Category Archives: general

How To Become a Mermaid

Mermaids are mythical creatures that are half human and half aquatic creature. They have a tail and fins with scales instead of legs. Mermaids are rumored to live deep underwater and have become a beloved character in fairy tales.

“So the tiny town my mom’s family lived in was on Lake Ontario. I had a friend in this town, and both of us really liked anything to do with mermaids. She told me that some girls in this town had seen mermaids in the lake, which was VERY exciting for me! I told her to ask for more info, and a few weeks later she reported back that apparently, the mermaids have lived there a long time, and some girls were able to perform magic spells that transformed THEM into mermaids, and they left behind their normal life to live with mermaid society. We spent the rest of the summer trying to recreate the magic that would turn us into mermaids. Most of it was stuff from our imagination, but she would come sometimes with lists of spell ingredients or magic words that she found online or got from other kids. We created a whole system of magic elements that we deemed either helpful or useless in getting us closer to transforming, and kept detailed notes of it. sadly, we never figured out how to join the runaway mermaid kid society.”

Wishing in Tunnels

Children in America often believe that tunnels that cars go through can grant wishes. The practice and ritual differs among children but many can agree that tunnels can be magical.

“All the ways you can make a wish in a tunnel according to all the kids I was friends with at summer camps:

  • Hold your breath the whole tunnel, if you don’t make it your wish won’t come true
  • Close your eyes the whole tunnel, if you don’t the wish won’t come true
  • Touch the ceiling of the vehicle the whole tunnel, if you don’t the wish won’t come true
  • Lick your finger and if it’s still wet when the tunnel ends then your wish will come true and if it’s dry it won’t

*and obviously you cannot tell anyone you what you wished for cause if you do it won’t not come true*

My personal take away and practice: When I am a passenger I close my eyes and hold my breath, and when I’m driving I just hold my breath.“

The informant described this wish magic to me during a discussion of childhood folklore. We originally were talking about wishes in general and their prevalence in childhood. I asked them to write down what they remembered about wishing in car tunnels. This stuck out to me because they noted how they still do this little ritual whenever they encounter a tunnel on the road.

Greek Red Egg Cracking on Easter

TEXT:

I have a Greek friend whose family still practices lots of older Greek folk traditions. One of these is an Easter tradition involving eggs that are dyed red. Everyone takes one and they begin smashing them against each other, two at a time. Typically, when two eggs meet, only one of them cracks. The person whose egg is left untarnished is said to have good luck for the rest of the year! It’s almost like a competition or a game, and my friend told me there’s some strategy to it, since you can use either side of the egg to hit someone else’s.

CONTEXT:

My friend doesn’t really believe in the superstitious aspects of Greek traditions, even if his mother and extended family do. He does, however, enjoy participating because some Greek traditions are very fun, like this one. My friend didn’t really know the significance of the eggs cracking or why they were painted red. We had to do some research to find out that the cracking of an egg symbolizes Jesus’ opening of the tomb he was buried in, and the red dye is to symbolize Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. He told me that his grandma definitely knew about this but had not discussed it to him as a child, probably because of its grotesque nature. For my friend’s Greek family, the tradition has a significance greater than its religious one because it brings the family together for the holiday.

ANALYSIS:

I did some more research on my own and found out that some people attribute the egg tradition to Mary Magdalene, whose cooked eggs miraculously turned vibrant red when she witnessed Jesus rising from the grave. Easter egg painting has remained a tradition across Europe and into the Americas. In America, where religious tradition has become remarkably secular, Easter egg painting has become a simple activity to entertain kids on the holiday. In my friend’s family, however, I believe the intention was to teach children about important religious stories and celebrations. Painting eggs red and cracking them is an easy way to remember what happened when Jesus rose from the dead. My friend may have been too young for the lesson to be taught, but he did know his grandma to be a teacher of religious stories to her chidlren and grandchildren.

Greek Fortune-Telling Coffee

TEXT:

I have a Greek friend whose family still practices lots of older Greek folk traditions. One of these is Greek coffee cup fortune telling, practiced specifically by his grandma. She has her subject drink a cup of Greek coffee, which leaves lots of residue in the cup after it’s drunk. Then, she flips the mug on its side, spins it three times clockwise, and then lets it dry on the side of a plate for a little. She would pick out certain shapes or patterns from the way the coffee residue stained the cup and use them to draw conclusions about her subject’s life. They’re usually scarily accurate, and predict specific things like falling in love, losing a loved one, or making successful decisions at work.

CONTEXT:

My friend witnesses this often at family gatherings. It doesn’t take long to perform and his grandma is an expert. He, however, does not really believe in the fortune telling, most likely because it doesn’t always pan out. He remembers one time where she told an uncle that she saw a rat for him, which meant that someone near him would die soon. The uncle was shocked, but my friend acknowledges that she could’ve been messing with him since he’s one of the only non-Greeks in the family (married in). Nothing bad ever happened to the uncle. My friend’s mother, on the other hand, does believe in the fortune telling along with some other traditional Greek superstitions. His grandma has taught his mother a few things about the process in hopes that one day she might be able to do it herself.

MY ANALYSIS:

The tradition is common to some others from around the world, like Chinese tea leaf readings. These types  I read online that that’s where it might have originated from. The coffee cup readings stem from a belief that there’s something in your being that becomes translated into the way you drink your cup of coffee that can reveal your fortune. I think the original purpose of the tradition was to provide hope in times of crisis and to have a way to be prepared for the possibly unpredictable future. Now, however, the tradition seems outdated and not that many Greek people believe in it. This could be a trait of the large Greek diaspora that lives outside of the homeland. It could also be a symptom of the times – science has progressed so far and we have so much faith in it that it seems impossible that something could tell our fortunes through just coffee grounds. The tradition functions as mere entertainment for the most part, now, and as a way to bond Greek families.

“Natcho” Cheese

The informant heard this humorous story from his dad. It was his dad’s favorite joke. The story allows him to remember good times with his dad. He now tells it to his kids to get some laughs – and eye-rolls – out of them. He tells it to entertain and be funny when others are telling stories or jokes after dinner or while hanging out.

“All right this guy Shadrack was walking home one day and San Francisco headed home from his business and a couple blocks away he finds this big block of cheese rolling down this big San Francisco Hill and it almost knocks him right over! He says ‘holy cow I just got knocked over by a huge roll of cheese!’ So he picks up this big roll of cheese and it looks pretty delicious so he runs home with his cheese and he runs in the door and he slams the door behind him and locks it and his wife says ‘what’s going on with you?’ And he goes ‘well all the way home when I was running here with this cheese this Mexican was running after me saying, ‘hey! stop! that’s natcho cheese!””

This funny (and not PC) joke is a story that plays on racial stereotypes of Mexicans and White men. The Mexican’s accent is the premise of the joke but the cluelessness of the white man is what makes it funny. This culture enjoys humor by playing on stereotypes, a common joke category for older white males, such as the now 80 year old man whose joke this is. It is a mostly harmless joke, simply a misunderstanding, but it does perpetuate racial stereotypes and thus should perhaps not be told any more.