Tag Archives: prayer

Shehecheyanu

Background: Informant is a 19 year old student. Their parents both grew up in Venezuela. Their mom’s side is Spanish and Italian and their dad’s is Spanish and Israeli. Informant is from Texas and Miami and now resides in Los Angeles. They identify as Latin American and Jewish.

Informant: My Jewish family, everytime we’d move or anytime we’d go somewhere new, like before we came to our new house we’d say this prayer: “Shehecheyanu.” Which is a Jewish prayer for gratitude whenever you experience something new and you need to bless it. So everytime we did something for the first time we’d say it together as a family. 

Reflection: This was a really nice one to hear as it had both cultural and familial significance for the Informants life. This prayer is unique as it is said in different places and at different times to check in with the world and remember to practice gratitude. I loved hearing how the informant has used it throughout their lives, specifically when moving to a new place so they can bless the home.

Pregame Prayer

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: banker
Residence: singapore
Performance Date: 4/29/22
Primary Language: English

Context: La Salle Academy is the school in question and is a catholic high school located in Providence Rhode Island. The subject played football in high school. 

Text:

“Pregame rituals were a big tradition. We had what is called a grotto outside, which is a statue of Mary with candles lit. For a hundred plus years, it was a tradition to go out, as a football team, with the captains leading these pregame prayers in front of the statue of Mary at the grotto. Captains would do it, and some select seniors would speak. It was a hundred plus year tration” 

Analysis:

This piece of folklore is one of countless examples of sports traditions and superstitions. What’s interesting about this particular case, however, is its inclusion of a religious element with the statue of Mary. Introducing this religious tilt into what otherwise is just another pregame ritual recontextualizes what sports truly means in this context. Clearly in this setting sports has exceeded its status as merely just a game. The value’s it imparts on those participating, such as a good work ethic and leadership, have clearly warranted sports being perceived as vital in this community, thus validating its cross over with religion in this context.   

The Parking Prayer

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Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: High School English Teacher
Residence: Cloverdale, California
Performance Date: May 3, 2021
Primary Language: English

Background:

This short prayer was passed to my informant from her godmother’s great grandmother, who lived in long beach California, and was of western European descent. She claims that it has worked “98% of the time,” which is why she loves it.

Context:

The informant takes this prayer very seriously, hardly ever sharing it with anyone because “if everybody said it, the parking god wouldn’t listen anymore.” When this prayer is being used, it’s extremely important that it be stated before you get to your destination and see that parking is an issue. Additionally, it may only be used in extreme cases (i.e. a late flight, life or death situation, etc…).

Main piece

“Lord for us make radiant room.”

Analysis:

The thing that I find most interesting about this prayer is that my informant is not religious whatsoever. While I assume that she doesn’t actually believe in a parking god either, she genuinely believes in the sanctity and sacredness of the prayer. In this way, I believe–whether consciously or not–she is practicing the concept of chaos magick. Chaos magick is a practice that does not adhere to any religion or a specific set of spells or rituals. Instead, chaos magick relies on the idea that simply willing or believing something to be true can cause it to be. Thus, in saying this parking prayer, the user wills a parking spot to be emptied for their use.

Saint Joseph and Selling a House

Nationality: USA
Age: 57
Occupation: Teacher
Performance Date: 5/1/2021
Primary Language: English

Informant: “If you want to sell your house, you dig a hole and you put a statue of Saint Joseph in the ground in your yard and then when you sell your house you dig it up. Its a real estate thing. You bury it upside down, it’s supposed to make it happen faster. Joseph was a carpenter and I think its related to the holy family fleeing to Egypt. Everybody I know does it, its just what you do when you sell your house.“

The tradition of burying a statue is a kind of Catholic folk magic practiced to bring about the desired outcome (selling of house). Saint Joseph is the figurehead associated with this, a way to request divine intervention in a real world situation.

Praying to Saint Anthony

Nationality: American, Lebanese
Age: 58
Occupation: Insurance
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 04/28/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Content:

Praying to Deceased Saints

I: Informant, M: Me

I: I’m Catholic and a lot of people pray to Saint Anthony when they lose something.

Context: My informant learned this through her congregation and while she does not regularly pray to Saint Anthony or any deceased saints in particular, she says it is very common within the congregation, even though it isn’t necessarily codified. When I lost my Apple Pencil a few weeks prior she told me to pray to Saint Anthony to help me find it.

Analysis: As is true with most religious folklore, praying to deceased saints -often to help you with something in particular- is not an official part of Catholicism. In fact, the official Catholic stance would consider this practice idolatry as people are praying to someone other than G-d. Thus, this truly is folklore as it allows for something that would typically be unacceptable behavior in ‘normal contexts,’ and makes not only acceptable, but also popular. There is nothing biblical or official about praying to saints yet it is still a very common Christian practice. Unofficially, people pray to the patron saint of whatever they need, so in this case Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost things.