Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Folk Custom – University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

Nationality: Austrian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Warwick, UK
Performance Date: April 25, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: German

„Whenever we put on a play at my school, we keep a copy of Macbeth on the stage. My Drama teacher insists it on it and now its common practice. Honestly I don’t know whether it has done wonders but at least it hasn’t brought about any problems yet”

This piece of occupational folklore is usually different in that the use of Macbeth within a Theatre apparently curses the performance. To the informant, and actor, this practice is carried out to bring luck to the production and the performance. Often a copy of the play will be used as prop or placed inside the drawer of whatever piece of furniture is placed on the stage. What I found interesting about this tradition at Warwick University is that they do exactly the opposite. I found this very interesting that it matches a lot of sayings that are supposed to wish luck, such as “break a leg”. My interpretation of this idea is that in encouraging something bad, you eliminate the curse in mentioning it so as to cause the opposite to happen. As far as thespian superstitions are concerned, this is a relatively controversial practice: usually bringing up Macbeth within a Theatre brings bad luck, and there are many practices discussed to counteract the curse, i.e. running around the theatre three times etc. I found this particularly important because it sheds light on the evolution of folklore and how things will adopt different meanings over time.

Folk Belief – Kazakhstan, Korea

Nationality: Kazakh
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2, 2008
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English, Japanese

An active sex life can clear away acne

A Kazakh friend told me that she heard this, asking me if I thought it was true. I told her that I although I am not particularly inclined to believe it, I am not sure, and that I have heard it as well. She told me that her peers, mainly her Kazakh friends, would occasionally refer to it. I told her that in my experience in Korea, many people seemed to believe it, and a lot of adults would mention it as well too. For example, if a girl’s skin mysteriously cleared up, her friends might tease her by asking, “Who is it, who is it?”

Because both of us have international friends, and friends who have been abroad, we are both not completely sure where this belief originated from—whether it was predominantly Asian belief, or whether it was an American belief that our friends have picked up and brought back. It is so interesting to see, that as people’s concepts of nationality and ethnicity begin to blur, the distribution of our folklore consequently gets just as complicated and confusing. Is this a Korean belief that spread to Ukraine?—An American one that spread to both Korea and Kazakhstan?

Apart from its interesting distribution, I also think it shows a rather positive attitude towards sex. It implies that sex is a natural and healthy activity, and the lack of it could result in unhealthy skin. Because this belief is often expressed hand in hand with the belief that stress causes pimples, it also seems to suggest that either sex is a good way to dissipate stress—or that without sex, we are likely to experience stress.

If I were to guess, I would tend to think that this belief is probably more inline with Asian beliefs, than with American beliefs. Although Americans are much more liberal with their bodies, and open about sex—I still feel that I can perceive the Christian notions that sex is a temptation, or a guilty pleasure. Yes, the Americans are open about sex, but it simply means they are open about admitting their carnal desires. In Asia, or at least, in Korea, however, we are not as open about talking about sex, or showing lots of skin, but sex is not usually thought to be a “sin” or a “temptation.” More often, it is thought to be a natural phenomenon, and a rather normal and healthy one, at that. It is simply considered embarrassing and distasteful to talk about it too publicly, is all.

Superstition – Persian, Armenian

Nationality: Armenian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: March 3, 2008
Primary Language: Armenian
Language: Russian, English

To protect a car from bad luck, an egg is placed right in front of each tire of the vehicle. Then the owner drives the car forward, slowly crushing the eggs.

Mary learned this from her Persian-Armenian neighbors in Glendale. She said this is done when you buy a new car—almost like an initiation ceremony for the car. She said she is not sure exactly how this is supposed to work, although she thinks it may have something to do with “crushing evil.”

I am not sure how to go about analyzing this, but I thought it was an interesting piece as it combines a very ancient form of superstition—magical superstition, and a very modern object—the car. No doubt this tradition has started after the invention of cars, and after the wide distribution of cars among the Persian-Armenian communities. I thought there must be some older Persian custom that involves the crushing of eggs for good luck, but was not able to find any. At any rate, this tradition is concerned with an issue that concerns us all—motor safety. If Persian-Armenians had previously crushed eggs for some form of protection, it makes sense why they would try to adopt this to the car—we now, after all, spend much of our time in cars, and we are all aware of the dangers of the road.

As for the eggs, they have been symbolically important for so many cultures. Eggs seem to usually connote good rather than evil, so I am not too sure about Mary’s idea of symbolic crushing of evil. The wheels are like the ‘legs’ of the car, and are very important to the car’s reliability and maneuverability—perhaps, then, it is an attempt to instill some of the egg’s protective power into the very rubber of the wheels.

Superstition – El Salvador

Nationality: Salvadorean
Age: 32
Occupation: Truck Driver
Residence: Torrance, CA
Performance Date: February 12, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Placing a bowl of water near the pillow will help prevent nightmares.

Jorge sleeps with a large bowl of water next to the head of his bed. He told me that it is something that he learned from his mother. Supposedly, the water will absorb any bad spirits or bad dreams, letting him sleep in peace. “It does help,” he told me. I asked him if this is a common custom in El Salvador, and he told me he is not sure. “You don’t really go around asking other people, you know,” he said.

This custom reveals the belief that bad dreams come from an external source, and can be captured physically. I find this belief to be an extremely common one—Native American dream-catchers purport to trap bad dream, the European succubus was definitely a physical creature—indeed the word nightmare echoes the widespread belief in the mara, the female creature who caused people to have nightmares by sitting upon their chests. Fortunately for Jorge, the source of his nightmares is soluble in water.

I think that this simple, convenient solution might also have inherited a belief in water as a powerful agent. Water is almost universally believed to have powers of purification—such as we see in so many religions. It seems like this folk remedy is an attempt to purify the air around the sleeper, cleansing it of whatever they are evil things that cause people to stir in their sleep.

Folk Remedy – Tehran, Iran

Nationality: Iranian-American
Age: 53
Occupation: Executive
Residence: Calabasas, CA
Performance Date: April 22, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

“To cure a stomachache, drink hot tea, like early grey tea, with “nabaat” (sugar rocks), and mint water.”

My mom says that in Iran, everybody knows to drink tea (or “cha-ee”) with “nabaat” and mint water (or “abeh nanah”) when they have a stomachache. She said that hot tea is a very popular drink in Iran.  Some of my family drink more tea than they drink water, so it is not unusual to find that tea can serve as therapeutic cure.  Tea with mint water and “nabaat” is a well-known cure that everybody accepts as true.  There are no medical or scientific tests to prove this, but all of the three components are known to ease the pains of a stomachache.  This “recipe” is not written done either; it is just passed on orally between people and down generations.  Since it is widely accepted in Iran, my mom cannot trace back to exactly who told her about this drink.  However, she believes it is an actual cure and she has given it to me whenever I have had any stomachaches.  I personally think that it is a natural, effective cure for stomachaches.  Whenever I tell my friends to drink hot tea with mint water and sugar rocks, almost all of the reactions I get are skepticism and doubt.  They mostly think that it is probably a placebo effect and that it is all psychological rather than an actual effect.  However, I made some of my friends try the tea and they all started to believe the actual therapeutic effects of the tea.