Tag Archives: ritual

Norwegian Lefsa Ritual

Age: 20

Date of Performance: 4/24/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: United States

  1. Text

The informant is a college student. She referenced her family’s ritual of making Norwegian potato lefsa every year for Christmas. Lefsa is a flatbread made from potatoes, cream, flour and sugar. She mentioned how they make it every year and then get drunk afterwards.

2. Context

“Yes, we make lefsa every year to pay homage to our Norwegian heritage. It’s a Christmas tradition. And then not really sure why but, we get drunk after.”

“It started in Norway with my grandma’s grandparents and I’ve been doing it as long as I can remember. I like it, it’s yum.”

3. Analysis

This is a ritual that is again part of a holiday celebration, honoring Christmas festivities. For the informant, it is part of paying homage to her heritage, and conversely continuing tradition through it. It is a family bonding folklore experience, in that they all create the ritualistic dish together and follow the tradition of drinking together afterwards. They’ve long been practicing it and as the informant mentions, the taste of the dish is important as well in the enjoyment of the ritual.

Folk Ritual: Superstition – Kafemanteia

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  1. Text: In Greek culture, it is extremely common that people practice a superstitious form of fortune-telling known as Kafemanteia. The way it works is extremely simple. Firstly, Greek coffee is prepared, which is different from American coffee. This Greek drink is brewed in a briki (steel pot) but isn’t filtered, ultimately causing the grounds of the coffee to remain stuck to the bottom off the cup once you’ve finished drinking it. Once the drinking is done, the Greek places the saucer on top of the cup, makes a wish to themselves, then flips it over. While it’s flipped, the ground stuck at the bottom of the cup is forced to slide down, creating certain patterns. A reader than analyzes the symbols and interprets the future of the coffee drinker. The reading is often conducted by a normal Greek, even the drinker themselves, as the practice is so common, but oftentimes a studied reader is needed to interpret the sign at the cups bottom. That said, certain symbols mean different things about what is in store for the drinkers future – circles could mean something is completed or unified, numbers could reflect dates, direct lines imply a journey of some kind. There are a multitude of variations, but each of these reflect a fortune for the individual.
  2. Participants Context: This is a practice my mother used to engage in all the time. In fact she still does it to this day. My mother was from a small village in Greece – they weren’t educated or anything like that. They immigrated to Canada in the 60s, but these were the pieces of culture they brought with them. It might sound very cute and interesting, but I actually take it very seriously. I fully believe in it, totally. My grandmother was what was known as a kafetzou, she was fully capable of reading the fortune of any cup. She knew the different symbols, how they interrelated and what it reflected for your future. I don’t know them, all the signs, so sometimes I’ll put the symbol into ChatGPT and ask for its analysis. And then of course, my grandmothers mother before her practiced this way of fortune-telling, and so on and so forth. It almost feels partly religious to me, a way of talking to the Panagia (Virgin Mary) or perhaps other saints. That or perhaps it was something born during the Ottoman occupation – I think the wishful quality of it might’ve been something that Greeks developed during that period of darkness, when they were super restricted and were under this nasty regime. Greeks were looking for something hopeful.
  3. Collectors Interpretation: I personally believe this superstition emerged as a means of addressing anxiety, difficult questions and long-term planning. Kafemanteia in Greek culture is largely practiced in the company of other people. The actual act of drinking coffee at a cafe, like in many parts of Europe, is key to social life in Greece. Where in America people often take their coffee to go, Europeans, especially Greeks, actually make a point of drinking a single cup of coffee over the course of 2-3 hours. By creating a fortune-telling practice with coffee, Greeks give themselves the opportunity to discuss amongst others what might be in store for their futures, perhaps projecting their subconscious concerns onto the symbols of the ground coffee. It’s a practice that, perhaps through subconscious influence, allows Greeks to annex the anxieties that are plaguing them. In this way, the superstition is a very healthy practice. It’s clearly a form of social therapy that is intertwined with mythic and folkloric undertones. Sometimes discussing ones problems in the context of a greater divine spirit or supernatural force is comforting. It may even be a way to help make sense of the world when it seems to not be making sense at all. Additionally, I’ll note that this form of magic is clearly homeopathic – in order to achieve the outcome of the fortune, the Greek must drink the coffee, place the saucer over the cup, make a wish and then flip it, waiting for symbols to develop. Anecdotally, this is surely what I’ve observed by watching my family practice this fortune-telling. It’s an opportunity to address the problems of their future that they haven’t yet solved. Juxtaposing that hypothesis is the fact that it’s also an opportunity to manifest what good things people believe might be in store for their future. For example, if the coffee has numbers forming in it, that might mean the drinker has riches in their future. Ultimately, I believe that the value of Kafemanteia is rooted in community.

AGE: 53

Date_of_performance: May 5, 2025

Informant Name: Confidential KT

Language: English

Nationality: Canadian/Greek

Occupation: Lawyer

Primary Language: Greek

Bloody Mary Oikotype

Language: English

Text Transcription

“I went to a Catholic elementary school. The building was a mansion turned into a school, and there were always rumors of ghosts and such. In fourth grade, my classmates and I were bored and so we decided to practice divination by going to the bathroom mirror and doing the Bloody Mary ritual. We didn’t know who would show up, but we figured with the ghost rumors, surely someone would appear. No one ever did. We tried again and again throughout the year, and nothing happened. Our teacher was definitely upset [that] we would believe in such things and told us to pay more [attention] in Bible class. I don’t know about the others, but I, for one, didn’t.”

Context

As I talked to the informant, they revealed that the version of the ritual that they did was slightly different from the version older students were using. Rather than try to glimpse a vision of their future husband’s face, they were hoping to summon an evil version of Saint Mary. They explained that the inspiration came from their disinterest in the original ritual and their desire for a more horror-inspired version. Personally, I took note of a possible counter-cultural aspect, considering the desire to summon an evil variant of a saint might not go over well in a Catholic school. It seems that this oikotype of the Bloody Mary ritual carries a bit of a rebellious streak.

The Red String

Age: 21

Date: 03/272025

Language: English

Nationality: Ecuadorian

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: Spanish

Residence: United States

1. Text:

“When my mom thought I had nightmares because of ‘evil eyes,’ she tied a red string around my wrist. It had to stay on until it fell off on its own. I wore it for weeks. She also put salt in the corners of the room. And I stopped having bad dreams.”

2. Context:

Told by Adriana, whose mother is originally from Ecuador. She remembers this happening when she was six or seven years old. She wasn’t sure what she believed at the time, but looking back, she says the ritual gave her a sense of comfort and protection , even if it was symbolic.

3. My Interpretation:

This is a clear example of a memorate tied to cultural ritual. Protective objects like red strings are common in many cultures and often used for children. Even when the supernatural belief fades, the memory of care and intention remains. It’s a powerful mix of personal experience and communal folklore, blending magic and motherhood.

Summer camp rituals

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/25
Primary Language: English

Background: The informant (A) is my roommate. She a college student and recalls a story of her experience at a sleep-away summer camp when she was younger.

A: When I was probably….I think 7th grade? Or like during the summer after 7th grade, or maybe 8th or something. I’m not sure. But basically I went to this summer camp at a college in New York for like….2 weeks I think. And the camp leaders made us do a lot of like…..these ritual or traditional kind of activities…I mean, I thought they were pretty weird but a lot of the kids were actually really into it ’cause they had gone to the same camp before and they literally were just…..so into it. I don’t remember a lot of the specific actual stuff we did but the one at the end was called Passionfruit, I only remember that because we drank actual passionfruit juice at it. Or at least they said it was passionfruit juice. But …basically it was the last day of camp for everyone and everyone would wake up super early and the counselors would bring us out to see the sunrise. I think me and my camp friends did a sleepover or something and we set alarms for literally 4:30am and I was so tired but everyone went out onto this grass field kind of thing…it was just outside and we sat on blankets and stuff. I don’t remember exactly the stuff we did but I know we just sat there for a really long time until the sun was up and then we all gathered in this giant circle and people would talk about their favorite memories of camp, or how camp had changed them, or…..something like that, I don’t really know. But it got so emotional I remember being kind of weirded….like half the people were breaking down into tears and stuff. I mean like I was kinda sad but I wasn’t that sad….but I think to be like…nice..or fit in or something I tried to seem super sad too.

Context: This was told to me during a recorded in-person interview.

Analysis: The informant recalls her experience at a summer camp where campers and counselors took camp traditions very seriously. Specifically during the goodbye ceremony, she observed many of her peers in extremely emotional states. This is an example of folklore created by a common experience or location rather than backgrounds or ethnocultural identity. Campers who had experienced the traditions multiple times felt very attached to them while my roommate, who was witnessing them for the first time, felt confused and surprised at her peers’ dedication to these camp rituals. People who have experienced the camp and understand its lore can be considered the “in group” while people who have not can be considered the “out group”.