Category Archives: Protection

Flyer’s Good Luck

Age – 20
Language – English
Nationality – American
Occupation – Student
Primary Language – English
Residence – Syracuse, New York

Text: “Another friend introduced me to a superstition about touching the outside of the plane as you board it. She told me when I was really young that it’s good luck for a safe flight and now I’ve tapped the plane every time I step onto a flight. I take this one pretty seriously because flying sometimes scares me but I do it pretty often.”

Context: The informant learned this superstition from a friend at a young age. The belief is that touching the plane as you board brings good luck and keeps the flight safe. The informant has made it a habit to tap the plane each time they fly. They take it seriously, because of their fear of flying.

Analysis: This superstition is an example of how small habits can help people cope with anxiety. Even though this action has no proven effect, it gives the informant a sense of safety when flying. This shows that folk beliefs stick when they’re tied to strong emotions like fear. It’s also significant that this tradition started in childhood which makes it more meaningful because we are more vulnerable at a young age. This repeated act became a comfort habit.

Splitting the Pole

Age – 20
Language – English
Nationality – American
Occupation – Student
Primary Language – English
Residence – Syracuse, New York

Text: “My friend introduced me to a superstition about splitting the pole. It basically says if you two are walking together and you come to a pole and walk on different sides of it, you jinx your relationship and will have bad luck in it going forward. He taught me it last year and for a while after I followed it pretty strongly because he was so into it that I started to be, but I’ve cared less and less about it the longer it’s been.”

Context: The informant learned this superstition from a close friend who strongly believed in it. It became something they followed for a while because of the friend’s influence. The belief is that splitting a pole while walking with someone brings bad luck to your relationship. The informant said they first followed it closely, but stopped putting value on it as time went on.

Analysis: This is an example of a folk belief passed on through personal connection. The idea of “splitting the pole” reflects a break in unity, which is why it’s said to bring bad luck to relationships. These kinds of superstitions often act as small rituals people follow to feel more in control of the luck in their life. The fact that the belief faded over time shows how folklore can lose power when it’s not actively being practiced or reminded.

Sage Burning

Nationality: American
Age: 48
Occupation: Student
Residence: Glendale, AZ
Language: English

“I believe in like burning sage to purify your home. I use sage and herbs. When I’m feeling like negative energy or negative stuff starts happening. I believe that it’s something someone else is doing to me or spiritually happening to me, so I burn sage and bless my house.”

Where did you learn about this?

“I learned about this kind of stuff until I lived on the Hoopa reservation. I never learned about this stuff before moving. I started opening up spiritually when living up there. I was aware of this stuff because my mom was clairvoyant.”

Can you please tell me about how you burn the sage? 

“Protection of house. You burn sage and pray and intent. Clearing things. Things happening in your home, you burn sage. Thanking your home when you live in your house because your house is a living energy. It protects your family. It is a safe haven. I also use it for my crystals. I ground myself and I saw a prayer. I usually say Our Father. I mix my Christianity beliefs within my medicine because that’s the one true god i believe in. I walk through the house and open doors and windows and say the Our Father on each part of the house. And I blow it on myself and the house before I blow it out. I also do crosses on door entrances.”

Context: The informant identifies herself both as a Spiritualist and a Christion. She spent a portion of her 20s in Hoopa, California where she learned a lot of spiritualism from the people she met and connected with on the reservation. She has a mixed background of European and Native American ancestry.

Analysis: Burning sage to purify your home is a commonly recognized Native American ritual that has been adopted by many Spiritualists in the US. Through this practice, the informant is connecting to her roots, which have been lost within her own family. Often, Native American ancestry can be eradicated in European family lines, so many people try to reestablish those connections with that part of their identity. Through this reconnection, the informant also blends her Christian beliefs that have been dominant throughout her entire life. Her approach to sage burning shows the complex ways we blend folk beliefs with religion and spiritualism.

Looking specifically at the act of burning sage, the informant identifies the symbolism in the home, how the home is meant to protect us. Sometimes homes can be believed to be haunted or negative energies might enter the home. Sage acts as a way to contract these spooky unknowns in our homes. As ghost stories tend to be centered around property, sage smudging also focuses on property, cleansing the home to be a safe and welcoming space rather than an ominous one. 

Folk Belief: String on Finger

Age: 24
Occupation: Paraprofessional

“I’m not sure if it has an actual name, but it’s like if you get a stye on your eye, it means you saw something you shouldn’t have. You would then tie a black string around your finger- I can’t remember, either middle or ring- 12 or 13 times. You would keep it there until it fell off to ward of bad luck”

[Would you do this yourself?]

“No, it was mostly my grandmother and sometimes my mother. Oh! And it also had to be done on the left hand.”

Analysis: There’s a lot to unravel here (like a string, haha): beginning with the stye on the eye, I think that many cultures consider the eyes “windows to the soul”, so it makes sense that any particular harm to the eye would be considered very serious. Additionally, there’s this “seeing something you shouldn’t have” element, which has manifested itself into a physical bump on the body. There’s a lot of folklore surrounding the idea of karma, which I think this also exemplifies: you saw something you shouldn’t, so now you have a bump and the possibility of bad future luck. What I find particularly interesting is the number of times the string must be wrapped around the finger: In many cultures, 13 can be considered an unlucky number, but here, it is used as protection against bad luck.

Come On! [Player’s Name]

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: United States
Language: English

Text:

“One superstition is when I’m watching volleyball and our team is serving I have to say ‘Come on’ and player’s name before they serve but I can only say it once and then if I do that then it won’t be a server’s error.”

Context:

The informant says they started doing this in the fall watching women’s volleyball after their friend did it once and ended up getting a service ace. They then started doing this in hopes of changing the outcome of the game. It’s important to them because there are a lot of service errors in the sports games and has a need to control what can’t be controlled.

Analysis:

This represents sports behavior tied to superstitious beliefs with the sports community being the folk group and this behavior the lore. The idea is orally speaking out loud about something happening in the game in hopes of changing the outcome of the match, despite knowing that the people on the screen can’t hear you. The ritual is held verbally with its own rules and distinctions like having to say the player that is serving and only doing it once. This is similar to sympathetic magic, where the action of calling out will influence an outcome and ensure the player being able to complete the serve. They adopted it from another friend, showing how this spreads socially especially within this folk group of sports. The informant even hopes to use this to spread to those outside of their group. This makes the game they’re watching seem interactive, despite being in a completely different location with no ties to those watching. This ritual offers a chance for watchers to help their team win and give them a sense of controlling the outcome in a game that is wildly unpredictable. These behaviors are used in the sports community then to ease one’s anxiety over not being in control and the uncertainty of the future. As a psychological function, this acts as the idea of finding correlation between two events that may not have an existing connection. This behavior formed due to the fact that it worked once, inviting this idea that because it happened once it may happen again. It’s interesting as well as the tradition is both personal and communal as the action is specific enough to pertain to a few people, but it still offers connection or similarity to others’ own personal rituals to the same activity.