Tag Archives: Superstition

Safety Pin Protection for Pregnant Woman During an Eclipse.

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 73
Occupation: retired
Residence: Chicago
Performance Date: 4-10-20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background: Below is an account from my informant on an old hispanic belief/ myth on pregnancy. My informant is a Senior Citizen who was originally born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States as a young adult. Spanish is her first language, but she ultimately uses a combination of both Spanish and English to explain this belief. My informant was taught this superstition by her grandmother and always wore a giant safety pin near to her stomach during all five of her pregnancies. 

Main Piece:

When there’s an eclipse if you’re expecting if you’re pregnant you’re supposed to put a safety pin on your shirt on your blouse. You put it near to your tummy to protect the baby from the eclipse. I believe that’s why, I don’t know,  but I believe that’s why uh, uh  some people  that come with something deformed in the body because the people don’t believe in that. The people don’t believe to carry something all the time to carry something metal like near to the tummy. The metal protects from whatever power that comes from… the same way los rayos, uh the same way the metal works to send back the power of the eclipse from the sun and the moon. The moon is more dangerous because some people don’t notice. That’s why it’s good to carry all the time the safety pin to protect you. To protect the baby. 

Context: This conversation took place during the day over a FaceTime call. This was my first interview with this particular informant and I could tell that she was nervous about speaking ‘formally’ about her beliefs. As the conversation went on she became less shy, and even started speaking in more of a combination of Spanish and English in order to explain her point.

My thoughts: I had never heard of this superstition before. At first, I didn’t quite understand that a safety pin is reflective enough for eclipse rays to bounce off of, but then I realized that like most superstitions, people don’t actually believe in them for science. This conversation made it clear to me how much we as humans value information from role models we trust. My informant was given this advice by her Grandmother, and did not once question her. Of course, my informant also shared that this became a familial and community belief, so she was not the only one partaking. After questioning my own family, I learned that my mother did this while she was pregnant with me, and that reason alone is enough to make me tack a pin on when I’m pregnant with my children. Maybe, because it’ll connect me to my mom. Maybe, because it offers guidance during an uncertain time. 

Leaving a Purse on the Floor is Bad Luck

Nationality: Half American Half Puerto Rican
Age: 21
Occupation: UCLA student
Residence: Southern California
Performance Date: 4/30/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

SD: Whenever I visit my family in Puerto Rico, If I ever put my purse on the floor they would get mad at me. The same thing happens to me at my house because I always leave my purse and by backpack on the ground and my mom gets really mad because they really believe it. It kind of like makes her scared that I am going to bring bad luck to us and it is just passed down to her from her relative in Puerto Rico. There is not really a reason why it is just a think they get taught when they are little, um and they just carry into adulthood and it is made to feel so real that you actually believe it. I think it is mainly like say you have a test coming up, you just screwed that up.  

Context

SD is a 21 year old student at UCLA whose mother is from Puerto Rican and dad is American. This was taken from a casual interview over FaceTime talking about any folklore she had when she mentioned her mom has many superstitions about things that are bad luck. Neither of the know why, but her mother follows then very strictly. 

Analysis

It is interesting that these superstitions have so much power with SA’s mother and her whole family living in Puerto Rico following it religiously. There is a great deal of trust and respect for tradition that these practices are followed without knowing the reason why. 

Additionally, the tension between the younger and older generation is interesting because one firmly believes it while the other does not and repeatedly breaks the rule. SD does not see it as having any merit, which gives her mother a great deal of worry that she will bring bad energy into the house. 

Sending Someone the Evil Eye

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 48
Occupation: human resources manager
Residence: San Fernando Valley
Performance Date: 4/29/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

EA: The ojo (eye) is that people do believe that there are other people that have the ability to. If they have something that belongs to that other person like a picture or something they can with bad things upon them. It is called “hiciste ojo”(“gave the eye”). For example, if someone wants some harm to come to someone else they will take a picture of that person to that individual and they will say I want them too whatever. There is the belief that there are people than have that ability to I guess curse them with bad things. You like a form of voodoo because it is kind of like you have an alter for them. You have a picture of them, you have their hair. You have some thing that belongs to them 

Interviewer: Where did you hear this?

EA: I heard this from my parents and like people, aunts. You know when a lot of bad things are happening to you it is common for people to say “ay, alguien me hiso ojo, necessito una limpia!”(“someone gave me the eye and I need a cleaning”). Then you go to someone that does the good and they take that curse away from you . 

Context

EA is my mother who was born in Southern California, but whose parents are both from Mexico. She and her whole family are Catholic. However, she is not as religious as the rest of her family. She is a Human Resources manager at a small manufacturing company in the San Fernando Valley. The information taken from a casual conversation I was having with my mother about any folklore she had for me while my sister was also present.

Analysis 

It is surprising to me how much magic is involved in this considering how religious many of my family members are. Magic is normally frowned upon in the church as God is the only one that should be able to do things like see your future and change your destiny. However, getting the evil seems to be something that many people in Mexican culture are afraid of. The trope of the witch or “bruha” character that many are afraid of even portrayed through their entertainment, and I’m sure people talk about who they feel practices this dark form of magic. It is also similar to many other forms of contagious magic where you need something of the person in order to curse them, since our belongings and images are extensions of ourselves. 

Chinese Sleeping Superstitions

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: 4/29/2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Vietnamese

Text:

Informant: Chinese people say that you can’t sleep with the fan on or else it will suck up the air out of the room. Then you’ll die of suffocation. You can’t sleep with your stomach showing or else you’ll wake up with a stomach ache. You can’t watch a baby sleep because it’s bad for the baby. It will make it so they don’t grow up correctly. They’re crazy, but I learned them from my parents.

Context:

I asked a group of friends about any superstitions they were raised with. This was one of their responses. The informant is of Chinese descent.

Thoughts: I am not of East Asian descent and have never hear of any superstitions regarding sleep, but the other people present when the informant shared these with me were and had heard all of these. This may reflect a greater importance of sleep in East Asian societies.

Not Saying Macbeth in a Theater

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 18
Occupation: High school student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/23/20
Primary Language: English

Context

The informant is my 18 year old sister and the information was collected from an in person causal interview. She is a senior in high school who is very involved in the theater at her school. Her close circle of friends include many of the people she was in plays with and spends much of her time practicing singing and some dancing. She is describing a superstition her and her theater friends from her high school theater program share.

Piece

LA: We are not allowed to say Macbeth unless it is part of the play. If you do say that it is bad luck. Yeah, it had actually happened. One time Karina [theater friend] said Macbeth and then Kayla [another theater friend] was like, “No!” Then there was a rope and it started sparking with fire. It started like smoking while we were in the theater. So that is something you never ever do. 

CA: Why specifically Macbeth?

LA: I don’t, maybe I think is it because it is really hard of a play to do and back luck because Macbeth had bad luck in the story so I think that is why. 

Analysis

The connection between superstition and the theater seems to be very common. It is a very liminal space where people take on different personas and invoke the spirits of the people they represent. The goal is not to evoke the negative experiences of those you are portraying. Not only is the supersition espoused, but also enforced by other members of the theater showing the level of belief among them. The experience with the smoking rope reinforces their belief in the superstition and they will be more likely in the future to follow the practice more strictly and encourage others to do so.