Tag Archives: good luck

Đốt vía (Noah Hensley)

Leave a reply

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

Crow vs. Magpie

Leave a reply

Title: Crow vs. Magpie

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition (Bad luck vs. Good luck)
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: November 5, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, 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. 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. She is a mother of two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:At a very young age (around the age of 6) Sunglim Kim’s friends told her about this superstition. This was a commonly held superstition that all of her friends also believed in. When she was younger she said that she used to believe in these superstitions, and if she saw a crow in the morning going to school it would give her a nervous pit in her stomach that something bad was going to happen. However, she says now that she does not believe in these superstitions. But she will still say that it is a good omen when she sees a magpie.
  • Cultural Context:This folklore is widely held in Korean culture, although our informants did not know when this originated. This folklore originated in Korea. However, there are others cultures that associate the crow with folklore. In India for instance, the crow represents their ancestors, so it is not a bad omen. In Japan and America however, the crow is also associated with a bad omen, but not necessarily bad luck. There is also other folklore tied to these birds in Korean culture as well, Sunglim Kim described. For instance, there is a story about a boy saving a magpie from a snake. The snake then got mad at the boy and tried to attack him, but the magpie got involved and sacrificed itself for the boy. This story represents the magpie as the weak yet good person that doesn’t harm anyone else.

Item:

  • If you see a crow cawing it is considered to bring you bad luck, however, if you see a magpie singing, it is considered to bring you good luck and possibly will bring good guests to visit your house.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “There are two black birds. Crow is Bad Luck, but Magpie will bring good luck, or good guests will come to the house.”

Informants Comments:

  • The informant said that she believed in this folklore when she was a kid, however, she no longer believes in this folklore.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This folklore was interesting to me because Sunglim Kim did not still believe in the bad luck and good luck associated from seeing these birds, yet she admitted that she would still have positive thought associated with magpies and negative thoughts associated with crows. This shows how folklore will engrain an idea into peoples heads, even if they are not conscious of this belief. This piece of folklore is a Sign Superstition, which means if A, then B. So if you see a magpie, it brings good luck. Whereas if you see a crow, it brings bad luck.

Collector’s Name: Kipling Weisel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Crow. Magpie. Good Luck. Bad Luck. Sign Superstition.

Superstition #11: The Number 8 Brings Good Luck

Leave a reply

Title: The Number 8 Brings Good Luck

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data:

  • Tian Zhang is a member of the class of 2020 and was born in China. When Tian was 11, he moved to New York where he would be raised until coming to Dartmouth. Tian is agnostic and leans to the left politically. Tian fears insects and in his free time enjoys traveling, listening to music, and playing pong.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Tian learned that that number 8 was a lucky number from television shows growing up. Although he can’t remember which show he learned it from, he remembers that it was from a cartoon show.
  • Cultural Context: The number 8 is good luck in China because the number 8 also sounds like the words ‘wealth’, ‘fortune’, and ‘prosperity’ in Chinese.

Item:

  • Good Luck Superstition: The number 8 brings good luck.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

Tian_Transcript

Informant’s Comments:

  • Tian told me that he doesn’t obey this superstition because he doesn’t believe that choosing a number has any role in shaping reality. He says that the implications of choosing 8 don’t ever cross his mind when making decisions on which number to choose.

Collector’s Comments:

  • It’s interesting to learn that the number 8 sounds like words such as ‘wealth’, a clear indicator of bad luck. It would be interesting to research if a number like 13, widely considered an unlucky number in America, lends its roots partially to the way it sounds.

Collector’s Name: Gaurav Varma

Tags/Keywords:

  • Chinese/Good Luck/Superstition/Numbers/8

Superstition #24: If You Find a Penny, Pick It Up

Title: If You Find a Penny, Pick It Up

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data:

  • Mitch is a member of the class of 2020 who was born in America and has roots in China and the Philippines. He was born and raised in Orinda, California and does not practice any religion. Lastly, Mitch is very science oriented and hopes to become an engineer by the time he graduates.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: When Mitch was young, his mother would actively tell Mitch to pick up the pennies for good luck whenever she saw Mitch’s loose change laying around the house.
  • Cultural Context: This superstition stems from ancient times when metals were precious and believed to offer protection from evil spirits.

Item:

  • Good Luck Superstition: Picking up pennies brings good luck.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

Mitch_Transcript

Informant’s Comments:

  • Mitch told me that he isn’t superstitious at all, unlike his parents who are very superstitious. He said that this might be because his parents are very catholic and therefore are more inclined to place less importance on logic and reason to establish causality.

Collector’s Comments:

  • It’s interesting to see that this superstition lends its cultural roots to the fact that metal was precious and therefore finding them was valuable. Its social context echoes the social context of the superstition to not break windows because like metals, windows were considered to be very precious centuries ago.

Collector’s Name: Gaurav Varma

Tags/Keywords:

  • American/Good Luck/Superstition/Pennies.

“Skate Low, Score High”

Leave a reply

Title: “Skate Low, Score High”

General Information about Item:

  • Folklore: Verbal – slogan, good luck wish
  • Language: English
  • Origin: United States

Informant Data:

  • Sarah Harris was born in 1996 in Chicago, Illinois. When she was 3 years old, her parents signed her up for skating lessons. Skating was an integral part of her childhood, as she skated 6 days a week. She competed in many skating competitions during middle school and high school. Currently, Sarah is pursuing a History and Government major at Dartmouth. She is also on the Dartmouth Figure Skating Club.

 

Social Context/Cultural Context:

  • The phrase “Skate low, score high” is a reference to one of the team-based events during a specific skating competition that the Dartmouth Figure Skating Club had participated in in the past. In every competition, there are three team-based events (low, middle, and high), based on skating ability. For each event, up to five skaters from the team perform up to 6 elements in total. At the specific competition that took place in the past, Dartmouth’s “Low” team, consisting of 4 skaters, scored first place, thus giving birth to the slogan “Skate low, score high,” referring to the “low” team “scoring first place.” Since that competition, the saying “skate low, score high” has been adopted by the team and is said by skaters to to fellow team members who are about to get onto ice for an event at a competition as a way of saying good luck.
  • This piece of folklore was collected during an interview about DFSC with Sarah at Dartmouth College’s King Arthur Cafe inside Baker Library.

 

Item: “Skate Low, Score High!”

DFSC's "Low Team" which won 1st place multiple times at competitions, coining the phrase "Skate Low, Score HIgh"

DFSC’s “Low Team” which won 1st place multiple times at competitions, coining the phrase “Skate Low, Score High”

Audio Clip:

Transcript of audio:

  • “People also said, uhm, ‘skate low, score high,’ which is a reference to the low team event and them winning that often.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • When asked on her interpretation of the phrase, she responded that the phrase is another way of saying good luck and motivate the team.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Sarah mentioned how the phrase “skate low, score high” is comparable to a good luck wish. In a way, it is similar to magic spell in the sense that skaters evoke and remember the past success they’ve had during a certain competition and subsequently try to channel that success that success into the present performance.

Collectors: Yun Yue Chen and John Gilmore

Tags/Keywords:

“Skate low, score high,” Dartmouth Figure Skating

Green Ribbon

Leave a reply

Genre and Sub Genre:

Material Folklore: Superstition, Contagious Magic

Language: English

Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

Ellen Louise Smalley ’19 is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College. She is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She originally decided to start figure skating at the age of 4 or 5, and was the first in her family to begin skating. She was told to skate by her physical therapist due to her short achilles tendons. She began skating at Dartmouth’s Figure Skating Club due to the recommendation of Vanessa Szalapski ’12 and Maria Spertudo ’14.

Contextual Data:

  • Social: Informant was interviewed by John Gilmore at Dartmouth College’s Novack Cafe. The informant was asked to talk about figure skating folklore unique to the club.
  • Cultural Context: Informant began skating at age 4 or 5 as a way to stretch her short achilles tendons without running.  She encountered this piece of folklore during her time as a member of DFSC.

Item:

Green Ribbon

Skaters & Sloopy wearing the Green Ribbon

Associated Audio:

Transcript:

Ellen: “Yeah, yeah, I like this. I don’t know, I think its pretty fun. I still have the ribbon on my backpack from nationals.”

John: “Can you tell me more about that?”

Ellen: “I can’t remember. I think we were all going on ice for the awards, I think it was when it was. I think we all put the ribbons in our hair, or Alex and i think you wore them on your wrists, or I don’t know, I don’t know, what you did on your head. Um, But yeah. And then we all kept, I know Isabelle and Anna keep it on their backpacks, and I think Clara does too. And I have mine on my backpack”

Informant’s Comments: Ellen describes the origin story of the Green Ribbons that are worn by all of the team.

Collector’s Comments: The green ribbons commonly worn by the Dartmouth Figure Skating Team originate from a recent trip to nationals. They now continue to wear these ribbon on their backpacks as good luck charms. It is a form of homeopathic magic.

Tags/Keywords:

  • Green Ribbon, Superstition, Contagious Magic

Collector:

Jonathan Meng

It’s Bad Luck to Say “Good Luck!”

1 Reply

Title: It’s Bad Luck to Say “Good Luck!”

Informant info: Informant name is Jason Laackmann. Jason is twenty-eight years old and attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Jason served in the Army for five years in active duty and continues to serve in the Minnesota National Guard. The locations in which he has served are Fort Bend, Georgia, Fort Riley, Kansas, and overseas in Eastern Afghanistan.

Type of lore: Customary Folklore, Superstition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. He was asked to talk about any superstitions he may recall during his time as a paratrooper in the army. Informant was very serious when stating that one should never say good luck, but then gave a smile when he stated how he would react and cracked a joke.

Associated File: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KcnEdk7Q4 (Start at 2:55)

Transcript:  [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Um, as a paratrooper, you, you never tell somebody, you know, “good luck” before they jump out of the airplane. It’s a bad omen and if somebody ever said it to me, I’d be, I’d be freaking out as soon as my parachute opened. I’d be afraid I was going to break my leg or my shoulder when I landed.

Informant’s comments: Jason takes this superstition seriously and is very nervous before jumping out of the air plane in the off chance someone might say “good luck!” on his way out.

Collector’s comments: Jason was serious at first when discussing this superstition, but was able to make a light-hearted joke at the end.