A “Non-Christmas” Christmas

Nationality: Indian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chanhassen, Minnesota
Performance Date: 4/6/2018
Primary Language: English

Informant Info: The informant is a 21-year-old male who was born and raised in Chanhassen, Minnesota. His parents both moved to America from India when they were in their twenties. He is currently a student at USC studying Electrical Engineering.

 

Interview Transcript:

Interviewer: I remember you mentioning going home for Christmas last year. Can I ask what your family does to celebrate Christmas?

 

Interviewee: We don’t do anything for Christmas religiously, but we do get into the spirit of it. We will put up trees, lights, ornaments on the trees, you know all the usual. My brother always makes an ornament every year. But then… we just leave and go somewhere else ironically… Like we’ll come out to Santa Monica and stay with my cousin because my parent’s like the warmer weather. We don’t really do presents or anything of that nature. To us, it’s mostly just about spending time together with the family.

 

Analysis:

This isn’t that surprising, given that the informant’s parents are both from India and are not Christian. However, growing up in a very Christian town (and country) they have adopted some of the traits of Christmas that aren’t associated with religion. I find it interesting that above all else, family bonding is always the most important Christmas tradition across the board.

Phantom Hiker in North Carolina

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Status Coordinator at Walt Disney World
Residence: Orlando, Florida
Performance Date: 3/16/2018
Primary Language: English

Informant Info: The informant is a 26-year-old female who was born in raised in Hickory, North Carolina. For the past 3 years, she has lived in Orlando, Florida and has worked for Walt Disney World as a Status Coordinator.

 

Interview Transcript:

Interviewer: Do you remember your parents ever telling you any memorable folktales when you were growing up?

 

Interviewee: I vividly remember one – one weekend my father took my brother and I camping in the Appalachian’s, and at night he started to tell us stories around the fire… as you naturally do when camping! The story that I remember most was him telling us about when he came hiking as a boy with his father and running into a ghost. They were hiking considerably deep in the mountains, and the sun was starting to set so they had to speed up their pace so they would make it to camp before dusk. He then told us how then, like… from out of nowhere an old man caught up to them and started walking beside them without ever looking at them or saying anything… then he just sped up and kept going around a bend. When they caught up and turned the corner themselves, he was gone! I think my dad was just trying to creep us out and made it up but… it surely did work. Honestly, I’m still nervous about going hiking because I always think about it.

 

Analysis:

This story shares close resemblance with a similar story that I found: The phantom ghost of Grandfather mountain, which is a popular North Carolina park. In both cases, the ghost is a benign old man (often described as wearing old, rugged clothes with a leather pack, a white beard, and is using a wooden walking stick). Similarly, in both cases the ghost doesn’t speak, and eventually speeds up and vanishes. Hundreds of people have reported this ghost story, so it is likely that her father really did see the ghost for himself, or that he was just passing down the popular story to his kids, giving the context that they were camping and telling scary stories. The other collection can found here: http://northcarolinaghosts.com/mountains/phantom-hiker-grandfather-mountain/

 

 

 

 

Happily Ever After – Server’s Edition

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Status Coordinator at Walt Disney World
Residence: Orlando, Florida
Performance Date: 3/12/2018
Primary Language: English

Informant Info:   The informant is a 26-year-old female who was born in raised in Hickory, North Carolina. For the past 3 years, she has lived in Orlando, Florida and has worked for Walt Disney World as a Status Coordinator.

 

Interview Transcript:

Interviewer: You’ve worked for Disney for the past 3 years, almost 4 now. Have you ever encountered any traditions within locations that are outside of the realm of general work operations?

 

Interviewee: Well, I think I have one for you. When I was at Be Our Guest, there was a giant mosaic at the entrance of the restaurant. Every morning when opening, we would follow general opening procedures and then have the normal pre-shift meeting that all locations have… not that you would know since you were always closing at Satu’li (laugther)! Anyways, the mosaic, in case you don’t know, is one of the scenes of the Happily Ever After between Belle and the Beast. After pre-shift, we all had to walk outside to greet guests and drop the rope. But before doing so or starting any shift, every server would walk up to the mosaic and touch it. To them, it was like a good luck charm. In order to have a good shift, they needed to touch it and by doing so they would get lucky and have their own happily ever after by getting good tables and tips. Otherwise, without touching, they would likely have a bad shift. It sounds stupid, but it’s something I always witnessed them doing!

Analysis:

It seems almost natural that workers (or cast members, as they are called) are deriving their own superstitions off popular folklore. The mosaic that she is referring to in the story reflects the ending scene in Disney’s version of The Beauty and the Beast. It is a depiction of the ballroom scene of Belle and the Beast dancing, and the red rose blossoming in the background. This scene in the movie symbolizes the happy ending for the two, as the Belle and the (now) Prince can spend the rest of their lives together after the curse has been lifted. The superstition among the Disney servers just reflects variation on this by, as Kim points out, serving as a lucky charm for their own happily ever after… by the method of good tips!

BeautyBeast

 

Citations: Trousdale, Gary and Kirk Wise, directors. Beauty and the Beast. Walt Disney, 1991.

Photo from Google Images

Haunted Photo Development

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Status Coordinator at Walt Disney World
Residence: Orlando, Florida
Performance Date: 3/8/2018
Primary Language: English

Informant Info: The informant is a 26-year-old female who was born in raised in Hickory, North Carolina. For the past 3 years, she has lived in Orlando, Florida and has worked for Walt Disney World as a Status Coordinator.

 

Interview Transcript:

 

Interviewer: Have you ever had anything strange happen to you, like stuff you can’t really explain?

 

Interviewee: We actually did have a “ghost” in the dark room in photography class in high school. they called it the boohag! (Laughter) Anytime something would go wrong with a print in the wash stage of developing, they blamed it on the ghost — Because you literally just let your print sit in the water and nothing should ever happen to it in that stage.

 

Interviewer: Do you have any idea where the story of the boohag comes from? Is there any background to it?

 

Interviewee: Mrs. Gow, the photography teacher, started it to scare students into not taking her class for an easy elective. She only wanted students that were dedicated to photography and art.

 

Interviewer: So it was completely made up? Or did you ever have any experiences with it personally?

 

Interviewee: Well, it happened to me and a friend in the smaller darkroom one time when we were by ourselves and we purposely ruined our prints by opening the door before they were done because there were these creepy knocks on the wall going back and forth and then there was a dragging noise from one wall to the next and it was literally the most terrifying thing. We opened the door into an intro to art class of all freshman with the most horrified looks on our faces and no one knew what was going on. To this day, I think the boohag was actually a real ghost.

 

Analysis:

This story has all the motifs that a typical ghost usually contains. The story is set in a darkroom, which is a room with no light and is usually quiet and isolated. It can be argued that the dark room is a liminal space. I find it interesting that she mentions the teacher completely made up the ghost, but then that she later had an experience of “creepy knocks” and “dragging.” Since the ghost is made up, it could just be old pipes or a rodent in the walls that scared her… or maybe there really is a ghost! It is also worth noting that there are other stories of a “boohag” ghost, such as the one documented here: http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/05/boo_hag.html, but the stories are radically different and likely don’t share any connection other than the name.

 

Soccer Streaks

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Status Coordinator at Walt Disney World
Residence: Orlando, Florida
Performance Date: 3/8/2018
Primary Language: English

Informant Info: The informant is a 26-year-old female who was born in raised in Hickory, North Carolina. For the past 3 years, she has lived in Orlando, Florida and has worked for Walt Disney World as a Status Coordinator. For the pas

Interview Transcript:

Interviewer: I know you played soccer pretty much all of your life until you graduated college. Did you ever have any fun traditions associated with it?

 

Interviewee: For soccer in high school, we always gave everyone the option to dye a strip of red in the back of their hair (red was one of our school colors) right when the season started. It was like a team bonding thing we did, and it helped bring us closer together as a team (even though it was kinda dumb) because it was just something we all experienced together

 

Interviewer: Did you start the tradition, or was it already existing? Do you know if it still starts today?

 

Interviewee: Yeah, we started the tradition in my sophomore year, which was 2007. I’m pretty sure the team still does it, but I’m not fully certain. Either way, I think it was a good way to bring us together, show school spirit, and to intimidate the other team.

 

Analysis:

The informant became an active-bearer by starting this tradition among the team. I wouldn’t classify this as a superstition of luck, but rather a tradition to, as the informant said it best, “bring the team closer together.” If you can get along and be close with everyone on the team, then the team is more likely to succeed by sharing improved communication while on and off the field.