Text:

Paper origami fortune teller (aka cootie catcher) is constructed by folding paper into a four-part interactive game used to reveal fortunes or answers to questions.

Context:

The informant recalls making it in school often during class or breaks with their peers. People would often decorate them and either write fortunes inside or responses. The games could range then depending on what was written. The informant can’t remember who taught them exactly but just that it was most likely another student.

Analysis:

This object is an example of material folklore, as it is a handmade craft that carries traditional knowledge and is transmitted informally within a folk group. However, the significance goes beyond the paper itself as it is nothing without its performance. This reflects how performance is a core aspect of folklore and lives on in our daily lives.

The fortune teller also demonstrates multiplicity in variation as the folding of the structure may be the same but the content can always change depending on the user. This allows for creativity and many variations from group to group. It adapts to new contexts and it much more wildly known because of that as almost everyone in class (while I spoke with my informant) was familiar with this material folklore.

Additionally, it functions within a younger folk group, like middle school, where traditions are usually transmitted peer to peer rather than adult to student. The act of teaching others how to fold and use the fortune teller reinforces the idea of group belonging and shares knowledge. The interactiveness of the object also gives it a play frame where students have created a temporary structural and rule-based system that feels separate from school life.

Lastly, there are aspects of magic and counter culture present as it mimics divination through fortune telling and prediction. Also I recall many times when a teacher would tell us to stop playing with them or confiscate them during class and it was a way to interact with peers and play within the structures of school.