines.

My Analysis:

The actions of many swimmers carry the same sense of commitment and also a sense of shamelessness. Being naked in front of each other is not humiliating because changing from street clothes to swimsuits is done so often. This is a unique social aspect because many Americans value their privacy, both personal information and their bodies. For instance, some families in older Japanese customs would bathe together. In America, anything suggesting inappropriate nakedness is shunned upon.

Sports Ritual – Las Vegas, NV

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Las Vegas, NV
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

In high school, Aaron played the position of goaltender for his lacrosse team. Before each game, as a ritual, he would write on a slip of paper “A-game.” He would then stick it in his jock strap right before a game so he could say he brought his A-game to the game.

Aaron performed this sports ritual as a way to bring him luck. He believed that he would, in fact, perform better if he fulfilled this sports ritual before each game. He thought he would play his “A-game” if he did this. He said that he did not necessarily perform flawlessly every single game, but he kept doing it because he thinks he probably would have performed even worse had he not done this ritual. Aaron did not borrow this idea from somewhere else; he had not heard of anyone else doing it. He made it up himself and made it into his own pre-game ritual.

Rituals, or at least sports rituals, tend to be superstitious. Aaron felt compelled to write “A-game” on a slip of paper and put it in his jock strap because he felt it really would help him perform better in his lacrosse game. He felt like a better goalie. He never deviated form this practice because he did not want to suffer the disastrous consequences and be a terrible goalie.

This ritual made me laugh because I had never heard of men sticking pieces of paper into their jock straps before games as a way to bring them luck and/or perform better. However, I felt bad for laughing because Aaron takes it very seriously. He will not go a single game without this slip of paper in his jock strap.

I think this ritual is interesting because it invites discussion about beliefs. Some people might be skeptical; they might laugh and say that the “A-game” slip of paper has no affect whatsoever on his performance as a goalie. They might say that it is all mental: he just feels more confident when he has the slip of paper, so he plays better as a result of feeling confident and of feeling like he can and will do well, not necessarily because of the slip of paper at all. However, others who also have sports pre-game rituals might completely agree with Aaron. They just feel the need to fulfill these rituals regardless of whether or not others regard it as all mental. To them, their better performance is tied to this ritual; they cannot do well without it. Then, there are all the people who kind of believe the ritual is tied to performance, but also kind of believe their performance is tied to their mental state of mind and the slip of paper helps induce that confident state of mind.