Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Legendary Others- Norway

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Nationality: Norwegian
Age: 84
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Portland, OR
Performance Date: April 25, 2008
Primary Language: English

“The Tomkin, the Nisse, is very traditional and represents the country with a high hat. He helps the farm animals. The Tomkin is generally depicted with a white beard and a tall red hat. This becomes very important with the war with Nazi. There were lots of them. There were many families of them. They lived in the roots of the great big trees. The doors were invisible and no one could see them. They helped so much around the farms and the house and worked very closely with the animals of the forest. He would help the animals if they were hurt in the field. He fed the birds. The Tomkin loves the wildlife and he loves to help. When something goes so well in the old farmhouses, oh they would say that the Tomkin has been here. They are just so thrilled. The general terms Gnomes of Norway.

The Gnome that is so bad is the Troll. The Troll, he is the one that the children were afraid of. And he is the one that lived in the mountains. There was a lot of superstition that came through the mountains. In other words, when there are no roads, and no cities or towns, and you are traveling in a small group through the country and with a small group you heard all kinds of sounds, and the wind whistling, and lighting; that was caused by trolls.”

My Grandmother explained to me that her mother introduced the Tomkin to her. Her mother did many paintings of the Tomkin. One that she clearly remembers was a water painting that she still has hanging in her own home. It shows the Tomkin coming out at night and working in the barn. My Grandmother explained to me that in Norway, the houses were not as we had ours here. They had one log house for cheese making, one for bread making, one for weaving, and then the main house for dining. The Tomkin would come into these cabins when no one was around and do their part to aid in the processes going on. The Norwegian people believed they would come out at night and be very helpful at night especially up in the farm country.

My Grandmother recalls that many Norwegian artists are extremely influenced by the Tomkin and often created pieces in which they are portrayed helping around.  My Grandma’s mother painted the Tomkin standing on a stool cause he is so small and he has a long stick and is stirring the Christmas soup. He is depicted as having one big eye looking out as if he did not want anybody to see him. However, if anything goes bad, the people of Norway are extremely superstitious; they blame it on the Trolls. They are generally depicted having really scary faces and the children hate to hear about the Trolls. Anything bad or scary happening to you was caused by trolls and unexplainable.

This tale says a lot about the Norwegian cultural beliefs, mainly those surrounding superstitions such as a responsibility to one another. I find interesting that they believe that there are tiny gnomes that come and aid in farming families daily duties. Images such as these can be found in the book Gnomes, by Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen, which coincide with my Grandmother’s tales of the Gnome. This could be translated to the Norwegian people having a mentality of helping one another out instead of being selfish and live for one another like the Tomkin does. It is also very interesting they equate any bad luck or bad happenings with the Troll in the hills. Surprisingly, when I questioned my grandmother as to whether the Tomkin and the Troll interact, she said no, never. Considering that they are opposite forces, I thought that they might. In researching this, I found that in fact they did. This led me to believe that there are different versions out there regarding the Tomkin.

Annotation: Huygen, Wil and Rien Poortvliet. Gnomes. New York: A Peacock Press/Bantam Book

Joke – Los Angeles

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Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Tarzana, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2009
Primary Language: English

“There is an American man, Italian man, and a Chinese man. And they are working in a mine. So the head of the mine, like their boss in the mine gives them each something to do. So he says to the American man go get me some shovels and be back in three hours. And he says to the Italian man go get me some lanterns and be back in three hours. And he says the Chinese man go get me some supplies and be back in three hours. So three hours goes by and the American man comes strolling in with his shovels, and the boss says nice job. And so about ten minutes later the Italian man comes walking in. The Italian man comes walking in with his lanterns and the boss says good job. So then about 15…20 minutes passes by and there is still no sign of the Chinese man. About one more hour passes by and there is still no Chinese guy. And so they are looking around and they are like where the fuck is the Chinese man. All of a sudden they are looking around and the Chinese man pops out from behind a rock and yells Supplies!”

His dad told him this when he was younger and he said that it was always so corny. He told me that the joke is a play off of the fact that Chinese people when speaking English get their Ls and their Rs mixed up. He told me that whenever his dad would tell the joke he would always interchange the part of the American and the Italian as well as the tasks that they would have to perform. However, the part of regard the Chinese man always remains the same.

When analyzing the joke, I found that it plays into the stereotypes surrounding the Chinese. The first, that Chinese are unable to complete simple tasks, especially in comparison with American and Italian people, who in this case are deemed a superior race. The second is the play on their speaking ability, and how they confuse L and R when pronouncing words that contain them. It is a very racial joke and most likely intended for an audience that does not contain those of Chinese decent. Brandon does not recall if the version he told me was exactly the same as the one that he heard from his father. There are areas where one can change the joke around for their own personal preference. For example, Brandon told me that it can work well if you have a friend hide and then pop out to surprise the audience while yelling the punch line.

Superstition – Fullerton, California

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 26
Occupation: Business Student
Residence: Long Beach, California
Performance Date: February 16, 2009
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

There is a statue on the campus of California State University Fullerton. There was a gigantic earthquake some years ago and the damage was extensive. Among the things damaged in the earthquake was the statue. It was broken during an earthquake and they decided to leave it broken instead of repairing it. The belief is that there is good luck in the butt cheek of the statue. The good luck only resides in the left butt cheek. The right butt cheek contains no luck whatsoever. The left butt-cheek must be rubbed. It has to be the left butt-cheek or it will not work.  If a person were to rub the magical left butt cheek of the broken statue that person will perform well on their tests. This ritual must be performed prior to the test or I will not work.

My informant forgets the name of the statue at the moment. Not only does he not remember the name of the statue but he does not even know what the statue is supposed to be of. He tells me that he heard about this belief from a friend of his who currently attends school at Cal State Fullerton. He also says that the butt-cheek itself is considerably worn down from constant good luck rubbing. I was not able to see the statue in person but was considerably interested in seeing just how worn down the butt cheek was.

The statue was most likely left unrepaired because the students began to idolize the butt cheek of the broken statue more and more. I asked Andrew why he felt that the statue was so important to the students and what he believed it meant. He says that he believes that the earthquake was so powerful and traumatic to the students that the statue became a sort of symbol of the positive that came from the earthquake. He added that prior to the earthquake no one rubbed the statue’s left butt cheek at all, much less expecting good luck on test as a result.

I think the connection to the earthquake was an important one. Without the earthquake damage the statue was completely normal and had no special properties. After the earthquake its importance grew and it gained symbolic value. Whether or not anyone actually performed better on tests as a result of rubbing the left butt cheek remains a mystery.

Superstition – Long Beach, California

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 26
Occupation: Business Student
Residence: Long Beach, California
Performance Date: February 15, 2009
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

In the city of Long Beach there is a hill covered with a bunch of trees. The trees are very close to each other and cover the entire hill. The superstition is that if a person can roll down the hill without hitting a single tree on the way down that person will get a 4.0 GPA for that semester.  It is called the 4.0 Hill.

Andrew told me that he first heard of the hill from one of his classmates during his first semester at California State University Long Beach. He said “everybody” knows about the hill. I asked him if he could show me the hill sometime and he obliged. When I first saw the hill I immediately realized why it was such a big deal for anyone to roll down the hill and not actually hit a tree. The hill was so densely populated with trees that it seemed to me that it would require a perfectly choreographed route which seemed to be impossibility to me.

I asked Andrew if he has ever rolled down the hill. He said that he has in fact rolled down the hill numerous times. I then asked him if he had ever successfully rolled down the hill, to which he promptly responded, “No.” To the best of his knowledge no one has ever actually completed a trip down the hill without colliding with a tree. I decided that I should attempt to roll down the hill and see if I could make it all the way down without colliding with a tree. My first attempt ended with an immediate collision into a giant tree. I made several attempts but could not avoid crashing into trees.

I think that if someone were to roll very slowly down the hill they may be able to avoid collision. Andrew told me that going slowly was cheating and would not result in a 4.0 GPA for the semester. I asked him if there were any negative repercussions from failing to make it successfully down the hill. He told me that he was no aware of any and also expressed his fear of how badly he would have to pay for hitting so any trees if it turned out that there were in fact negative repercussions or colliding with trees.

I asked Andrew what he thought the meaning behind the 4.0 Hill was. He said that he thinks it is a way for students to have hope in the event that their grades are not good. He feels that if someone is doing poorly in school they should visit the hill. He thinks that even if they collide with the trees or somehow make it all the way down it will give them more confidence. The result of this confidence can be a sort of mental trick that causes them to actually perform better in school just from having rolled down the hill.

I agree with him in that I also believe that a trip down the hill might boost ones confidence and contribute positively to one’s performance in school. After rolling down the hill myself I felt as if my GPA might have risen a few points. I think it serves as a sort of ritual that helps return a sense of control to a student’s life, especially when that student feels that his or her grades may be in danger.

Folk Belief – American

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Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 25
Occupation: Cashier
Residence: Cleveland, Ohio
Performance Date: March 7, 2009
Primary Language: English

In order to gather lottery numbers to play the Ohio Lottery Jeff spends the entire day keeping an eye out for any numbers that seem to stick out to him. The method he uses to determine which numbers are worth recording is very difficult to explain. Jeff says that he gets a certain feeling in his gut that lets him know that the number is significant and should be recorded. One caveat to his method is that he must spend all day gathering the numbers. If he were to record all of his numbers at one time he says that they would not work. “Only lazy people do that.” Anybody can spot a bunch of numbers and write them down, but he believes that a true professional will take his time and”let the numbers come to him.”

The numbers are gathered from a variety of sources including, but not limited to: license plates, sports scores, fortune cookies, dates, number of letter in a name, ages, number of items or objects in a certain place. When I asked Jeff if he had ever actually won using his method he informed me that he has never won but he has been “so close he could taste it.” This method of picking out numbers was taught to Jeff by his mother. I asked him if she had ever won using the method and he said, “If she did he definitely didn’t share.”

I asked him if he actually believed in the potency of his method and he said that he was not sure but that it felt more effective than just guessing. I think that the method Jeff uses is fairly common. I have worked with people who use similar methods for picking lottery numbers. I once informed a friend that I received a fortune cookie that contained two fortunes and she told me to play the numbers on it because it was a sign of good luck to have two fortunes in one cookie. I played the numbers in the California lottery and did not match a single number.

Many people seem to utilize different methods of picking numbers, but whatever the method they always stick to it. The thought is that eventually they will win. Jeff told me that if he uses his method long enough it will eventually pay off. The money he plans to win will cover the cost of all the tickets he has bought in the past and there will be plenty left over to spend on other things, such as more tickets. I agree with what Jeff said about his method being more useful than simple guessing. The psychological benefit of believing that one has properly “read” the signs and discovered the correct numbers makes one feel more positive than just plain old guessing. It adds a sort of supernatural element to choosing lottery numbers.