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“A superstition or tradition that has been a part of my life for a while now is before football games, I tape up my wrists and I write GGM on my left wrist. GGM as my mantra saying God got me and I know that whatever happens on the field, God got me and it’s a part of his plan so that helps me kind of destress before the game and it’s been a powerful thing in my life.”
Context
LS has developed his own pre game tradition that connects his faith and his sport of football. He has always worn wristbands and wrist tape for games, but since the later years of high school he started writing GGM as he became more involved with Christianity. LS says that many athletes, both on his team and professionals, will write notes of their faith on their equipment, and it’s a very strong way to stay connected before and during the game and keep calm.
Analysis
LS’s ritual is a great intersection between material culture, rituals, and religious folklore. Writing his mantra of “God got me” is a way for LS to honor his faith and belief in God before every game, as well as managing his uncertainty and feeling a sense of ownership over the unknown events that will happen in the game. This ritual ties into his place in the Christian and athlete folk groups, as many athletes have superstitions around material culture like clothing, and writing notes of faith is a way to channel good luck into special objects/clothing (Sims, Stephens). It’s also somewhat of a magic superstition for LS, as he believes that the combination of honoring God and writing the mantra and his wrist tape will lead to more positive outcomes in the game.
Tag Archives: Faith
Christian Ritual – Blessings, Bible Verse, Appreciations
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“Every day, my grandpa on my dad’s side sends me his blessings and a Bible verse in the morning, and I write it down every day in my notebook and I say three things that I’m grateful for and I also say well like what I guess the Bible like means to me so yeah that’s like a ritual or tradition of my faith that I do.”
Context
Having grown up in a family of devout Christians, IK explains that the daily routine of sending blessings and a Bible verse is one that his grandpa does for all members of his family. For IK personally, he also adds saying his appreciations and the meaning of the Bible to his daily routine as a way to honor his faith and start off each day strong.
Analysis
This is an example of a ritual in IK’s life that exemplifies his belief, which in this case is his Christian faith, and is an example of Kaptchuk’s ritual theory as repeated routines that create some emotional change. It represents a core piece of his family lore that has been passed from his grandfather to every member of his family and that he will continue to share to his kids and grandkids. This ritual also serves a specific function, as for IK the blessings, Bible verses, and appreciations are a way for him to honor his faith before the start of each day and go into each day with the strength of God behind him. For IK, this routine is not just a habit, it is a ritual that serves a specific powerful purpose each morning. As a Christian myself, this story strengthened my place in the Christian folk group because my mom and my grand uncle also send me daily Bible verses, and it’s cool to see that it is a common practice and one that I should continue to honor and eventually pass down to my kids.
Christian Faith Testimonial
Context
My father faced a lot of difficulty in his early life. Born in the same Southern California town that I was, his mother died at 11 and his father at 17, leaving him orphaned and couch surfing immediately out of high school. He had been raised Christian, but fell hard into the Evangelical Christian revival of the 1980s. Although we no longer attend church and his views have softened drastically since I was a child, he maintains a strong tie to his faith. I first heard this story about a week before I asked him to record it. We were having a lengthy discussion about the world, and he told this story as testimonial for his faith. This recording occurred over family dinner at my parents’ home. The events that are described likely happened in the year 1980 or 1981.
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SS: We were–my wife and myself–and, and a good friend of ours were young Christians. And we traveled everywhere together. And I had nothing. I had no job, I had nothing. And my father and I lived together and he was he was getting ill, I really realized it. But I came, we’re living in this little one bedroom. I would call it a shack. And I was sleeping in the bedroom, he slept on the couch. And my–I came home one day back to the little shack. And my brother had been there–when he lived in Arizona, and I hadn’t seen him in a long time. And he left a note saying, I took your dad and, and took him back to Arizona because he’s sick. Need to take care of him. And because you have nothing here.
SS: And basically, we spoke with the–the owner of this place who owns the house up front, “You’re gonna have to move.” I had no job I had no nothing. And I was–was damn I didn’t know what I was gonna do. And, and I just–I basically went and, and laid on my bed and, and cried out to the Lord, I just said, Jesus, I can’t do this. I can’t, I got no place to go. I’m done. I, you know, I wept and prayed. And then I went into a really deep sleep, like a nap but deeper.
SS: And I was awakened by banging on the door. And it was our friend that came to the door. And–and he was always optimistic, positive, full of the Holy Spirit. And he–and he said, he said, “The Lord told me to come here and said you needed me to help.” So he said, “Let’s walk.”
SS: So we hitchhiked–and we hitchhiked probably from one city to another, probably 12 miles. And we ran across a guy that was looking for help. I think it was working in a gas station. He hired me. And that same time, I don’t know how it came about. But my godparents’ son contacted me, I don’t know if I he called me. I don’t think you could call me because this was before cellphones, but if I ran across him, I don’t really remember. But he was living in a–in a mobile home park, and he needed to help sometimes with his–help him, you know, clean up around his place because his–’cause his wife and daughter, because he was working so much. And he had a–he had a little travel trailer on the side inside of his carport.
SS: And so by the end of that day, I had a place to live and two jobs. And I always attribute it to the fact that I was as low as I could go. And I think sometimes when you when you cry out from that point–from that position, it’s when God answers your prayers. It’s when you’re–when you’re done and you got no options, because he wants us to cast our cares on Him, so he can carry us. But we’re too proud most of the time.
SS: So that’s that story.
Analysis
Although I no longer identify as a Christian, I find this story compelling, especially given my emotional connection to the speaker. A testimonial like this has a very specific context. My father is an open-minded man in many respects, and immediately prior to this, I was speaking about my spiritual beliefs that are completely alienated from Christian theology. He brought his story up not necessarily to convince me of the existence of the Christian God, but rather to reaffirm his own faith. Coincidence or not, real life events created this narrative, demonstrating how religious experience is not just doctrinal, but first-hand and emotional too.
Following Propp’s “31 Narratemes,” the narrative can be broken up into key narrative elements: the stakes effecting the protagonist are defined; absentation, someone goes missing (1); villainy and lack: the need is identified (8); mediation, the hero discovers the lack (9); acquisition, hero gains magical item (14); departure, hero leaves on a mission (11); transfiguration, hero is given a new appearance (29); resolution, initial misfortune or lack is resolved (26).
Indian proverb about fate
Context & Background:
Indian proverbs relating to death and fate. Translated from Hindi to English. Informant: an old lady from Rajasthan who is my late grandfather’s family friend.
Performance: (via phone call)
Proverb: “Jakho Rake Saiya, Maar Sake Na Koi”
Transliteration:
Jakho: Whoever
Rake: Keep
Saiya: God
Maar: Kill
Sake: able to
Na: not
Koi: anyone
Translation: Whoever god wants to save, no one can kill them.
Explanation: This proverb says to have faith in God or fate, and if you have that no one can kill you.
Analysis:
This sounds a lot like a religious proverb, but I don’t think it relates to Hinduism as much as Indian culture. India is a mix of many religions, including a lot of Muslims and Sikhs. The proverb doesn’t state any particular God, just one that you believe in. India is a very faithful country and most people have some sort of relation to a higher power. The proverb is used to reduce worry and have trust, like all faith related sayings. This proverb, unfortunately, is very prominent today in India because of the Covid-19 Pandemic and India is suffering from many deaths in its second wave. As we have family members in India, we use this proverb to keep us hopeful and trust in the higher power. This proverb is also used when to explain miracles that save people’s lives and tragedies that take people’s lives.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph — Prayer for Good Luck
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The following piece was collected from a seventy-three year-old woman from Vail, Colorado. She is Irish Catholic. She will hereafter be referred to as the “Informant” and I the “Collector”.
Informant: “Oh, whenever my family needs a bit of luck, or we think someone else could use it, all you have to say is ‘Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.’”
Collector: “Then what’s supposed to happen?”
Informant: “Nothing is supposed to happen. It’s just a way of trying to get some extra help from above.”
Collector: “When do you say it?”
Informant: “Well, we’ve always said it whenever we see an ambulance. If one drives by with the sirens, you say a quick JMJ and that helps. Or…haha… if you need some help on a test you think you did poorly on, I would always write JMJ very small in the corner of the paper right before I turned it in. Couldn’t hurt.”
Context
The Informant learned this practice from her father, who would always stop the car and make the kids said JMJ if they saw an accident or an ambulance. It later leaked into other aspects of their lives, more lighthearted in nature. The Informant always felt more confident, or at least hopeful, about a test that she had written JMJ on. She believed that with God on her side, there was such a better chance of things turning out well in the end.
Interpretation
I believe this piece to be interesting in the ways it can be applied and at the same time very familiar to me. Growing up, my family’s mantra for a quick bit of help or luck came as a result of very quickly saying “Come, Holy Spirit”. Hearing another family that has a similar practice, but different words is heartwarming to me, because I enjoy hearing that people have faith in small phrases, that saying them can bring good luck and fortune.