General Information about Item:
- Material lore
- Superstition
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: Ukraine
- Informant: BC
- Date Collected: 11/05/2021
Informant Data: BC is a sophomore at University of Southern California (‘24) from Woodside, California. Her father is Ukrainian and her mother is Armenian. BC’s parents shared many superstitions with her and her younger sister.
Contextual Data: BC obtained this superstition when she was in seventh grade. Her father is a very competitive person, and taught her to attack her fears. A superstition she learned was to use the exact same pencil that she used studying on the test, and, once the test was over, to break the pencil in half. She said that this helps her relieve her stress and anxiety after a test, and helps reassure herself that she worked hard to do well on the exam. She started to do very well on her exams when she began doing this, and continues to do so at University. I witnessed this the first time, after an exam we each had in seventh grade. She explained that her Ukrainian father taught her this, and that his parents shared this piece of folklore with him when he was in middle school in Ukraine. Her father not only shared this piece . I originally collected this piece of folklore in middle school and then re-collected it via a FaceTime interview.
Item: In Ukrainian households, it brings one good luck on an exam to use the same pencil that you used when studying during the exam itself. After you are done with the exam, you then break the pencil in half as a sign that you have just attacked and overcome your fears.
Interpretations: I believe that this superstition is very important to BC because it allows her to really focus on the exam, and look forward to doing well on the test. She puts classwork as her number one priority, and it often stresses her out too much. By doing this routine, she is able to calm herself down and understand that everything will be okay, and if she is frustrated after the exam, she can look forward to breaking the pencil.
Collector’s Name: Isabel Robinson
Tags/Keywords:
- Superstition
- Material lore
- Ukraine