“If you see the bride or the dress before the wedding, that’s bad luck.”

“There’s a girl that wanted a special mariachi dress for her wedding. She went to the special place and takes pictures of the bride and her dress. The grooms mom sent the photos to her son so the groom saw the pictures of the dress. The dress had to get sent to her house from Mexico but something went wrong and it went to Houston. They sent the package back, but she found out it came from his house. So she cancelled the wedding and told the groom that she’s not going to marry him anymore because she knew he saw the dress.”

With this specific folk belief, Griselda was especially excited to tell me about it. After she said the superstition, she went on talking about the story that she had heard about from her mother. She believes in this story, understanding why this woman had cancelled her wedding with her fiancee, because their marriage would have been a disaster. For me, hearing this folk belief was funny because it is something I have heard of before in the American culture. Weddings in America are like this too, where husbands cannot see their bride’s dress before the wedding. It was interesting to hear about this belief from someone who’s learned it from a different culture. The stories may be different, but the meaning behind it is the same.

Griselda Vega is a 41 year old mother of two sons. She also works in the office with me. She was exceptionally excited to share with me her culture’s stories and traditions which made it exciting for me to interview her. Griselda was born in Mexico and lived there until the age of 20, when she moved to the United States. At the age of 21, she was employed, and she works at the same office since then.