Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Claddagh ring

Age: 22

“I am white, specifically mostly Irish and Italian, and this story particularly has to do with the west coast of Ireland. Basically, in the west coast of Ireland, and specifically in the city of Galway- I don’t even think tradition is quite the right word, but there is a symbolic gesture, that goes along with a like very specific object. it’s called a Claddagh ring. The Claddagh symbol is a heart being held on either side by 2 hands with a crown on top of it. I’m fairly sure that it originates from the city of Galway, if not, just the west coast of Ireland. Um, but it, historically symbolizes love, loyalty and friendship, not necessarily to like a crown of any sort. It doesn’t maintain that sort of, like, colonial affiliation with England in any sort of way, but that’s what the symbol, like, visually looks like. Traditionally within Irish culture and something that the Irish friends in my life also very much observe and believe in: You cannot give one to yourself- or you can’t buy one for yourself. It’s considered bad luck to purchase that for yourself. It has to be given to you. I think that that has some kind of cool relation to the way that the Irish language thinks about possession and ownership. There’s actually no way to say that something is yours in the Irish language. You just say that something is on you or with you or near you. I think that’s a pattern in a lot of different native languages too, that that idea of possession actually can’t be directly expressed in the language. I think that that’s kind of an interesting reflection in an important tradition. sometimes Claddaghs are worn as wedding rings, not all the time. There’s also a little bit of I think slightly more modern folklore or like tradition around wearing Claddagh rings, which is that, no matter what finger you’re wearing it on, if you flip the ring around so the heart is like facing away from you, that usually means that you’re single or like that your heart is open. Then if you flip it the other way, it means that you’re married or taken.”

Context: The informant studied abroad for a semester in a university in Galway, which is a city in the Republic of Ireland. They have Irish ancestry and wanted to study abroad in Ireland specifically to get more in touch with their Irish roots. They made many friends during their semester abroad and learned many folkloric traditions that their Irish friends taught them. They were gifted a Claddagh on their last day in Ireland by a group of friends before returning home to the United States, where they currently live and grew up.

Analysis: The ring itself is socially assigned meaning, and symbolizes social status such as being “taken” or “single”. I think the custom that it should not be bought for yourself is really interesting, and its association with bad luck reinforces social bonds. Like many other folklore, this piece of tradition and culture also comes with bad luck consequences if not followed correctly. Since it must be gifted, it gives more meaning when you receive one. The nonverbal communication of one’s relationship status using the heart symbol while wearing the ring creates an esoteric “in” group specifically Irish people who are familiar with the Claddagh ring tradition can recognize. Wearing this ring is also an indication of reinforcement of Irish culture or status.


Anhui Province Legend

Age: 18

TEXT

Interviewer: “Okay, would you like to introduce yourself?”

MC: “Yeah, hi, my name is ANONYMOUS, and I’m a freshman student at USC University.”

MC: “My story is set in a park in my hometown, and in the park, there’s a trail and along the trail there’s a cave called the cow nose cave. This cave has two holes that are kind of shaped like a cow’s nose, and there’s a legend about how it’s dangerous if you put your arm or fingers into the hole, as there might be a very mysterious force that basically sucks your whole arm in and it can be very dangerous. So kids are advised not to put their arms into the hole.”

Interviewer: “Was that a story, or like a legend that was always around or more of a family legend?”

MC: “It’s known in our region and it started like – actually I don’t know when it started but I heard it from my parents.”

Interviewer: “Ohhh I see.”

MC: “Yeah they told me not to put my arms in there, yeah.”

CONTEXT

My relationship with this informant is that she is my classmate for this anthropology lecture. My informant is an international freshman student at USC, originally from China. As mentioned in the text, her relationship to this piece stems from her hometown, in which a notable landmark has a surrounding legend that was passed down to her by her parents.

ANALYSIS

Considering this piece is set in the real world and tied to a real location, this is a legend that functions as a cautionary tale for children. In my opinion, it’s plausible that this legend started from a worried parent who could not supervise their curious children 24/7 – rather than explaining all the actual dangers of sticking your arm into an unknown hole, like injuries from getting stuck or getting bit by creatures that may be inside, replacing this with a supernatural force is a more vivid and memorable warning to children. As this legend spread informally to other children and generations after, a cultural value that may come specifically for this region in China is that an ordinary cave is now enshrined forever as a supernatural landmark with a distinct legend.

Philadelphia Childhood Haunted House

Context:

H has an old house in Philadelphia, built during the Battle of Valley Forge. Her house had many rooms and hallways. She is one sibling out of the five in her family, and they would always share their ghost stories with each other.

Text:

“So I’m from outside, and if you guys know like, the Battle Valley Forge was there, like, in one of the wars. So my house is over, like, 250 years old, I’m pretty sure.
So we’ve always, like, I’m one of like five, so we’ve always, like, exchanged ghost stories with our house when we were younger. There are like, two that I really remember.

We have this thing called the Ice House and it’s basically just, like a little place that, we put, like old Christmas decorations, like storage, but it’s separate from our house. And my parents always said we couldn’t go in there because, like, I think it’s just unsafe.
It’s so old. And, like, the floor was, like, not stable. They’d always said we would fall through. 
But, like, one time, me and my brother were like, we want to go in and explore, because, like, I would love it. It was just weird. So we went in and we both swear that, like—first of all, it looked like someone was, like, using the house. 
Like, it didn’t look super old. Like, he says he saw, like, food on the counter. 
And then, like, we both, like, out of, like, in between, like, a cabinet or something, like, swear that we saw, like, a set of eyes, and then we ran out. So, yeah. And it was probably like three days after, like, one of our dogs died.”

Analysis:

This legend that my informant experienced seemed to have been built upon the history of her house. The historical events surrounding the building made a perfect background for her parents to build off of. This memorate of her brother and her exploring the house shows the implementation of the legend. Although their dog dying soon after might be a coincidence it might also just because of the haunted house, who knows.

Camp Ghost Story

Informant: The old owner of the property had a daughter [named] Gertrude who was in a wheelchair and he built it all for her. Apparently, she haunts the manor house basement, like the cellar…She fell down the stairs in her wheelchair is the story. 

Context: The informant learned this song at her sleepaway summer camp located in the Berkshires. She was in middle school when she first heard the story and heard it reinforced as she grew older at this camp. 


Analysis: This story connects Gertrude to a specific location (the manor house basement), which is a key feature of legends; they are told as if they could be true and are grounded in real-world settings. The narrative follows a familiar memorate/legend pattern: a tragic backstory (a girl in a wheelchair who dies by falling down the stairs) explains the presence of a haunting. This kind of scary origin story gives a bigger meaning to the space. It turns a normal basement or cellar into a potentially dangerous location that children shouldn’t want to be around. It also reflects common motifs in ghost lore, including untimely death and a lingering presence.

School Legends

Age 20

Informant: “So, at my high school, I went to high school in Manhattan, in New York, and it was in this big mansion that got… converted into a high school. So, there’s this really fancy library with a little stone staircase in it. And there’s this little stain on the staircase that’s…this reddish, coppery tone. And the story goes that when…it was a mansion, and when the man who lived there was living there, someone tried breaking in. And that stone staircase in the library leads to a secret door in his bedroom, which is now a classroom…So then, when someone tried breaking in, they tried going up that staircase to sneak into his bedroom and kill him, and the maid was on the staircase, and she got shot. And so that, like, coppery tone is actually a bloodstain…But that is how the story goes, and that’s what the teachers told us.”

Context: The informant was told this story when she was on a field trip by a head teacher at her school. She went to school in Manhattan and would’ve been told this story in the spring of 2023.  The informant told this story when prompted if she had been told any ghost stories growing up. She does not necessarily believe it is true, but finds it humorous that the teacher would tell students this type of story. 


Analysis: I think an interesting view of this specific ghost story is looking at it as school lore or a legend within the school. Legends themselves are stories set in the real world, told as if they are true, in which truth value is debatable but plausible. A story like this, a murder in a city, isn’t entirely unbelievable. The story was specifically told by a person in authority (teacher) to students. This is interesting because it is common that the institution attempts to police folklore that undermines its power or public image. A murder in a school is surely not something the administration would want public, and makes the teacher telling this legend interesting. I think this shows that the teacher is comfortable sharing this story with the students and knows it will not affect their overall view of the institution, but rather think it is an interesting piece of historical knowledge of the building.