Tag Archives: wealth rituals

Money Spraying

Text:

“People will come forth and spray them with money to show love and support — and oftentimes, if it is something like a service of songs, it’s also financial support in a time of need. So essentially, the celebrants are just dancing in the middle, and then people will come with dollar bills or sometimes five-dollar bills. Typically, it’s small amounts because what matters most during this act of celebration is that there are a lot of bills on the floor. People essentially shower the celebrants with money.”

Context:

The informant is a 21-year-old of Nigerian descent who recounted a money spray at her own graduation party. A common practice in Nigerian celebrations, especially those with Yoruba and Igbo roots, is for guests to dance up to the person being honored and press or toss currency against them as a blessing and a show of collective support. She recalled the experience as joyful and deeply validating, noting that the loving words accompanying the spray added a layer of emotional richness that far surpassed the monetary value of the act itself.

Analysis:
Money spraying is a cross between material gifting and ritualized blessing — economically meaningful, and symbolically prophetic all at once. The bills are not for the practical transfer of wealth. Their value is in their accumulation and display. A floor covered with money is a visual statement of the collective love, communal investment in the future of the person being honored, and the strength of the social network surrounding them. This is consistent with what folklorists refer to as “gift folklore”: exchanges in which the social relationship enacted and reaffirmed is more important than the object given. For the diaspora, where Nigerian and American cultures coexist, the money spray also serves as an assertion of ethnic identity, a way to mark a celebration as uniquely Nigerian, even when it occurs far from its place of origin.

New Years Rituals

“On New Year’s Eve as it gets closer to midnight we prepare our bodies by eating 12 green grapes, one for each month, eating spinach for good health and money, and eating lentils as well. We also tie a red string and yellow string around our wrists or ankles to symbolize love, protection, and health. We never take it off, we just wait for it to naturally break sometime over that year. We also peel cuties and save the skin to symbolize our first fruit of the year. Lastly, we walk around our neighborhood with empty suitcases to symbolize keeping us safe on our travels that we take throughout the year.”

The informant does this tradition on New Year’s eve/day once it hits midnight. Usually at her grandma’s house. In the tradition, everyone plays the same role and it includes “my mom, sister, grandma and I.” It’s a tradition that has been kept in the family that has been passed down for them to take part in. 

These rituals are homeopathic magic rituals, meaning when performed they bring magic to the people performing it. Eating spinach as a ritual brings magically good health and money. It is a symbolic magic, meaning that the performance mimics the desired result. Spinach is green and leafy, like money, and it is good for health. The first fruit of the year may be important for two reasons. One, that fruit symbolizes the ability to eat well. Secondly, fruit is often used as a term of success financially, for example “fruitful returns” on an investment. Both eating well and the word parallels symbolize financial stability and wealth. It is clear that this culture values wealth and food through these rituals, which primarily focus on money. The suitcase may also be related to money, as it could symbolize wealth enough to travel, in addition to the safety component. This is all done on New Years Eve because as the clock strikes midnight, there is a liminal “between” time in which magic is possible. It is important for many cultures to perform rituals during this liminal time to ensure magic for what they desire in the new year is spread into the universe. Liminal times are often seen as magical times, so it is an ideal time to wish or spread magic.