Tag Archives: homeopathic magic

Splitting the Pole

Text: The excerpt below is a folk performance describing superstitions over splitting the pole.

Interviewer: Do you have any folk beliefs of what brings good or bad luck?

Interviewee: Ok, yes. So one of them is, if you split the pole, so if you’re walking with someone, but you split a pole, or like, as long as it’s above your waist, it counts for me. That means that you, in the future, will split apart of that person and never see them again, so like, for me, like, I feel like it brings bad luck to relationships. So either I’ll walk along the other side of the pole, or if you split it, you go back and hit it, it’s fine. So that brings bad luck, but there is like a way to undo it, I guess, as well.

Context:

This excerpt is from a conversation with a fellow Forms of Folklore student. The conversation started by specifically talking about their Romanian heritage, and the folklore that came with that identity. After talking for a while about that topic, the conversation shifted to general superstitious beliefs, as recorded above. The interviewee engages with this folk belief whenever they are walking with someone, and separated by a pole.

Analysis:

This belief is an example of sympathetic magic, as the physical separation by the pole reflects the separation of a relationship. This belief likely exists because when walking and splitting from someone for a short time, that feeling of separation is felt by a person, and that feeling, through this folk belief, is enlarged to the feeling of separating from a whole relationship. There is a way to remove the bad luck through conversion magic, by hitting the pole, allowing people to feel at ease, even after committing this offense.

Mud on a Bee Sting

Context:

The informant’s family is incredibly spiritual and has beliefs in the natural world. They do not rely as much on traditional medicine and have alternative ways to deal with pain and healing.

Text: On a camping trip, the informant got stung by a bee and her family put mud on the bee sting to draw out the bee sting.

Analysis:

By putting mud on a bee sting, the informant’s family practiced folk medicine and healing. In folk medicine, natural materials are used to treat injury outside of institutional settings. This connects to Frazer’s account of homeopathic magic, where the mud draws out the sting with its physical healing properties. In this way, folklore allows for alternative practices that do not arise from scientific knowledge, but rather from culturally meaningful practices that directly respond to the body’s needs in that moment.

Chinese New Year Food Practices

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Brooklyn, NY
Language: English

Text:

Collector: “Do you have any traditional foods that your family makes for any holidays?”

Informant: “For Chinese New Year, we make certain foods based on how they sound in Chinese. For example, we eat something called “fat choy” that sounds similar to “good wealth”. We also make oysters, which is “ho” and also means “abundance”. We always makes either 8 or 9 dishes because 8 in Chinese sounds similar to “good luck” and 9 sounds similar to “longevity”. 

Context:

My informant is Chinese American and lives in proximity to her grandparents who often cook traditional Chinese food, especially for Chinese holidays. Her mother explained to her why they eat certain dishes. 

Analysis:

These traditional food practices for Chinese New Year largely relate to cultivating good luck, wealth, and prosperity for the upcoming year. The foods are symbolic and consuming them is supposed to produce what they symbolize, such as good wealth. It is a form of homeopathic magic, in that consuming a food that sounds like a certain word will evoke that outcome. The number of dishes prepared, either 8 or 9, represent good luck and longevity, respectively. The new year is seen as the fresh start, and individuals do everything they can to cultivate success.

Basketball Magic Superstition

Text: “When I played basketball, I had this ritual that I had to do before each game. If I didn’t do it, I would be really anxious and play badly. At the end of warm ups, right before the game begins, my same teammate would have to make a right handed layup, then I would have to catch her rebound right from the net, then I would take a right handed layup, then dribble the ball to the ref/benches with exactly 5 crossover dribbles, then hold the ball for 3 seconds before giving/putting it away. I had to be the last one to take a shot before the game too. It was really obnoxious, but I had to do it. We did it before every game for all four years of high school.”

Context: The informant was a very strong basketball player throughout middle school and high school. Although she no longer plays at college, she coaches younger children and still feels that it is an important part of her identity. She says she is a very superstitious person in general, and has many little rituals that she must conduct before certain events (other ones she described included before math tests). This ritual was the most important to her though, as she needed to do it before every game, or she felt that she would not play well. She says she started the ritual in ninth grade. She does not remember the exact origin or why her and this specific teammate started it, but they had to do it before every game. She thinks that they just did it before one of the first games and they both played very well, so they had to continue. She says it was a necessity for her, and she got anxious even thinking about not being able to do the ritual before a game.

Interpretation: 

This “ritual” reflects a form of magic superstition. This is when symbolic, repeatable actions are believed to affect performance outcomes. Specifically, this is a manifestation of homeopathic magic, where an action can influence the event—“like produces like”). In this case, she believes that if she completes this ritual, she will play well in the game. Even though this method is not technically rational, and has no scientific reasoning behind it, it offers her mental control in a high-pressure environment. It is necessary for her to enter a mindset where she is ready to perform in the game. 

This superstition reminds me of how, generally, athletes can use and develop folk practices to cope with anxieties during games. Specifically, in North America, sports carry quasi-religious importance. Many players often have rituals and superstitions that they feel the need to complete in order to perform well in a game. They believe that if they do not perform this ritual, it can lead to negative outcomes, which is especially stressful in unpredictable situations, where they want to control the outcome of the game, but cannot. This also parallels how other cultural groups, in general, develop rituals to navigate liminal spaces. In this case, the liminal space is the time in between the warm up and the game, when players are most anxious. 

This ritual also functions as an identity performance. Her commitment to the ritual shows her dedication and commitment to the sport. It reflects the values of discipline, repetition, and hard work that are emphasized in sports. This shows how society creates its own forms of sacred performance.

Korean Doljabi Tradition

Text: “I’m Korean, and there is a tradition that we do on our first birthday called Doljabi. Basically, we are placed in front of various items that each represent something. For example, at my Doljabi, there was an orange to represent food, a dollar bill to represent wealth, a gavel to represent law, and a stethoscope to represent medicine. As a one-year-old child, we have to crawl towards an object and pick one, and whichever we pick, represents our future. I picked the dollar bill, of course, and growing up, my parents always reminded me that I will become wealthy just because I picked this. I’m not entirely sure if I believe that whatever you pick comes true, but I would not mind if it does.”

Context: The informant is ethnically Korean but lives in Canada. His grandparents moved from Korea to Canada, so he is a second-generation Canadian. He says he does not celebrate many Korean traditions now, especially being at college, but his mother has tried to engrain as much of Korean culture in him and his siblings as possible. He said he has no recollection of this celebration himself, since he was only one year old, but his parents often remind him of it. He has seen photos of himself in the hanbok, the traditional Korean clothing, and there is a video on his father’s old video camera of him crawling towards the money. He said it makes sense for him that he chose money, and his parents always joke that they knew he would become money-oriented because of this. He said this celebration still resonates with him, as he is a Business major and wants to go into investment banking. He said money is not the only factor that drives him, but it is important for him, and he hopes to become relatively wealthy in the future.

Analysis: The Doljabi ritual is a life cycle celebration celebrated at a pivotal point in one’s life, their first birthday. This ritual is symbolic, as the object that the baby chooses has the power to predict their future. In this sense, it is not only celebrating birth and the start of childhood, but rather, the start of selfhood, and choosing a future for yourself. The ritual shows the power of folkloric performance in terms of structuring and forming identity. The rest of the baby’s future, including their identity, can be solely based on an object that they choose. Many people put full faith into this tradition, meaning that they believe their trajectory is fixed by it.  

This ritual is also a form of homeopathic magic. This object can represent something larger. For example, in this case, choosing money means that they will become wealthy. In this case, like produces like, and grabbing an object that represents money, will imitate a result of wealth for the future. Even though the baby is too young to understand what their actions mean, the adults take it very seriously, and believe that their choice in object is a form of prophecy. It is not just about the child, but the projection of values. In Korean culture, they value success, shown through the objects (wealth, medicine, law). This shows what professions or attributes are desirable in a person. This also highlights the pedagogical aspect of folklore, especially related to culture. In this sense, Korean culture is trying to teach children, at such a young age, what traits and professions are valued in a person. This becomes a way for the child to understand their role in their cultural identity. 

Even though the informant shows that they are skeptic of the tradition, the significance of the memory, which is lived on through their family continuing to joke about it, shows the lasting power of performative tradition. Even though Doljabi may be viewed as superstitious and dramatic, its emotional resonance is what allows it to persist throughout generations. Even when these traditions may be detached from institutional belief, they still hold power. Despite people not believing in the actual “magic” of the tradition, they want to perform it because it is still fun, meaningful, and feels important, since it is a tradition.

Lastly, Doljabi also functions as a way to maintain heritage. This is especially the case because the informant grew up outside of Korea, in Canada. It is a way for people to maintain ties to their ancestry and culture. Doljabi is often performed with grandparents and accompanied with Korean food and a hanbok, which is traditional Korean clothing. This shows how folk objects can work together to serve a greater purpose of maintaining cultural heritage.