Title: Knife Passing

General Information about Item:

• Genre and Sub Genre: Customary Folklore- Superstition

• Language: English

• Country where Item is from: Greece

Informant Data:

• Vungelia Glyptis was a 2017 graduate of Dartmouth College. Both of her parents are Greek (from the island of Chios). Her maternal and paternal grandfathers are actually from the same village. Everyone in her house speaks Greek, but she usually speaks English with her parents. They follow very old-school customs and superstitions.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: A large part of Greek culture is family meals. Often people will cook together and share utensils. Vungelia does not believe in this superstition but her yiayia (grandmother) who told her of it always follows this belief.
• Cultural Context: It is believed that passing a sharp item between two people will lead to a physical altercation or a friendship cut short.

Item:

• There is a superstition to never grab or pass a knife from hand to hand. Instead, the knife should be put down on a table and the person on the receiving end should pick it up.

Informant’s Comments:

• none

Collector’s Comments:

• Vungelia was interviewed over FaceTime

Collector’s Name:

• Interviewed by: Carmen Braceras
• Published by: Jessica Valvano

Tags/Keywords:

• Greek superstition, Knife Passing, cooking, meals