Title: Red and Pregnancy
General Information about Item:
- Genre and Sub Genre
- Customary Folklore: Superstition
- Language: English
- Country where Item is from: Greece
Informant Data:
- Vungelia Glyptis is 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: The superstition of not eating, touching, or doing anything associated with red during a certain week when pregnant is a superstition passed down through families. However, family members can’t remind the pregnant woman of the superstition during during the particular week of pregnancy or the baby will have a birth mark. The knowledge of this superstition is passed down through families, especially between older and younger women. Instead, this superstition is something that is just known and taught to children growing up, but not to be mentioned to pregnant women. Thus, part of the superstition is actually not talking about the superstition.
- Cultural Context: This superstition derives from the association of red with the devil. Although the color red isn’t always connected to the devil, a pregnant woman doing anything with red is thought to give the child a birth mark.
Item:
- If a pregnant woman eats, touches, or interacts with anything red during a certain week of her pregnancy, her child will have a birth mark. The pregnant women also cannot address or be reminded of the superstition during the particular week or her baby will have a birth mark.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
- None
Transcript of Associated File:
- None
Informant’s Comments:
- Vugelia says that her mom believes the huge birthmark that goes across half of her [Vugelia’s] body is because her uncle reminded her mom of the superstition when she was pregnant.
Collector’s Comments:
- Vugelia Glyptis was interviewed by Carmen Braceras over FaceTime.
Collector’s Name: Interview conducted by Carmen Braceras. Webpage published by Ellen Pattinson.
Tags/Keywords:
- Color Red, Pregnancy, Birthmark, Greek Superstitions, Customary Folklore