New Years Traditions

The informant spoke of their New Year’s traditions surrounding the strike of midnight and the beginning of the new year. All these examples his mom would tell him to do but he never really asked why or questioned the point of it. He just knew that his mother knew best and so he would do as she said. The first example he gave was filling his wallet full of money which would then result in a year of wealth. To emphasize the year of wealth, he would also take a certain dollar bill depending on his choice, fold it, then wrap it with a red ribbon. Then he also indulged in the common 12 grapes traditions. As soon as the clock turns 12, the informant would eat 12 grapes and get 12 wishes for the new year. The informant states that he would try to eat the grapes as fast as possible because the faster he did it, the more likely the wishes would come true. Another example was having lentils on a plate and at the strike of midnight, he would grab a handful and throw it back behind himself. The remaining lentils are then supposed to be put into your wallet and it would provide a year full of wealth and prosperity. The informant added that his mother would tell him that lentils are a symbol of abundance. Lastly, the final example was surrounding a year full of travel. The informant would exit the house with their suitcase and walk a lap around the neighborhood, then return to their house.

The informant practiced these traditions on a varying basis, some years committing to certain traditions and others committing to none. He explains that his belief mainly focused on his belief in his mother and that he would only do it whenever his mom told him of a tradition. He heard of all of these through her but does not truly know where most of these traditions come from. 

It seems like many of the traditions come from sympathetic magic. They all seem to be things that you do to get the desired outcome of a whole year full of wealth, prosperity, travel and so many other things. Additionally, many of these traditions focus on wealth most likely due to the position the informant was in. The informant lived in Brookyln, New York with not much resources for him and his family so it only makes sense that his family would want to wish for that and try their best to somehow bring that upon themselves, even if it means doing all these traditions for the new year. 

Protection from Garlic Clove

The informant speaks on a superstition they practiced whenever they left their house. His parents always said that whenever they went to a party or event or if there were a lot of people, they must carry a garlic clove in their pocket. The informant stated that his mom told him it was meant to prevent mal ojo, the evil eye, or bad juju. His mom would state that by the time they came back home, the garlic would be dry and shriveled. The dryer it was, the more it had protected you from evil and bad that was wished upon you.  He also stated that el mal ojo was explained to him as someone envying you and wishing bad upon you. Garlic keeps vampires away so it is probably something similar to that notion like religion or just good at keeping bad energy. 

The informant comes from Veracruz, Mexico and believes that it is practiced a lot there. Veracruz is believed to be the place where there are the most witches, so lots of superstitions and white magic, black magic come from there. The informant  mentioned a similar thing is putting a whole lime in your bag, letting it absorb all the negative energy, then at the end of the week you throw it away. 

This seems to be similar to other rituals and folk beliefs that people use for protection. They are rooted in protection from stuff that hasn’t happened or doesn’t necessarily exist. The protect people from stuff they can’t explain other than something they attribute to as the “evil eye”. For example, the informant stated that they would use the garlic whenever there were a lot of people so their family was expecting that they would receive the evil eye despite not knowing any of the people. This reflects a view of others in a negative light, most likely due to unexplained illnesses and mishaps in life and blaming others for these unexplained things.

Dia de los Muertos

The informant talks about how important the Dia de los Muertos celebration was for his family. Normally celebrated from November 1st to 2nd but there are sometimes extra days based on location in Mexico the person is from. Dia de los Muertos celebrates the dead by preparing a feast and all their favorite toys, meals, and so much more. This preparation thus invites the souls of the dead to be with their family. The first day would celebrate any children that the family had lost, and so candy, juices, and toys would be put out on the altar. The second day would be to celebrate the elderly, so they put out conchas, food, beer, a basket of fruits, and other things they might have been known to love.The third day would be to celebrate anyone in between who had died,  where family and friends would add anything left to add, decorate the tables, with colors like orange, red, green, yellow, pink and so much more. The informants also stated that they would include edible sugar skulls as decorations and a pastry called Pan de Muerto.  This is a big bulbous loaf of bread, shaped with knots with the round ball at the top and a cross intersecting that.  Marigolds were bright orange, meant to guide the souls of the dead back to their homes that scattered the altar. 

The informant emphasized that the reason the holiday celebration was so important is because everyone within the family would head over to help decorate, or just be there as a family and talk. They would all remember the deceased and talk about the memories they shared of them that would help to bring them closer together.  When the celebrations were over, everyone would be able to dig in and eat the food. The informant added that they never put pictures despite the big depiction and representation of having pictures on the altars because of poverty in Mexico and lack of cameras in Mexico. Thus the memory of their dead loved ones would live on in their memory. 

It seems to me that the importance of family is crucial to this holiday celebration as it commemorates any family member dead or alive. It takes a different take on the dead of ghostly stories and instead expects the souls of their dead ones among them, with only love and remembrance felt at the celebration. A small part of this is similar  to the concept of contact magic as they use food and toys that they used to love in their life, but it is not directly in contact with them. Additionally, symbolism such as the pan de muerto where the ball or knot at the top is meant to represent the skull and the cross is meant to represent the bones from their bodies. The holiday is very cyclical and falls at the same time of the year to have a dedicated time to commemorate any loved ones that have been lost. 

Duendes in Mexico

Text:

The informant heard this story from his grandfather four years ago. The informant stated that Duendes exist where his grandfather is from because he lives in a more pueblo area in Veracruz, Mexico. On a regular day, his grandfather headed to the “terrenos”, large plots of land, to check on the cattle to make sure they were doing well. The informant stated that in order to get to this specific plot of land, you need to go through other people’s lands but that throughout his grandfather’s years, he had built a mental map of how to get to this plot of land. It was later in the day at 4 pm and suddenly, his grandfather felt like he was walking in circles and circles. The next day he woke up in a small passing river as if he had been carried and placed there, not drowning or anything but just there. The informant stated that duendes are kinds of spirits, a sort of energy, that guides you away from where you are going, luring you in to kill you.

Context:

His grandfather said that when he explained what happened to his family and the pueblo, or town, they all told him it had to have been duendes. This legend is only told in the town if it happens to someone. The informant does believe his grandfather because it is interesting but perhaps it is just some spirit leading you astray, or maybe he did something to anger the spirit.

Interpretation:

Duendes are believed to be goblin-like creatures that can do good or bad depending on the person. In this case, the informant’s grandfather experienced an unusual feeling and memory. When he approached those around him, they imbedded this legend of duendes into his memory thus resulting in a memorate. Some believe duendes to be physical creatures but others view them as simply spirits as the informant does. In order to help explain this weird phenomenon where the grandfather got lost in a place where he had been so many times before, the people in this story begin to attribute and explain every detail with duendes. For example, the setting of this story is said to be with lots of lands, greenery, some trees, and a river. Many of these attributes correspond to the legend of duendes as they are said to live within forests by small houses in the area. Additionally, they explain this memory loss and confusion to duendes taking the grandfather by confusing him and leading him astray.

Ghost Story

Text: 

A couple of years ago, the informant was living back home in Torrence, Los Angeles. He would stay up in the living room studying, and when it got late, he would often see a shadow in the corner of his eye. At the time, he would tell himself that it was just late, he was tired, so it was probably nothing. Eventually, he would start seeing things during the day such as a little girl. The informant states that he believed the shadow was a random manifestation, but the girl he would actually see as a manifestation of other objects, so he would see a girl made up of clothes on a chair. It kept happening more and more frequently, so he began to get suspicious. He told his sister about it, and she said she was seeing the same thing, so they asked their whole family living at the house and everyone said they saw it too. What caused the family to really freak out is that his little cousin living there had told her mom that a little girl had grabbed her arm. She was only five years old, so she would not have come up with this story.

One night, his uncles and grandma came over and asked him about what he had been seeing, and all they said was, “Yeah that’s how that happens”. They said in Mexico, it’s a common thing to see where the black shadow is an evil spirit, and the girl wasn’t actually evil but was his slave, so the girl was a lure to get people alone in rooms. The informant was completely freaked out after that as they told him not to be in a room alone, he always had to have the lights on and they even brought a priest over to bless the house. One night, he was sleeping in bed when he woke up with his heart racing and he did not know why. He did not have a nightmare so he woke up with his eyes closed as he did not want to open his eyes. He knew that he would see something, as he was laying in bed extremely scared, and did not move. Eventually, he did look and saw the shadow of a man sitting on the chair. This time was different because previously the shadow would just be a fast blur, but this time he was just sitting in the chair as he stared at it. It started walking towards him so he closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

Context:

The informant explained that his grandpa’s side of the family was accused of being witches. His family believes that someone had placed a curse on an ancestor, and it had passed down so this haunting was taking place in their house. His uncle also suggested that the reason he had been seeing it more and more was that it was getting closer to Halloween, so after Halloween, nothing would be seen again. The informant did believe it because he was experiencing it first hand but states that his family doing things such as bringing a priest solidified or confirmed his belief that it was real. Looking back on it, he no longer believes it now, as he would explain it by tiredness. Additionally, he states that other people in his family started claiming that they saw things once he said it, so everyone else believed it as well or their minds would trick them into believing it.

Interpretation:

This legend is that of a ghost story. It seems that much of this legend stems from fear and history. Other ghost stories tend to have a specific factor that leads to the creation of these stories and in this case, the ghost story comes from the informant’s past beliefs of ancestors indulging in witchcraft and confirmation bias. Once the informant had explained his situation to others, they also began to see the same thing which comes from confirmation bias. They are expecting to see ghostly things in their house, so any small instance of a blur or shadow immediately becomes a potential ghost or demon in their mind in order to confirm their beliefs. Additionally, once the informant was told by his family of his past, and of the same legend happening so commonly in Mexico made the informant begin to see these things more frequently. The more fear he held, the greater the legend became, and as soon as someone confirmed the information about the potential reality of what he was seeing, it became real.