Knock On Wood

Age: 22

Context: While at a coffee shop, my friend shared a practice she’s followed since she was a kid to avoid bad luck when making a statement about something good.

Text:

“You know, even growing up, even if no is around, I’ll still knock on wood. Yeah. And like, yeah, if I think of something, and I really don’t want it to happen, or if I’m scared that I put something out into the universer that I don’t want out there, or that I might jinx something, then I’ll knock on llike a wooden table.

Even if there’s no wood around, I’ll knock on something. Like in my car. You know, I’ll be like, ‘traffic is going really nice right now,’ and then I’ll knock on the car.”

Analysis:

Similar to what we’ve discussed regarding important preventive measures to ward off evil, this is a method I even learned as a kid. What’s even more memorable about this method is the instant flash of fear that crosses a lot of our faces when we realize we might’ve jinxed a situation. This also aligns with Kapchan’s description of performance and how we act out, physically, the notion of protecting our fate. Even if there’s no wood around, something has to be knocked on.

“Twisted Necklace”

Context: While waiting for a pizza order, a co-worker of mine shared a good-luck ritual.

Text:

As we waited for our pizza, my coworker noticed my necklace was twisted. The pendant was behind my neck, and the clasp was at the front. She asked if she could fix it, and I said yes. After she untwisted it, she said, “Now you have to make a wish.” I was a bit confused because I’d never heard of the practice before. She explained that in her family, after they fix their jewelry they make a wish for good luck.

Analysis:

Like blowing an eyelash, I’ve heard of some people who practice luck rituals. It was interesting to hear about a ritual involving jewelry, which, in a way, made a lot of sense. Jewelry pieces are very personal items, and they reflect a lot about a person. Some of us even ritualize wearing the same jewelry every day, highlighting its importance. These pieces are sometimes seen as “good-luck” charms or handed down from generations prior. This reminds me of Fraser’s theory regarding contagious sympathetic magic. Touching these “magical” items is sometimes believed to have a positive impact on people’s lives.

“Stop Shitting Yourself!”

Age: 22

Context: While at a coffee shop, my friend told me a phrase that she and her mother use when they’re overthinking things. They learned it from a family friend who told them a story about her grandmother.

Text:

“Like, stop shitting yourself? Like, even as a kid, I just…my mind runs rampant. I have a huge imagination, which is great in a lot of ways, ’cause it means that I can work creatively, but also, like, it tends to run rampant in anxiety ways too. And so, my mom told me this story of, and she’s a psychologist, but my mom told me this sotry of one of her friends or clients. Um, she was talking with her grandmother and she was like, ‘God I should have done this differently. Like, I should have done blah, blah, blah. I should have done this.’ And her grandmother just slammed the tale, and she said, ‘You need to stop shitting yourself!’

And so I think that has always kind of…stuck with me. Like these, should statements as…cognitive distortions. So we just kind of say to each other, ‘You need to stop shitting yourself.’

Analysis:

I thought this story was hilarious to imagine a blunt statement coming from an elder. Overall, I feel like we naturally think of proverbial phrases as ancient or passed down through generations. However, to hear one as crass yet encouraging was a funny refresh. As we’ve discussed in class, it’s still interesting to me that, even in a modern context, this is advice from an elder. The pattern of us relying on others who have lived life a little longer is continuous, no matter the era.

San Jose Sharks: the shark chomp

Age: 20s Hometown: Lafayette, CA

Text: When the other team draws a penalty, the entirety of the NHL San Jose Sharks hockey fans in the rink do a shark chomping motion with their hands.

Context: Participant and I were watching hockey and they starting do a hand motion in celebration . She is a lifelong sharks hockey fan, with her parents being season ticket holders. She does this hand motion out in the wild too when she runs into other fans and want’s to show solidarity.

Analysis: This is an example of folk gesture and kinetic folklore within a sports subculture. The shark chomp is a ritualized performance that unifies thousands of strangers into a single sharks fan folk group through synchronized movement. The participant mentioned that it also serves to bring up the energy for the upcoming powerplay and intimidate the other fans/teams with the sheer amount of people participating. It also serves as an in-group signal for other sharks fans outside of the usual performance space- the ‘shark tank’ hockey rink.

Nigerian first paycheck

Age: 20s Location: Chicago, IL, Background: Nigerian-American

Context: Participants (initals DA) is from a Nigerian-American household. She grew up in Dubai and now lives in a Chicago suburb. She has many siblings and is very close to her family.

Text: DA states that in Nigerian culture, the first paycheck a teen/young adult makes must go back to their parents or an adult figure. She says it’s a way of “showing appreciation and gratitude to those who raised you”. Participant mentions that everyone in her family does this. However, for her personal first paycheck she went and spent it at McDonald’s. DA says that her mother especially was not happy about it.

Analysis:

Here, a teens first paycheck serves as an offering, marking perhaps a transition from the adolescence to adulthood. A first paycheck is a time where one steps into the world of independence and financial freedom from their parents. By surrendering this first check, it’s a symbolic gesture of gratitude and the sacrifices that the family has made to get the individual to this point in their life. When the participant breaks this tradition, she, without realizing the depth of meaning behind this gesture, breaks a social contract. This moment can be a “paying back” of the life-debt to the parents so that the child can begin their own life with a clean start. This is obvious in the participant’s mothers angry reaction, which likely wasn’t over the loss of a couple dollars, but of, in her eyes, her child’s failure to acknowledge the transition point.