Author Archives: f0041k1

Blanket over Mirror (Noah Hensley)

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General Information About Item

  • Superstitions
  • English retrieval
  • Country: Puerto Rico
  • Informant: JJ
  • Collected: Nov 12, 2021

Informant Data:

JJ is a current Dartmouth senior who was born in 1999. His mother is from Puerto Rico, and raised him as the primary parent in the household. JJ was raised in Queens, NY and identifies strongly with the city. 

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: 

Puerto Rican culture is a unique blend of pre-Christian animistic and spiritual beliefs, and beliefs associated with Catholicism. Queens, NY has a considerable population that identifies with PR culture, and subsequently adorns their house in a manner traditionally found on the island. 

Social Context: 

Various pre-Christian beliefs in Puerto Rican households still remain today. Much like the East Asian concept of ‘Feng Shui’, households are set up to provide good flow of energy between rooms and spaces. JJ recalls hearing this superstition from his mother. 

Item

In JJ’s household, mirrors below a certain size were always covered by some sort of cloth or blanket that covers up their reflectivity. This is to ward off any spirits or negative energy that may infiltrate a house after the reflection brings them in. Large mirrors are often left uncovered, however, because they serve a very practical purpose in hygiene and such. Yet, small mirrors such as those on bathroom vanity, are frequently covered after use to prevent such spirits from entering the house. 

Informant’s Comments:

JJ does not believe in this superstition, and thinks it is annoying that most mirrors in the house are covered.

Collector’s Comments:

I did not know this existed, and had never been in a house that followed this superstition/ritual.

Tags

Superstiton

Latin American

Elderly

Puerto Rico

Mirrors

El Cucuy (Noah Hensley)

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General Info About the Item

  • Spirit/Creature
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin- Mexico
  • Informant- EPV
  • Date Collected- Nov 1, 2021

Informant Data:

EPV was born in 2000 in the Los Angeles valley area. While born in LA, he spent a great deal of his childhood in the Lake Tahoe region with his father. His parents have been divorced since he was young, and he is of Mexican descent. EPV studies computer science at Dartmouth College, and is a current Junior. 

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Mexican iconography and entities predate many Christian influences in the region, and are particularly poignant in those of native lineage (such as EPV’s family). Spirits and entities can be either positive, neutral, or negative depending on the intention of the spirit. 

Social Context: ‘El Cucuy’ is a spirit that attacks the disobedient, and therefore is passed down to younger children in Mexican households. EPV remembers hearing it from his aunt after he knocked over her bowl of soup as she was having dinner. Often, the illustrations of the cucuy are paired with an example from another family to build allure, e.g. “Your friend X didn’t go to bed on time, now El Cucuy grabbed him!” 

Item:

 ‘El Cucuy’ is essentially the Latin equivalent of a bogeyman. He is of short stature, hairy, and evil, and supposedly attacks children that are disobeying their elders. A child must go to bed on time, mustn’t steal, and mustn’t horse around or the Cucuy will come and grab them. Cucuy does not visit obedient children who listen to their parents.

Attatched File

El Cucuy (The bogeyman) - The Demons of Latin America

Informant Comments:

EPV remembers being quite scared of this as a child.

Collector Comments:

This is really similar to other non-latin conceptions of a boogeyman, and struck me as reminiscent of my own childhood.

Tags:

Demon

Latin

Children

Latin America

Monster

El Mal De Ojo (Noah Hensley)

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General Information about the Item

-superstitions

-Language: English

-Country of Origin: Venezuela

-Informant- NA

Date Collected- October 24, 2021

Informant Data:

NA was born in rural Venezuela in 2001. He immigrated to Miami, FL in 2008 with his mother to find a better life in the US after the oil crash that devastated the Venezuelan economy. He is a staunch supporter of capitalism and individual liberties, and is a Junior at Dartmouth studying Economics. 

Contextual Data

Cultural Context: 

Venezuelan children are thought of to me more susceptible to various evil spirits and forces, as they are relatively pure and defenseless. “El Mal De Ojo” (an evil eye) is one of those supernatural spirits; anytime a child is laughed at or envied, the evil eye places bad luck on both the child and it’s family 

Social Context:

The mother in a Venezuelan household is often the one tasked with protecting their children from anything that may come their way. NA’s mother is no different, and while the family is Catholic, the mother still looks out for bad spirits and energies outside the Christian faith that can traditionally harm a Venezuelan family. NA’s mother adhered to the following protocol. 

Item

To protect a child from the ‘evil eye’ caused by callousness and envy, young children (such as NA) are instructed to wear thin red wristbands until they are old enough to ward off the negative energies caused by the supernatural evil eye. It is unclear why the red band is said to protect against the eye itself, but NA speculates that it’s color is designed to avert attention. 

Informant’s Comments

NA did not wear one as a child, but he knows kids who did.

Collector’s Comments:

I had seen these in my elementary school in the US, and now know what it means.

Tags/Keywords

Superstition

Latin

Children

Venezuela

Evil

Đốt vía (Noah Hensley)

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Title: Đốt vía

General Information about the Item:

  • Rituals, Good Luck Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Vietnam
  • Informant: KL
  • Date Collected: October 21, 2021

Informant Data:

KL was born into a family of Vietnamese immigrants in 2001. He initially lived in New York City, but eventually relocated to Burlington, NC to attend high school. He is a junior at Dartmouth College, studying economics

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Viet business practices and customs are heavily influenced by mythical spirits and beliefs in good/bad chi. Business owners are encouraged to please spirits in order to be profitable in both the short and long term. The influence of these spirits on business practices is not limited to Vietnam’s borders, as Viet immigrants still abide by the rules even within the US. 

Social Context: 

KL’s mother ran a shop while the family lived in NYC, and abided by business practices that were consistent with her upbringing in Vietnam. As a young boy, KL often helped his mother in the shop, doing handiwork and organizing boxes. KL remembers asking his mother why they partake in the ritual of Đốt vía, and her being quite serious in the explanation of its practice. The last thing a shopkeeper wants is back luck, and this was an essential part of being in the good graces of various spirits. 

Item:

Đốt vía refers to a practice of burning a single piece of paper and waving it around the store after the first customer to not purchase anything goes through. This is believed to ward off the supernatural spirits of bad luck in the store, as a customer coming in without purchasing something is a sign of ill fortune. In the United States, laws usually permit only one piece of paper to be burned, but in Vietnam it is common to burn nearly an entire newspaper’s worth of paper. 

Associated File:

Cách Đốt Vía Giải Xui - Mách Bạn Mẹo Đốt Vía Bán Hàng Giải ...

Informants Comments:

This is widely practiced in Vietnam, and I experience it just about every time I go.

Collector’s Comments:

This ritual seems less practiced in the US due to the safety hazards associated:

Tags/Keywords

Ritual

Vietnamese

Shopkeepers

Vietnam

Burning, Good Luck

Mirror on the Door (Noah Hensley)

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Title: Mirror on the Door

General information about the item:

  • Superstition, House Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Vietnam
  • Informant: KL
  • Date Collected: Oct 21, 2021

Informant Data:

KL was born into a family of Vietnamese immigrants. He initially lived in New York City, but eventually relocated to Burlington, NC to attend high school. He is a junior at Dartmouth College, studying economics

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: 

The Vietnamese are typically firm believers in ‘Feng Shui’i; arrangement of furniture and items in the house that promote good flow of energy throughout the house. Viet households are typically meticulously planned and laid out by the matriarch of the family. Mirrors are particularly important in planning various aspects of ‘Feng Shui’.

Social Context: 

As the mother typically is well versed in traditional superstitions related to Feng Shui, KL received knowledge of this practice through his mother. It is disrespectful to alter the Feng Shui of a room that has already been set up, so children in Viet families are often informed of various traditions through their parental units. 

Item:

Mirrors are often forbidden to be placed in certain areas of the house: at the foot of the bed, for example, a mirror is thought to bring bad spirits as energy is reflected back into ones-self from nightmares. Mirrors can also have the opposite effect, however. To protect positive Feng Shui, mirrors are placed on the front of the front door to ward off bad spirits and energies from entering the house. An evil spirit, before entering the house, would be afraid of its own reflection, and therefore not enter the abode. 

Informants Comments:

Very common in Vietnam, less common in US.

Collectors Comments:

It might strike some as unusual to put a mirror on the front door in the US given cultural contexts.

Collectors Name: Noah Hensley

Tags/Keywords:

Superstition

Vietnamese

Parents

Vietnam

Feng Shui, Mirrors