Raksha Bandhan in Hinduism

Folklore/ Text: Raksha Bandhan:

SM: “Although my parents are not very religious, my grandparents still practice Hinduism– sometimes my parents will practice certain traditions to appease my grandparents. One of them is called ‘Raksha Bandhan’ which is a ritual that surrounds siblings and the importance of a brother-sister relationship. But it’s mostly about the brother, which is a little sexist if you ask me! On the day of August 18th, the sisters have to tie a bracelet, known as a Rakhi, to the brother’s right wrist. But before doing so, you dip your finger in water, place the water on your forehead, and attach a piece of rice to the damp part of your forehead. Later, the sisters have to hand feed the brother something sweet. And as return, the brother rewards the sister(s) with some sort of gift which is usually money. Traditionally, we are investing a shared responsibility of care because the brothers take care of us as women. But now my aunts and uncles will send my sister and I money as well, as to make sure we are not only celebrating men during Raksha Bandhan.”

Explanation/ Context: Raksha Bandhan, while deeply connected to Hinduism, certainly has some dated ideals and beliefs. On this annual holiday, only the male siblings of the family are celebrated. However, my informant’s family finds a way to similarly celebrate the female siblings by gifting them money. This is an example of how certain lore can change over time with the ever-changing climate of society and culture. This is their family’s attempt at fighting against certain sexism. Not to say Hinduism is a sexist religion, however, this family acknowledges that not only men should be praised. The females are just as capable of being “responsible” for the other siblings.

Sleep Paralysis Demon

Folklore/ Text: Sleep Paralysis

SM: “Do you know what sleep paralysis is? It’s basically when your mind is awake in bed, but your body is still asleep. I used to get sleep paralysis a lot, and I would open my eyes and see a figure. Sometimes it would scream at me, and it was so scary because I thought it was real… Like someone was trying to attack me. To remedy this, my mom used to tell me “if you sleep in these certain positions, the sleep paralysis demon is going to get you!” But she would say this to combat the way I would sleep in positions that are bad for my body. I would always get sleep paralysis when I was sleeping pin-straight on my back or stomach. Legend has it that if you see a demon when you’re having sleep paralysis, the demon is coming back from hell to check on you… And now I still avoid these sleeping positions to this day, because I don’t want a visit from the sleep paralysis demon.”      

Explanation/ Context: Sleep paralysis is not incredibly common, but it’s something that is widely feared because of those who have experienced it. But the element that is folkloric about it is the alleged sighting of the ‘sleep paralysis demon.’ People who have endured this kind of paralysis almost always report seeing some kind of hideous, frightening, threatening figure. And its sightings date back to Why don’t people experience nice things during sleep paralysis?

Polar Plunge

Informant: In a certain way, it almost feels universal, the term “polar plunge”. Or like when you say “polar plunge”, people know what that means. And it’s basically just going swimming in water when the water’s extremely cold or it’s extremely cold outside. Basically, going swimming when you shouldn’t, when it’s colder than you should swim in. As kids in Southern California, our polar plunge would be going from the jacuzzi to the non-heated pool, which it wasn’t like it was frozen over, it was just probably 50 degrees or something. So that was like our version of it. Alternatively when we were up in the mountains we had the “polar bear challenge”, and that was where we would lay down on the snow and roll around in our swim trunks and then get back in the jacuzzi. And I’ve been doing it recently with friends basically to celebrate the life of a loved one who we lost who really enjoyed that and did that a lot and her philosophy and kind of all of ours is that it’s this really special feeling that it’s incredibly painful, but you kinda never feel so alive because you can really feel everything in that you can’t feel anything. Like your body is so numb and it’s so special to have whatever thoughts or stresses or whatever that were in your head leading up to this moment, you don’t give a shit about because your body and your brain want one thing and that’s to not be this cold. So it’s really this incredibly fresh reset button where you never feel like you want to do and it you never ready to do it cause you always feel like it’s a bad idea but as soon as you’ve done it, while you do it it hurts, as soon as you’ve done it, you never regret it. You’ll be cold, you’ll be in pain, it’ll suck, but you’ll just feel so much, I guess, brighter, or decluttered, I guess.

Background: The informant, as he mentioned, grew up in Southern California in a family that frequently participated in the polar plunge. The activity has a great deal of meaning to the informant because of its connection to a loved one who was recently lost. 

Context: The polar plunge could be performed in many different scenarios, and the informant gives a few examples in his description. It often came about spontaneously, such as in the case of jumping in the unheated pool from the jacuzzi when spending a night with friends. Other times it is part of a more consistent tradition, like how the informant’s family performs a polar plunge in the pacific ocean during sunset on New Year’s Day every year. 

Thoughts: As the informant explains, being immersed in cold water often has an extremely grounding effect on a person. It commands your focus, temporarily cleansing your thoughts and forcing you to focus on your body and your physical sensations. In a world that makes it incredibly easy to get swept up in patterns of thought, this “reset button” can be a welcome return to the body. Additionally, it is often performed in nature in bodies of water such as lakes and oceans, which gives the performer an additional connection to the natural world. Finally, the informant explains the additional meaning that the polar plunge took on for him and his community after losing a loved one. The continuation of a tradition like this allows for members of this community to remain connected to the memory of their friend, and the special physical nature of the tradition that the informant describes can help to maintain this connection.

Swim Lessons Tea Party

Informant: We were trying to get kids to go under the water. We were trying to get kids to learn how to hold their breath, open their eyes, and the way to distract them from the fact that they’re going under the water, holding their breath, and opening their eyes, was to say, “We’re going to have a tea party sitting on the bottom of the pool.” The idea for a young kid to sit on the bottom of the pool, that’s intriguing, nobody necessarily has a problem with that, so when you tell them, “We’re going to sit on the bottom of the pool and have a tea party but you have to tell me what you’re eating and what you’re drinking,” they’re thinking about about what they’re eating and what they’re drinking, they’re not thinking about the fact that, ‘I have to hold my breath, open my eyes, and go under water which is fuckin’ freaky.” And so we had tea parties.

Background: The informant has been teaching swim lessons in the summer with family for many years now. The tradition of teaching local children how to swim goes back multiple generations starting with the informant’s grandmother and continuing with her children. This game has been played for many years when teaching the children. 

Context: The game was played with children mostly in the 4-6 year old age range. They were in the stages of learning to swim where they are gaining mobility in the water but are still battling discomfort and fear about going underwater. The game would be played in small groups, and the children would go around the circle telling the instructor what they were going to eat and drink. Then, all at the same time, the children would jump up and then allow themselves to fall down to sit on the bottom of the pool (in the shallow end). While on the bottom, they would mimic eating and drinking at a tea party and open their eyes to look at one another. 

Thoughts: As the informant explains, having a “tea party” with the children on the bottom of the pool is a very effective way to distract them from the aspects of the water that they are afraid of and allow them to practice essential skills to swimming. The idea of a tea party is a very common one when talking to and interacting with children, and this familiarity helps them to engage with it easily and readily.

La Llorona

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Main Text

CE: “Essentialy El Paso kinda runs along this main river that borders Mexico and the United States, El Rio Grande. So there’s this really famous, um, old tale, kinda like a legend that exists, it’s called La Llorona. Um, it’s basically about…”

Interviewer: “And will you translate La Llorona please?”

CE: “Yes. La Llorona is like ‘the crier’ it’s a woman who just sobs and cries and, um. The story was an old woman who lives by the river and she, um, used to have a really nice farm and this beautiful garden and then a really tragic accident in the Rio Grande, she lost her son. He got washed up because he was playing to close to the water when it was high tide and so he ended up passing away and dying and so now every night if you go by the river, late at night, and the water is high you’ll hear her sobbing and crying for her son to return her. So, it’s all in Spanish, so she goes like *breathes* ‘Ay mi hijo’ just like really sad kind of like wallowing and depression, it’s a very sad story. Essentially just to encourage kids not to play by the water late at night or else they’ll get taken up by this, like, scary woman who’s, again, called La Llorona.”

Background

CE is a 21 year old Mexican/Colombian American from El Paso, Tx and is a third year student at USC studying urban planning. She first heard the story from her grandmother and mother growing up in El Paso, and said the tale was especially prevalent in her household because her home was so close to the Texas/Mexico border. It was used as an incentive not to travel too close to the border, which since her childhood has been a more dangerous region of her town.

Context

This story was told in CE’s household, and in other’s she says usually by a maternal figure to younger more impressionable children in order to keep them from straying too far away from the house and towards the river, and coinciding national border. The story only works as a deterrent if the children believe in and are afraid of La Llorona.

Interviewer Analysis

La Llorona follows a larger folkloric trend of children’s stories designed to protect them by preying on their fear of the unknown, or upon instilling that fear. By using a story like La Llorona or Hansel and Gretel, parents are able to use a terrifying fictional character to protect their children from perhaps less terrifying real-world threats such as wild animals or losing their way. Children are naturally curious and may not understand the dangers of the world, but will certainly be scared of a vicious monster that steals children and lives in the river. This story is told with good intentions by Latina parents and grandparents alike and is effective at achieving its goal, but this interviewer wonders if building a world view on fear of the unknown has detrimental consequences in the long run.