Tag Archives: doll

Robert the Doll

Nationality: American
Age: 57
Occupation: Sales Representative
Residence: United States
Language: English

Text:

“The doll has supernatural abilities that allow it to move, change facial expressions, and make giggling sounds. Supposedly it is aware of what’s going on around it. It also is said to be able to move things around and is the cause of mishaps around people who disrespect him. Some people have had misfortunes after visiting him. The story goes something like a boy gets the doll as a gift and then strange things start happening because of it. It’s also been said that if you take pictures of the doll without asking permission it will curse you.”

Context:

The informant describes hearing about from various shows and interprets it as just a supernatural or demonic being. They also believe its more of entertainment value but wouldn’t necessarily mess around with it if it’s true.

Analysis:

This legend represents the use of a cursed object, possessed by an evil demon or, in other words, a fetish. The power is invested in a physical object, where much of the meaning stems from. This is more of an urban legend due to its contemporary approach as something modern and spread through media, centered around the present. Americans seem to find value in the supernatural or paranormal due to a need for exploration or meaning in the unknown, such as death. Within the object itself, there is a theme of respecting others, where much of the bad luck or misfortune is due to disrespecting the doll/the entity within it. The purpose of the doll adds to finding meaning in the unknown as a way to explain bad events that happen, but also possibly based on some truth. This also connects with American fears of the unexplained or strange behavior. This also has some elements of magical ritual, such as appeasing the evil spirit by asking for permission to take a photo. Frazer brought the idea of sympathetic magic, which the doll relates to as the object itself influences or causes events to happen in the real world.

Quinceanera- Porcelain Doll Tradition

Informant information 
Nationality: Hispanic American
Occupation: Teacher 
Residence: Nevada
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 4, 2022
Primary Language: English 
Other Language(s): Spanish

Background 
My informant is my mom’s coworker and she is of Mexican descent. The context for this piece was talking about quinceañeras.

Performance
M- I had a quinceañera and there was about close to 300 people at my quince and like the big things that I remember is they get you this porcelain doll and that doll represents the last doll you ever have as a child so at some point during the quinceanera you’re sitting there with your doll and somebody comes whoever you choose will come and have a crown and your and your like heels they bring your heels and your crown to you you handover the door and you get your heels and crown which represents you letting go of your childhood and becoming a quote unquote “woman or a young lady” I have a she so my best friend her daughter is my goddaughter him and her family that I seen I guess it’s just certain parts of Mexico they have different you know but when the when the kids turned three they have like a mini quinceanera so she’s down the hall with her three daughters she ordered them a dress like a custom dresses made and it’s literally like does the whole church thing and has a huge party for her daughters and they literally like literally moon Quinceañeras and I can’t remember what it represents but her husband at the time his family was like that was their thing that was their tradition so that’s kind of cool. 

Thoughts
I have never attended a quince but I understand how important it is in a young girl’s life. I think the symbolism of trading the doll for the heels is really special. Some of my friends told me that they planned their quinces for years before they had the party.

The Ritual Game: One Man Hide-and-Seek

Nationality: British European
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Sherman Oaks, California
Performance Date: March 11, 2020
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: Okay so how do you play this game?

Informant: Well as the name suggests you have to do this alone, while everyone is out of the house, preferably. You take an old doll that you don’t like anymore, cut it open and remove all the stuffing. Then fill it up with white rice. Once the doll is totally full of rice, cut a hair from your head and poke it into the heart of the doll’s body. Then take a knife and prick a finger, doesn’t matter which one, and wipe the blood onto the rice protruding from the doll’s back. Once you’ve done that, take a bit of red string and sew up the back of the doll and cut it off with the same knife you used to prick your finger. Once it’s sewn up give it a name, and it has to be a name that no one you know has.

Interviewer: Sounds like you have to be very careful during all this prep work.

Informant: Oh yeah and we’re not even done yet. Actually playing the game is specific too. You then have to take the finished doll to a bathroom, run a shallow bath, and then place the doll in the water. Turn out all the lights in the house, finding a hiding spot and count to ten. You shouldn’t forget to take the knife with you when you go to hide. Say ‘ready or not here I come’ then go back to the doll. Repeat ‘I found you, I found you, I found you’ then ‘you’re the next it, you’re the next it, you’re the next it’ and tie the knife to the doll’s hand. Then go to hide again, it doesn’t have to be in the same place. If you make it to sunrise, you’ve won the game.

Interviewer: Do you get anything out of winning?

Informant: No, I don’t think so. You just get bragging rights.

Interviewer: What happens if you lose?

Informant: The doll kills you, supposedly. But if you need to stop the game, like if the doll finds you, it’s recommended that you always have a glass of salt water prepared to pour on the doll. When you pour the water, shout ‘I win, I win, I win’ then the game is over.

Background: One Man Hide and Seek was part of a film project that she was doing for school. She researched this game but does not remember which sites she learned it from or its origin.

Context: I was interviewing my informant for rituals that she learned about through research and hearsay from others. She was happy to tell me about this one since it resulted in one of her favorite movies that she made.

Thoughts: I severely doubt that the original reason for doing One Man Hide and Seek was just so one could have bragging rights, so it must have been a ritual for something else originally. I did a little digging online and found a site that suggests the ritual was originally posted on a ‘Japanese horror bulletin board.’

Please see “One-Man Hide and Seek / Hide and Seek Alone.” Know Your Meme Accessed March 20, 2020

Chinese New Year Doll (Tu’er Ye)

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 22, 2019
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Informant:

M, a 21-year-old, Chinese male who grew up in Beijing until he turned 17 before moving to the United States. He now lives in Los Angeles, California, and attends the University of Southern California with his girlfriend who is from Southern China.

Background info:

M’s first language was Mandarin. His family spoke Mandarin and he only learned English before moving to the United States. Because he grew up in Beijing, he believes himself to be fairly knowledgeable about the folklore that every day people participate in. This is one of the Chinese traditions in their household.

Context:

This is a Chinese tradition that M’s family would participate in during the Lunar New Year in Beijing. Because he was close with all his family, he and his younger sister would often have to do these traditions twice a year, once with their mother’s side of the family and again with their father’s side. This was told to me during a small get-together at his house. The following is a transcript of the piece as told by M.

Main piece:

“This is also about Lunar New Year. Lunar New Year like spans for two weeks. By the end of that… this is specific to Beijing… you’ve got something called Tu’er Ye (in Chinese: 兔儿爷). Basically, this means uhh… ‘lord rabbit’… Um, so essentially, it’s like a little doll made from porcelain… a porcelain doll… and the tradition is that you are supposed to get one at the beginning of the year and get rid of it at the end of the year. Essentially, it is still like a paganism folklore thing that is supposed to serve as protection for your family. I remember that in the traditional folklore, you needed to like break or shatter the doll at the end of the year, but we don’t really do that anymore, we just get rid of it and get a new one. We would never really do this as a family, you would sort of just know it was there. It’s always the same chubby rabbit who is like riding on a tiger. It’s kind of weird, but people still do it. I think people would break the doll to represent kind of breaking all the bad fortune from the previous year, and you get a new one to have a fresh start.”

Thoughts:

I found it interesting that the tradition involved breaking the glass/porcelain doll to dispel bad fortune. In a lot of other folklore that I have seen, the breaking of something as fragile as glass is considered bad luck. One example of this is the folk belief that breaking a mirror will result in seven years of bad luck, a popular belief that I heard numerous times as a child. Doing a little more research on this topic, I found that Tu’er Ye is actually related to moon worship, and he is considered to be the moon rabbit of the goddess Chang’e. The keeping of a porcelain doll visible in the house all year reminded me of various scary stories involving dolls that came to life. Because the Tu’er Ye doll is supposed to represent, or shield from, the family’s bad fortune, I can see a slight connection behind the horror story dolls being an embodiment of evil.

Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival)

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Arcadia, CA
Performance Date: February 11, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

Aubrey is a Japanese-American currently attending ELAC. She plans to transfer to UCSD to pursue a bachelor’s in Marine Biology because she intends to protect the marine environment with her university education. She enjoys drawing, watching anime, attending sports games with her dad, and playing with her dogs.

Original Script

When I was small, every year on March 3rd, we celebrate this holiday called Hinamatsuri, which is Girls’ Day. And you set up these dolls called hina-ningyō on these 5- to 7-tiered stands called hina-dan and the dolls are supposed to protect the family from evil spirits. And you’re supposed to leave the dolls up for a few days after the holiday because putting them away quickly will be bad luck.

Background Information about the Performance from the Informant

The informant first performed this ritual during her trip to Japan on New Year’s Day in elementary school. She enjoyed Hinamatsuri because it was a memorable family bonding event and it was fun handling the dolls.

Context of the Performance

I interviewed the informant in my house.

Hinamatsuri, also known as Doll Festival or Girls’ Day, is celebrated every year on March 3rd in Japan. On this day, the parents pray for their daughters’ happiness, health, and growth. This festival originated from a thousand years ago in the Heian Period. It is a tradition to display ceremonial dolls, dressed in the attire of the people of the traditional court, on tiered shelves.

My Thoughts about the Performance

I find it endearing that there is a festival purely dedicated to ensuring a daughter’s happiness and wellbeing in Japan. Over time, it seems that the festival’s promotion of one’s health and good luck has also spread to other members of one’s family. However, the placement of the dolls, decreasing in status as one moves down the platforms, remains generally the same. The festival connects the past to the present by having the ancient court from the Heian Period watch over and protect families of today.