Tag Archives: Folk Belief

Sport Television Crew Folk Belief

Nationality: Eastern European Jew
Age: 49
Occupation: Instructional Assistant in an Elementary School
Residence: Calabasas, California
Performance Date: March 17, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: None

“Make eye contact with a midget and its overtime and extra innings.”

 

This folk belief refers to sporting events. At any point during a sports game, if someone working for the television crew makes eye contact with a midget the game will go into overtime or have extra innings.

The informant is a middle aged mother of two boys and works at an elementary school. She heard this folklore from her husband who is a sports cameraman. She learned of this folk belief while they were watching a baseball game that went into extra innings, and the informant’s husband stated that “someone must have looked a midget in the eye.”

The informant laughed at her husband when she learned of this superstition and could not believe that this belief was actually practiced in the sports community. However, she found from her husband that many people in the sports production industry follow this folk belief; although, she does not think that they actually believe if they look a midget in the eye it will affect the length of the game. This folk belief is significant to those in the television coverage industry because they have been preparing for the production of the game throughout the entire day, so by the end of the game, they are tired and want to go home. Thus, they do not want to stay there for extra innings or overtime and are incentivized to not want the length of the game extended.

I found this to be a shocking tradition that is quite rude to a specific class of people for no distinguishable reason. The informant and her husband do not know where the superstition originated and I could not find anything about it online. I also cannot think of a reason why something like this would have originated.

Butter on your Burns

Nationality: Mexican- American
Age: 40
Occupation: House Mother
Residence: Harbor City, Ca
Performance Date: 4/21/2012
Primary Language: English

My informant told me that an oft-used folk remedy that her mother used to use on her for burns was cold butter. According to my informant, Cold butter is thought help cool the burn and soothe the irritation, but is in reality a bad idea. The greasy substance could possibly cause infection and become a breeding ground for bacteria.

This was likely thought as a good idea because of its availability in the kitchen where many burns occur, and the cool substance no doubt would feel good against the irritated skin at first.

Seven-up for your sickness

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 40
Occupation: House wife
Residence: Harbor City, Ca
Performance Date: 4/21/2012
Primary Language: English

According to my informant, whenever she had a cold as a child, her mother would give her seven up to drink in order to “burp up the toxins.” This doesn’t really ring true, but it’s also believed that the soda is easier on a sore throat and thus a good way of getting fluids. There is much speculation and quite a few different opinions on the matter, but it is this collector’s opinion that it may or may not be a psychological cure- meaning that because someone believes it to aid them in recovering quicker, they actually do.

My informant, as a mother of three, continues to use the folk remedy to this day with her own children.

Japanese Culture: Chopsticks

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego
Performance Date: 4/23/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Transcribed Text:

“In Japanese culture, if you’re eating with chopsticks, you shouldn’t put them straight up in your rice bowl, cuz it looks like um, the prayer incense sticks when you go pray to the dead.  And also, you shouldn’t point your chopsticks at people, cuz that’s disrespectful.”

This is a Japanese belief and tradition with chopsticks. The informant says that she learned about this folk belief when she was about to go study abroad in Japan two years ago. The informant says that because chopsticks placed upright in a bowl of rice resembles incense sticks that are used to pray to the dead. This resemblance probably deterred the Japanese from doing this with their chopsticks no matter how convenient it is, as to associate food and mealtime with death is not wanted. Furthermore, the informant says that pointing chopsticks at people is disrespectful, but does not know why exactly that is. The use of chopsticks is part of Japanese meal time etiquette, which can be rather elaborate depending on how casual the meal is. Even with casual meals, the Japanese are much stricter than many other cultures about keeping with food traditions, so it makes sense that these folk beliefs about chopsticks are very prominent for Japanese people. According to the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore, chopsticks shouldn’t be propped up in rice because that is how it is offered to the spirits and is a way to call the spirits to the person. In some extreme cases, some even believe that doing this wishes death upon one’s family.

The informant is an active bearer of this tradition, as she describes that whenever she uses chopsticks, she makes sure to actively never place them sticking up in the rice, and never points with them. She also mentions that it often irritates her when people not familiar with the Japanese tradition make the mistake, as she worded it, of doing that. She recounts that when her group mate did that while she was eating a meal with the informant, she did not say anything about it, but was very shocked.

Thai Culture: Head and Feet

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego
Performance Date: 04/20/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Transcribed Text:

“In Thai culture, the head is the most important part of your body, and the feet are considered dirty, cuz that’s on the ground all the time. So it’s very disrespectful if you point your feet at somebody’s head, or if you point your feet at somebody in general. And also, if you step over books, or like, put your feet on books, or put books on the ground, because books are considered knowledge from your head.”

This is a Thai folk belief about knowledge and dirt. The informant says that she learned this belief from her mom when she was a child. She says that she remembers pointing her feet towards the prayer room at Buddha in her house and she remembers her mom reprimanding her for doing so and explaining why it was wrong to do so. It makes sense that the feet are associated with dirt and the head is associated with knowledge, so this is a folk belief that is tied a lot with logic. Furthermore, books are also associated with the brain in Thai culture, because books contain the knowledge that people have in their heads. Therefore, stepping on books, or even stepping over books is considered offensive, as it is considered to be stepping on somebody’s knowledge. This also branches out to temples and houses as well. A person is not allowed to enter a temple or a house with shoes that one would wear in the outside world, because they are entering an area of holiness and family.

This folk belief is also an oicotype of the folk belief in India. In India, people are not allowed to wear their shoes into a temple or a home. Often times, it is even encouraged for people to wash their feet before they enter, to cleanse the dirt that they may have. Both Thai and Indian culture have such a similar folk belief because there was a lot of interaction between the two cultures over the past hundreds, if not thousands of years. It is extremely plausible that many pieces of folklore exchanged between the two countries and developed along in similar fashions.