Category Archives: Signs

Prognostications, fortune-telling, etc.

Hiccups

Having the hiccups means that someone is thinking about you.

G is an Indian American whose family has strong cultural ties with India. This is memorable to him because his family would often talk about this with him.

Context: This practice came up during an interview about Indian cultural norms and practices.

The idea that if someone is talking about you, there will be a response in your body is a fairly common idea throughout Asia. In Japan and China, if someone is talking about you, you would sneeze in response.

Don’t Mis Step

Main Piece:

Informant: “Whenever I was walking as a kid I would always say ‘Don’t step on a crack, or you’ll break your mother’s back’. I remember I would always look down at my feet whenever I would walk around because I was so paranoid that I would accidentally step on a crack and didn’t want my mom to get hurt… *laughs* It was something that I learned from my older sister and her friends, and I would always do it with my friends at school. Whenever we would walk on an old sidewalk with tons of cracks and even normal ones, we would be walking in very abnormal strides to avoid stepping on them.”

Collector: “Did you really think it would break your mom’s back if you stepped on a crack?”

Informant: “Honestly not really… I figured it out after my first time stepping on a crack on accident. I remember being in such a bad mood all day at school because I thought my mom was hurt and it was all my fault *laughing* But after the initial experience we all kind of knew that our mothers wouldn’t be hurt if we stepped on one, but it was fun to play along with… Also, it was kind of fun when someone else did step on one, cause we would all make a big deal about it and tease each other if one of us misstepped.”

Background:

The informant is a 28-year-old who was raised in the Midwest and has very distinct memories of the game. He stated that he sometimes still finds himself avoiding cracks on the ground to this day even though he is in his late twenties. He claims that this habit and belief are so ingrained in him from his childhood that he still just tries to avoid them.

Interpretation:

The games children play are interesting. I feel as though many of these games may have a deeper meaning and may stem from some sort of natural survival instinct or practice. The game of not stepping on a crack or else their mother will get hurt makes me think of watching where you step in general. In older civilizations and societies there were many more dangers to youth than there are today. For example, kids could be waking near dangerous areas where venomous snakes or animals might be lying nearby to strike them, so it was much more important to teach children to be cautious of where they were stepping. I feel like this tradition of do not step on a crack or it will break your mother’s back may have evolved terminus post quem from an older version where the lesson was the same, watch where you are walking.

“Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight”

Informant Information — DD

  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 68
  • Occupation: Professor
  • Residence: San Pedro, California
  • Date of Performance/Collection: March 20, 2022
  • Primary Language: English

The informant grew up in San Pedro, CA, a port town where a large proportion of the town works on/near the water. He has sailed as a hobby and professionally for more than 50 years. He is still active in his town’s boating community and keeps up with sailing magazines, books, news, etc. The informant shared this information with me in an in-person interview.

Interviewer: 

Can you tell me about the connection between sailors and the weather? 

Informant: 

Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. The saying goes, “red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight,” right? I first heard that one when I started sailing over to Catalina and up and down the coast. 

It’s supposed to mean that if the sky is red in the morning, there’s an impending storm that might make sailing tough if it hits that day. If the sky is red at night, the storm has already passed. 

I don’t really know how true that is, but I believe it and I’ve definitely heard tons of other sailors say it before. 

Analysis:

In this piece, the red sky is a sign and the time of day that it appears determines whether it is a positive or negative indicator. Strangely, I’ve heard both this version, as well as the complete opposite (“Red sky at night, sailor’s fright”). If true, this could be a very useful way to forecast the weather, but it’s a bit problematic that it’s so easy to mix up the rhyming, opposite meanings (fright and delight). 

Trojan Check Horoscopes

Informant Information — KL

  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 19
  • Occupation: Student
  • Residence: Los Angeles, California
  • Date of Performance/Collection: April 10, 2022
  • Primary Language: English

The informant is a USC student that has lived on-campus and completed daily Trojan Checks every day. Over the course of the school year, we’ve decided that the pink and yellow Trojan Checks have the most significant meanings. I collected this information in-person, in my apartment near USC.

Interviewer: 

Can you explain our Trojan Check color horoscope system? 

Informant: 

Basically, we were talking about the different Trojan Check colors and how we couldn’t tell if there was a pattern or if the color was just randomized every day. As we kept talking about it, we agreed that pink was the best color and yellow was the worst. Then, we also realized that we both tend to have good days when our Trojan Checks are pink and bad days when they’re yellow. 

Now, I know that if it’s pink, I’ll have a lucky day, but I should be careful if it’s yellow. 

Interviewer: 

Do you have any recent examples? 

Informant: 

Yesterday was a pink day, and I took a quiz that was way easier than I thought it would be. But on the last yellow day, I stepped in gum AND spilled water all over my desk… cursed, to be sure. 

Analysis:

I have also noticed that pink Trojan Checks are lucky while yellow Trojan Checks are distinctly unlucky. Interestingly, this was brought up in a class discussion where several of my classmates had also acknowledged this phenomenon. I’m not sure if pink Trojan Checks just put people in a more positive mood while most people agree that the yellow Trojan Check is a pretty unfortunate color and feel discouraged by it, but the belief has definitely gained traction this year.

The Banshee

Informant Information – GD

  • Nationality: American
  • Age: 57
  • Occupation: Teacher
  • Residence: San Pedro, California
  • Date of Performance/Collection: March 20, 2022
  • Primary Language: English

The informant comes from an Irish-American family that spent summers camping in various forests and national parks near their home in California. On these trips, the informant’s older brothers told her the story of The Banshee. This information was shared with me in an in-person interview. 

Interviewer: 

Can you retell the story of The Banshee? 

Informant: 

So when I was a little girl, my older brothers would tell me this story to scare me when we were on family camping trips. The Banshee was a spirit that only appeared to Irish people; their ability to hear her allowed her to warn them when danger or loss was near. 

According to the legend, The Banshee was an ancient female spirit of Ireland that had faced some terrible loss… her family was killed somehow. When she knows that someone is about to lose a family member, she feels their pain and wails. So, if you hear her screams it is a sign that someone in your family is going to die. The further away the screams sound, the sooner the death will take place, and vice versa. I’m not sure where that part came from. 

Informant: 

Do you know where your brothers heard this legend?

Informant: 

I’m not exactly sure, but probably one of our uncles or aunts. My father’s family was a group of very stereotypical Irish farmers– he was one of 12 or 13 kids and the whole family was really superstitious. They were always telling stories like that, but never to me because I was the youngest and they didn’t want to scare me. 

Analysis:

In this legend, hearing The Banshee acts as a sign, foretelling a death in the family. The informant also shared with me that, when she was a baby, her oldest brother suddenly fell gravely ill and died shortly after being diagnosed with meningitis. Although this story had been shared throughout the family for generations, it became especially relevant after this loss. The piece of folklore’s setting, camping in the woods, also adds to its feasibility. Spending the night in a strange place where you cannot see outside of your tent could easily make the screeches of an owl sound like a woman’s screams. Thus, aesthetics, relevance to one’s life, and the legend’s source and setting all play significant roles in its believability.