Tag Archives: Superstition

Karma Points

Text:

Karma Points

Minor Genre:

Superstition; Ritual

Context:

“I believe in karma. Even if someone is justified in stealing or doing horrible stuff, I could never do it because I am superstitious of the idea of karma. Even though I see so much cruelty in how people act, whether that’s on the news or politically or whatever, I still can’t bring myself to do anything horrible on purpose because I believe in it coming back to me in some sense.

“As part of my belief in karma, I believe also in ‘karma points.’ Every time I see a piece of trash I pick it up now. I got used to feeling like it’s bad karma if I lock eyes with a piece of trash on the floor and don’t pick it up and just walk by it. Every time I look at one and register it in my mind as a piece of trash, I have to go grab it and throw it away in the trash can, which gives me a positive karma point. This superstition started in the beginning of 2024. I don’t know exactly why it happened, I just picked up the trash and it transformed into the superstition it is now.”

Analysis:

It is interesting to consider how the larger concept of karma translates into every-day actions in the informant’s life, and what that says about the idea of karma as a whole. If, for example, a person convicted of murder was considered to have a low level of karma, by the informant’s logic, they could work to restore their karma by picking up pieces of trash. This is an extreme example, but it goes to show that superstitious rituals often defy logic; routinely picking up trash would not make a serial killer a “good person,” but it may have a greater positive impact on an average person. The next logical question in such a perspective is then: at what point is someone’s poor karma irredeemable by small actions?

The idea of “karma points” therefore poses interesting philosophical considerations, but it can also be examined in a psychological context. The compulsion for the informant to pick up a piece of trash every time they lock eyes on it may be suggestive of a disorder such as OCD. While the inability to suppress an obsessive urge is a symptom of OCD, it is also a common experience for people who consider themselves superstitious; they will go to great lengths to avoid taking an action that they believe will bring about a negative outcome in their life. Ritualistic superstitious actions “dig the hole deeper” for the person who engages with them; as one gets in the habit of taking a specific set of actions, they assign more emotional significance to it and therefore become less likely to disengage with the superstition.

Grandmother’s Goodbye

Genre: Folk Narrative – Ghost Story

Text:

“My dad once told me a story about an experience he had with a ghost. My dad was really close with his grandparents; he spent a lot of time over at their house when he was younger and as a child, he had these really weird dreams where his grandmother would appear to him. In the dreams, she was just sitting on a stool beside his bed and talking to him.

“When I was around ten years old, my great-grandmother, his grandmother, passed away. But my dad told me he had one of those dreams the night she died: in his dream, he was a child again as he was looking at her, and just as she always did in the dreams, she was sitting on a stool and talking to him. But he had a feeling that this dream was different. Although he doesn’t remember the details of the conversation he had in the dream, when he woke up, he felt a visceral change and later discovered that that was the night she passed away.”

Context:

“My great-grandparents on my dad’s side, around when I was ten years old or so, were dying of Alzheimer’s and they needed a caretaker. It was a really big burden on my family, and I remember my dad talking about them a lot during that time because he had a really deep connection with his grandparents. He spent a lot of time with them growing up, and he even ended up remodeling their house and turning it into his parents’ house, which is where my grandparents live now. I think my dad’s dreaming of them was a representation of the deep emotional connection they shared. I think he really felt a change in that connection the night his grandmother died, and I like to think of that dream as her way of saying goodbye.”

Analysis:

Although I am skeptical about the idea of a truly prophetic dream, I think this is an example of how dreams can sometimes help someone process an ongoing trauma or complicated emotions. The informant explained that his great-grandparents were dying of Alzheimer’s, which is a slow end. It is possible that the informant’s father dreamed about conversations with his grandmother as a way of processing this difficult mental condition, and only after hearing news of his grandmother’s death did he feel that, at the time of the dream, he felt that he knew she had died at the time. Memories are notoriously faulty and dreams even more so, which is why I personally believe that this was not a ghost the informant’s father envisioned the night his grandmother died, but merely a way of his brain processing the difficulty of losing a loved one.

Another idea to consider is the fact that the informant’s paternal family is Mexican. Ghosts are prevalent in Mexican culture, particularly the ghosts of loved ones (as seen in holidays such as Día de los Muertos). It is possible that this cultural background influenced the informant’s father to be more inclined to believe in a supernatural explanation for his dream/ghost rather than a scientific one.

Break a Leg Ritual

Text
“So this is like the traditional ‘break a leg!’ before a performance, because I’m a theater major. But before any type of performance, instead of just saying ‘break a leg,’ the performing group that I grew up in since I was a kid to high school, we always would say ‘break ALL your legs.’ As like a way of saying ‘you’re even gonna do better than just break a leg, like you’re gonna have a phenomenal performance.’ And then we would- I don’t know how to explain this properly, but we basically lock our pinky fingers together, and then like, bump each other’s hips, each hip twice, and then like, spin, like, turn with our arms. And I was like- everyone in the group that I grew up in performing did this, um, and was incredibly superstitious about it. It was a thing of like, even if you were called to places, you would run backstage to the other side of the stage to find the other people in the cast to do it to. Because it was an incredibly, like, you HAVE to do this. Like, if not something’s gonna go wrong. Um, and so I was incredibly superstitious about it. Like if I didn’t get the chance to do it to everyone, I, like, I was not comfortable on stage and I was like ‘something’s gonna go wrong, I’m gonna mess up, just it’s not gonna be the performance I know it can be.’

And now that I’m in college and I’m not part of this performing group anymore, I still carry it on. Um, especially with this one, like, performance group I’m part of. Backstage before every show that I’ve started since freshman year doing, I teach it to like anyone who’s new in the group, and I do it with as many people in the cast as I can do, and I even like, explain the story of it to people, like ‘this is something I used to do in my past performing community that I was a part of, and we’d say break all your legs,’ and I teach it to them and then like, they go on to do it to other people in the cast and explain it to them. So it’s something I’m like carrying on and spreading to other people.”

Context
C is a current student at the University of Southern California and grew up in Palm Desert, California. She gave the context that she had been part of the same local theater group for her preteen and teenage years until coming to college. When asked to elaborate about some of the logistics of the ritual, C explained how the ritual would be done between two people in the cast, with the goal of everyone in the cast eventually doing it with everyone else. She also stressed the importance of performing the ritual as immediately before the beginning of the performance as possible. She also described how different people in her original group believe in different degrees of consequences for not performing the ritual with everyone in the cast; while some people think it is not strictly necessary, many, including C, believe that there will be “severe and immediate consequences” during the performance for not doing it with everyone. Finally, C explained that, while she is not sure when the ritual began, allegedly everyone who her director had worked with had a similar kind of ritual, which leads her to believe it stemmed from him and evolved to what it is today.

Analysis
As C acknowledged, this tradition takes a widely-known example of theater-specific performative speech and adds an additional physical element as added superstitious behavior. I would say that this ritual combines elements of homeopathic and contagious magic. By believing that not performing this ritual correctly induces bad luck, this theater group exhibits the ‘like produces like’ belief behind homeopathic magic; however, the contact required for the ritual, perhaps to ‘share luck’ amongst the cast, suggests that the connection between two cast members lingers after contact, which is characteristic of contagious magic. There also seems to be an added dimension of promoting the group’s strength and unity; by requiring everyone in the cast to perform this bad-luck-warding behavior together, it reinforces the idea that the group is stronger together. Ultimately, I think this ritual is a perfect example of the multiplicity and variation that is often said to be a core component of folklore, and I would be interested to see if/how this ritual changes after its introduction to USC theater spaces.

Text: In Dalit Tradition, you are supposed to place the mandir (temple) in the southwest direction of the house.

Context: When my friend’s brother was crafting his home, he wove in the ancient wisdom of Vaastu Shastra, a revered Indian ethos aligning architecture with cosmic energies for harmony. In a mindful move, he placed the sacred mandir facing the southwest, as advised, ensuring a home cradled in positive vibrations and prosperity, a testament to Indian traditions. He was talking about how his family believes in Vaastu as they consider the placements of each parts of the house as “important parts in deciding the house’s energy.”

Analysis:

The placement of the mandir (temple) in the southwest direction of a house, adhering to Vaastu Shastra principles, reflects a deep-rooted cultural and spiritual ethos within Indian tradition. This architectural practice transcends mere structural design, embodying a holistic approach to living that aligns with cosmic energies for harmony and prosperity. Such practices resonate with Ülo Valk’s observation that folkloric entities and practices are “shaped by the perspectives…of storytellers” (Valk 31), suggesting that these architectural choices are infused with cultural narratives and wisdom passed down through generations.

This mindful integration of the mandir within a home’s architecture speaks to the historical and cultural significance of sacred spaces in Indian tradition. It echoes Domino Renee Perez’s insight that folklore and cultural practices wield power by making “often incomprehensible and at times contemptible choices” (Perez 155), highlighting a deep-seated reverence for tradition and unseen cosmic forces. The adherence to Vaastu Shastra in modern living represents a dialogue between tradition and modernity, anchoring individuals within a continuum of time-honored practices and offering a sense of continuity amidst contemporary life. In essence, aligning a home according to Vaastu Shastra principles, particularly in the placement of sacred spaces, is a manifestation of the enduring influence of spiritual traditions in shaping personal and communal environments. It illustrates a worldview that regards the home as a microcosm of the universe, where directions and spatial arrangements are imbued with deeper meanings, thus integrating the sacred into everyday life and maintaining a vibrant connection with cultural heritage.

Text: If you pass a sharp object such as a knife or scissor without placing it on a flat surface, it means a bad omen

Context: “Anytime I go back home to India and I’m passing cutlery or like silverware to my friends, specifically a knife or a sharp object, they always tell me to place it on a flat surface or like a surface before they take it, just because if I pass it to them directly, there’s a myth that I’m gonna have a fight with them or they’ll walk out of my life or something bad and negative will happen to them.” This is what my friend told me when I interviewed him. He’s Indian and his friends back home believe in this, but although he doesn’t believe in this, he’s forced to follow this tale. On the positive side, he said that his friends’ beliefs about this make him question if there is “another force in the universe.”

Analysis: This folklore tale delves into deep cultural and interpersonal dynamics. This practice, while seemingly rooted in superstition, underscores a broader cultural wisdom emphasizing caution and respect in human interactions. It resonates with Ülo Valk’s insight that folkloric entities are “shaped by the perspectives…of storytellers” (Valk 31), suggesting that such tales reflect communal values and the social fabric of a culture. Similarly, Domino Renee Perez’s observation that folklore figures like La Llorona “wield power by making often incomprehensible choices” (Perez 155) highlights how folklore governs individual actions, even beyond personal belief. This tale, therefore, is more than a superstition; it’s a ritualistic expression of mindfulness and a nod to the collective wisdom that guides social conduct. It connects individuals to their cultural heritage, fostering a sense of continuity and respect for the unseen forces that shape human relationships. Moreover, this tale interestingly highlights the permeation and resilience of cultural beliefs through social networks and friendships, even among individuals who may not personally subscribe to these beliefs. My friend’s adherence to this practice, despite his skepticism, underscores the compelling nature of cultural norms and the respect for the beliefs of others within one’s community.