Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Superstition

Nationality: Tongan-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Office Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: French, Spanish

“My mom always told me, if you sweep at night… then you’re sweeping money out the door”

Joe is a friend of mine who works in my dad’s office. He is 20-years-old and was born and continues to live in Los Angeles. His mom, who was raised in the Tongan Islands, raised him with many superstitions, which he still follows today. Joe’s grandfather is French and his grandmother is Tongan. I went to visit the office, which is when Joe told me about this Tongan superstition. No sweeping, vacuuming or any other sort of cleaning where dirt is removed from the household should be done at night because it is bad luck. Joe follows this rule when taking care of his own apartment here in the city but was also raised with this notion.

When Joe told me this superstition, it was the first time I had heard of anything like that. Because we were in the office, many other employees heard Joe and I talking about this superstition and a few other people had heard of something similar, except the saying said “if you sweep at night you will sweep away all your luck.”  Though the language is slightly altered, it’s the same idea. Joe believes that this is true and so he never cleans at night, which is another reason he shared it with me because I recently moved into a new apartment and he wanted to pass along this superstition to me so that I don’t sweep money or luck out the door.

This superstition was passed down from generation to generation in Joe’s family so it has a lot of value to him. The superstition also tells a lot about how he was raised and about his Tongan heritage. Besides sharing the superstition with me, he also inspired me to research the saying. I found that it is a superstition in many parts of the world. http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php?blog=5&cat=85 and http://www.belizeans.com/tales.htm.

Superstition

Nationality: Tongan-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Office Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2007
Primary Language: English

“If a woman cuts her hair on a full moon, then it will grow back very quickly”

Joe is a friend of mine who works in my dad’s office. He is 20-years-old and was born and continues to live in Los Angeles. His mom, who was raised in the Tongan Islands, raised him with many superstitions, which he still follows today. Joe knows many superstitions, most of which I have never heard before. This one, about haircuts on full moons only applies to women. Joe and I had discussed that this is probably because the moon and all lunar activity are closely associated with women. Joe shared this superstition with me at my dad’s office and consequently other employees overheard our conversation. Not one other employee had heard of anything like this superstition, and neither had I. Joe takes these generational superstitions very seriously. Joe and his siblings were taught by his mother, who was taught by her mother, and so on. He wasn’t sure how many generations back this tradition went, but he was sure it was ancient.

Joe chose to share this superstition because it was something that  he grew-up with, his grandmother, mother, aunts, and sisters all based their hair cuts on the moon’s cycle. Though it doesn’t apply to him, this superstition has affected him his whole life.

This superstition is significant because it shows a long tradition of women being associated and affected by the moon. Joe explained that in the Tongan Islands, there are dances and songs dedicated to the moon usually performed by women. Sometimes the moon is negatively associated with madness, which is where we get the word “lunatic” from, but in this case, this superstition simply shows a correlation between the moon’s cycle and women. As the stages in the moon change, the length of hair changes.

Folk Remedy

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: February 19, 2007
Primary Language: English

“Everybody has their own cure for a hangover, but I swear by mine: cranberry juice like Oceanspray because the sugar made it easier to drink and a plain bagel- not toasted.”

Paula was born in Northridge, California and has three older sisters. She learned of this hangover remedy from her eldest sister, Susan, who had learned it from their mother. Paula and her sisters grew up in a household that avoided taking medication whenever it wasn’t absolutely necessary. So on the occasion that the girls had a hangover while still living at home, they always drank “an ice cold glass of cranberry juice” and ate a plain bagel. The logic was “that if we drank something sugary we would have a better chance of finishing it and it would better hydrate us. The bagel was to absorb the alcohol.” Now she still follows the same remedy, but for different reasons, when she needs it and she also passed it along to her children. Paula now explained that she still drinks cranberry juice because although it does hydrate her, the sugar also balances out her blood sugar. As for the bagel she explained, “I think my mother was just trying to get us to eat something, she always thought it was best to start out the day with something light. But I do feel like a bagel actually does serve as a great remedy for a hangover!”

Folk Medicine is a universal thing because everyone gets sick with the same illnesses and tries to find their own relief. Though certain parts of the world may grow a certain plant that is unavailable elsewhere and so their remedy is isolated, the idea that people search for remedies is a frequent thing. Who doesn’t have a hangover remedy? The notion that everyone creates their own concoction for a hangover is a powerful notion, it says a lot about people’s constant and persistent drive to find cures and better our lives. It’s a great accomplishment to say that everyone has a remedy because it diffuses power equally. People trust their friends and family and when it is possible to utilize those sources for a health concern rather than a multi-billion dollar corporation it is a nice change from the normal top-down system. The notion of folk medicine truly emphasizes how folklore is a horizontal method of communication.

Folk Medicine – New York

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Chef
Residence: New York, NY
Performance Date: April 15, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish, French

“If you drink a glass of warm water mixed with mustard you will vomit… this drink’s combination is an emetic ”

Neil is a personal chef in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in New York and moved out to California for college. After graduating, Neil remained in the city managing restaurants and then settled into a career as a personal chef. He lives in Hollywood with his dog Jane. Neil explained to be that he had to use this emetic on his dog when she accidentally consumed some aspirin. Neil learned this remedy from his mother who taught it to him before he moved across the country for college in case of an emergency. Neil had researched the emetic before giving it to Jane and learned that is was not harmful to big dogs if given in little doses. Jane recovered well from the incident.

Folk Medicine is a universal thing because everyone gets sick with the same illnesses and tries to find their own relief. Though certain parts of the world may grow a certain plant that is unavailable elsewhere and so their remedy is isolated, the idea that people search for remedies is a frequent thing. There are manufactured and purchasable emetics but the use of a homemade remedy may be less intrusive and toxic. By transferring and sharing folk medicine through horizontal mode of communication, people can learn a lot about other cultures and other culture’s remedies. The notion of folk medicine is sustainable because of the acquisition of new information is beneficial for everyone.

Superstition/Ritual

Nationality: African-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: April 12, 2007
Primary Language: English
All dirty laundry needs to be washed before December 31st at midnight. My mom makes me search the entire house.

Notes:

The subject had many New Year’s rituals to share pertaining to his family. He said that every New Year’s Eve his mother made him search the house for all dirty laundry so that she could wash it before the New Year. He emphasized all laundry stating that everything and anything dirty that could be cleaned in the washing machine, was. When I asked about the reasoning behind this he says that it is considered bad luck when crossing over into the New Year if you have dirty laundry. He furthered this making a connection between the cleaning process and the superstition saying that it’s not a clean start to the New Year. The subject was unsure of its origins exactly but said that it was a popular custom in African American families, saying that his entire family does it.

At first I thought that his may be a clever way to make the kids get all of the dirty laundry done before the New Year, however once I heard that it was not a clean start to the year, I believe it has more to do with this. I think it reflects the idea of a clean slate, making sure that the New Year is started fresh without the trials and tarnishes from the previous year. I think it symbolizes a lot more than what it first sounds like. Having a clean house and clean clothes to enter the New Year allows the family to ease into the year without having to deal with the problems from the past. The clothes can be seen as past year occurrences that need to be washed away before the New Year. I think that the fact his mother makes him search through the entire house, which he emphasized telling me that even socks or pillowcases were included, shows her strong belief in it. It is obviously a big stress reliever for her as well, since entering the New Year the house is clean and she does not have to do the laundry.