Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

The Scottish Curse

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 21st
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 21st, 4:56 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Freshman Year of Private High School

When Folklore is Performed: During theatrical production of the play Macbeth

 

Transcript:

“Basically, if you said Macbeth, the show was cursed. To reverse the curse, you had to spit on the stage, run seven laps around the theatre, say the name of the Bard while hopping up and down and spinning outside the theatre, and apologize to everyone for naming the Scottish play. I never did it, but one of my friends did once and the upperclassmen made her do all of it.”

 

In theater, when the play is subject to so many variables such as timing, coordination, and memorization, any constant or luck charm will help. The ability to refrain from saying the title of the play serves as a sort of placebo, aiding in everyone’s efforts to complete what is often believed to be a cursed play. Those who break this one constant are forced to perform ridiculous tasks not too appease the fates, but instead to pull themselves back into focus. This particular superstition has been mentioned and parodied numerous times in pop culture [1].

 

[1] In Season 15, episode 4 of the Simpsons, titled “The Regina Monologues,” in which the Simpsons go to London. Ian McKellan was the actor playing Macbeth in the episode. Every time someone said “Macbeth”, McKellan always got hit by a lightning bolt.

Winter Guard

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 21st
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 21st, 5:01 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Freshman Year of Private High School

When Folklore is Performed: Before every Winter Guard performance.

 

Transcript:

“In Winter Guard, we did this thing where we all stood in a circle before every performance and mentally transferred all our ‘bad’ or ‘negative’ energy and nerves into an ‘energy ball’ and pantomimed throwing the ball away from the performance area. We transferred the energy by shaking and dusting it off of us, sometimes even coughing and pretending to spit. If we were outside, my coach would actually spit on the ground.”

 

Numerous things can go wrong during a sporting match, so any form of mental concentration or preparedness is welcome before a match. By banding together, the Winter Guard team places emphasis upon the unity and coordination required in their performances, and allows everyone to enter a “team” mindset.

“Don’t Suck…”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 21st
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 21st, 5:05 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Freshman Year of Private High School

When Folklore is Performed: Before every theater performance.

 

Transcript

“We ate Jolly Ranchers before every show, using the saying “Suck now so you don’t suck later.” If you didn’t have a suck you had a bad show, apparently.”

 

When performing in front of others, it is entirely possible that one could break or falter under the pressure of the crowd. By taking the jolly rancher, one receives a sort of placebo effect that allows them to remain confident while performing in front of others.

Theater Snacks

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 21st
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 21st, 5:08 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Freshman Year of Private High School

When Folklore is Performed: During the production of a play

 

Transcript

“In high school theatre we used to have peanut M& M’s before every show to remember the time before any of us remembered when there was a lot of division between the cast and crew. Apparently it was like a West Side Story backstage. However, both the cast and crew work together to produce the same awesome show, so like the actors being the peanut protein you need and the chocolate and shell being what makes it look good, we come together to perform.”

 

The use of visual metaphors, along with treats such as Peanut M&Ms, allows for the cast and crew to unite together for the purpose of putting on a great show.

Roses on the Pulpit

Nationality: Caucasian American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student (Animation)
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/5/12
Primary Language: English

Informant Bio

My informant grew up in the small, rural town of Hanford, California. Her family owns a mill and is quite comfortably wealthy; she is very close with her parents and younger brother, and drives home from USC (where she attends school) frequently.

My informant has a strong faith in god though when she is at school she does not attend church services. When in Hanford however she attends the Lakeside Community Church, which conducts non-denominational Christian services. She was very close with her pastor there for many years, until his recent death.

Roses

Lakeside Community Church (slogan: “Come as you are”) is a small congregation with very relaxed services. The church-goers all know each other, and everyone helps out with the church’s potluck dinners and car washes, which are held to raise money for charity. These charity events are the largest events that the modest church holds.

The church does not require baptism, but does like to be involved in events like births of members’ children. So to commemorate the birth of a child, a rose is placed on the pulpit. I asked my informant if any announcement would be made during services, and she said no. Perhaps something might be put in the community newsletter at the request of the parents, but otherwise the only sign is the rose. The rose remains on the pulpit for about a week.

My informant told me that there was only one time that the rose commemorated something other than a birth, and that occurred this year. A rose quietly appeared on the pulpit on the birthday of the beloved pastor who had died the year before.

The adoption of the rose tradition to honor the loss of a loved one in the community touches me. Though I am not religious myself and I cannot know who decided or why it was decided to use the rose in this way, on some level I like to think that the gesture was an encouragement not to think of the pastor as gone, but reborn to a new form of life. It’s a comforting image in any case.