Tag Archives: general

Folk Medicine

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 54
Residence: Riverside, CA
Performance Date: 3/14/12
Primary Language: English

How to cure a child of their erratic behavior.

Whenever a child is acting crazy or erratic and the parents are embarrassed or something of their behavior or they were being made fun of for how they acted or something, what you are supposed to do is crack an egg in water and put it under the bed. When you check on it in a couple of days and if the egg dissolved in the water, then the child was supposedly cured of whatever their behavioral problem was.

I’d never heard of this before but apparently, this was supposed to work when children were acting crazy.

Superstition

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 56
Residence: Riverside CA
Performance Date: 3/25/12
Primary Language: English

An old superstition.

My mother used to tell me that if my hand ever began to itch it meant that I would be coming into some money soon. I still haven’t won the lottery yet so I don’t know how well it works.

I had never heard this superstition before my mother told me that my grandmother used to believe in it. After some research, it seems that people believe if your left palm is itching then you will be coming into money unless you are left handed then you will be losing money soon. Some also believe that if your right hand itches then you will be getting money and if your left hand itches then you will be losing money. I think it all depends on the personal beliefs which in this case my grandmother just believed if either palm itched then money would be coming in. This probably stemmed as a sign of hope or belief during such times as the depression when nobody had money if they thought it was coming maybe they subconsciously worked harder or something.

Folk Medicine

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 56
Residence: Riverside, CA
Performance Date: 3/14/12
Primary Language: English

Your grandmother used to make your uncle and I do this any time we got a splinter or any time one of us had a cut anywhere that got infected. What you do is you take adhesive tape and put it on the infected area. Your grandma swears by it, she thought that if you did this, the sticky part would ‘suck’ out the splinter or puss and heal whatever was hurting.

This method was taught to me when I was little, and I also swear by it. Since my mother taught it to me I tell my friends to do this when they get infections and things like this.

Drinking Game

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Barbara, CA
Performance Date: 4/5/12
Primary Language: English

Snappa

Played with: 4 people, one glass of beer each, two pieces of die

Rules: go until one team gets to 7 points. each glass is put a hand with apart from edge of table. Each person must say “snappa” before they throw the dice. You must throw one die up in the air and try to get it in the cup or at least hit the top of the cup; if it does, the other team must drink one third of their beer. The other team must also drink if the die lands in the center of the table and the other team does not catch it with one hand before it falls off of the table. Your team must drink if the same happens to you or you do not catch the die OR if you throw the die on your turn and miss the table completely. If you throw the die on your turn and it hits the ceiling the turn is void. The other team can also call the throw too low which makes it a gentleman’s game. If you say “snappa” before you throw and the other team doesn’t hear you, you may still throw. When drinking, you must also finish your glass of beer in 3 drinks (it should only take three turns to finish it).

This is a common drinking game that I have played in Santa Barbara, CA and I have only found it there. My friend Bernadette explained the rules to me when I visited her and played in Isla Vista, the college town in Santa Barbara. The legend goes that my friends brother invented the game when he was a student at UCSB a few years ago. There are also websites that explain the

Ritual

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 54
Residence: Riverside, CA
Performance Date: 3/15/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My father told me that his mother used to tell him about an old hispanic superstition and ritual that when you are at a baby shower a woman must thread a needle then have the pregnant woman lie on her back on the floor and someone must hold the thread above the woman’s stomach. The thread is said to move as soon as it is hovering over the belly, and whichever way it swings decided the sex of the baby. If the thread swings to the left then the woman is supposed to be having a boy and if the thread swings to the right then the woman is supposed to have a girl.

I believe that this is just another game played at baby showers that is supposed to guess the sex of a baby for fun.