Pre-game ritual

TEXT

Interviewer: “All right, before we start, do you mind quickly introducing yourself?”

MC: “Yes, my name is ANONYMOUS, I’m a first year at USC studying bio”

Interviewer: “So what are some things you wish on to bring you good or bad luck?”

MC: “So growing up, I was raised a Catholic, so I would go to church pretty much every Sunday. I went through all the Catholic rituals, basically. I got like, the steps of becoming a true Catholic, like getting baptized, getting reconciliation, confirmation, all that. And basically, so that just brought me closer to Jesus. So, I would, before like, I was a big sports guy, so before every soccer game, basketball game, anything I would always send a quick prayer, just wishing God to look over me, my teammates, keep us, like, safe from injury, and help us just play a good game. I wasn’t, like, delusional in thinking, like, he could just make us win. I would just hope I could help us play our best, basically. And then others situations where I just, like, either whether it’s good times, bad times, I always like to send a quick prayer to God, like, just asking him to watch over me, my family, and just pray for good health.”

“And I feel like good luck stems from religion from being a good person. So I think I believe in karma, and like, if you do well, if you do good by others, good things will come to you, and vice versa. So, I don’t know, I’m probably not the most religious person in the world, like, I can’t tell you all the facts about the Bible and all that. I still have that faith, and I just think that faith in God is what defines the good and luck or bad luck. Because if you don’t believe it, of course it’s not gonna happen, you know what I’m saying?”

Interviewer: “Okay, so don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but could you go more in-depth on what the purpose of this is for you then? You mentioned that you know doing this act of praying won’t bring automatic divine intervention that guarantees success, but it also feels like based on the last part of your answer where you mention karma and other things you’re subconsciously hoping for some kind of supernatural effect from praying, which seems a bit contradictory to me.”

MC: “Yeah, totally. I don’t think it’s that divine interference. Like I said, everything that happens here, it’s like constituted by us, because we’re living, we’re doing it. But I believe that reassurance, that, like, that faith that you have, that he’s with you and he’s guiding you and he’s helping you, and he’s giving you the strength to keep pushing on. I just think that motivates me personally to, strive for success and even more. Like I don’t believe me sending a prayer to him saying, ‘Oh, please let me get a good grade on this exam.’ If I don’t spend the time studying and stuff, it’s not gonna happen, you know? I totally believe it’s like that second man on your shoulder just giving you words of advice, towards of wisdom, and just watching you over you.”

CONTEXT

My informant shared this story to me during a class discussion centered around good/bad luck omens we believed in. My informant is a freshman male student at USC studying biology. Based on the conversation, it seems that he uses this folklore as a source of reassurance before an important competition to bring him good luck.

ANALYSIS

As an individual who grew up around sports, the ritual the informant talked about was very familiar with me, as I personally saw similar rituals for athletes across both amateur and professional levels. This shows the multiplicity of folklore, where variations of such performances and gestures can be seen. At its surface, while the informant specified his religious affiliation with the Roman Catholic branch within Christianity, I believe this ritual could be considered one under the large folk group of individuals that believe in any type of religion. With that being said, what I mainly interpreted from our conversation was that this ritual expressed mostly personal values. The informant’s answer to my follow-up question and his explanation of the concept of having free-will suggests to me that his ritual doesn’t serve as a request for some level of supernatural help, but as a reminder to keep himself grounded and thankful for a higher being that allowed him to play in a particular sports game or explore other competitive interests. Thus, beyond this personal value this praying ritual holds for my informant, I also believe it illustrates the variety of spectrums that could come from this same ritual. Praying before an important match or event is something shared by millions of religious individuals, and while some may have a similar mindset as the informant, there’s likely millions that believe in the divine power religion holds and supernatural effects praying could have. Thus, I think this conversation was also a valuable learning opportunity to see that even within folk religion and groups that may practice similar practices, the actual belief or logic behind can be varying.

Bad Luck Funeral Superstitions

Context:

My informant is a 56-year-old woman of Vietnamese descent. She was raised Buddhist, but when she married her Filipino Catholic husband, she adopted some Filipino practices and stories.

Text:

“For funeral services, like after attending the service or the cemetery the family would go somewhere else before heading home, like the market or a coffee shop. That’s in the Philippines traditions, to leave the bad energy somewhere else. But in the Vietnamese tradition, we would place a bowl of water by the door and walk over it to divert the bad spirits or the bad luck from the home.”

Analysis:

In both of these cultures, I see this ritual as a way of cleansing the body before entering the sanctuary of their homes. In Filipino culture, it seems that they focus more on the places with significance. So leaving the bad energy, means literally leaving it in one location before returning home. In Vietnamese culture, they seem to connect with water, an element of life. Stepping over the bowl of water might represent that the connection to Mother Nature and Earth is enough to cleanse themselves from the presence of death they were just in.

Stabbing Chopsticks Gesture – Bad Luck Superstition

Context:

My informant is a 19-year-old student living in Orange County, California. She was raised in a Chinese household, celebrating holidays such as Chinese New Year. She often eats foods from her culture on the daily.

Text:

“I don’t know if this is a universal, or what cultures have this superstition, but like if their preferred utensil are chopsticks, they tend not to do a stabbing motion onto food. This is because it resembles stabbing an individual which is not good.

I ask, “Is it just chopsticks or any utensil, from what you’ve learned?”

“Well, from my experience–because if you use a fork you have to stab it to get food onto the prongs. But generally with chopsticks you want a serving motion. (She demonstrates carrying food with chopsticks) Oh, I was also always taught not to turn your wrist down when using chopsticks. (She demonstrates flipping her hand around with her fingers pointing down) I don’t know what that means, but that’s what my mom always says.”

I ask, “So if you stab the food is it bad luck or just disrespectful?”

“I think it’s both, but it’s just me.”

Analysis:

From what I learned from Chinese culture, they value respect even with their food ways and gestures. This superstition of stabbing food with chopsticks relates to the beliefs of bad luck around death in general. Even though this action only resembles that of stabbing someone which related to death, this action is still frowned upon. In there culture, it seems if you do this action, knowing the context around it, it is considered disrespectful to continue with the action. I think it can be seen as wishing bad luck upon those you are with.

Bad Luck Number 4 in Chinese

Context:

My informant is a 19-year-old student living in Orange County, California. She was raised in a Chinese household, celebrating holidays such as Chinese New Year.

Text:

“The number 4 in Chinese, even regardless if it’s like Mandarin, which is like sì, or if Cantonese, then it’s like sei. It has a very similar pronunciation to the word that means dead or die. So like in Cantonese it’s like sei (she says it with an down note at the end) is four and sei (she says it with an up note at the end) is like dead. So that’s why like people don’t like using the number 4. So like for Chinese New Year for example, we don’t like giving four bills in like a red envelope. Or you don’t do things in increments of 4 because it’s considered bad luck.”

Analysis:

Hearing about this folk belief/superstition after learning so much about Chinese culture, I have gathered that they do not like to associate with death in any way. Whether it is something that resembles death such as a simple pronunciation or interacting with death in any way. I think that the Chinese culture just wants to bring prosperity into their lives in any way possible, which means rejecting the bad luck from associations with death.

Childhood Song – Down by the Banks

Context:

This informant is a 19-year-old student from Orange County. She learned this song from her classmates in early elementary school. She doesn’t specifically remember from who, but everyone in school knew this song.

Text:

“So this is like a childhood song that my friends and I, like, we would play on the playground. So if we’re bored, we would all like, sit down on the floor, get in the circle. There’s usually at least–like you need at least like three people, but’s usually more. You sit down and then you all hold hands with each other.

So like, your right hand goes on top of the person’s to your right to left hand. And then your left hand goes under the person on your left right hand. And you’re all in a circle with your hands up like that. And then there’s this song It’s called like Down by the Banks.

I mean there’s like different lyrics, but like the one I learned was like, Down by the banks by the Hanky, Panky, where the bullfrogs jumped from bank to bank, in the east frog, soda pop, hey mister something won’t you stop? I don’t really remember the lyrics to the last part.

“But like, on the beat, there’s one person that starts, and then you take your right hand and you, like, clap the other person’s hand. So you take your right hand and you clap, like, the person on your left, their right hand that’s on top of your left hand, on the beat, and you just keep going around.

And once the song ends, whoever it lands on, they’re eliminated, and they like, get out of the circle, and then you keep doing that until there’s only two people left. And then once there’s only two people, you hold you hold each other’s right hand in like a handshake, and then you just like, pull each other’s hand on the beat again, and you keep doing that until it lands on one person and then that’s, who wins the game.”

Analysis:

From what I have heard from other people, there are many variations to the lyrics of this children’s game song. Depending on the region someone is from, it seems they know different lyrics. In this case, my informant is from Southern California so she knows the song as “Down by the Banks.” This seems like a simple clap-to-the-beat game that every child learns. The game just gets passed down from class to class, as kids are bored during recess and play.