Tag Archives: supersition

Catholic Pre-Exam Prayer- American (Caroline Carr)

Title: Catholic Pre-Exam Prayer

General Information about item:

  • Customary Folklore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: RW
  • Date Collected: 10-27-2021

Informant Data:

RW is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a sophomore (‘24) at Dartmouth College. She is an English major and plans on attending law school. She attended The Mount school in Flourtown, Pennsylvania which is an all-girls Catholic high school. Her mom also attended this high school. Both of RW’s parents were raised Catholic so her and her sibling were also raised Catholic, and they attend church regularly on Sundays.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: RW’s high school, The Mount, was very faith focused. Many members of the administration and teaching staff were Sisters of Saint Joseph which is an order of Catholic Nuns. All four years of high school, students were required to take a religion class. In addition, each Friday the whole school attended church together. The Mount prayer which is unique to her school and was said often throughout the school day.
  • Social Context: RW remembers the first time that she learned the prayer was during her freshman orientation. She learned it from the principal who was giving a speech at their orientation. It wasn’t until her first test that she learned about the pre-test superstition her new high school had. Before her first test which was a math test in September of her freshman year, her teacher started with The Mount prayer. She soon realized that every other teacher started with The Mount prayer when they had a test that year. After asking a teacher, RW learned that it had been a long-standing superstition that if they said the prayer, they would do well on the test because they would have God’s help and protection. RW and the rest of The Mount student body continued to say this prayer before every test throughout high school. This piece of folklore was collected during an in-person interview with RW.

Item:

Before each test, RW and her classmates would say The Mount prayer: “Gracious god, make me an instrument of unity and reconciliation, so that like you, I may serve the dear neighbor. Amen”.

Transcript:

“My pre-test superstition is saying a prayer before a test or exam. I went to an all-girls catholic high school, and this is where I learned this superstition. Before any test in any class, not just our religion class, we would say our school’s prayer.  The prayer is “Gracious god, make me an instrument of unity and reconciliation, so that like you, I may serve the dear neighbor. Amen”. By saying this, we would have good luck and God’s help to do well on the exam. My friends and I who are now in college will still say this prayer to ourselves right before a big test.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • I was just talking to my friend the other day, and we were talking about high school, and she said that she still does this before tests. I knew that I still did it, but I was shocked how so many of my friends still said the prayer before test even in college”.

Collector’s Comments:

  • It was interesting to hear RW talk about her pre-test superstition that she still has today. I went to a Catholic elementary school but then went to a secular high school, so it was interesting hearing how much religion played in her high school academics.

Collector’s Name: Caroline Carr

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition
  • American
  • Female
  • Prayer

Without a Watch

General Information about Item:

  • Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: JL
  • Date Collected: 11/6

Informant Data:

  • JL is a Dartmouth class of 2025 from Connecticut who is currently in their freshman year of college. While he is new to the team, he is learning their customs and traditions rather quickly.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Many runners on the cross country/track team have their own personal rituals they do before a meet. There is a lot of variety in these personal rituals, with different runners doing different things to get them in the right mindset to compete. Some of this variety may arise from age, as freshman will continue to do rituals from high school while upperclassmen may develop new rituals throughout their time at Dartmouth.

Item:

  • This athlete, before every race, takes off his watch. The watch he wears is a smart watch that has a lot of features built into it Many other runners keep their watches on during a race.

Associated Audio Recording:

Informant’s Comments:

  • JL has continued this ritual from high school into his collegiate career. He believes that each race is a personal challeng,  and as a competitive person he wants to mitigate the number of distractions that could occur. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • While I am no longer an athlete, I used to play several sports in high school. I completely understand the informant’s desire to minimize distractions as much as possible. Before any of my games I would usually try and find a quiet place to mentally prepare myself for the competition ahead of me.

Collector’s Name:

  • Jonah Kahl

El Mal De Ojo (Noah Hensley)

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

Entrée: Filipino Spaghetti

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, superstition
  • Language: English Country of Origin: Philippines
  • Informant: E.R.
  • Date Collected: November 12, 2020

Informant Data: 

  • E.R. is a Filipino American that immigrated to the United States when she was 10 years old in 2012. She is from Nueva Ecija in the Philippines and lived in Manila with her mom before she moved. This dish is something she loved eating during Christmas time, as her mom made it for her, along with her siblings. Nowadays, she tries to make it during Christmas with her cousins in the United States.  

Contextual Data:    

  • Cultural Context: Filipino spaghetti is a special occasion treat because of its red color and stringy shape. Red represents good luck, and the noodles represent longevity. It is eaten during Christmas as the year comes to an end, and Christmas in the Philippines is celebrated similarly like New Year’s. Since rice is the most common source of carbohydrates, noodles like spaghetti are not eaten everyday. This is from American influence during colonialism, as spaghetti was liked by American army men. 
  • Social Context:  Filipino spaghetti is part of the Nochebuena feast. Specifically, it is made for the kids due to its sweetness. It adds on to the celebratory feel of the dinner as spaghetti represents festivities and brings joy and happiness to the dinner.

Item: 

  • Filipino Spaghetti is a Christmas dish that is not like the American and Italian pastas. It is made with either ground pork and beef, with tomato sauce, but also has sugar, Filipino red hotdogs, and sometimes, banana ketchup. It is topped with grated cheese, and made for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas.

Transcript from Interview Clip:

X.D. (collector): Hi, so please give a little introduction of yourself and your life. Do include life in the Philippines if you can.

E.R. (informant): Hey, so my name is ER, I am 18 years old, and I currently live in Eagle Rock, California. I did live in the Philippines in Manila, but my family was from Nueva Ecija.  I moved to the United States around 2012, when I was about 10 years old.

X.D.: What Christmas dish will you be talking about? Please do give some cultural context.

E.R.: So a special dish during Christmas I loved eating growing up was Filipino Spaghetti.

X.D.: Do explain how Filipino Spaghetti is different from the typical American Spaghetti.

E.R.: So Filipino Spaghetti is a sweet version of spaghetti. It has sugar, banana ketchup, Filipino hotdogs. People do eat it outside of Christmas, but only for birthdays and holidays because no one in the Philippines eats pasta on a regular basis. Filipino Spaghetti became a dish when the Americans came and introduced it to the Filipino people. Usually, Filipinos eat rice, so noodles are special. When the spaghetti is part of the meal, I don’t know, but it makes the meal more fiesta-like and festive. It feels happier around the table. And because it’s sweet, kids like to eat it. 

X.D.: A previous interview did state about red being good luck with Queso De Bola. Do you think spaghetti has some sort of connection with fortune and good luck too? Or is it just festive?

E.R.: No Yes! It kind of does play into that red is for good luck, so eat spaghetti for good luck. But another superstition with Filipinos is that noodles represent a long life. That is why it is eaten during birthdays with pancit (another Filipino noodle dish). Spaghetti is a Christmas meal since you do want to share good feelings with everyone and you hope for the best for everyone since it is the end of the year and you are looking towards a new year.

X.D.: Is there more on why Filipino Spaghetti is eaten during Christmas?

E.R.: I think that’s it.

X.D.: Thank you!

Informant’s Comments

  • Filipino Spaghetti is not just a Christmas dish, but also a dish for birthdays. This is due ot the noodles and its symoblism for a long life.

Collector: Xenia Dela Cueva

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Touching the Feet of Elders

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

Never Bring Bananas on a Boat

Title: Never Bring Bananas on a Boat

General Information about Item:

  • Genre/Sub-genre: Customary and Verbal folklore: Superstition
  • Language: Hawaiian/English
  • Country: USA

Informant Data:

  • Sophia Domingo ’20
    • From Maui, Hawaii
    • Age 19

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Due to Hawaii’s landscape, an outdoor lifestyle is a large part of many local’s life. This includes boating and fishing.
  • Cultural Context: Various protocols and rituals are a part of life in the Hawaiian Islands. Legends and superstitions have developed over time and continued to be respected to the appreciation of the islands and ocean.

Item:

Hawaiian fisherman claim that bringing bananas on their boats is back luck. The superstition is that a banana on the boat will cause not only fish not to bite but also mechanical breakdowns on the boat. Angler fisherman of Hawaii journeyed on long fishing trips in dugout canoes in which they brought bananas as provisions. The longer the trip was in duration, the fewer the fish. The fisherman mistakenly confused the correlation between these two events for causation. Although the bananas were not the reason behind the lack of fish, the superstition stuck with the people.

Collector: Makena Thomas ’20

Tags/Keywords: ocean, water, boat, fish, Hawaii, tradition, banana, superstition