Main piece:

You can’t wash your head on Mondays or right before exams.

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

I know it from school. I think my parents might have told me. I don’t know if it works. It’s kind of school related stuff. Something inside me says, “Oh what if it’s true.” I don’t want to risk it. But honestly, I’ve washed my hair a ton on mondays and it was fine! For exams, I feel like I’m washing all the knowledge out of my head.

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

I would think about it on Mondays and before exams. I wash my hair on Sundays- if I need to wash my hair, I’ll do it on Sunday but if it’s kind of clean I leave it to Tuesday. Even if my hair is super dirty, I’ll just put it up in a bun and leave it filthy until after my exam.

Personal Analysis:

This hints about the importance Ana’s culture places on academics. As she mentioned in her telling, she was worried about washing the knowledge out of her brain. I work with her, and she is constantly studying or doing work for class. Perhaps that is why she’s so concerned about losing the knowledge- she’s put in too much effort to sacrifice any of it to a shower drain! As she was telling me this saying, another co-worker mentioned she had heard the same thing from her Indian parents. It seems as though this saying may not be exclusive to Moldova, but has traveled southeast through Asia and to the Indian subcontinent.