Title: “Leg Shaking”

General information about item:

• Bad luck superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Korea
• Informant: Jamie Park
• Date Collected: 10-17-18

Informant Data:

• Jamie Park was born in New York City, New York on October 22, 1997. Jamie lived in New York for a short time with her parents and sister, until they moved to Seoul, South Korea, where her parents initially immigrated from. The Park’s time in Seoul was brief and eventually they moved back to the United States, settling down in Rancho Palos Verdes, where Jamie grew up until she graduated from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. Currently, Jamie is a Junior undergraduate student at Dartmouth college, majoring in Studio art, with the hopes of going to medical school upon graduating. In addition, Jamie makes frequent visits to South Korea, as her parents moved back to Seoul in August 2018.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: Jamie experienced this folklore first hand when she was about seven years old. She was sitting at the table with her mother and fidgeting her leg up and down. Her mother told her to stop shaking her leg since it would bring bad luck. When asked about the typical context of this superstition, she explained that is a common way for this superstition to be shared. Most often the superstition is said by an adult to child and more specifically a parent telling their child. A common example of this is one day when Jamie and her mom were sitting in the doctor’s office and she got in trouble for shaking her leg.
• Cultural Context: This is a common Korean superstition and Jamie talked about frequently getting yelled at by her mother when she was in middle school as the result of this superstition. This superstition seems to serve as a teaching tool for Korean parents to influence good behavior and teach children to act respectfully. It does this by creating fear that not sitting still and being patient will bring bad luck to the person violating the superstition.

Item:

• Shaking your leg when you are sitting is considered bad luck. This is because you are shaking good luck off you.
• Audio:

Collector Comments: This superstition was provided to us by two of our informants. Another interesting note is that this is an example of a magic superstition (contagious magic).

Collector’s Name: Will Graber

Tags/Keywords:

• Superstition
• Bad luck
• Korean Culture
• 18F

Title: “Red Ink”

General information about item:

• Bad luck superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Korea
• Informant: Sunglim Kim
• Date Collected: 11-5-18

Informant Data:

• Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, South 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 studies. 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.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: Professor Kim shared that she was first taught this superstition at a very young age by her grandmother. She thought she was probably about three or four years old when she learned this superstition and shared that she learned it when she was learning to write her own name. One day she picked up a red pen and began to write with it and her grandmother warned her that she should never write anyone’s name in red colored ink because it would bring very bad luck.
• Cultural Context: Although Professor Kim was not certain about the origins of this superstition, she thought that in pre-modern times death sentences were written in red ink and that frequently the names of people who had been arrested were also written in red ink. This explains why writing names in red ink is so strongly connected to death in Korean culture. Even today this superstition is strongly followed in Korean culture. Professor Kim shared that she will take notes or highlight in red but would still never write someone’s name in red ink.

Item:

• Text: Writing a person’s name in red ink brings very bad luck and is strongly associated with death.
• Audio:

Collector Comments: This superstition seemed to be a very common one in Korean culture since several of our informants told us about this superstition. Another interesting note is that this is an example of a magic superstition (homeopathic magic).

Collector’s Name: Will Graber

Tags/Keywords:

• Superstition
• Bad luck
• Korean Culture
• 18F

Title: “Fan Death”

General information about item:

• Bad luck superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Korea
• Informant: Kyu Kim
• Date Collected: 11-13-18

Informant Data:

• Kyu Kim was a Dartmouth ’18 who now lives and works in San Francisco, California as a consultant. He was born in Seoul, South Korea and lived their until he was seven years old. Kyu then moved with his family to the northern Virginia/Washington DC area. During his time at Dartmouth, Kyu studied mathematics and enjoyed playing the bassoon in the orchestra.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: Kyu experienced this folklore when he was about five or six years old while living in Korea. He thought he was likely taught this superstition by his parents, but the superstition is deeply ingrained in Korean culture, so he attributed this as the reason he still remembers the superstition. Despite the fact this is a very common Korean superstition Kyu does not still believe in it.
• Cultural Context: Kyu shared that he thought this superstition originated because traditional Korean households were heated by burning charcoal which could create smoke if the room did not have the proper air flow. Leaving a fan on while you slept was thus very dangerous since it could change the airflow or suck smoke into the room, causing lung problems or even suffocation. Kyu also shared that this superstition is so deeply rooted in Korean culture that fans are not sold with continuous on switches. Instead fans in Korea are sold with timers that make sure they shut off after a designated length of time.

Item:

• Sleeping with a fan on in your room will kill you. The fan will chop up the air and you will suffocate and die.
• Audio:

Collector Comments: This superstition was provided to us by one other informant in addition to Kyu, but Kyu provided more contextual data for the superstition. Another interesting note is that this is an example of a sign superstition.

Collector’s Name: Will Graber

Tags/Keywords:

• Superstition
• Bad luck
• Korean Culture