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Crow vs. Magpie

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Title: Crow vs. Magpie

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition (Bad luck vs. Good luck)
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: November 5, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until the age of 17. Her family origins are Korean. When she was a junior in high school she moved to the United States, and went to high school in Seattle, Washington. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, went back to work in Korea for a few years, and then came back to the United States to get her masters degree at the University of Kansas, and then went back to Berkeley for her PHD. Currently, she is a professor of Korean Art and Culture, in the department of Art History at Dartmouth College. This is her 7th year teaching at Dartmouth College. She is a mother of two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:At a very young age (around the age of 6) Sunglim Kim’s friends told her about this superstition. This was a commonly held superstition that all of her friends also believed in. When she was younger she said that she used to believe in these superstitions, and if she saw a crow in the morning going to school it would give her a nervous pit in her stomach that something bad was going to happen. However, she says now that she does not believe in these superstitions. But she will still say that it is a good omen when she sees a magpie.
  • Cultural Context:This folklore is widely held in Korean culture, although our informants did not know when this originated. This folklore originated in Korea. However, there are others cultures that associate the crow with folklore. In India for instance, the crow represents their ancestors, so it is not a bad omen. In Japan and America however, the crow is also associated with a bad omen, but not necessarily bad luck. There is also other folklore tied to these birds in Korean culture as well, Sunglim Kim described. For instance, there is a story about a boy saving a magpie from a snake. The snake then got mad at the boy and tried to attack him, but the magpie got involved and sacrificed itself for the boy. This story represents the magpie as the weak yet good person that doesn’t harm anyone else.

Item:

  • If you see a crow cawing it is considered to bring you bad luck, however, if you see a magpie singing, it is considered to bring you good luck and possibly will bring good guests to visit your house.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “There are two black birds. Crow is Bad Luck, but Magpie will bring good luck, or good guests will come to the house.”

Informants Comments:

  • The informant said that she believed in this folklore when she was a kid, however, she no longer believes in this folklore.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This folklore was interesting to me because Sunglim Kim did not still believe in the bad luck and good luck associated from seeing these birds, yet she admitted that she would still have positive thought associated with magpies and negative thoughts associated with crows. This shows how folklore will engrain an idea into peoples heads, even if they are not conscious of this belief. This piece of folklore is a Sign Superstition, which means if A, then B. So if you see a magpie, it brings good luck. Whereas if you see a crow, it brings bad luck.

Collector’s Name: Kipling Weisel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Crow. Magpie. Good Luck. Bad Luck. Sign Superstition.

Throwing Salt When Returning from a Funeral

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Title: Throwing Salt When Returning from a Funeral 

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: November 5, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until the age of 17. Her family origins are Korean. When she was a junior in high school she moved to the United States, and went to high school in Seattle, Washington. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, went back to work in Korea for a few years, and then came back to the United States to get her masters degree at the University of Kansas, and then went back to Berkeley for her PHD. Currently, she is a professor of Korean Art and Culture, in the department of Art History at Dartmouth College. This is her 7thyear teaching at Dartmouth College. She is a mother of two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:When Sunglim Kim was 13 years old, and living in Seoul, Korea, her dad left for a funeral without her mom, and when he came back, her mom performed the superstition explained in the item below. She knew that this was a common practice in her culture beforehand. However, this was the first time she witnessed someone practicing this superstition. She agrees that it was a good idea and it was something that her family continued to do frequently, and Sunglim Kim continues to practice this today. Sunglim Kim also explained that women usually do not go to funerals, so her mom would usually be at home whenever her dad went to a funeral. This is because her mom normally needed to look after her and tend to domestic duties.
  • Cultural Context:Women in general usually did not attend funerals. This was because they would need to stay home and tend to their kids and other domestic duties. Women who are pregnant especially do not go to funerals, because women did not want to see anything negative during a time of pregnancy, with the idea that this might bring bad things into their child’s life. This superstition originated in Korean culture, and it was a very much engrained and a traditional part of their culture. It was a superstition accepted by most households, according to Sunglim Kim, and also accepted by all ages.

Item:

  • When someone comes back from a funeral, which is usually the man or husband, the family member at home will throw salt on them as they enter the door to ensure that they do not carry with them any spirits of the dead into the house. Spirits of the dead that entered the house could potentially be harmful, and bring more death or negative things to the family. The salt would remove the dead spirits, and maintain the purity of the person and the house.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “Whenever my father came back from funerals, and then my mother, before he entered, would always put some salt around him.”

Informants Comments:

  • Sunglim Kim believed this to be an important superstition to abide by when someone returned to the house after a funeral. She said that normally her mom did not go to the funerals, so it was usually her mom that was throwing salt on her dad when he returned.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I thought this was a very interesting superstition because it demonstrates gender roles within Korean culture. It was traditionally the man that was going to the funerals and the woman that stayed at home. This shows that the women’s duties are very much valued, and women can’t get much time off from tending to their kids. Also, it shows that pregnant women are treated very well in the time of pregnancy since pregnant women were not allowed to go to funerals since they were not meant to see anything negative in the time of pregnancy. This is also an example of a Conversion Superstition, which means if A, then B, unless C. So in this case, if the husband goes to a funeral, then he will bring spirits of the dead with him back to the house unless he gets salt put on him.

Collector’s Name: Kipling Weisel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Throwing Salt on Husband. Conversion Superstition.

Don’t Cut Finger Nails at Night

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Title: Cutting Finger Nails at Night

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Japan
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: November 5, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until the age of 17. Her family origins are Korean. When she was a junior in high school she moved to the United States, and went to high school in Seattle, Washington. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, went back to work in Korea for a few years, and then came back to the United States to get her masters degree at the University of Kansas, and then went back to Berkeley for PHD. Currently, she is a professor of Korean Art and Culture, in the department of Art History at Dartmouth College. This is her 7thyear teaching at Dartmouth College. She is a mother of two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:When Sunglim Kim was young (around the age of 5 years old) she remembers wanting to cut her toenails one night, but her mom came in and stopped her because of this superstition. Sunglim Kim was ignorant to this superstition at the time, and this was the first time that her mom explained the superstition that will be described in the item section below. Sunglim Kim was terrified by the superstition, and it prevented her from cutting her toe nails or finger nails at night for the rest of her youth. She had terrible nightmares about rats turning into monsters and haunting her because of this superstition. She said that most of her friends at the time believed in the superstition as well when they were young, so they also did not cut their toe nails at night. Sunglim Kim now will cut her toenails at night, because she no longer believes in this superstition. However, she will always make sure that the lights are on when cutting her nails, to make sure that her nails do not get on the ground.
  • Cultural Context:This superstition is deeply prevalent in Korean culture. It is a variant of a similar Japanese superstition about cutting fingernails at night.

Item:

  • If you cut your toe nails or fingernails at night then rats will eat the toe nails off of the ground. The rats that now have a piece of you will be able to transform into you, and also can take your soul. Cutting toenails in the daytime is acceptable, but it is still important to not leave any toe nail clippings on the ground, since the rats will still be able to eat them at night.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “They don’t allow me cut my nails, like toe nails or finger nails at night. And they said, the rats will eat them, and they can transform into you.”

Informants Comments:

  • The informant was very confident about the fact that this was a widely held belief. She believed in the superstition for a while when she was young, and said that all of her friends believed in it as well. She then stopped believing in it when she was older, around the age of 11 she said.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this superstition very interesting and entertaining. I was surprised by how widely held a belief it was in Korean culture, and that it had crossover from Japanese culture. It is an example of contagious magic in Korean culture, however in Japanese culture it is not an example of contagious magic. In Japanese culture, the variation is that if you cut your fingernails at night, then it opens up a way for bad spirits to enter your body through the fresh cut in your fingernails. In Japanese folklore, bad spirits are only around at night, so that is why you should not cut fingernails at night.

Collector’s Name: Kipling Weisel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Cutting Fingernails. Contagious Magic.