Tag Archives: Superstition

Splitting the Pole

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 20, 2016
Primary Language: English

JN is a 19 year old neuroscience major. She’s from Chicago originally, but she moved to California for college. In the following conversation, we talked about a small ritual that is very special to her and the importance of maintaining friendships:
“So this is a superstition that I have been practicing pretty religiously, I guess.
So I have this weird superstition that if you’re walking with a friend and you come across a pole in the way- and doesn’t matter if you’re holding hands- you are not allowed to go on either side of the pole. So for example, one person can’t go to the right side of the pole and one person can’t go to the left of the pole. Basically, you can’t let yourself get separated from the other person, or else that means that your friendship will grow apart. If that does happen, then the only way you can keep from damaging your friendship is to shake hands after. A lot of my friends don’t realize that, and I kind of freak out and make them shake hands with me! They don’t understand why I do it, but it’s just because I don’t want our relationship to grow apart and I want to stay friends with them.”

Who did you learn this from?
“I can’t remember. I think I learned it from a friend and thought it was really good, that it was something that I should definitely be doing. So I started immediately. I can’t even remember who taught me but it’s something I’ve done for sure since the start of college. I don’t think I learned it before that.”

Why is this ritual so important to you? What does it mean to you?

It is important to me because, even though it seems stupid sometimes, I don’t want to grow apart from my friends so I’d rather be safe than sorry!

 

My thoughts: In this folk belief, there is a connection drawn between physical distancing and emotional distancing. The splitting around the pole and the handshake after  is reminiscent of the concept of “homeopathic magic” proposed by James George Frazer- that a physical action that resembles another will end up causing it. It’s also noted by the informant that sometimes other people don’t accept/are confused by her belief – perhaps this shows that “superstition” now has a negative connotation and less people are willing to admit that they believe in them.

Brooklyn Doll

Nationality: Puerto Rican, American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Manhattan Beach, CA
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English

So my grandma moved from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn when she was six years old with her mom, like Brooklyn in New York, the city with her mom and 5 siblings, and the rest of her family stayed in Puerto Rico with the dad, and they were gonna move out later after the dad finished his Navy term. She moved into an apartment and her mom, like so my great grandma, really believes in ghost stories, so she had little plants, little cacti with the long leaves, and she believed those fended off ghosts for some reason. So she kept those around the apartment because when she purchased the apartment she got creepy vibes, as my grandma says. My grandma lived in a closet sized room with her sister and they didn’t really have all their stuff with them, so my grandma just brought books with her. She brought books, and there was a little shelf above her bed so my grandma put her books up there and her mom put a plant up there. So supposedly the apartment was protected from ghosts because of the plants. So then one day though they got new neighbors next to them; it was a wife, husband and dog, they had a dog. They had recently moved into building, and landlord came by my grandma’s apartment to tell them they would have new neighbors. The landlord came by and gave my grandma’s family a doll, and it was the first time they had met the landlord, as it was a friend of my grandma’s dad. My grandma thought the doll was a threat to her ghost-protected house, so she put it on top of the fridge away from everything. The landlord, when she gave it to them said it was supposed to protect from death, but then one night, like I don’t know, this is why I always get so confused, I think its my grandma’s exaggerations. My grandma said one night my great-grandma was out of the house, and so grandma had to watch over all the siblings. She was putting everyone to bed and turned off all the lights and all of a sudden the power went out in whole building. Everything was pitch black. The refrigerator stopped working, there were no phones, and my grandma didn’t know how to reach her mom. There was one circular window that shined directly on the top of the fridge exactly where the doll was sitting. So my grandma is looking around making sure everyone is ok in the house. So my grandma turns around and sees the light of the full moon shining on the top of the fridge and the doll missing. So then the landlord comes by, knocks on the door, and says very very creepily three deaths will occur. Because the doll is missing. She basically told them at the beginning that they couldn’t lose the doll because death would occur. And then…so then, and the landlord knew that my great-grandma put it on top of the fridge. And she checked to see that it wasn’t there and that’s why she told us that three deaths would occur. My grandma did not believe the landlord, and she was trying to be protective because her younger siblings were really scared, so then the landlord left. The next morning everyone woke up and my great-grandma was back, but then they were told everyone had to leave the building for some reason, and like everyone was being evacuated and no one knew why. The police was there. They were all standing out in the middle of the street, and they saw that there were three body bags in the middle of the street. The police told them that the people next door had been killed last night. The wife, husband and dog who lived in the apartment next to them had gone to get groceries from the store beneath the apartments, and there was an armed robbery. The robber shot the wife, husband and dog. And ever since then, my grandma has always believed in ghost stories and she gave my family a plant that is supposed to fend off ghosts.

 

Background information: Sarah is my best friend from home, Manhattan Beach. She knows this piece because her grandma has told it to her a few times and that is the reason Sarah has a demon/ghost-protecting plant in her own house from her grandma because her grandma is now very superstitious about ghosts ever since this happened to her. Sarah really likes this piece because it happened to someone who is very close to her, and although it sounds like something out of a movie—three deaths predicted solely because of this doll—it really happened to her and is pretty freaky, not something she can forget easily, especially since it happened to her grandma. Her grandma is from Puerto Rico, and to Sarah, as she mentioned above, she believes it may just be her grandma’s exaggerations, but she still remembers the story very clearly. The story was collected via FaceTime because Sarah goes to college at Middlebury in Vermont.

Dance Superstitions

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: English

Collector: Do you have any superstitions?

Informant: Um, well, I’m not sure if any of these are in there, but like, dance is like very different, but I also take exams the same way because I take an absurd amount of midterms ‘cause I’m in science class, and that’s all you do. But, like, I always have a certain pencil that I stick in my hair, and it’s like one of those old school ones ‘cause, like, I only ever write with mechanical pencils, like, I have never written with that pencil. But, like, that’s the pencil. And, um, so I have to tie my hair up in a bun with that pencil through it, and then, um, I also have to wear one of my grandma’s rings because that one is like the spirit of my grandmother is with me in the exam. And also, like, when I write I’ll see it because it’s on my right hand, so when I’m writing I always see it. And then, um, just like other than that, like, I give myself like a pep talk for like about 10 minutes before every exam. Just because I have to. And then I get there like thirty minutes early, and I laugh at everyone that’s freaking out. Um, and then in the theater world, I always, I will, like I always have to be listening to music, like I can’t not have music on when I’m getting ready, and then um, yeah I always like bang my pointe shoes a certain way [doing it] before I go on stage too. It’s like I’m kind of warming up my feet, but more of like a nice noise that it makes. So, I always bang my pointe shoes a certain way. Then, um, I always, I always do like the Catholic cross before I go on stage. Um…

MR: Are you catholic?

AA: No, I’m not religious in the slightest, but that’s what, that’s how it is. It’s just how it is. There’s no going back from there, so… Because I’ve done that before every performance for years. Cause I think at one point I was playing a Catholic person, like that was kind of a part of my character, and it just like started from there. It’s been like a long time, but now it’s like been before every single show that I’ve done for forever, so… Cross, and that’s before, that’s before the main show and generally before a different number, if a number ends and a different number comes on then it will go again right before I step on stage. Um, and let’s see, in my high school there was this frog, and everybody in the entire cast had to kiss this frog. I don’t know what the frog was from, but everybody had to do it. It was kind of gross.

MR: Wait, is it a stuffed frog?

AA: No, it’s like a plastic frog. It’s really creepy looking, it’s got these like, it’s got like red lips on it and it’s really scary looking, and then like everyone has to do a chant before we begin, too. And this is also just from my high school, so it would be like a certain type of chant depending on what the show was, but everyone had to do a certain chant, so my dance team had our own specific chant that we would do… And then before all my professional shows when I was in the company, everyone would do a group prayer circle together, so it also like the superstitions changed depending on what company I was in, but I like have my own and then the company has their own, so they just kind of layer on top of each other, so…

 

Informant is a junior at the University of Southern California. She is studying Human Biology, and she is a dancer and has been for many years. She is from San Diego, California. I spoke to her while we were eating lunch at my sorority house one day. We were sitting together with some of my other informants. Much of what she told me was learned from her own experiences.

 

In response to another person’s superstitions about getting ready before a sporting event, Allie was able to speak a little on her superstitions as a dancer and a test taker. It seems that no matter what large event people become worried about, each person has some type of ritual they do that they think will assist them in doing the best job they can.

Paris Point 0

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Informant: There’s like, France. The x. The zero. Something zero.

Collector: Point zero?

SC: Point zero, yeah. In front of the…Notre Dame. And I have never stepped on it, but I have been to Paris multiple times.

MR: I’ve only been to Paris once, and I didn’t step on it.

 

Informant is a sophomore at the University of Southern California. She is studying Narrative Studies and plans to have a minor in Songwriting. She is from a suburb outside of Chicago, Illinois. I spoke to her while we were eating lunch at my sorority house one day. We were sitting together with some of my other informants. Much of what she told me was learned from her own experiences.

 

This is something I’ve heard about from multiple people and have read about in books. There seems to be a connection between some part of great cities and either returning to the city or having a wish come true. This is a kind of combination of superstitions and rituals and just might subconsciously influence people to return to the city. I can see a similar type of thing with the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy, where if you toss a coin and make a wish the wish will come true. These old cities seem to have a type of magic to them which attracts you to return or fulfill a wish.

Macbeth

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: English

Collector: I know my professor, like, theater ghosts…

Informant: Kind of, but I, like, there’s a lot of, like, a lot of other things besides that, too.

MR: I know my professor just told me a story about a theater ghost.

AA: Yeah, we didn’t have, like, theater ghosts. Of course, like, there is the play you never name, but, like, other than that…like…

MR: Talk to me about Macbeth

AA: I mean, I just know that, like, in the theater you don’t say the name.

Person:  Why would you say that?

AA: It’s just, it’s just, you don’t.

Person: Superstitious, yeah, why would you say that word? I’ve never said it.

MR: You’ve never said it?

Person: I studied it in my sophomore year English class, and I never said it.

MR: Wait, aren’t you not supposed to say it when you’re in the theater?

AA: Yeah I thought it was more in the theater—

Person: Especially when you’re not in the theater—

Person: Specifically, yeah…

Person: I don’t say it at all. I’m very—I’m also genuinely—I’m like, easily scared.

 

Informant is a junior at the University of Southern California. She is studying Human Biology, and she is a dancer and has been for many years. She is from San Diego, California. I spoke to her while we were eating lunch at my sorority house one day. We were sitting together with some of my other informants, Maya Getter, Diana Huang, and Sarah Campbell. Much of what she told me was learned from her own experiences.

 

This is also interesting because we spoke about this in class as well. It seems that some people have different superstitions about when and when you cannot say the name. I think the conclusion I have come to is that absolutely nobody says it while they’re inside the theater, but some people take the superstition further and don’t say the name outside, either. This is an interesting divergence between personalities and how others influence your beliefs.