Something Old

Nationality: Italian and Irish
Age: 48
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Los Altos Hills, California
Performance Date: April 2, 2019
Primary Language: English

The following folklore is an old folk belief my informant followed during her wedding. My informant is a middle aged white woman who will be referred to as M;

Text:

M: Brides should have something old, something blue, something borrowed, and something new at their wedding day.

Context: M and her mother both followed this wedding tradition when they were married, and M told me this folk belief numerous times throughout my life, usually in the context of whenever someone is getting married M would say “I hope the bride has something old, something blue, something borrowed, and something new.” It’s important to M because she followed this belief, as well as her mother and grandmother. For M, she followed this folk belief because it was a family tradition as well as supposed to give her good luck. According to M, the something old is supposed to remind her of her past and family, and M’s something old was one of her mother’s pieces of jewelry. The something new is supposed to represent the brides future, and for M she bought a new pair of wedding shoes. The something borrowed is supposed to represent that she will always have reliable friends, and M’s something borrowed was a necklace from her friend. The something blue is supposed to represent the purity of the wife, and M wore a pair of blue underpants. All together, they are supposed to set the wife up for an excellent marriage and M fondly remembers her collection of objects and the meaning behind them.

Analysis: I enjoyed learning about this folk belief and tradition because I think it’s fun to have a family tradition in your family, and my mother also follows this tradition. I hope my sister will also follow this belief. I think M analyzed this perfectly, it’s a folk belief that is supposed to give good luck to those who follow it. This belief shows how many customs we retain from our parents, and how it is hard to break these customs without feeling guilty.

For a more detailed version of this folk belief, watch season 8, episode 23 of the CBS series How I Met Your Mother titled “Something Old”.

 

Leprechaun Traps

Nationality: Irish and Italian
Age: 48
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Los Altos Hills, California
Performance Date: March 17, 2019
Primary Language: English

The following is a folkloric tradition that my informant participated in when she was young. My informant is a 45 year old women with Irish heritage. The informant will be referred to as M.

Text:

M: When I was young my brother and I used to set up traps for leprechauns and try to trap them. We would put out chocolate gold coins, and set a combination of traps for leprechauns. Some were holes with false tops, so the leprechaun could fall in and not get out, others were boxes that fell on top of the leprechauns when they went to grab the gold. We never caught any leprechauns, but the traps were often set off, and much of the gold was missing, as if the leprechauns always outsmarted us. I made these traps when I was about 5-7 years old.

Context: M got the idea for her trap from her grandmother, who was from Ireland. M’s grandmother told her that she had often seen leprechauns in Ireland and M was inspired to try and catch a leprechaun. M said that this activity was one of her favorite things as a child, the idea of imaging a leprechaun and catching one enthralled her. M thinks the message behind this act is allowing children’s imagination to thrive and grow. M also emphasized that is was a good way to share culture, because a lot of non Irish children also wanted to make leprechaun traps and catch a leprechaun. M says that for her entire childhood she always wanted to go to Ireland because she thought it would be much easier to see leprechauns there, just as her grandma said.

Analysis: I relate to this story especially well. When I was in kindergarten my teacher helped every student in the class create a leprechaun trap out of a shoe box on Saint Patricks Day. Similarly to M, when we came back in the morning, all the traps had been set off but there were no leprechauns to be found. The teacher told us that when she came to the classroom that morning, she had seen the leprechaun running off. All of us in the classroom went crazy looking for the leprechaun all day. Similar to M, this was one of my fondest memories from childhood. This idea of setting a leprechaun trap, shows the imagination, and creativity of children. It represents children as pure and having wild imaginations, believing things without question. It also shows parents and older adults trying to help cultivate and encourage this creativity and imagination. 

Brazilian Engagement Rings

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 40
Occupation: Executive Assistant
Residence: Danville, California
Performance Date: April 7, 2019
Primary Language: English

The following is a folk tradition that I heard from my family friend, a mid-40s Brazilian woman. The woman will be referred to as C.

Text: In Brazil, both men and women wear engagement rings. While engaged, they wear the ring on the right ring finger, and switch it to the left ring finger at the wedding.

Context: C is my family friend who told me this folklore when she was telling me about differences between living in Brazil and America. She brought this particular example up because she thought it was strange only females wear engagement rings in America, when both men and women are engaged. She thought it would make sense that they would both be happy about being engaged and want to show it to other people. C said that she thought this tradition isn’t the case in America because in olden times, many women were thought to be owned by men, and therefore supposed to wear a ring to signify who “owned” them. However, men didn’t need to do this as they didn’t belong to anybody and therefore didn’t need to wear an object to show this.

Analysis: This was a surprising cultural difference between the US and Brazil that I didn’t know about. I had never thought about why men don’t wear engagement rings before, but this made me think about it for the first time. I realized there is absolutely no reason men don’t wear engagement rings other than tradition. It points out just how stuck into their own ways people are, and how hard it is to go against tradition. After doing a bit of research I discovered that wedding rings were initially meant to symbolize the women’s purity and virginity, and the man could break an engagement off at any time, so he never had a ring until he was certain that he was going to marry the woman. This cultural difference made me realize that men not wearing engagement rings is actually patriarchal and oppressive. This is because making women wear something that shows them as being taken, while men have no such reservations, is sexist in our modern society.

 

Italian American Wedding Tradition

Nationality: German and English
Age: 45
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Performance Date: March 10, 2019
Primary Language: English

The below folklore is something my informant noticed while at Italian American weddings. My informant will be referred to as D, and is a mid 40s white man.

Text:

D: At many Italian American weddings, and maybe some others, when they tap their glasses it calls for the bride and groom to kiss.

Me: Do you have any idea why this is or how it came to be?

D: No I have no idea.

Context: D has told me this a few times, especially when we are discussing weddings. It is often a funny story he tells, because to this day it still catches him off guard. This is because he had always grown up with the belief that tapping your glasses means you want to give a toast. But when he’s been to Italian American weddings, people would always tap their glass and D would expect a toast, but instead see the bride and the groom kiss each other. He often laughs about it when he thinks about it and remembers it because it caught him so off guard and was so surprised by it.

Analysis: This folklore is most important because it demonstrates different cultures different wedding traditions. That is what made it interesting to both my D and I, as we thought tapping your glass at weddings meant giving a toast, not that the bride and the groom should kiss. Also, the Italians have a reputation for a very romantic culture, so them encouraging romance at a wedding is no surprise. Other forms of this tradition say that the clinking of the glasses scares the devil away, and therefore the bride and groom should kiss while the devil is gone (1). All in all, it is a fun tradition that was good for me to learn about as I had never heard it before.

Works Cited

Longobardi, Alfonso. “Wedding Customs and Traditions for Your Wedding in Italy.” Italian Wedding Photographers | Weddings in Italy, 27 Apr. 2015, www.alfonsolongobardi.com/italian-wedding-customs-wedding-traditions/.

 

Italian Folk Saying

Nationality: Irish and Italian
Age: 65
Occupation: Retired School Teacher
Residence: Los Altos, California
Performance Date: March 2019
Primary Language: English

The following folk belief is a saying that my family friend G often heard from her mother in 1950s-60s San Francisco. Her mother was an Irish woman but G believes this is an Italian and global saying.

Text: It’s amazing that 1 mother can take care of 8 children but 8 children can’t take care of 1 mother.

Context: G told me this folksaying when I was meeting her for coffee, asking her about folklore she has heard. G described that this was a common saying in Italian and Irish families in San Francisco. G emphasises that she believes this folklore describes how a mother always takes care of her children and does anything for them while they are growing up. She is always there for her children when they need her throughout their lives. However, when a mother needs help, which is most often the occurrence towards the end of her life, all her children are absent. The children always claim they are to busy, have to work, or don’t have enough money to take care of the mother. G also said that throughout her lifetime, she has seen this folk saying come to fruition many times, and often see mothers be ignored or not given enough attention when they need help from their children.

Analysis: I think G’s interpretation of this folklore is completely accurate. This folk saying is clearly representing the belief that mothers should be cared for later in life, and often aren’t by their children. It demonstrates how our society is obsessed with wealth and capitalism, and not focused enough on family. Often times people don’t want to take care of their mothers later in life because it might limit the advancement of their careers. Another aspect of the folk belief is that it seems to personify older women to be in needing of care, which could show small sexism in society, as it is assumed that older men don’t need any help or resist it. However I do not belief that there is any true meaning to be sexist in this folksaying. In my research of this folk belief however, I found it interesting that this folk belief also occurrs in other cultures throughout the world, and exists in Muslim culture as well. Showing the importance of mothers throughout the world and the belief that children often neglect their mothers as they get older. Why this particular folk saying names 8 children, and others I found online have differing numbers of children, seems to be arbitrary and there is no meaning behind the specific number of children.