Tag Archives: Folk Belief

Blessed Basil

During the night of Saint John, which is in January the sixth, uh priests orthodox priests would bless the waters. After blessing the waters they would come in every house, and with the blessed waters they would bless the house. But this is a habit going on and on and on that only got interrupted for the pandemia, for the pandemic. Otherwise they would come every year, and they would come to the door and they would knock on the door, and you would open it and the priest would come with blessed song and they would sprinkle that blessed water on your walls. By now its religion, until now the story is not a story, it is a method of uh blessing your house. But from now on superstition begins, and uh when the priest sprinkles the water he does it with a bouquet of basil. A very nice smell comes out from that bouquet, and after blessing the walls, the house, the home uh the young girls would request the priest a little leaf or a little part of that basil bouquet because they say if you put that thing beneath your pillow, you dream the man you marry with, you will marry. It’s valid also for men, but men don’t do it. They are (laughs) more dignified (laughs). And this is the first layer of the story, the second layer is the further the village, the more primitive society, the harsher the habit. Actually in some villages they say that you don’t dream your husband, you see him in the mirrors and it gets freakier and freakier. But even in these days, even now, young girls, shyly or not, request the priest, “Oh could you please give me some basil, I want to dream about my future husband”. 

Background: This informant has lived in Romania their whole life and is very interested in the folk traditions of various countries. They found this piece of folklore from other people in Romania.

Interpretation: This tradition is another example of folklore and religion intertwining. The informant and I interpret it as the young women wanting some sort of blessing from an authority figure in order to think about a man. In this case the figure is a religious authority. The image that the women see is probably the man that they fancy the most. The basil also shows the power both in religion, having been blessed by holy water, and the power of nature with the strong fragrance.

Lemurians

Main Piece: Lemurians 

“There is a city inside of Mount Shasta that is the greatest shakra in the world. There are people who live within the mountain in the city and they are much larger than regular people because they stand at nine feet tall on average. My friend’s wife was hiking Mount Shasta and saw and talked to one of the tall people who lives inside of the mountain. She invited him into the city of Shasta and also to meet her husband, but the giant declined and retreated back into the mountain.” 

Background Information:

This is a legend that has been around for many years and began in the 1800s. This stems from the belief in Lemuria, which is the city believed to be inside of the mountain. The people who inhabit the city are called Lemurians. Mount Shasta and the area surrounding it are not developed and have dense forests, so it is ripe for many stories and legends to be told about it because we did not know much about the area back when the legend originated.

Context of the Performance:

This was told while staying in an Airbnb near the Mount Shasta area by the Airbnb host. We were talking about the history of Mount Shasta and he brought up this story and about his wife supposedly meeting a Lemurian. 

My Thoughts:

I think that this is a very interesting legend because it is very complex and has many parts to the legend such as the city within the mountain and its Lemurian inhabitants who are much larger than normal humans. This is especially more intricate of a legend than the legend of Bigfoot which is a very simple legend yet still intriguing.

Shooting Star

Main Piece: Shooting Star

“If you see a shooting star you should immediately think of a wish, but keep it to yourself! If you tell somebody else the wish will not come true.

Background Information:

A shooting star is a symbol of luck because it is generally not something that is seen every night. Because of this, there is a belief that making a wish when you see the shooting star will make that wish come true. The informant first heard of this during her childhood over the summer.

Context of the Performance:

This is done when you see a shooting star at night. This holds true regardless if you are not the only one that happens to see the shooting star. 

My Thoughts:

I have heard this folk belief more times than I can remember and I have participated in it even though I knew that making a wish when you see a shooting star will have no effect on whether or not the wish will actually come true. I think that this is a fun folk belief that causes no harm to be done and it also inspires some imagination as well as creativity.

German Easter-Water Ritual

Nationality: German
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Westergellersen, Germany
Performance Date: 4/10/22
Primary Language: German

Context:

HH is a retired former housewife who lives in a Westergellersen, a very small village in northern Germany.

Main Piece:

“Am Ostersonntag holen Frauen Wasser aus einer Quelle. Sie dürfen dabei nicht gesehen werden und es darf währenddessen nicht gesprochen werden. Dem Wasser werden heilende Kräfte nachgesagt und es soll die Fruchtbarkeit fördern. Mädchen erhoffen sich Schönheit und Verliebte bespritzen ihren Traumpartner mit dem Osterwasser um diesen für sich zu gewinnen.”

Translation:

On Easter Sunday, the women get water from the spring. They are not allowed to be seen during this and it is not allowed to speak. The water is said to have healing powers and is supposed to promote fertility. Girls wish beauty for themselves and those in love spray their dream partner with the Easter Water to win him for themselves.

Analysis:

This tradition follows step with Easter’s general association with fertility. The women gathering the water in silence, without being allowed to be seen, also aligns with some marriage customs that deal with purity. Since this custom was collected from Westergellersen, a very rural German village, from a grandmother who participated in this ritual when she was young, it follows that societal standards around purity, fertility, and gender roles were much more strict and strongly enforced than they are now.

Spraying the Easter Water on the subject of affection is a form of magic folk belief that falls into the Homeopathic category. I interpret the Easter Water to be symbolic of fertility, as Easter, also connected to eggs and bunnies/rabbits, has a general thematic connection with fertility. So, splashing a potential partner with Easter Water creates a metaphor for the future fertility of the relationship. This metaphor arguably even symbolizes a reversal of the typical conception process, as here, the woman splashes the man with a fertile liquid instead of the other way around.

Boston University Seal Superstition

Nationality: USA
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Boston, MA
Performance Date: 4/2/22
Primary Language: English

Context:

The informant, NR, is a current Boston University student and heard about this superstition from friends while walking around campus.

Main piece:

“So, there’s a, there’s a giant seal in the center of Marsh Plaza, which is kind of like the center of campus. And it’s superstition that like, if you step on the seal, you won’t graduate in time. Literally like, you can go to Marsh Chapel like any time during the day, and like it’s the center of campus so like it’s always going to be, there’s always going to be people walking every which way. But if you observe, you’ll, uh, notice that people will like actually go out of their way to avoid stepping on it, on the seal.”

Analysis:

I think this is a pretty common college superstition, and I’ve heard mention of multiple similar versions on different campuses. Many universities have school seals embedded somewhere on their grounds, and since the seal is associated through its shape with the authority of the university, stepping on the seal could be seen as disrespecting the authority of the educational institution.

Alternatively, the seal could represent the college community, and disrespecting the community by stepping on the seal would result in being left behind while your classmates graduate on time. Other versions, like the one linked below, include conversions for reversing the bad luck drawn by stepping on the seal, but the informant says he has never heard of a conversion for stepping on Boston University’s seal.

For another version of this superstition, see this superstition around stepping on the seal at Auburn University: “Auburn University – Seal Superstition” by Eli Alford, USC Digital Folklore Archives, May 1, 2021, http://uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/auburn-university-seal-superstition/