“Dead Snake in the Tree”

Jessica Lewis is currently a student at the University of Southern California where she studies Psychology and Classics. She was born and raised in the small city of Newnan, Georgia. Her family lives in a rural area of Newnan, where agriculture is the people’s main source of profit and professional life.

Jessica was informed of this superstition by her grandfather, who claims that it has proven true on multiple occasions. The superstition is that if one kills a snake and then hangs the dead snake on a tree limb then it will rain within three days. Jessica says that her grandfather often would practice this superstition and that it was not a rare site to see dead snakes hanging from trees on her farm. She says that she thinks the superstition came about as a result of the family’s primarily agricultural lifestyle, wherein adequate amounts of rainfall are essential to the subsistence of both the crops and her family.

It seems that these superstitions probably arose out a person’s desire to express some sort of control over the weather, which itself is a rather uncontrollable entity. Most likely, the practice of killing snakes and hanging them on tree limbs is a desperate attempt on behalf of the farmer’s to control the rain in order to provide adequate rainfall for their crops. This leads one to believe that superstitions probably arise out of people’s desire to have some control in otherwise chaotic and inexplicable situations- particularly in matters of life and death.

A variant of this superstition is discussed in Lloyd N. Jeffrey’s Snake Yarns of the West and Southwest. From JSTOR: Western Folkore: Volume 14, No. 4, p.252

“Turning a dead snake on its back or hanging it on a fence will bring rain…”

“Table Manners”

Josh is a graduate of the University of Georgia and currently resides in Athens, Georgia. He was born in Columbus, Georgia and was raised in Marietta, Georgia.

The superstition that Josh explained has been around since he was born. He said he just learned to accept this superstitious practice as a part of life and does not think it odd. Before Josh was born, his grandfather passed away. Every time that he goes to his grandmother’s house for dinner or lunch, there is something rather unusual that occurs prior to the meal. While some families have traditional seats wherein each family member is expected to seat, his family has a tradition of telling him where not to sit. Ever since the death of his grandfather, the seat at the end of the table has always been left empty. In addition to the rule wherein no one is allowed to sit at the end of the table, there is another rule that the seats directly to the left and right of Grandfather’s seat must always be occupied by males. Josh recalls a time when a visitor came to dine at his grandmother’s house. Apparently, this lady did not understand why there was no one seated at the end of the table and proceeded to sit down, but was immediately reprimanded in an extremely harsh manner.

Josh said his grandmother and family believes that Grandfather will always occupy that seat at the end of the table, even though he is not physically present. In the family’s beliefs, if someone were to sit in his spot it would be undermining his power and role in the family in spite of his death. Josh says this custom has always been practiced, therefore it does not seem odd to him.

It seems that the family’s preoccupation with table seating has a strong connection with its core value system. The family is strongly patriarchal and in this manner, it is considered improper for women to do anything that would undermine the power of the men. There is a strong value placed upon remembering those from this past in this family. It seems that to a degree, this practice is almost obsessive-compulsive and is likely the result of the grandmother’s inability to cope with the disappearance of her husband, the former head of the family.

“Knock on Wood”

Dustin Anderson is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is from a very small town in northern Minnesota where he was born and raised. His mother is second generation Swedish.

Every time that Dustin says something that he does not want to actually happen in real life, he knocks on wood, literally. For example, if Dustin were to talk about the horrible possibility that he would die in a plane crash, he would finish his statement by knocking on wood and saying “Knock on Wood” aloud to inform those around him and God that he was just figuratively speaking and not requesting for this event to happen. In addition, it is highly important that the person actually knock on real wood. It does not suffice to simply knock on any material and to say the phrase. If one does not knock on wood after saying such a horrendous statement, there could be confusion on the behalf of God or the gods to the point where they may misinterpret your statement and think you have requested for such a thing to happen.

Dustin claims that he first learned this practice of “knocking on wood” while in the first grade at the elementary school within his town. A classmate mentioned the possibility of being robbed and then proceeded to actually knock on wood and to say the phrase. He says he is not sure whether he actually believes that things would occur if he did not follow many of his comments with the phrase and action surrounding the “knock on wood” superstition, but he figures it doesn’t hurt to do it just to be safe.

It seems interesting that the material which one must knock on is wood. Possibly wood is the chosen material because wood is generally hollow in the center. It could be possible then, that the emptiness of the wood may be symbolic of the hopeful empty- handed statement, or that the statement may be just as empty and untrue as the wood is hollow. It seems once again, that this superstition is like many others. It is a way in which people try to gain some sort of control in a chaotic and often senseless world.

“This one is also about the Goddess of Pele. Since she is the Goddess of Volcanoes and rumored to be the creator of Hawaii islands, all the lava rocks and black sand is said to be a part of her. I’ve heard that it is bad luck to take anything volcano related off of the island. A lot of tourists who didn’t know would take home pieces of lava rock or black sand as souvenirs, but I heard many of them ended up returning whatever they took because bad things would happen to them. Some even wrote apologies to the Goddess asking for forgiveness and there’s some museum displaying things people sent back, there’s even an address to mail back the rocks.”

The informant heard this superstition from many of her friends growing up on the island of Oahu. Stories of the Goddess are popular among local folk culture and this particular superstition is one which many tourists should be aware of. It has also become a tourist tale these days since Hawaiian tour guides will often warn those who step onto Hawaii, “take only those that are given” or “come with nothing, leave with nothing.”

As with all superstitions, I think those that visit the island, who otherwise would’ve openly taken rocks as souvenirs, would probably second guess themselves before leaving with a piece of Hawaii. While it might seem like a harmless action, most of us will eventually falter to our ‘just-in-case’ mentality. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.