Twins

Nationality: Gabon
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/25/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandinka

Subject:

Folk Beliefs regarding twins

Informant:

Saran Kaba grew up in Gabon. Her family is mostly from Gabon and Guinea, and strongly identify with Mandingo culture which is prevalent throughout the region. Saran immigrated to the United States in 2014, where she now lives and studies at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

“So twins, in my culture, are, like, considered very, very, like they have…  I don’t know like they’re really considered very sacred. You know? And just are seen as being very, like, bringing luck to the family. But, like, they are considered to be very powerful, so like, they bring luck and they have this… you know like they have this, they are gifted in some ways. And the person born after the twins, like after a set of twins is the most powerful. So like he has more gifts than, like, the twins. So like I told you, twins are like gifted, like they have like super powers, and like, they can sometimes feel things, which I guess is n every culture, or like see things. Let’s say, for example, they dream about something – it will usually happen, or if they say something, like they feel, like, together, it will usually like happen. But we were taught that the person born after twins, is more powerful than the twins, so we give that person more respect because it is said that that person is like, maybe a hundred times more powerful than the twins, so that’s that.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Saran has cousins who are twins, and though she hasn’t had much interaction with them, knows that they are very respected by the family. She learned these things about twins from her mom.

Thoughts About the Piece:

Mandingo culture praises childrearing and fertility, and perhaps this plays into why two children would be considered special over a single child. I think it is interesting that the younger sibling of twins would be more powerful than the twins themselves: perhaps this simply plays into the same idea of fertility. Twins are also a rare and special phenomenon: two children, who look almost the same and would be raised in a similar environment, yet often display very different personalities. The intrigue of twins as a whole might be a factor contributing to this belief.

Stealing Gold

Nationality: Gabon
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/25/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandinka

Subject:

Custom regarding gold

Informant:

Saran Kaba grew up in Gabon. Her family is mostly from Gabon and Guinea, and strongly identify with Mandingo culture which is prevalent throughout the region. Saran immigrated to the United States in 2014, where she now lives and studies at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

“Okay, I mean you are not allowed to steal in general, but like, if you steal gold in my culture, like, bad things will happen to you. You become, uhh, unfortunate for the rest of your life. Like, what my mom told me is that gold is, gold is like a metal that comes from the ground and water, and that earth, and everything related to water is related with, like, spirits. So, if you steal gold, that means that you steal something spiritual, and yeah it will just lead to like, everything bad, so that’s that. Whenever I say spirits… it’s a lot of things. It’s like, just umm, it’s just different… first of all like bad energy. But also it’s like people giving bad luck to you. Also what else, like, people from the dead like, ghosts, kind of haunting you.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Saran’s mom taught her about this. She seemed reluctant to mention any details, but she did briefly state that somebody in her family had stolen gold, and that that was viewed as very bad. She couldn’t think of any reason for why stealing gold might be seen in such a drastically negative light.

Thoughts About the Piece:

Gold is a precious metal. Somebody’s most valuable item might be a gold item, or perhaps somebody saved some money in gold. Gold items might also be sentimental, such as wedding rings. Perhaps for these reasons, stealing gold is held as a much worse offense than stealing any other item.

Friends and Spicy Food

Nationality: Gabon
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/25/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandinka

Subject:

Social custom regarding spicy food

Informant:

Saran Kaba grew up in Gabon. Her family is mostly from Gabon and Guinea, and strongly identify with Mandingo culture which is prevalent throughout the region. Saran immigrated to the United States in 2014, where she now lives and studies at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

“We are not allowed to pass, like, directly pepper, to like somebody, because that means that you want to, like you will be in conflict. So like if you like a person, you don’t give pepper at first. You know, like, pepper, like something spicy, because it will lead to some sort of conflict or miscommunication.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Saran doesn’t know where she learned this, or the reasoning behind it, only that it is a widespread custom not to give somebody any kind of very spicy food.

Thoughts About the Piece:

Very spicy food can be painful. Perhaps this custom arose from the concern that feeding people food that is more spicy than they can handle might upset them, and hurt the relationship. Spicy food also causes your nose to run and tongue to hurt, which might make it difficult for them to have a conversation or maintain a graceful countenance, which may cause awkward social situations.

Sealing Fate

Nationality: United States
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/24/2017
Primary Language: English

Subject:

Korean superstition

Informant:

Eumin Lee was born and raised in the United States, although both of her parents spent much of their lives in Korea. As a result, Eumin grew up surrounded by Korean culture and superstitions. She now studies at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

“She’s also taught me to never ever write my name in red ink, because apparently that’s, if you do, it’ll kind of… seal your fate for… like something bad will happen to you, or worst case scenario you’ll die, or something.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Eumin claims to have just been raised with this policy, and although she does not really prescribe to many of the other superstitions her mom taught her, she still will not write her name in red ink, just because she feels that it is easy to avoid, and that there would be no point in tempting fate.

Thoughts About the Piece:

Red is a strong color, which for the purposes of this superstition I would imagine to represent blood. Following this logic, I would guess that signing your name in this color would be akin to sealing your fate in blood.

Cold Drinks and Greasy Food

Nationality: United States
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/24/2017
Primary Language: English

Subject:

Korean folk practice for digesting greasy food

Informant:

Eumin Lee was born and raised in the United States, although both of her parents spent much of their lives in Korea. As a result, Eumin grew up surrounded by Korean culture and superstitions. She now studies at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

“Um, she always tells me to never ever drink iced water after I eat something, after I eat any type of greasy food, because she thinks that, um, if I drink cold water while I’m eating this greasy food, that the grease will just, like, bubble up in my blood, or something, and just, like, be a detriment to my health. She always tells me to drink hot water or hot tea while I’m eating greasy foods.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Eumin says that she does not really prescribe to this superstition, but it was advice that her mom strongly believed in and recommended to her.

Thoughts About the Piece:

In America, no one would look twice at somebody eating a greasy burger and plate of fries with an ice-cold soda next to them. If anything, it would be expected. However, after living in the US for several years, Eumin’s mom still believes that this combination of greasy food and cold drink is bad for a person’s health.