Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Love Potion

Nationality: American
Age: 70s
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2001
Primary Language: English

On the plantations of North Carolina, slaves were used to do the hard labor in the fields and tend to the crops.  According to my informant, my friend’s grandfather, they were treated poorly and lived very hard lives.  He told us the tale of a particular slave that got revenge on his master.  As my informant relayed the story, the master killed the slave’s wife.  The husband, knowing he couldn’t seek outright revenge on his master, decided to go to a conjure woman who cooked up a spell for him.  The spell was put on the grapevine so that when the master drank the wine, he became very ill.

The master suffered greatly and eventually died from the illness.  Unlike Tom Dooley, for example, the slave was patient and got his vengeance.  He knew that he couldn’t be blamed for his master taking ill, but if he killed his master, he would be hunted and hung for the murder.  This piece of folklore goes hand in hand with the old saying, “revenge is a dish best served cold.”  There is no historical reference or facts to bolster this story, but it could have been created to serve as a tale of justice for the slaves–a tale they told for hope or motivation to continue enduring such hardships.

Whistle When Passing a Cemetery

Nationality: American
Age: 70s
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2002
Primary Language: English

My informant for this story is my friend’s grandfather.

He was a Methodist minister and used to preach at churches across North and South Carolina.  At each church, there was, of course, a cemetery.  He would tell his children, when they were young, to whistle every time they passed the cemetery.  He said that whistling while you passed a cemetery kept the devil away and prevented him from stealing your soul.  This was interesting to me from the first time I heard it, mainly because of the idea on which it centers–that the devil or an evil force resides within a cemetery.  I find this interesting because I have always seen cemeteries a little differently, as peaceful and solemn places in which our loved ones could find eternal peace, though I know many people see cemeteries as a little scary because of the simple fact that there are a number of dead bodies buried in them.

Interestingly enough, since he told me about this concept many years ago, I have heard other people tell similar stories, with slightly different variations.  For example, the most prominent variation suggests holding one’s breath while passing the cemetery rather than whistling.  This is the only difference in the story.  This is fascinating, in my opinion, as it suggests some credence to the superstition and its prevalence.  In other words, it is not simply a strange tale made up by one family or in one local town.  The variations of it suggest that there is some historical significance to it and that many different people have heard about it.

A Burning Ring of Fire

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2002
Primary Language: English

In the mountains of North Carolina, there is still a presence and reverence for Native Americans.  Pieces of folklore are still retold today including the tale of fire.  My informant for this story was my friend’s mother who told it to us on the way to school one day.  The tale starts at the beginning of the world when the bear owned fire.  He used it to warm his people through the cold nights.  One day, bear set part of a forest on fire to roast some acorns for his people.  The fire soared for a while, but then began to die down and called out to Bear to feed it so it could go on burning.  Bear didn’t hear the fire’s cries, but someone else did and he fed it all kinds of sticks and wood.  Bear came back to get fire, but fire was mad that bear had left him to die and he was now owned by man.

My informant recalls hearing this story from her relatives as a child.  She thinks it may serve as a form of remembrance as to how we treat the Earth and how we came to “own” nature and everything it entails.  This Native American tale is certainly unique among the others I’ve heard as it doesn’t appeal to someone’s logic as much as other pieces of folklore.

A Natural Cold Remedy – Ecuador

Nationality: Ecuadorian
Age: 26
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

My informant was born and raised in Ibarra, Ecuador until she left to live in the U.S. when she was sixteen years old.  Whenever she and her brothers had a cold or a sore throat, her mother made a drink for them made from lemon juice, a little bit of orange juice and honey.  Her mother would then heat it up on the stove, which my informant says helped a lot since the steam would reduce congestion and the warmth would relieve sore throats.  She also says that you have to drink it with a straw or it will ruin your tooth enamel.  The remedy has a long tradition in her family: her grandmother prepared it for her mother, her great-grandmother prepared it for her grandmother, her great-great grandmother prepared it for her great-grandmother, etc.  She says, “Everyone in Ecuador does it… I think [laughs]… Or a lot of people I knew did it.”  It provides a lot of Vitamin C as well so it offers a cheaper and more natural alternative to medications.  The honey not only cuts the acidity of the lemon juice, but also adds anti-bacterial elements into the “cocktail.” “Unless we were really sick, we didn’t go to the doctor… Especially not for simple colds.”  To this day, she still prepares the remedy when she is feeling under the weather.  When I asked if she would do the same for her children, she replied: “Of course, it’s a family tradition!”

Be Careful of the “Mal Aire”

Nationality: Ecuadorian
Age: 26
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

My informant, who is from Ibarra, Ecuador, was told as a young girl:

“¡No te hagas de noche o so no te va a dar el mal aire!”

 Translation: “Don’t stay outside too late at night, or you will get ‘bad air!’”

She explained that mal aire, or bad air, is something that you catch from being outside in the trees, but is not quite a sickness.  She says, “You feel back pain, but it’s not like regular back pain… You just feel weird, like something is not right.”  I felt that way once when I was little and spent too much time outside with my friends.

She was told when she was younger that her uncle caught mal aire while walking through the mountains to her aunt’s house.  The only way to get rid of it is to place a small candle (like a tea candle) on a person’s back and cover it with a glass cup.  If the skin “inflates” and looks like a lump in the glass, it first confirms that you have mal aire and also rids it from the body.

Yet, the threat of mal aire could just be a way to scare children not to stray too far from home, not stay out too late and stay away from trouble.  Additionally, the method of testing and purifying oneself only reinforces the fear of mal aire in children.  For anyone who tries it, when you cover a candle with a glass, it will create a vacuum and as a result, will raise the skin.  By telling children that it this happens only to people who have mal aire, adults can easily prove and scare children with this technique.  To further prove that it will happen to everyone, the mal aire “candle treatment” is similar to an ancient Chinese practice, called “massage cupping.”  For those who use this technique, cupping produces a deep, therapeutic state of relaxation.  This type of “massage” will likely remove the back pain my informant mentioned as well.