Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for P740 returned 781 results.
Placing baking soda in a watermelon will cause stomach cramps
and diarrhea.
Submitter comment:
This informant's neighbor had a watermelon patch. Other
people were stealing watermelons from him. He cut a small hole
on the underside of the watermelon while it was still on the vine
laying on the ground, poured in baking soda, so those stealing
the watermelon would "pay" for stealing from his patch.
James Callow comment:
Cf. Puckett, Ohio, no. 27498: "Watermelon and soda bicarb
taken together will kill you."
Where learned: Camben ; Arkansas
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Outlaw Criminal Bandit Pirate BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1944
Do not eat fish and watermelon together, do not drink corn
liquor and eat bananas, do not eat fish and milk together.
James Callow comment:
"If you eat bananas after drinking beer or whiskey, it will
kill you (... student, Negro, Cleveland, 1959)"; "if you eat
bananas after drinking whiskey, you will die in agony" (...
barber, Negro, Cleveland, 1956)" -- Puckett, Ohio, nos. 27489,
27490.
Where learned: Camben ; Arkansas
James Callow Keyword(s): Incompatible foods
| Subject headings: | Favorites Food Drink -- Kind of Food and Its Preparation BELIEF -- Fish BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1945
Cure All
An apple a day, helps keep the doctor away.
Submitter comment: To prevent sickness.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness BELIEF -- Plant |
Date learned: 00-00-1975
Step on a crack, you will break your mother's back.
Submitter comment:
This was a game he and his friends would play in Mississippi
when walking home from school.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
While walking outside, if you step on a crack in the ground, it
will break your mother's back.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Pregnancy
If a woman is pregnant she should not lift her arms above the
height of her shoulders. The umbilical cord could become tangled
around the unborn baby's neck and strangle it in the womb.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Metaphor
One saying that I learned as a child while walking to school
was "Don't Step on a Crack or You'll Break Your Mama's Back."
(Referring to cracks in the sidewalk.)
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
DON'T CUT YOUR HAIR UNTIL A FULL MOON,
OR IT WILL FALL OUT.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Moon BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
NEVER THROW YOUR HAIR AWAY. IF A BIRD USES IT TO BUILD HIS
NEST, YOU WILL HAVE HEADACHES.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses Hair, on head, mustache, widow's peak BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 10-00-1963
Polish custom
When a child has his/her first haircut, it has been the custom
to keep a lock of hair. People from our family who came over from
Poland kept the locks of hair so the children would have nice hair,
as the legend goes.
Submitter comment:
This custom was practiced by both of my great-grandmothers, and
was passed down to my mother and her siblings.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Mount Clemens
| Subject headings: | 686 Properties attributed to specific numbers or numerals individually. BELIEF -- Body part Senses Hair, on head, mustache, widow's peak BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00001920S
When a baby is born to a Polish mother, you are supposed to put
a red ribbon on a safety pin so the child is always protected by
their guardian angel; a medal of a saint, angel, or the Mother of
God may be added also-- but the red ribbon is essential. This
will protect the child from ladies with evil eyes who will look at
your child, and the child may get sick, get a rash all over its
body, or could even die; this also protects the child from evil-
eyed women who may abduct the child, also.
Submitter comment:
This is yet another custom that my mother has passed on to her
children. It has worked with all my grandmother's children and
grandchildren so far.
Where learned: MICHIGAN
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Fairy Elf Goblin Gnome BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Curse BELIEF -- Color BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00001920S
Never eat hot sauce or eat hot foods while pregnant. To do
so would cause problems with the baby's eyes.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
James Callow Keyword(s): Spice spicy
| Subject headings: | Food Drink -- Flavoring Spice BELIEF -- Body part Senses Eyes, evil eye BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1980
Game
To make going to the store a little more exciting, my friends
and I would play a game called Step on a Crack. The object was to
avoid all cracks in the sidewalk. If any one stepped on a crack
then everyone else would say, "You stepped on a crack and you break
your mother's back.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Singing Dancing Marching Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
YOU MUST NOT TAKE A BABY OUT OF THE HOUSE BEFORE
IT HAS BEEN BAPTIZED. IF YOU DO, SOME TERRIBLE
DISASTER WILL OCCUR TO THE BABY.
Where learned: OHIO ; NORTH OLMSTED
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness BELIEF -- Bad luck |
Date learned: 00-00-1970
EAT HERRING AT MIDNIGHT ON NEW YEAR'S EVE FOR CONTINUED
HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND WEALTH.
Where learned: ILLINOIS ; WESTCHESTER
Date learned: 10-26-1968
LIFT FOR STRENGTH
WHEN MY BROTHERS AND SISTER WERE CHILDREN, WE WOULD RUN
TO LIFT SOME HEAVY OBJECT--TABLE, CHAIR, BUCKET OF COAL--
WHENEVER WE HEARD THE FIRST THUNDER OF THE YEAR. WE
WERE INITIATED INTO THIS PRACTICE BY MY MOTHER AND
DAD WHO BELIEVED THAT IF YOU LIFTED SOMETHING HEAVY AT
THE SOUND OF THUNDER FOR THE FIRST TIME, DURING THE
YEAR, WE WOULD ALL BE HEALTHY, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY,
STRONG, DURING THE COMING YEAR.
Submitter comment:
DURING A RECENT CONVERSATION WITH MY MOTHER, SHE
REMINDED ME OF THIS PRACTICE.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Lightning Thunder BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Number BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 05-15-1965
REMEDY: TO KEEP HAIR FROM SPLITTING, USE VASELINE
AND BRUSH HAIR 100 STROKES A DAY.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 11-03-1971
REMEDY--HAIR
TO MAKE YOUR HAIR LOOK HEALTHY, PUT CINNAMON ON IT.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 11-02-1971
WORRY BEADS WILL PREVENT HEART TROUBLE, FEMALE PROBLEMS
AND TIRED BLOOD. (GREEK)
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE POINTE
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 04-26-1972
LOOK AT A FULL MOON THROUGH A WINDOW. IT WILL HAVE A
GOOFY EFFECT ON YOU.
Submitter comment: SHE BELIEVES IT.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Moon BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 11-02-1971