Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

Dead Children’s Playground

Dead Children’s Playground

 

The Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama contains a playground which was initially intended to be a place for children to go while their parents visited graves of loved ones, but which has been the locus for many stories of hauntings leading to its being dubbed “Dead Children’s Playground.” Some say it is the spirits of children buried in the playground who are revisiting the games of their youth. Others speculate it may be connected specifically to murders. The stories have been reported since the 20th century, even though the cemetery was established in 1822. Stories include swings moving by themselves, childrens’ laughter when no one is present in the playground, orbs of light captured on camera, and even ghosts sighted. Making the story even weirder, most of these occurrences are reported between 10pm and 3am, notoriously too late for children to be out on a playground by themselves, even if they were visible.

 

INFORMANT: Like many hauntings and ghost stories, the informants who have claimed to see supernatural occurrences at the Maple Hill Cemetery playground are largely anecdotal and anonymous; most sources conveniently omit needing to attribute the stories to anyone, instead using the passive voice or “they say.” However, local folklore has certainly cemented this playground in the imagination of Huntsville’s citizens, and ghost-hunting websites frequently make reference to people visiting it in hope of documenting the children.


ANALYSIS: Due to the location of this playground within the limits of a cemetery, it’s not particularly unusual that a legend of dead children has developed around it. Stories of the swings moving on their own are the most frequently referenced, but this could easily be dismissed as the wind moving the swings or some type of imbalance with the equipment which has been picked up and embellished by storytellers. Similarly, as most of the sightings occur between 10pm and 3am, which is an unnatural time to be in a cemetery anyway (and emphasized by the constant cultural admonition against entering cemeteries at night) it is likely that these sightings of lights and/or hearing what sounds like children playing are the tricks of the mind common to anyone entering a cemetery at night and expecting to be spooked.

Christmas Crackers at Christmas Eve Dinner

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Real Estate Executive
Residence: palos verdes
Performance Date: 4/12/16
Primary Language: English

Since I can remember, it has been a tradition at my household to pop open Christmas Crackers at my Christmas eve dinner. My family and friends sit around a round table and pop open the cardboard crackers that are filled with a toy, a joke, and a paper crown. Shortly after opening the crackers we all place the crowns on our head and tell the jokes in a circle.

The origin of this tradition comes from my Grandmothers family in Liverpool, England. My mother, the informant, states that it was a very popular tradition in Liverpool to open Christmas Crackers on Christmas eve as a symbol of the first gift of Christmas. It was then followed by a large dinner with many family and friends. The tradition was then passed onto my mother who passed it down to my family for a tradition that we practice every year.

Analysis: My analysis on this certain Folk Holiday Tradition is that a very English tradition was passed down in a familial fashion and thus, made its way to the United States. This tradition is very rooted in my family now and has not changed since the time when my grandmother initially did it.

St. Patricks Day-Potato in Shoe

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Owner of Manufacturing Company
Residence: palos verdes
Performance Date: 4/18/16
Primary Language: English

It’s been a holiday tradition in family ever since I can remember that on St. Patrick’s day, all the kids in my family would place their shoes at the bottom of the staircase in our house with a potato in it. We did this in the hopes that the Leprechaun would come to our home and place money in our shoes because he was grateful for the potatoes we gave him. This tradition was carried up until the age of 9 when we understood that it was simply our parents who placed the money in the shoe.

 

Description of Informant: My father, the informant, comes from a very catholic, Irish background. My grandfather, his dad, grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts as the son of two Irish immigrants. Many of the traditions that my grandfather learned as a kid were based on to my father through holiday tradition and thus, were practiced in my family.

Analysis: My analysis of this tradition has to do mainly with the fact that this tradition derives from Irish history. From 1845-1852 Ireland experienced the worst famine in the history of their country where nearly 1 million people died because of failing crops and spreading disease. Due to the fact that the Leprechaun is of Irish descent, it makes sense that a potato serves as a gift to such an Irish figure as the Leprechaun. Therefore, the Leprechaun sees the potato in the shoe on St. Patty’s Day (an Irish holiday) as a symbol of well-being and puts money in the shoes as a response to the potato.

Handshakes Before the Game

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, California
Performance Date: 4/18/16
Primary Language: English

Information on the Informant: The informant for this particular piece of folklore is a 20 year old friend of mine who attends usc names Brian Finley. Brian is from San Diego, California and has played basketball his whole life. He recently transferred to USC this past year (2015) after spending his first year of college at Chapman University playing basketball. He is a tall and very skilled player who has traveled all around the country throughout his life playing in various tournaments. He has seen teams from many different geographical areas and how their traditions vary based on team.

From the informant:

“So essentially what happens prior to the game starting is that each team does its’ warm ups for a while and then we all sit on the bench and wait for the starting 5 players from each team to be introduced. The announcer typically says the player’s name, his position, and how tall he is. Traditionally, the starting five are sitting on the bench before they are called and the rest of the team is standing up kind of making a little pathway for the player to go through when he is announced. The player gets announced and then has to go shake hands with the opposing coach and referees. However, sometimes there is a player who stands at the end of the pathway and does a custom handshake with each starter of the team. If the players really care about the hand shake, they will practice before and each starter will have his own custom handshake that the non-starter does with him. Lots of high school, college, and professional players do it. Recently it’s become a lot more popular because a lot of pro players are making really weird handshakes that get filmed and then go viral on youtube or something.”

Analysis: Attached below I put a link of a player in the NBA, Cameron Payne, who has become popular this year because of his unorthodox handshakes before the game. Payne is a great example of a guy who has popularized this pre-game ritual and made it a more universal basketball tradition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYYXQL1hYRM

Japanese New Year Eve

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/27/16
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

Information about the Informant: The informant is a 23 year old USC student named Eddie Roche. Eddie is a business major and is half Japanese half American. His father is from Chicago while his mother is from Japan. Growing up, Eddie lived in both Japan and China so he was immersed to numerous holiday traditions that both countries practiced. He has lots of family in Japan so he spent all of his holidays with family and learned about his culture.

Informant: “So basically every new years eve, all of the Japanese people clean everything in their house. It’s something that the Japanese people call Oosoji. It may take hours upon hours but it is a tradition that always occurs among Japanese people. Whether its making beds perfectly, re-cleaning every dish, or dustin all the furniture, the tradition is to cleanse everything in the house. People also clean out their cars and other forms of property that can require cleaning. They do this in order to begin the new year off on a blank page. If anything is dirty on new years, it means that some of the previous years’ bad habits are leaking into the new year.  After the cleaning is done, its tradition to put up numerous New Years decorations like Kadomatsu which are made up of pine and bamboo. Japanese people really like Bamboo. They all believe it is a symbol of longevity and good luck.”

Analysis: I found this Japanese New year eve tradition to be a tradition that makes a lot of sense practically and symbolically. From the perspective of an outsider who had never practiced such a tradition, I can easily understand how cleaning houses and property to perfection before the new years starts makes sense. It is as if the Japanese people are beginning the new year on a completely blank slate. What happened in the past is the past and there is nothing they can do about it once the next year comes along.