Tag Archives: childlore

Plane Tapping Ritual

Age: 20

Folklore Story:

“Every time I go on a flight  and I fly Southwest mainly every time I go on a flight,  I touch the little heart that’s on the outside of the plane  and I put my palm on it.  And then I as I enter the plane.  I do it as like a good luck thing and I got it from my dad because he would always do it.  He would like put his hand on and he would like pray or like say like a quick prayer.  So I just started doing it too because he would take me on flights  and it was always good. I first saw him do it at like eight because I’ve been going on flights kind of young. I like the idea of like having a child and just like picking up my kids so that they can put their hand on the heart, not the plane.”

Reflection:

The informant’s story is a textbook example of ritual and contagious magic. They describe the desire to touch the heart on the outside of a Southwest plane before boarding. This is a repeated, patterned act performed for good luck. The informant learned from her father, who would pray while touching it, that touching the heart on the plane connects you to the whole. The informant plans to pass this ritual to her own children, showing how rituals reproduce themselves through vertical transmission. This reflects a broader societal reality: despite the advancements of technology and the global dependence on it, people still exhibit small acts of control over the uncontrollable.

Inky Binky Bonky

The Story:

“When I was younger, I had this tradition that I did with all of my friends. It started with my cousin, she taught it to me. But one of my favorite games growing up was tag and the way that we determined who would become or who would be the first to be it was Inky Binky Bonky. What we would do is we would come together and we would put our feet in a circle, and then we would chant the song while pointing onto each other’s toes. “

 “Inky Binky Bonky, 

daddy had a donkey, 

donkey died, 

daddy cried, 

what color was the donkey’s butt?”

“and then you land on somebody and then they give a color. If they’re like pink, you go P-I-N-K pink and then you’re out. That person’s out. And then you keep going until you have one person.

I taught the rhyme onto other people. My cousin did it because when I was younger the only rhymes I think were mutually accepted and known or widely known were like bubble gum bubble gum in a dish and Eenie Meenie Minie Moe, but Inky Binky Bonky, I had never heard of it. My cousin taught it to me and then I taught it to all of my friends.  The last age I played it, I would say maybe when I was like 11 or 12. I learned it, I want to say either kindergarten or first grade.  A twist I added was if it landed on me, I would count how many feet it would take for me to be it. Say a color that was longer, I knew that if I said pink, it would land on me, so I’m saying orange or I’m saying something else so that it’s somebody else. But yeah, I would just  use the color in my mind to navigate what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.”

Reflection:

This interview and the informant reminded me of childlore and the multiplicity of folklore and how it can transcend regions but still have the original intent. The counting rhyme functions as a folk narrative in a shorter form, a verbal performance that assigns social roles and the weight they carry via rhythm, chance and choice. This also touches making do with whichever mediums are at hand and still perpetuating the original intent of the folk media. This version of a counting game, as well as some of the tactics used when determining social roles as implied by the rhyme are especially interesting. Although there is no direct author of this rhyme, it still exists and has several variations in different locations and regions. Further, it shows the creative control the informant and players of the game have when choosing the color when playing the game. It goes to show that while several versions of a game may exist, the original intent remains and the initiation players take to achieve the desired outcome.