Title: Swallowing a Grain of Rice (Turkey)
General Information
- Customary Folklore: Pre-test custom, superstition
- Interview Language: English
- Country of Origin: Istanbul, Turkey
- Informant: NK
- Date Collected: 10/27/2021
Informant:
- NK is a sophomore (’24) at Dartmouth College who is from Istanbul, Turkey. She has lived the entirety of her life in Turkey before coming to Dartmouth College. She commented that her family is not particularly superstitious and that she has not personally experienced the item provided.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: The informant said that she is not sure where this superstitious custom stems from exactly. But she commented that it may have to do with Islamic culture or rituals since the prayer that is recited while holding the object is an Islamic prayer. Islam is currently the most practiced religion in Turkey, and the history of Islam in Turkey dates back to the 11th century when the Seljuks conquered eastern Anatolia. This item might stem from notions in the Bible and the Quran that states that one becomes what they eat, and may also draw on notions of contagious magic.
- Social Context: This item was collected in an in-person interview. The informant said that she heard about this item from her parents, but also that it is a superstition that is widely known to the Turkish population in general. It is also a superstition that is endorsed mostly by religious people in the contemporary era. The item also exists in many variants; some families will use many grains of rice instead of just one, and other families will use a candy to replace the grain of rice.
Item:
- Before a student takes an important exam, the student’s parents would take a single grain of rice and blow on it. They would say an Islamic prayer with it in their hands. Then they would make their child swallow the grain whole.
Associated File:
Transcript
“So, um, the first thing that comes to mind is like – you know rice? So, generally parents take some rice pieces, rice grains, and pray. They do a prayer and blow onto their grain. Then they want their child whose going to take the exam to swallow it. It’s part of the culture. It’s going to help them. I don’t know what this dates back to, but I think it’s, um, a little old. Maybe from my parents’ generation? It’s weird, but it’s something. There’s also like, the same thing happens with candy. I don’t know if you have to swallow a candy because it’s big.”
Informant’s Comments:
- “I’ve never really tried this, but I honestly think it would be safe to just stick to a single grain of rice. I don’t want to choke on a hard candy.”
Collector’s Comments:
- I agree with the informant in that it is best to keep the swallowing limited to a single grain of rice. Anything bigger may be hazardous. I wonder if certain families do use a large candy for this ritual.
Collector’s Name: Jea Mo
Tags/Keywords
- Turkish
- Customary folklore
- Pre-test ritual