My informant learned this superstition when she was very young, so she doesn’t recall when she learned it. She has been taking part of this superstition ever since she was in elementary school, where she probably learned it from a friend. Whenever she sees a stray eyelash other people’s faces, she takes the eyelash, puts it on their finger and tells them to make a wish and blow the eyelash off. She puts the eyelash on her finger if she finds an eyelash on her face and follows the same procedure.
She said that she does not believe in this superstition, yet she does it anyway. According to her, there is no validity to this superstition, so she doesn’t believe her wishes will come true. She believes that this eyelash superstition exists because losing an eyelash is more unusual than losing strands of hair. Wishing with a strand of a hair would definitely not be as special because people lose many strands of hair everyday.
She tells this superstition because it has become a routine if she sees a loose eyelash. It has become embedded in her that she has an automatic reaction to tell it.
Like the superstition of making a wish at 11:11, I do not necessarily believe that blowing an eyelash off my finger while making a wish will make my wish come true. The willingness of a person to make his or her wish happen is what makes a wish come true. Usually people do not rely on an eyelash wish, so they take action and make it happen. I believe that eyelash wishing does contribute to making a wish become reality, but a person’s actions are what makes it become reality.
Tag Archives: luck
Bird poop = good luck
Being pooped on by a bird gives you good luck.
My informant was first told this by his parents after a passing seagull had relieved itself on his person. At the time it had cheered him up as he claims he was very distraught at the time. Looking back however, he is pretty sure his mom was just trying to make him feel better rather than conveying something that she actually believes.
“Never say no when asked to hold a baby.”
Informant: Brittney Bang
Nationality: Korean
Primary Language: English; Other Language: Korean
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Westwood, Los Angeles
“Never say no when asked to hold a baby.”
My friend, Brittney, has a boyfriend who is El Salvadorean. She first heard this saying from her boyfriend’s mother, who told her that it is terribly bad luck to say no when asked to hold a baby because the baby will get sick. She had always believed in this saying, ever since someone refused to hold her son, and he was hospitalized for a week afterward due to a serious illness.
Superstitions are common in Hispanic cultures, and the mom seems to be a firm believer in the idea that certain actions can influence luck. Family is also considered extremely important in Hispanic culture, so it makes sense that refusing to hold someone as innocent as a baby can be said to bring bad luck.
“Don’t step on the threshold when entering a room.”
“Don’t step on the threshold when entering a room.”
This is a popular Chinese superstition. Many Chinese people say that stepping on a threshold when entering a room will result in a death in the family. To the Chinese, thresholds represent life, and stepping on thresholds can cut lives short.
Mérde: Wishing Good Luck to Ballet Dancers
Mérde
Folk saying/Superstition
When wishing my informant good luck for her ballet performance, she corrected me and told me to tell ballet dancers “Mérde“ instead. The following is a transcript of our interview:
“Informant: In show business, if you want to tell someone good luck before a show, the common phrase is to say “break a leg”. If you’re a musician, or an actor, you’re main instrument for performance isn’t necessarily your legs. You could still play piano with a broken leg, but for dancers legs are vital. As much as this is something that inspires luck, this made dancers feel uneasy because it is exactly what they want never to happen. Instead, dancers say “mérde” before a show. This is the French word for “shit.”
While I don’t know the formal reason for why this particular word is picked, I though one of the Senior members of my company explained it well when he said that “when you’re performing live on a stage in front of an audience, shit happens. So, we say ‘Mérde.’
My informant said, “ I am very paranoid about injuries personally, and before a show people push themselves really hard so to have an injury right before a performance is the worst imaginable situation, so I get very uncomfortable when people say break a leg. It makes me much more nervous. But I’ve always like ‘Mérde’ because it has a bit of humor to it and more of a sense of ‘this is how things are going to be, and it will be okay because it is just going to happen.’ “
Saying “Mérde“ serves several purposes. It plays a role as a superstition, a way of avoiding the homeopathic magic of “break a leg.” On the other hand, since this folk saying is reserved for ballet dancers, it reinforces one’s identity in the group. Furthermore, the word, French based, connects to ballet in general – according to my informant ballet vocabulary is all in French. Thus, this produces an air of authenticity to performances, linking ballet dances everywhere to ballets home, France. Also, reflects a lesson necessary for dancers: stage performances rarely run perfectly, so it is vital that, if problems occur, the show continues. On another note, running around and swearing, breaking societal rules, excites those saying it, assuaging pre-performance nervousness.