Category Archives: Protection

Indian money-giving superstition

Context: The participant, my roomate (intials NS), comes from an Indian family that now lives in the Bay Area. Both her parents were born in India and partake in the pra

Text:

NS: Anytime you give money to someone for a wedding or birthday, let’s say around $100, you’re supposed to give $101 or else it’s bad luck.

Me: Who is it bad luck for: you or the person getting the money?

NS: the recipient

Me: And what is it about adding $1 that’s ‘good luck?

NS: It’s not really the $1 but when a number isn’t whole or even its harder to divide mathematically. So it symbolizes growth and prosperity.

NS: Whole numbers are like ‘flat’ and ‘finished’ so by giving a indivisible number you’re giving out wishes of growth and endless possibilities to the person.

Me: Wow, so do you partake in this or have you just grown up with people who have.

NS: Well, I don’t really give a lot of people money haha but for the Indian holiday, Raksha Bandhan, my brother gives me an uneven amount of money?

Me: Can you explain this holiday?

NS: Yeah, so a sister ties a bracelet around her brother and in return, the brother gives her money. It’s supposed to be before the brother goes off to war, and the money would help her survive if he happened to die at war. The bracelet is also supposed to be for good fortune and symbolizes their bond.

Analysis:

The practice of adding a single dollar is a type of blessing in Indian culture. In this form of numerology, a round number represents completion or a closed cycle, which can symbolically suggest the end of a relationship, wealth, or growth. By adding one, the giver creates an uneven and indivisible number that is hard to find an even split of. This acts as a catalyst for continuity, ensuring that the gift remains open and invites future prosperity to follow. It effectively shifts the transaction from a commercial payment to a sacred offering, signaling that the bond between the giver and the receiver is meant to be undying and ever-expanding.

Stepping on paper superstition

Age: 20s Occupation: Student in Los Angeles Hometown: Kansas City, MO Genre: Folk Belief

Text

The participant believes in the idea that if one steps on paper or a book that will give them bad luck. The only way to ‘get rid’ of this bad luck is to touch the paper, touch your heart, and effectively ‘repent’.

Context

The participant mentioned that she learnt this from her parents and grandparents. The part where they mentioned the repenting they also said that their family is quite religious and practice Hinduism.

Analysis:

The fact that the participant learned this from parents and grandparents highlights the intergenerational transmission of folk beliefs within the family. Because the family is religious and practices Hinduism, this specific superstition acts as a daily reminder of their cultural and spiritual identity. The ritual serves almost as a socializing tool, teaching children from a young age that knowledge is sacred and must be handled with care. The counter-charm being to touch your heart also reinforces this idea by representing atonement between the individual and the divine.

El Cadejo

Age: 74

Text:

Informant: “When people walk alone in the mountains, farms, where no on else is around on the roads, or if you come home late after being out, if you saw a white dog, it was there to protect you. But, if you saw a black dog, the black dog would look for drunk people on the street and attack them. People who saw black dogs that looked like a spirit, they would run to someone’s house. If it was white, they felt it would protect them.”

Context:

This Nicaraguan legend was told to the informant as a child and teen by their mom and grandma, who lived in Nicaragua. The informant was born and raised in Nicaragua until they moved to the U.S. at 16 years old. People who lived in the mountains or farms and saw a white dog were told that it served as a protection. However, if they saw a black dog and they were drunk, they’d get attacked.

Analysis:

I’ve found that a lot of Nicaraguan legends have an underlying lesson that is meant to be shared to young ones. This particular legend served a functionalist approach because it was likely meant to discourage people from getting drunk. It could also have been told to prevent people from being out alone in the middle of the night. Adding the element of potentially seeing a white dog could give teens a little bit of hope that they were safe on their walk.

A Georgian home remedy for the flu

Interviewer: Do you have any special healing practices in your family? 

NJ: Yes. My grandma used to wrap garlic cloves in bread, put a little honey on them, and feed them to me to protect me from the flu.

Interviewer: I can’t decide if that sounds delicious or disgusting to me.

NJ: Oh, believe me, the honey didn’t help. It was still mostly garlic.

Interviewer: When was the last time she fed you this medicine? 

NJ: Not in a long time because I’ve learned how to say no to her, but she continues to try.

Context:

The informant is 22 years old and lives in Tbilisi, Georgia. The conversation was recorded over a video call. He lives in a large home with his parents, two brothers, and his grandma. 

Analysis:

This is an example of folk medicine. This preventative home remedy is meant to protect from the illness. In this case, the grandmother acts as a tradition-bearer and a domestic healer within this large household. The remedy uses ordinary home ingredients such as honey, bread, and garlic, which are common in folk medicine. The remedy has a performance of sorts associated with it. It is always fed by hand from the healer to the receiver. In this way we can think of this simple practice as a caregiving ritual performed by the elder woman of the household.

A Georgian Healing Lullaby

იავნანა, ბატონებო, ვარდო ბატონებო, | o violetnana, o spirit lords, o rosenana, o spirit lords,
იავნანა, ბატონებო, ვარდო ბატონებო, | o violetnana, o spirit lords, o rosenana, o spirit lords,
დატკბით, დატკბით, დაშოშინდით, ვარდო ბატონებო | Enjoy, be calm, o rosenana, o spirit lords,
დატკბით, დატკბით, დაშოშინდით, ვარდო ბატონებო | Enjoy, be calm, o rosenana, o spirit lords.

Context:

This Healing lullaby was collected form an informant who grew up in Georgia. It is only performed when a child is very sick and only by female family members, usually the mother.

Analysis:

In ancient Georgian belief, measles were caused by angry spirits called “ბატონები”. Once a child is
visited by spirits they must be pleaded with to leave. This lullaby contains many religious artifacts from a time when Georgians worshiped pagan gods. Their names remain in Georgian folklore as vocables. For
examples the vocable “ნანა” is through to be derived from a name of a pagan mother goddess. These
vocables, combined with common flowers in Georgian culture such as violets and roses, are used to
decorate the spirits’ names. Combined with this lullaby the child’s room is decorated with flowers and
various fruits. When used in this context we can think of the lullaby as a healing spell to ward off evil
spirits and sway the child into a peaceful sleep. This Georgian lullaby is passed down the
maternal line. The healing ritual is only performed by women and highlights the traditional role of a
maternal figure in Georgian culture as a caretaker.