Category Archives: general

Bracelet Against Evil Eye

Informant: My informant is a current sophomore at the University of Southern California. Her parents are from Jalisco, Mexico. However, she grew up in Denver, Colorado.

Context: The following is a conversation that my informant and I had over zoom. During the zoom we were discussing some of the lore that we share. The following is an excerpt of our conversation and my informant explanation of her bracelet charm against evil eye.

Text: “I wear this bracelet as a protection amulet for myself. The reason that I wear it is that it’s a custom that has been present for many years now. I don’t think these customs come from Catholicism, even though my parents are religious, but I think it has to do a lot with indigenous roots. The evil eye is negative energy such as bad vibes, and jealousy and to keep that away we wear a bracelet with an eye on it. [The informant takes her bracelet off and hands it over to me]. Usually, these are red, but mine on here is a colorful number of beads and if you look at the middle it has like a hand with an eyeball in the center it has a little like eyeball, and it’s not super detailed or anything, but it’s just a circle, and the like outer part is red and then the inner part is completely white with like a singular black dot. And basically, I wear this all the time, because at some point I really did just start believing that it was a positive energy that protects you from other people’s bad glares. Even my little cousins wear this. My mom and dad always told us to wear these-slash- they put them on us as babies to protect us from evil.” 

Analysis: Hearing of the evil eye from another person who practices it was very interesting indeed. I for one also wear these kinds of bracelets because as a small child my mom taught me that these bracelets work as small amulets to keep me safe. Seeing how my informant and I learned these customs, superstitions, and myths from our family show how much one relies on our culture rather and on professionals or science to believe whether something is necessarily real. Some might argue that this is the placebo effect, our minds are playing games to make us believe that this is truly a protection. However, whether it is placebo effect or not, these charms have demonstrated to play a big role in developing our beliefs in practices towards our future generation: our children.

One of the bracelet charms against evil eye that informant showed during zoom share.

Mafia – School Yard Game

Informant: The informant is my sibling, a Mexican American boy who is 14 years old and currently an 8th grader at a charter school in Los Angeles California. 

Context: The following transcript is a conversation of his explanation of his version of “Mafia” – a schoolyard game that he has been playing for as long as he can remember. Usually, this game is played in large groups of students either inside of a classroom or outside in a schoolyard to pass by time/to enjoy oneself. 

Transcript: 

Me: Hey, so what game did you play again? 
J: Mafia! 
Me: When did you play this game? 
J: I played it one day when we couldn’t go to the park for P.E (physical education). 
Me: And….How exactly do you play that game? 
J: I don’t exactly remember, but I do remember that it was really fun. Okay, so what we had to do was that there were different roles in the game. There was the narrator, who had the most power in the game and made the decision of how the game would play out. 
Me: Wait, so you’re telling me this person chooses the other roles as well? 
J: Yeah! Okay, so our teacher Mr. Y would tell us to sit down, with our heads down and our thumbs up. As we were like that, he would tell us closely to listen up and start with the roles with the following line: “Okay! I will be starting with our mafia student, as the mafia, you are out there looking to steal money from the people and eliminate them. If you feel that I tap your shoulder, then that means that you are mafia.” Again, this would also be similar with the sheriffs, but you know instead of sheriffs getting up anything they would just have to guess who the mafia was and “arrest them.” (informant air quotes as he says this). The last two roles are one doctor and one civilian. The doctor saves civilians, but they also run the risk of saving someone who is from the mafia because they don’t know their identity. Civilians have it easy because they don’t need to stand up. They just sit there and enjoy themselves either to get killed or be saved. 
Me: Wait, so how of each number was there
J: Uhm well it all depended on the size of this class and really it all depends on who the narrator is. 
Me: Did you win! Where are you mafia, sheriff, doctor, citizen? 
J: NOOO!! I lost!!! I was the first one to get eliminated (hysterically laughs) Overall, even if I lost, I really enjoyed the game.

Analysis: 

I think is an interesting game to play at such a young age. One would think that this type of game would not be allowed because it involved violence and death. However, it’s interesting to see how violence, and what used to be censors is not so present in our lives because it is seen as means of entertainment. I think the game’s fostering of mistrust among players is what is so particularly appealing to students from all ages (even our little ones) because there is huge degree of uncertainty and suspense to who you can trust and vice versa. In addition, because this game is so competitive it allows for kids to be unashamedly competitive and sneaky against your own friends. Overall, it teaches students the lesson of loyalty, survival and sucess.

La Carne de Burro no es Transparente

Informant: My informant is my Mexican dad who grew up in Puebla, Mexico.

Main Piece: “La carne de burro no es transparente”

Transliteration: “donkey meat is not transparent”

Translation: “Donkey meat is not transparent”

Context: My dad stated that he heard this proverb in Mexico a lot whenever, he was in the way or when someone was in his way, he would say it. This proverb is told in order to tell someone to move out of the way. In other words, “excuse me,” but in a much vulgar way.

Analysis: I think this proverb can be problematic because it stems from fatphobia. Although it is proverb used to tell someone to get out in the way, it means to say it because you are telling the person that they are too “big.” It also emphasizes how in Mexican culture, when this is said it means that the person who said it to you has no time to deal with you. Therefore, you should move out of their way because they have a busy day. Therefore, emphasizes just hardworking Mexican people are.

Kiss, or Don’t Kiss, The Blarney Stone

S is 54, he lived in England where his mother is from for the first ten years of his life before his family moved to California. He is soft spoken and pauses thoughtfully while speaking. He told me about the Blarney Stone, which he learned about visiting Ireland.

“One I heard about visiting Ireland… it’s like a rock that’s sort of like a cliff’s edge and if you hang upside down and kiss the Blarney Stone, you’ll be given the gift of the gab… meaning you will be able to speak well extemporaneously… and so during the day, the tourists come and lay back and kiss the stone but the locals pee on it at night.”

The Blarney Stone is found at the top of Blarney Castle, there are various legends about where the stone came from, some can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20100830230658/http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/stone. The bit about locals peeing on it seems to be another piece of folklore. This reddit thread proved inconclusive, some contributors thinking it’s too difficult to get into the castle at night and during the day there would be too many people including a guard to get away with it. https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/3ywbkq/do_people_really_piss_on_the_blarney_stone/. Either way it’s an interesting piece because it shows the tension between a reliance on tourism and the potential for resentment than can arise from that dependence.

Mockingbird Messager

A is 54 years old. She was born in Ft. Waldon, Florida and moved to Sylvania, Georgia at 2 years old. She’d been there all her life until last year (2021). A has a thick Southern accent that’s very pleasant to listen to. She told me about this omen of mockingbirds carrying messages of impending death.

“If you have a mockingbird that keeps coming up to your house trying to get in, it means someone close to you or in your family is going to pass soon… It’s just a message, there ain’t nothing you can do about it.”

For more about bird folklore in general see https://raptorresource.blogspot.com/2017/10/birds-in-superstition-and-folklore.html for Mockingbird specific folklore see Power, Cathy Kelly. “Thirteen ways of looking at a mockingbird: A collection of critical essays,” Chapter 9. Georgia State University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1996. 9628838