Author Archives: Marlette Montella

Touching the Feet of Elders

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Title: Touching the feet of your elders

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Sarina Kothari
  • Date Collected: 11/12/18

Informant Data:

  • Sarina Kothari is a ‘21 attending Dartmouth College. She is a pre-med student studying Biology and Math. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but currently lives in Orlando, Florida. Her family is Hindu, and she speaks some Hindi at home, but can not read or write. Her parents are from Bombay (Mumbai).

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Elders are highly respected in Indian culture, so by touching their feet and putting your hands over your head, it is showing respect to them. If you don’t do this, then you are disrespecting them, and the will not give you their blessing so you will have bad luck.
  • Social Context: Sarina learned this superstition from her parents and grandparents. It is something people practice quite often today. She explained that if you meet and elder person, like a grandparent, you must touch their feet with your hands and put it over your head. She grew up practicing this and still does it today whenever she is with her elders.

Item:

  • This superstition is tied to social manners and respect for elders in the Indian culture.

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

Transcript: “So whenever you see an older grandparent or like someone older than you, not like a parent but like a grandparent age, then you have to like in my culture like in Hindu culture, it probably different in North and South India, but for me, whenever I see someone at a grandparent’s age, I have to touch their feet with my hands and also put it over my head. It signifies that you respect them and if you like don’t do that then it means you don’t respect your elders. It’s a common theme of like whatever you respect in Indian culture, you have to put your hands to that then out it over your head like that. It just signifies that they’re like blessing you, so if you want blessing from older people, you have to do that to get blessings. And if you don’t do that then its considered disrespectful and then you’ll get bad luck.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This superstition is an example of a conversion superstition: If you meet and elder, then you will have not get their blessing and have bad luck, unless you must put your hands to their feet then over your head.

Collector’s Name: Marlee Montella

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Superstition
  • Elders

Stepping on a Textbook

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Title: Stepping on a Textbook

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Sarina Kothari
  • Date Collected: 11/12/18

Informant Data:

  • Sarina Kothari is a ‘21 attending Dartmouth College. She is a pre-med student studying Biology and Math. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but currently lives in Orlando, Florida. Her family is Hindu, and she speaks some Hindi at home, but can not read or write. Her parents are from Bombay (Mumbai).

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Sarina explained that in her culture, people believe if you step on a textbook, you are disrespecting the gods associated with education. Education is very important in Indian culture, so if you do step on a textbook, you must “apologize” to the gods or else you will have bad luck.
  • Social Context: Sarina has always believed in this superstition. It was taught to her by her parents and elders, and is a very commonly known and practiced superstition in Indian culture. She explained that if you ever step on a paper or book that has important information in it, you must put your hands to it, then put your hands over your head and say a quick prayer.

Item:

  • This superstition is has strong ties to religion- you must perform an action if you disrespect a god to prevent bad luck.

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

Transcript: “So basically, there’s a superstition in Indian culture, when you like step on a textbook or piece of paper or anything with information on it, you have to put your hands to it and then put both of your hands over the head to say sorry to like education i guess. It’s important because in Indian culture, one of the gods signifies education, so if you like step on education, like especially textbooks, then it means you’re disrespecting a certain god so you have to put your hands on the textbook, then put it over your head. That signifies like oh it was an accident and I wasn’t actually disrespecting like education. I guess it stems from one of the gods, and now, a lot of people, even if they’re not super involved with Indian culture, its just a thing that they do. If I accidentally step on a textbook or a piece of paper with my notes on it, I will put my hands on it and just say a quick I’m sorry because its like signifying you respect education.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This superstition is an example of a conversion superstition: If you step on a textbook, you will have bad luck unless you put your hand to the textbook, then to your head and say a prayer.

Collector’s Name: Marlee Montella

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Superstition
  • Textbook

Accepting Gifts with Left Hand

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Title: Accepting gifts with left hand

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Priya Shukla
  • Date Collected: 11/12/18

Informant Data:

  • Priya Shukla is a ‘21 attending Dartmouth College. She is pre-med, majoring in English. She was born in London but currently lives in Boston, MA. Her parents are both Hindu. Her mother is from Jaipur and her father is from Agra. Both of her parents speak Hindi, and Priya and her younger brother, Chetan can both read and write Hindi.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In Indian culture, the left hand is considered unclean, so if you accept a gift or money with your left hand, you will have bad luck. Another similar superstition is that people believe if your left palm starts itching, you will soon lose the money from your hands.
  • Social Context: This superstition is the most commonly seen out of the three that this informant told us about. She said that people must use their right hand for doing many specific actions, such as accepting a gift or money and during puja.

Item:

  • This superstition is the belief that the left hand is unclean.

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

Transcript: “So its inauspicious to use your left hand for anything, so if you’re holding food or like you’re doing a prayer, you always have to use your right hand. Um, or if you’re taking money or gifts anything like that on a holiday, you always have to use your right hand to hold it.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This superstition is an example of a magic superstition: If you accept a gift or money with your left hand, then you will have bad luck.

Collector’s Name: Marlee Montella

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Superstition
  • Left hand

Traveling in groups of Threes

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Title: Traveling in groups of Threes

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Priya Shukla
  • Date Collected: 11/12/18

Informant Data:

  • Priya Shukla is a ‘21 attending Dartmouth College. She is pre-med, majoring in English. She was born in London but currently lives in Boston, MA. Her parents are both Hindu. Her mother is from Jaipur and her father is from Agra. Both of her parents speak Hindi, and Priya and her younger brother, Chetan can both read and write Hindi.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The number 3 in Hindu culture is an inauspicious number. It is associated with a Hindu saying that means “bad luck comes when there are three”. Similar to the number 13 in American culture, or 4 in Chinese culture, the number 3 is associated with bad luck, so if you leave in a group of 3, you will have bad luck. According to priya, this can be remedied by using an object to act as a 4th person, or having 2 people leave first, and the third can leave a few minutes later.
  • Social Context: Priya also learned this superstition from her parents. Since she has 4 members in her family, they usually did not pay much attention to this specific superstition, it was just something she knew about growing up. She said that this superstition is not as commonly practiced as some others, it mainly has to do with the inauspicious nature number three.

Item:

  • This superstition is based on the belief that 3 is an inauspicious number.

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

Transcript: “It’s also bad luck to travel in groups of 3 because 3 is an inauspicious number. So you would either have to use an object to act as a fourth person, or two people would have to leave the house first, then the third person could join them a few minutes later.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is an example of a magic superstition. If you leave in a group of 3, then you will have bad luck.

Collector’s Name: Marlee Montella

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Superstition
  • Three

House Entrance Facing East

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Title: House entrance facing east

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Priya Shukla
  • Date Collected: 11/12/18

Informant Data:

  • Priya Shukla is a ‘21 attending Dartmouth College. She is pre-med, majoring in English. She was born in London but currently lives in Boston, MA. Her parents are both Hindu. Her mother is from Jaipur and her father is from Agra. Both of her parents speak Hindi, and Priya and her younger brother, Chetan can both read and write Hindi.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: According to the Indian Vastu Shastra (the science of architecture per ancient Hindu knowledge systems), the main entrance is one of the most important areas, and the direction the entrance faces dictates a lot about the luck of the owners of the household. A house with its entrance facing east is considered very auspicious, and a house with its entrance facing South West brings in struggles and misfortunes because it is the entry of the devil energy.
  • Social Context: Priya learned this superstition from her parents when she was growing up. This is a fairly common indian superstition, and it ties in with other superstitions relating to the household. Priya and another one of our informants told a superstition that says you can not sleep with your feet pointing south, so you have to make sure your bed is facing the right direction.

Item:

  • This superstition relies on the belief of the Indian Vastu Shastra.

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

Transcript: “So, when you’re building a house, you always have to make sure the front entrance points to the east for good luck. I think its because the sun rises in the east.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is an example of a sign superstition: If you have your door facing a certain direction, then you will have good/bad luck.

Collector’s Name: Marlee Montella

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Superstition
  • House