Whenever an ambulance drives by (with the sirens on), the informant (a born-again Christian) told me that you should do the sign of the cross and say “God bess the hurting and the helping”.
This is important to the informant because she is religious and used to be an ambulance medic, so she feels especially for those people who are in need of an ambulance.
My informant told me a story about his younger brother:
“My brother, sister and I all went to an inner city Roman Catholic grammar school. It was located next to a church, and every day during recess, at exactly noon, the bells would ring the Angelus and all children were supposed to stop in their tracks and quietly say a prayer until the bells stopped. The nuns patrolled the playground and no one moved. We kids actually liked to freeze in odd positions like statues. My little brother was a new first grader and afraid of doing anything wrong. During the first week of school he played during recess, but when it came time to freeze for the Angelus he couldn’t make it through because he had to go the bathroom. But he was young and nervous and afraid to anger the nuns by walking across the playground to the school’s bathroom. So he just pooped in his pants. I was assigned to clean him up and couldn’t understand how my brother let this happen.”
My informant told me that he often tells this story to his sons, daughters, nephews, and nieces at family gatherings. It is a funny story that always makes everyone laugh.
I found this piece of folklore interesting because my grandmother told a similar story involving peeing herself in class because she was afraid to ask to go to the bathroom. It seems like a common theme amongst children when they have to face obeying the rules even if it means soiling themselves. There is also always something funny about pooping your pants, no matter how old you are I find that people always find stories that involve soiling yourself funny.
My paternal grandmother, who is of Italian heritage and a second-generation American, described a folk remedy against headaches that was practiced before her day. She said “When a person had a headache, a friend would obtain a basin of water and sprinkle a few drops of olive oil on it, make the sign of the cross and recite a prayer. That was to chase the evil spirits away.” This was also used to make a person stop gossiping. Obviously, this would have been practiced before her family emigrated and assimilated into American culture. It is closely tied to the Catholic church and Catholicism’s deep roots in the nation of Italy. My informant, while still a devout Catholic (as is most of her extended family), did refer to this practice as a superstition, and is far more likely to resort to Tylenol or Advil to relieve a headache than to attempt to cure it through any spiritual means.
The tradition itself seems to reflect elements of both Catholicism (sign of the cross, prayer) and more obscure or pagan religions (chasing away evil spirits), though perhaps my informant uses “evil spirits” synonymously with “demons.” My informant’s description also seems somewhat vague and incomplete, as though it has been transformed through much telling and retelling over time. My conjecture is that the tradition originated many centuries ago, well before the advent of modern medicine, out of the idea that demons or evil spirits are responsible for physical distress. Certainly “magic superstitions,” under which classification this ritual falls, for curing ailments have existed well before even the Roman Catholic Church, and this one was likely Catholicized like many other pagan beliefs, superstitions, and even holidays. As today’s society (at least in America) tends to favor scientific progress as the solution to medical problems (and a host of other problems), beliefs imported from worldwide have tended to fade out in this forward-looking culture.
I recall participating in a festival just once many years ago, as a child, in Whitehall, New York, with my paternal family. Apparently, this traditional celebration on July 16 has been part of their tradition since my great grandparents immigrated to the United States. My informant said, “One of the greatest traditions that Italians brought with them was the establishment of the ‘Sons of Italy Society’ which all young men enrolled in. They continued to foster all the customs and activities from their heritage.” In particular, she described a parade that was part of the event, calling it one of the “proudest achievements” of the society. Marching through the village of Whitehall, people of all ages in the Italian community took part in the parade, which included bands and floats. My informant also mentioned other festivities associated with the July 16 event. “In the evening a band concert was held. Ethnic food was sold in various booths in an open field.” She recalled her favorite part of the event being the grand display of fireworks that was held in the late hours. She said, “It was the culmination of all working together to bring the best entertainment to all the folks in Whitehall and all the nearby communities.”
My informant associated this event with a certain Mass that was held on that day, but gave no other detail other than that it was a “solemn Mass” and that it was conducted by three priests and celebrated by three generations of family. More details about this celebration, its origins, and its association to the religious calendar can be found in a report from another informant on this same event, and in the annotation.
My aunt also participated in the July 16 festival (mentioned in the previous report) growing up. Her slightly differing recollections that may illustrate changes that were made over the years, or perhaps are just details that my great aunt forgot or left out. My informant, my aunt, also provided some information on the festival’s name and association with the Catholic church.
According to her, the festival was a three-day event, from July 14 – 16, called the Tritium. The church conducted a special service and benediction at night on the fourteenth and fifteenth, and on the third day everyone celebrated a feast called the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. My aunt said there were two bazaars during the Tritium when she was growing up. The first occurred on the fifteenth, and included food, fireworks, and a concert band. The second bazaar, celebrated in Mt. Carmel field in Whitehall, was a town-wide event and was more extravagant than the more local festival on the fifteenth. According to my informant, my great grandparents cooked and served hot dogs and sausage and my grandfather served beer at the event. There were other activities and games such as roulette, as well, and everyone wore costumes. Like my other informant, my aunt also called the eleven o’clock fireworks “the highlight of the summer.” My family (great grandfather in particular) also used the event to collect donations for a charity, the Mount Carmel Society.
Annotation/additional comments:
The New Advent Organization’s Catholic Encyclopedia (article by Frederick G. Holweck:(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/index.html) http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10604b.htm) gives a detailed account of the history of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The holiday was originally established in the late fourteenth century to honor the victory of the Carmelite sect over an enemy sect. Throughout the years, it eventually came to be accepted as a holiday universally throughout the Catholic church.
Blood is only one aspect of ethnicity. People groups are held together by many factors, including language, lore, and religion. This religious festival helped to define and preserve an ethnic group in their new location. As many Italian immigrants were Catholic in the nineteenth century (and continue to be), celebrating their Catholicism also helped to affirm their identity as the Italian-American community.
“If you are looking for something and can’t find it you need to promise to São Longuinho that you will jump three times and scream three times and the saint will find it for you.”
This is my informant’s description of a superstition her grandmother held. My informant is a native of Brazil and is of Portuguese descent. According to her, her grandmother, from whom she learned this superstition, was a fervent Catholic and “knew hundreds of saints and their miracles and for every misfortune or mishap there would be some saint to pray to or a superstition to fix it!” She said superstitions were her grandmother’s specialty.
I am not aware of any superstition of jumping and screaming to find a lost object in Catholic tradition. This superstition does, however, contain Catholic elements, such as the saint, and the idea of three. Catholic tradition is replete with threes, symbolizing the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This magic-superstition is likely an example of hybridization. As many holidays including Christmas and Easter were once non-Christian feasts, to which the Catholic church attached Christian meaning to facilitate mass-conversion within their growing dominion, this superstition was probably once a native idea, to which Portuguese Catholics attached S o Longuinho.