Throwing Salt (Quinn Calhoun)

Title: Throwing Salt over Shoulder

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

KC grew up and currently lives in Richmond, VA. She received her BA in art history from JMU in 1988 before teaching students of various ages from elementary school to college in various art courses. She and the rest of her family are of predominantly Irish-Catholic heritage.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Salt is believed, among various religions and cultures, to have certain properties which ward off spirits or promote good health. This specific practice seems to be originally a Buddhist Tradition, where one would perform the practice at a funeral to protect one’s household.
Social Context: Quinn originally learned of the practice when his mother described her mother and some of her practices, who died long before he was born. KC originally learned of the tradition by asking her grandmother and mother about why they performed this practice at a family dinner. When the two explained the practice to her, they laughed it off as a superstition, she remembers noticing her mother performing the action more as she was conscious of it and realized that it had become a tradition nonetheless.

Item:

If someone talks ill of the dead or curses in anger, that individual ought to throw salt over their left shoulder to ward off evil spirits, or the devil, from entering their home and cursing them. It is also customary to pray before this action.

Associated file:

Informant’s Comments:

It became something common enough that I find myself doing it mindlessly while working in the kitchen if I grab a pinch of salt—even if I haven’t cursed.

Collector’s Comments:

Recall seeing the practice in own household as a child, yet had thought nothing of it when young.

Collector’s Name: Quinn Calhoun

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive