Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for P574.5 returned 450 results.
superstition
The number 13 is lucky in whatever Eric does. Friday the 13th
days are always good days whereas Saturday the 14th everything
goes wrong.
Where learned: MICHIGAN
| Subject headings: | 686 Specific number by specific number being described BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour BELIEF -- Number P686.1.14 BELIEF -- Good luck BELIEF -- Bad luck |
Date learned: 00001970S
When two people are walking together if they split the pole one
person must go back and walk around the pole three times, or have bad
luck all day.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): SUPERSTITION
Date learned: 00001960S
It is my belief that the way a school day begins determines how
the rest of the school day will proceed. For instance if I go to
school one day and in my first hour I receive a corrected test back
with an "F" on it any other test I take or get back that day I will
fail also, regardless of how hard I've studied. This is also true for
days when something good happens to me in school. This belief does
not, however, extend out of school to my social life.
Submitter comment:
I believe this because I've experienced it many times in the
past.
Where learned: MICHIGAN
Keyword(s): pilot class
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- School BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00001986ca
Thirteen as Lucky Number
My lucky number has always been thirteen contrary to everyone
else's belief. Even Friday the thirteenth has always been an
especially good day for me. The reasons that I first chose this
to be my lucky number is that I was born on Friday August 13th, at
8:13 p.m. This was the eighth month, Thirteenth day at 8:13 and I
weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz.
Submitter comment:
She and her family believe that this is her lucky day because
she was born a very healthy happy child on such a superstitious
day. She overcame the bad luck and therefore that day would
always be a special day.
| Subject headings: | 686 Specific number by specific number being described 686 Eighths / Eight Favorites BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour BELIEF -- Good luck Friday the Thirteenth |
Date learned: 00-00-1988
Wishing
When eating Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, cut out the
wishbone carefully without breaking it. Let the bone dry
overnight so it will snap easily. When the bone is dry, two
people take ahold of opposite ends of the wishbone. Then you
count to three, "one, two, three, go..." and each person pulls on
the bone at the same time until the bone breaks. Whoever gets the
larger segment of the bone has their wish granted. To cheat place
your thumb on the bone which connects the two bones together and
you push forward while they pull. This snaps the bone below the
connecting piece, making the other person's bone shorter.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Frankenmuth
Date learned: 00-00-1976
Monday morning a man should be the first to walk through the
house. It brings good luck.
Where learned: DETROIT
Date learned: 00001960S
When riding over the railroad tracks if you bounce high enough
to hit your head on the roof you will have good luck the rest of
the day.
Submitter comment:
This was really fun for my sister and me, but our mother
thought differently.
Where learned: DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour BELIEF -- Good luck |
Date learned: 00001970S
Death Owl
There's an old belief down South that when a person has been
gravely ill for a period of time or near death, an owl would come
to call for their spirit. The owl would perch on the ill person's
porch, window sill, or tree near the person's home. Exactly one
day later, the ill person would die. The owl was called a squench
Owl, because of the sound that he made during his visit. He would
appear in the late evening. No one knew where he came from or when
he left. People would try to run the owl away to keep the person
from dying and the owl from taking their love one's spirit, but the
owl would only move to another spot and continue to make squenching
sounds and leave like he came. The people were very afraid of this
owl because he brought death.
Submitter comment:
My friend was really adamant about this story because she had
exactly experienced this during her years growing up in Rome,
Georgia.
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00001944CA
It is said when a dog howls in the middle of the night, was a
sign of death, a day or two later a person in the neighborhood
would die.
| Subject headings: | Observation BELIEF -- Mammal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00-00-1955
It's said that if you sweep your trash off your porch after
dark, a police officer will come to your house and take one of your
family members to jail.
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour BELIEF -- Measure of time Working |
Date learned: 00-00-1955
When the first child is born in the family hold it up to the
moon the first night of its birth for blessing from God.
Submitter comment:
My cousin was born on New Year's Day and my grandfather held
him up to the midnight moon and said a prayer.
Where learned: ALABAMA ; Linden
| Subject headings: | 686 Properties attributed to specific numbers or numerals individually. BELIEF -- Moon BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour BELIEF -- Prayer |
Always pray at night so that God will continue to give you
his blessings.
Submitter comment:
My mother always told me to say my prayers before I went to
bed.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Gods BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour BELIEF -- Prayer |
Date learned: 00-00-1987
Old Polish Religious Custom
There is absolutely no work done on Sunday. People get up in
the morning, go to church, have a big breakfast (brunch), then
usually go visiting family or friends. Everyone gets dressed in
their Sunday best.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; HAMTRAMCK
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Church BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 03-00-1992
Working on Sundays
Whenever I asked my mother if I could go fishing on a Sunday
afternoon she would say no because she believed that
Sundays were suppose to be restful days and not to be worked on and
that included fishing. She had this belief because God created the
world in six days and rested on the seventh. So her reasoning was
that if God can make a world in six days and rest on the seventh,
therefore any man should be able to do what he wants in six days
and rest on the seventh.
Submitter comment: My mother never let me go fishing on Sundays.
Where learned: MISSISSIPPI ; Louise
| Subject headings: | 686 Sixths / Six 686 Seven / Sevenths / Several BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour BELIEF -- Magic Book |
Date learned: 00-00-1970
If you kill a snake, it must be hung on a fence until sundown.
If you do not, the snake will come back to life.
Submitter comment:
When I was young, I remember seeing a snake hanging on the
fence all day that my father had killed.
James Callow comment:
See Puckett, Ohio, nos. 30842-30846: snakes, when killed,
won't die or even stop wriggling until sundown.
"A snake won't die until the sun goes down unless you hang him
on a barbed-wire fence." Puckett, Ohio, no. 30847.
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Animal BELIEF -- Sun BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00-00-1956
If dogs howl all night, it means that someone is dying.
Submitter comment:
I heard this from a girl I went to school with. She told this
the morning after her mother had a miscarriage. Her mother had
miscarried during the night while the dogs in the neighborhood
howled.
| Subject headings: | Observation BELIEF -- Mammal BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00-00-1966
Entry filtered.
Gossiping
If someone is gossiping about you (sullying your good name),
put a penny in your shoe for a week and "walk" that person out of
your life.
Where learned: Arkansas ; PINE BLUFF
IF IT THUNDERS BEFORE 7 P.M., IT WILL RAIN BEFORE 11.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Lightning Thunder BELIEF -- Cloud Fog Mist Rain Hail Ice Snow Frost Dew BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
IF A ROOSTER CROWS AFTER DARK, THAT MEANS SOMEONE WILL DIE IN
YOUR FAMILY.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |