Tag Archives: egg

Not Eating Eggs – Vietnam (Claire Macedonia)

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Item: Not Eating Eggs (Vietnam)

General Information About Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Pre-test custom, superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Vietnam
  • Informant: MM
  • Date Collected: 11/02/21

Informant Data: MM is a sophomore at Dartmouth College where she is studying Economics. She is from Manhattan, NY and was born in 2002. Both MM’s mother and father are Vietnamese. They immigrated to the U.S when they were young adults. 

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: As my informant described, in Vietnam, it is believed that it is best to avoid any and all negativity that one can — it is better to be safe than sorry, as one may say. This applies to one’s academics. 
  • Social Context: MM’s parents made sure that nothing was going to get into the way of their daughter’s academics. The informant collected this piece of folklore when she was in grade school. When her parents lived in Vietnam and were students themselves in middle and high school, like many Vietnamese children, they were not allowed to eat eggs before an exam. They continued to follow this superstition with their daughter as they wanted to help in any way to make sure that she would do well in school. 

Item: In Vietnam, eating an egg before an exam brings one bad luck as it is thought that the shape of the egg which is the same as the number zero, will cause a student to score a student on the assessment. 

Associated File

Easy To Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs Recipe and Nutrition - Eat This Much

Transcript:

  • “On mornings that I would have a quiz or test, I would have to have a completely different breakfast from what I would usually eat — hard boiled eggs. Instead, my parents made sure that I would eat cereal or oatmeal.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • My informant always thought that this superstition seemed a bit extreme. However, she also notes that she doesn’t know a world without it and that now she is away from home and in college she subconsciously follows this superstition on exam days. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this superstition to be a creative one. I don’t think I would personally practice it, but I found it interesting to learn how ingrained it became in my informant’s life.

Collector’s Name: Claire Macedonia

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition 
  • Vietnam 
  • Egg 

“La Barrida de Huevo” (Quinn Calhoun)

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Title: “La Barrida de Huevo”

General Information about Item:

  • Superstition, Protective
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Mexico
  • Informant: KH
  • Date Collected: 11-10-21

Informant Data:

  • LH was born in 2001, in Brownsville, TX, where he grew up in a Hispanic, Catholic household. His wider family, including his parents, have lived in the city for many years. He learned most of his cultural traditions from his girlfriend and his grandmother, who were also of predominantly Hispanic and Mexican descent. Today, he is a student at Dartmouth College.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: LH credited the existence of the ritual to a wider culture of superstitions in Mexico, where his family is originally from. Additionally, he credited strong familial cultural bonds with allowing superstitions to foster. He believes that the superstitions are derived from some religious traditions in the predominantly Catholic culture, as many of these rituals involve prayer to become successful, and a wide belief in supernatural creatures in the rural areas of Mexico and the American Southwest.
  • Social Context: QC first learned of this tradition upon inquiring about different superstitions from LH’s life and family. LH first learned of this practice from his girlfriend and several of her friends, when, as this group of friends were gathered, LH’s girlfriend began to perform the practice on herself and he inquired about what she was doing. She explained that she was doing it because she felt very stressed and was doing it to make herself feel better. She also indicated that she did it when sick to help remove the evil that caused either of those conditions.

Item:

  • One gets an egg (or sometimes a lime) and submerges the egg in alcohol overnight. The following morning, one rubs the egg over themselves while praying the lord’s prayer to remove evil spirits and emotions from themselves. Then, they crack the egg over a glass and put in a pinch of salt to neutralize the evil. Then the egg is discarded.

Associated file:

Informant’s Comments:

  • LH does not personally believe in this superstition but said he finds it relaxing nonetheless.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found the use of the egg to be particularly interesting, as it is traditionally a symbol of new life, as a way to draw out evil.

Collector’s Name: Quinn Calhoun

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition
  • Mexican
  • Catholic
  • Hispanic
  • Egg Rituals