My roommate told me of the legend of a ghost named Hanako San. There are a lot of different versions of her, but the one he remembers is of a girl who killed herself in a school bathroom because of bullying, who haunts every school bathroom in Tokyo. Many elementary school children will go into a school bathroom on the third floor, turn off the lights, and knock on the third stall door three times. This is supposed to summon Hanako San. If you hear her respond to the knock, it’s in your best interest to leave. He likened this to the tradition of Bloody Mary in the states. He learned this from other classmates. This ghost could’ve been based on a real girl, or it could have been used to try to prevent kids from bullying others. It’s also a bit of a game, similar to bloody mary. This practice adds some entertainment to a normally dull day in grade school.
Tag Archives: Superstition
Snake belief
Context: “We weren’t even allowed to have the textbook with a snake on it! Even the white teachers bought into it. Burger King down the street had a snake decoration up, and you know what happened to it? It shut down! No one ate there.”
Analysis: In Navajo culture, snakes are a bad omen. It is taboo to touch and even look at snakes, especially not when eating, mating, or shedding, as these are considered sacred. Watching it can allow a Navajo malevolent spirit enter your life. The belief was so deeply held, the public school system and economy was affected, with textbooks that had snakes on the cover being replaced or defaced and a Burger King in the area closing down after decorations of a snake went up. It signifies the important place animals and nature have in their culture, as it is a deep respect for the snake that causes the taboo rather than fear.
The Lazy Donkey
Text:
“The lazy donkey has to shit and piss before it goes to the mill.”
Context:
The informant would hear this from their mother when they were younger, but still hears it today as well. They grew up in China, and thus the above phrase is simply a translation from Chinese.
Analysis:
I interpret this phrase to mean doing aimless things in order to delay going to or doing work/what needs to be done. To back this up further, the informant told me that one time their mother said this to them when they went to get a drink of water and go to the bathroom right before their piano lesson–they were trying to delay going to their lesson, and thus their mother scolded them. I noticed that the phrase talks about the lazy donkey. No one wants to be seen as lazy, so this would incentivize them to work harder and efficiently. Furthermore, Chinese culture(and East Asian cultures in general) places a huge significance on diligence and rigor; having a strong work ethic is incredibly important, as it is seen as a reflection of one’s character. Additionally, Chinese social norms today find its foundations in Confucian principles, particularly in the principle of community and the collective good. If you are a lazy donkey, you are actively choosing to be a burden to your community.
* I would like to note that although I, the author of this post, was not born in China, as a first-generation Asian American with immigrant parents, I have grown up in an environment that placed heavy importance in the values mentioned above, and am familiar with this culture.
Shaking the luck out of your leg
AGE: 53
DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 02/19/2025
LANGUAGE: English
NATIONALITY: American
OCCUPATION: Attorney
PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English
RESIDENCE: New York
Interviewer: Are there any superstitions or other phrases you remember being used around your family growing up?
TL: “Well there’s not anything distinct that I remember people saying, but my grandma was a very superstitious woman. There’s a saying in Korean that when you shake your leg [like a habit], all the luck will come out. When my grandma first met your dad, she saw the dent in his forehead and lost her mind. She thought all the luck was about to come out of his head.”
PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:
This superstition of “losing your luck” reminds me a lot of when parents will tell their kids scary stories to prevent them from going out and causing trouble. For example, the story of La Llorona or of skin walkers. In East Asian cultures, there’s a lot of superstitions and phrases surrounding luck. Such as, in Chinese culture, having an “auspicious nose” means you have a lucky nose and you’re bound for success and wealth. In this case, I guess my great grandmother saw my dad’s “deformity” (for lack of better terms) and deemed it as unlucky. Although he wasn’t born with the dent, but was just dropped as a baby, there is some tie between body parts and the luck they hold. Could breaking a bone cause luck to pour out of me then? And would there be a way to earn it back or is it gone forever? These are some questions I have about this concept.
Knock on Wood for Luck
Information Info
Age: 38
Date_of_performance: 02/17/2025
Informant Name: CF
Language: English
Nationality: American
Occupation: Senior Manager, Digital Marketing lol
Primary Language: English
Residence: Virginia, US
Text:
“You better knock on wood so something bad doesn’t happen or you don’t jinx yourself”. It’s a big saying among my family and while I’m not particularly superstitious in general, I always knock on wood or the closest possible hard surface after I say “knock on wood”. I’m not a religious person but I do believe in karma and that things can happen universally, so I will always “knock on wood”. My family, particularly my mom’s side, has said this my whole life so I feel like I’ve been saying it since I was able to understand the saying.
Analysis
Knock on door is a proverb I’ve heard many time before. It brings up an interesting conversation about where that saying came to be. C mentions how she isn’t religious but believes in karma, which makes me believe that it lands in the lap of people who are less spiritual and simply want protection and luck from the universe. Superstitious proverbs most of the time lead back to nature, as we can see from the one above, knocking on wood (whether if its a tree or a table made out of wood from trees) and it connects to wanting to be on good terms with the universe and what surrounds us. I also find this story sweet, even though she isn’t superstitious like her family, it is still ingrained into who she is because her mom taught her it and wanted to have luck throughout life.