Author Archives: Chi Hang Natt Chan

Superstition #14

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Title: Cleansing with Salt

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Customary Folklore: Rituals, Traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data:

Emi is a freshman (’21) at Dartmouth College. Her father is Japanese and her mother is Thai. She is an international student from Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. She identifies herself as more culturally Thai, having grown up there, but still considers being Japanese to be an important part of her identity. She is fluent in Thai and is learning Japanese at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Emi learned about this superstition/practice by observing her father do it while growing up.
  • Cultural Context: Emi’s father is a Japanese emigrant who settled in Thailand, bringing his cultural beliefs and superstitions with him. It appears that this particular superstition is symbolic.

Item:

  • Preventing Bad Luck: Throw salt unto oneself to ward off malevolent spirits when you return home from a funeral.

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

 

Transcript of Associated File:

Informant: “When my dad comes [back home] from funerals we always have to prepare a packet of salt or a mound of salt outside the door for him and what he does is he takes that salt and sprinkles it on his shoulders or over his shoulders because he’s getting rid of the bad spirits. When you go to a funeral and you come back home the spirit might follow you and by just throwing the salt on your body you’re telling the spirit not to come in. So yeah, that’s what he always does with funerals and stuff.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Emi notes that this is something her dad regularly practices and is more a Japanese superstition than Thai. Post-interview she also notes that salt has cleansing or “pure” properties to it.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This seems like another symbolic superstition. Salt seems like a logical choice as it is white, which many might associate with purity, and because it has historically been used as a preservative to keep food from rotting, particularly with meats.

Collector’s Name: Natt Chan

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition/Bad Luck/Japan/Salt/Spirits

Superstition #13

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Title: Eating with Chopsticks

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Customary Folklore: Superstitions, Traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data:

Lauren is a freshman (’21) at Dartmouth College. Her father is American and her mother is Japanese. She has family in both New York and Tokyo and resides in the latter. She is fluent in Japanese and was born and raised in Japan.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Lauren learned these superstitions from her elders in Japan growing up.
  • Cultural Context: These “bad luck” superstitions center around thematic ideas about death and are largely derived from symbolism.

Item:

  • Bad Luck: With regards to chopsticks, it is bad luck to stick your pair of chopsticks directly upright into your food, particularly if it is rice.
  • Bad luck: It is also improper to pass food between people from chopstick to chopstick.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

Informer: “First they are all related to chopsticks and the usage of chopsticks in Japan. Basically, if you’re eating, you’re not allowed to stick your chopsticks directly into your food, usually it’s rice. But it’s not allowed to stand upright because it’s reminiscent of the incense we use to honor the dead. So if you do that, it’s like you’re going to go to hell or something like that. And the second one, you’re not allowed to pass food from chopsticks to chopsticks because at funerals, you pass around the bones of the deceased from chopsticks to chopsticks. So it’s all related to death.”

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • Lauren says that both these practices deal a great amount with symbolism and similarity. These practices emulate actual traditional rituals and practice that deal with death.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I noticed that these superstitions were not only based on symbolism, but also exhibited Japanese belief in homeopathic magic, as defined by James Frazer.

Collector’s Name: Natt Chan

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition/Bad Luck/Japan/Chopsticks

Superstition #12

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Title:

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Verbal Folklore: Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data:

Leeya is a current sophomore (’20) at Dartmouth College. She lives in Hawaii and is native Hawaiian as well as Japanese. When she was younger she spent summers in Japan attending elementary school. She speaks Japanese and English.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant learned of these superstitions from older figures. This piece of folklore was collected in the McLaughlin cluster on Dartmouth’s campus.
  • Cultural Context: The superstitions pertaining to dreams is largely symbolic and partly mnemonic, likely unique to Japan. Mt. Fuji is an important landmark in Japan as the country’s tallest peak and is rooted in the region’s endemic animistic religion of Shinto.

Item:

Good luck: Having a hawk, Mt. Fuji, and an eggplant appear in your first dream after the new year is a very auspicious omen for a very good year ahead.

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

 

Transcript of Associated File:

Informant: “So, your first dream (I think) after new years is really important. So if you dream about a hawk, Mt. Fuji, and an eggplant then you are supposed to have a really good year.”

Collector: “Cool, is there a reason for the three things in your dream?”

Informant: “They are supposed to be symbolic, I don’t exactly know why, but they are symbolic for something.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • The informant admitted post interview that she doesn’t know the exact background for the particular piece of superstition that she shared, but remains convinced it is because they are symbolic.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Some follow up research revealed that some of my assumptions were correct. Mt. Fuji is a significant landmark and is a generally auspicious symbol. Other things I learned was that Japanese people regard hawks as very intelligent, possibly due to a history of falconry practice during Japan’s feudal era, and that the Japanese word for eggplant sounds similar to another Japanese phrase that connotes achieving greatness.

Collector’s Name: Natt Chan

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition/Good Luck/Japan/Dreams

Superstition #11

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Title: New Year Foods in Japan

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Material Folklore: Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data:

Leeya is a current sophomore (’20) at Dartmouth College. She lives in Hawaii and is native Hawaiian as well as Japanese. When she was younger she spent summers in Japan attending elementary school. She speaks Japanese and English.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant learned of these superstitions from older figures such as her parents as well as from practicing them.
  • Cultural Context: The superstitions pertaining to foods is largely symbolic, likely unique to Japan but not necessarily exclusive to it, as noted by the informant.

Item:

Leeya says that it is customary to eat certain foods around the new year to bring good luck, as different ones symbolize different things. These foods are collectively called Osechi-ryōri. She explains how buckwheat noodles, called toshi-koshi soba, are eaten because the noodles are long, therefore representing long life.

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

 

Transcript of Associated File:

“On new years you’re supposed to eat certain foods it’s called osechi-ryōri. Each food has its own meaning, for example there’s like soba – toshi-koshi soba and that’s supposed to signify long life because, you know, the noodles are long.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Most foods are eaten because they are symbolic.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The symbolism makes a lot of sense. Some followup research I did on my own explained that another popular item is shrimp, as it’s curved shape and long whiskers resemble a bent-over old man .

Collector’s Name: Natt Chan

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition/Good Luck/Japan/Food