Category Archives: Signs

Prognostications, fortune-telling, etc.

Bad Luck Funeral Superstitions

Context:

My informant is a 56-year-old woman of Vietnamese descent. She was raised Buddhist, but when she married her Filipino Catholic husband, she adopted some Filipino practices and stories.

Text:

“For funeral services, like after attending the service or the cemetery the family would go somewhere else before heading home, like the market or a coffee shop. That’s in the Philippines traditions, to leave the bad energy somewhere else. But in the Vietnamese tradition, we would place a bowl of water by the door and walk over it to divert the bad spirits or the bad luck from the home.”

Analysis:

In both of these cultures, I see this ritual as a way of cleansing the body before entering the sanctuary of their homes. In Filipino culture, it seems that they focus more on the places with significance. So leaving the bad energy, means literally leaving it in one location before returning home. In Vietnamese culture, they seem to connect with water, an element of life. Stepping over the bowl of water might represent that the connection to Mother Nature and Earth is enough to cleanse themselves from the presence of death they were just in.

Stabbing Chopsticks Gesture – Bad Luck Superstition

Context:

My informant is a 19-year-old student living in Orange County, California. She was raised in a Chinese household, celebrating holidays such as Chinese New Year. She often eats foods from her culture on the daily.

Text:

“I don’t know if this is a universal, or what cultures have this superstition, but like if their preferred utensil are chopsticks, they tend not to do a stabbing motion onto food. This is because it resembles stabbing an individual which is not good.

I ask, “Is it just chopsticks or any utensil, from what you’ve learned?”

“Well, from my experience–because if you use a fork you have to stab it to get food onto the prongs. But generally with chopsticks you want a serving motion. (She demonstrates carrying food with chopsticks) Oh, I was also always taught not to turn your wrist down when using chopsticks. (She demonstrates flipping her hand around with her fingers pointing down) I don’t know what that means, but that’s what my mom always says.”

I ask, “So if you stab the food is it bad luck or just disrespectful?”

“I think it’s both, but it’s just me.”

Analysis:

From what I learned from Chinese culture, they value respect even with their food ways and gestures. This superstition of stabbing food with chopsticks relates to the beliefs of bad luck around death in general. Even though this action only resembles that of stabbing someone which related to death, this action is still frowned upon. In there culture, it seems if you do this action, knowing the context around it, it is considered disrespectful to continue with the action. I think it can be seen as wishing bad luck upon those you are with.

Bad Luck Number 4 in Chinese

Context:

My informant is a 19-year-old student living in Orange County, California. She was raised in a Chinese household, celebrating holidays such as Chinese New Year.

Text:

“The number 4 in Chinese, even regardless if it’s like Mandarin, which is like sì, or if Cantonese, then it’s like sei. It has a very similar pronunciation to the word that means dead or die. So like in Cantonese it’s like sei (she says it with an down note at the end) is four and sei (she says it with an up note at the end) is like dead. So that’s why like people don’t like using the number 4. So like for Chinese New Year for example, we don’t like giving four bills in like a red envelope. Or you don’t do things in increments of 4 because it’s considered bad luck.”

Analysis:

Hearing about this folk belief/superstition after learning so much about Chinese culture, I have gathered that they do not like to associate with death in any way. Whether it is something that resembles death such as a simple pronunciation or interacting with death in any way. I think that the Chinese culture just wants to bring prosperity into their lives in any way possible, which means rejecting the bad luck from associations with death.

Chinese New Year – Chun Lian Good Luck

Context:

The informant grew up in a Taiwanese household in the Bay Area. He grew up always celebrating Chinese New Year, a holiday that occurs every February. The holiday celebrates the start of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Text:

“For Chinese New Year, we have, like, a red sheet of paper with Chinese calligraphy on it called Chun Lian. We stick it on the outside of our door, to ward off like evil and also brings in good luck as well.”

I asked, “Is this something that you’ve always done, like, on Chinese New Year.”

“Yeah, like, we did it always growing up.”

“So you just learned it from my parents?”

“Yes, I learned it from my parents.”

Analysis:

From what I know about Chinese New Year, many of the traditions, foods, and decorations all revolve around bringing in good luck for the new lunar new year and getting rid of all of the bad luck. This tradition does not seem to be any different. The red also seems to be a prominent theme is getting rid of the bad luck, and in tandem with the calligraphy, they are able to ring in the Chinese New Year with prosperity.

The Secret Girlfriend Dream

Age: 20

Informant: “The craziest paranormal thing that’s ever happened to me is my sister predicting that I have a girlfriend in Qatar. Like months before I told any of my family. She dreamt that I had a secret girlfriend in Qatar in like September”

Interviewer: What happened in the dream?

Informant: “The ghost of my dead grandfather told her. It was strange since he died a long time ago. 

Interviewer: How did you find out about this dream?

Informant: “It’s crazy. She knows everything. Really this last time was the craziest by far. She’s predicted other things, but I don’t remember exactly what. 4 months after her dream I came home to tell my family that I had a girlfriend in Qatar. They were shocked too. They were like ‘your sister had that dream months ago, and we didn’t really care because it was a dream.’ I wonder what other things she knows about me.”


Context: The informant has a girlfriend who currently studies in Qatar that he had held off sharing with his family until this point. This story was told to the interviewer because the informant was truly shocked by the events. 

Their Thoughts: The informant reflects a partial belief, as the experience challenges his sense of control over personal information. This story is a memorate, since it’s a firsthand account of lived experience. 
My Thoughts: This narrative fits within similar narratives of dream revelation and communication with the dead. The informant’s sister’s dream functions as a form of supernatural knowledge acquisition, where hidden or private information is revealed without normal means. The appearance of the deceased grandfather aligns with a belief in spirits acting as intermediaries. Instead of predicting a future event through precognition, the dream reveals an already existing but concealed reality. The sister is framed as having a special intuitive ability, even without consistent evidence. This is often shown throughout ghost stories as a clairvoyant. The specificity of the detail makes this a strong ghost story, as the perceived legitimacy of the supernatural explanation is strengthened.