Category Archives: Game

Shark Hats (Magic – Contagious)

Age: 19
Occupation: student
Primary Language: English

My informant is Jackson, a 19-year-old male student at USC. Jackson is white and of Danish and Irish descent and grew up in a suburb outside of Los Angeles called Palos Verdes.

 

Jackson didn’t you say something about a superstitious act you did in baseball?

Jackson: “Ah yes, it’s known as the shark-hats. Basically if you’re down by any runs in the late innings of a baseball game you all get out your shark hats, throw them on just like a shark. On the side with the brim facing straight up”

What was the goal of the shark-hats?

Jackson: “Basically the goal was that the shark-hats would start a rally and we would get hot and get hits and come back from behind”

Would you guys yell anything?

Jackson: “Ohh all we would yell was get out your shark hats right before the inning started and everyone would sit in the dugout with their shark-hats on”

What inning would it mainly start in?

Jackson: “The sixth or seventh but we only played seven innings”

When did it start? When was the first time you experienced the shark-hat?

Jackson: “Probably when I was eleven, just when I was playing baseball”

Do you now who started it?

Jackson: “No it was just something I had seen around my little league so guys before us must have done it too”

Would you find that it worked?

Jackson: “Well when it worked we would say it was because the shark-hats but it probably didn’t work more than it worked”

Does this have any meaning to you?

Jackson: “It just reminds me of my childhood and baseball”

 

This is an interesting superstition, however not surprising as superstitions are often found in sports, and in my studies especially baseball. The Shark-hat is a form of contagious magic, those in the dugout wearing the shark-hats to send good luck and success to the batter at the moment. When people are losing or down they reach for something supernatural as an aid or guidance to come back and in this case it is the Shark-hat. Although I had never heard of the Shark-hat, I am familiar with a similar form of this call for good luck but we called them rally-caps. Similarly, it would be in the bottom innings of a game when we were down and someone got a hit we would all wear are hats inside out to help spark a rally. Jackson admits to not believing his teams success ever stemmed from the shark-hats and he did not believe they would actually work but he still did them every time and credited the wins to the shark-hats whenever they came along. I think there was also a fear of if he doesn’t wear the shark-hat then he will be the reason they didn’t work. To Jackson it was a silly thing but he still did it every time maybe in hopes it work, maybe in fear of what would happen if he didn’t, or maybe just in the tradition in spirit of baseball.

 

Wise Devil

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 18
Primary Language: English

The informant, J, is 18 years old born and raised in Coachella, California. His mom is from Delano, California, while his dad is from Indio, California. He is majoring in Print and Digital Journalism with a Media, Economics, and Entrepreneurship minor. He also considers himself Mexican.

J-“My family really likes proverbs and saying. We many times have arguments through just proverbs. One of them is ‘mas sabe el Diablo por Viejo que por diablo’(more knows the devil for age than for devil)”

What does that mean to you?

J-“It means that older people have more wisdom since they have gone through more. They have more experience”

When would you use this?

J-“It is mainly used by parents on their children when the child argues. They tell them that to tell them that they know what’s best because they have already experienced something like that”

Do you use it?

J-“I rarely use it since I am not that old, but I do tell it to my younger siblings when they argue with my parents or even sometimes when they argue with me”

Analysis- The proverb shows that the Mexican culture is one that respects its elders and that has high respect for them since they are the ones with the wisdom. They also like to test their wisdom and ability through all the different proverbs that they have. The family is even teaching the young children by telling them the proverbs and using them on them.

The Sandman

Nationality: United States/Puerto Rico
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 10, 2016
Primary Language: English

LaRose Washington

 

The Sandman

Origin: Puerto Rico

Story: When you go to sleep, the sandman comes into your dreams. He makes sure that you fall fast asleep.

Meaning: he is the one who helps you stay asleep.

Usage: Usually parents say it to their child when they want her to go to sleep. They’ll say, “If you don’t go to bed soon, the Sandman will miss you.” Also adults say it when they are ready to go to sleep. “I’m going to go see the Sandman”.

Analysis: This is an almost folktale creature in its conception, yet mentioning the Sandman usually seems to just be folk speech. While children might conceptualize him as an actual being, it seems that adults use it primarily as a form of expression or euphemism. His usage creates a calm and non-frightening incentive for children to go to sleep, which is probably the only effective way to make them sleep: it would be rather hard to frighten them into obedience with the boogeyman in this case, as they would never go to sleep. Presenting him as someone you would meet in your dreams, therefore, someone benevolent, is probably the best approach parents can make.

Fountain Run at USC

Nationality: Mexico/United States
Age: 30
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Performance Date: May 17, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Informant: USC alumni

“The USC fountain run is a tradition for graduating seniors. They are not allowed to go into the water of any of the fountains at USC or else it is said they won’t graduate. But on the last week of class, they all get together, drink, strip down to their underwear or swimwear, and run through every single fountain at USC. It is this big celebration of achievement and a right that only graduating seniors have. Usually some people get too drunk, but it’s all about celebrating freedom and no more rules. It’s something you do with your friends, and something people reminisce about years later when they meet other USC alumni.”

 

Analysis: This is a ritualized tradition for separating a ‘privileged’ group of students from the rest. Only seniors are allowed to do this, because it is a right of passage- you cannot participate if you have not completed all the obstacles and challenges that the last four years brought. It entails formally breaking taboos, such as going inside the fountain before you graduate. This superstition also underscores that its a privilege that only people who have completed USC can partake in. After the formalized, restrictive education process at University where rules must be obeyed or else expulsion, students celebrate on the brink of freedom while they are still technically bound to the student body.

Stepping on Cracks

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 26, 2016
Primary Language: English

JN is a freshman at USC studying neuroscience. She grew up in the Oak Park neighborhood of Chicago. Here is a superstition from her childhood that she still remembers vividly:
“When I was little, some kids on the playground used to say “step on a crack, you break your mother’s back.” This would mean that, like, when you were walking on the sidewalk, by stepping on any of the cracks or divisions between the sidewalk pieces, you could potentially break your mother’s back. I was super worried about this, so I always made sure to tip-toe over the cracks! Now, I don’t really care anymore because I know it’s just a saying, but on occasion I still make sure not to step on any sidewalk cracks!””

Did you learn it from your other friends? What gender were they? At what age did you learn it?

“I definitely learned it from other friends, probably girls! And I learned it in early elementary school.”

How seriously did you take this superstition? I remember I had friends who followed it religiously!

” I took it VERY seriously, but sometimes I would forget so I would definitely step on some cracks here and there!”

 

My thoughts: This is an interesting piece of folklore since so many people who went to elementary school in the U.S. have heard of it, no matter what part of the country their from. I actually grew up with this folk belief as well and I have an experience with it similar to the informant’s- I learned it from fellow girls on the playground at an elementary school in the suburbs of Chicago! One thing that stands out is how morbid the belief is- children’s folklore often engages with taboo subjects such as violence, as discussed in Oring Chapter 5.