Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for FO returned 1027 results.
Ethnic:Ugandan
Cocks and Misfortune:
If a family keeps poultry, and is a cock among them crows between sun-set and mid-night [sic], that particular bird must be strangled immediately to overt misfortune!
Submitter comment:
The superstition is proper to the Batooro tribe of about 100,000 poeple of Uganda.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P530, P880] crossed out/replaced with current classifications
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): ANIMALS ; BELIEF ; CUSTOM ; ETHNIC ; FARMING ; MISFORTUNE ; Omens ; Poultry ; SUPERSTITION ; Tribe ; Uganda
| Subject headings: | Observation BELIEF -- Bird |
Entry filtered.
Menstrual
Menstrual:
Pickling: you can't pickle beans or make kraut while on your period or it will ruin.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs and BN added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P535] crossed out.
Submission card found in pile marked [?]
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Canning ; COOKING ; FOOD ; MENSES ; MENSTRUATION ; Period ; Pickling ; TABU
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Custom |
Entry filtered.
Ethnic: Korean
Korean Burial Custom:
In Korea, burial sites are usually found on the sides of mountains with boundaries marked by two pillars. Once a year, (exact time not revealed by informant) food for deceased is borught and placed upon a platform.
Submitter comment:
Informant believes that these particular examples reflect a Buddhist belief in afterlife and ancestor worship.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): BELIEF ; BURIAL ; CUSTOM ; ETHNIC ; FOOD ; Funeral ; Korean ; RITUAL
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial |
Custom/Belief
Belief - Baby/Motherhood:
After delivering a baby, a woman will eat the afterbirth of an animal, so that her afterbirth delivers well.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [F542] crossed out and replaced with current classification.
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): Afterbirth ; BELIEF ; BIRTH ; Child Bearing ; CHILDBIRTH ; Consumption ; CUSTOM ; FOOD ; Placenta ; PREGNANCY ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Birth |
Custom/Belief
Baptism:
In Belgium, children were baptized when they were 3 days old. When the ceremonies were completed, signified by bell ringing at the church, other children would gather outside the church, at which time, the parents of the one baptized would throw chocolate covered almonds or other candy to the awaiting children.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [F543, P686, S720, N247, F533] crossed out. Replaced with current classifications
Where learned: PENNSYLVANIA ; PITTSBURGH
Keyword(s): BAPTISM ; Belgium ; CANDY ; CHILDREN ; CUSTOM ; ETHNIC ; FOOD ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Baptism Naming rite |
Belief: Children
Determining Sex of Unborn Child:
A pin on a thread, if held motionless over the wrist of an expectant mother, can determine sex of child by the motion which it takes up after it is perfectly still. If pin or needle takes up a circular motion than first child weill be a girl. If needle takes up back and forth motion then a boy. If pin stops and then moves again, this can be used to predict the future sex and number of children.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P860] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Where learned: HOME ; NEW YORK ; ROCHESTER
Keyword(s): ANAPEL ; BELIEF ; Biology ; BIRTH ; CHILDREN ; CUSTOM ; Forecasting ; gender ; Ordain ; Pendulum ; Predictions ; SEX
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Birth |
Ethnic: Hungarian
Hungarian Wedding:
The informant recalls that on her wedding day, when she returned to her new mother-in-law's home, she was greeted by the mother and asked to recite the "Our Father." When she came to the part "Give us this day our daily bread..." the mother handed her a loaf of bread saying "no matter how poor you may become, always remember that you will still have a loaf of bread." This is a common Hungarian Custom.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [S570] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Where learned: PENNSYLVANIA ; PITTSBURGH
Keyword(s): CUSTOM ; ETHNIC ; FAMILY ; FOOD ; HUNGARIAN ; MARRIAGE ; POVERTY ; PRAYER ; WEDDING
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Marriage |
Ethnic: Polish
Wedding Custom:
Offering bread and wine to newlyweds just before they leave the reception is a traditional way of wishing good luck for them. [sic]
Submitter comment:
This little ceremony was observed at several Polish weddings that I attended.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: Myself
Keyword(s): BLESSING ; CEREMONY ; CUSTOM ; ETHNIC ; FOOD ; LUCK ; MARRIAGE ; POLAND ; POLISH ; WEDDING ; Wine
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Marriage |
Custom
Wedding Custom:
Keep wedding cake (fruit cake) frozen for one year and on the 1st anniversary unfreeze the cake and eat it. this is for good luck and happiness.
Submitter comment:
(small grammatical corrections written on the card - dealing with sentence structure.)
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Anniversary ; CUSTOM ; FOOD ; LUCK ; MARRIAGE ; WEDDING
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Marriage |
Custom
Cemetery Practices:
When the informant was a child, he said that one made a day out of a trip to the cemetary. People carried their own sprinkling cans, their own shears for cutting the grass around the gravesite, their own garden tools to plant their own flowers. Most of the time you would take a lunch with you and eat it under the trees at the cemetery.
Submitter comment:
Grammatical corrections made to typed submission.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): Ancestors ; BURIAL ; CEMETERY ; DEATH ; FOOD ; Funeral ; GARDEN ; Lunch ; Maintenance ; RESPECT
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial |
Ethnic: Belgium
European Meals:
In Belgium, 4 meals are considered the standard number. First, there is breakfast. Around noon, the big meal of the day occurs. Everyone closes their businesses or comes home from school between 12-1. Around 3-4 there is a snack of bread and butter and jam or the like. And finally, around 7 everyone partakes of a hot meal.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [N222, N222.4, N222.2, N222.6, N222.8] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Where learned: PENNSYLVANIA ; PITTSBURGH
Keyword(s): Belgium ; Consumption ; Dinner ; ETHNIC ; FOOD ; Lunch ; Meals ; SNACK
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Measure of time Eating For menu, see N222. |
Custom/Belief
Craving of Pregnant Woman:
If a pregnant woman has a craving for something and does not get it, the baby will have a birthmark resembling the food that was craved.
Submitter comment:
Informant is a friend's mother, and she remembers this from all her life.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original BN [P800] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; FERNDALE
Keyword(s): BABY ; Birthmark ; Craving ; Craving ; Disfigure ; FOOD ; Lore ; Old Wives Tale ; PREGNANCY
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Superstition
Italian Superstition:
Our family doesn't believe this, but my grandmother and some relatives do: when a pregnant woman craves for some specific food, and doesn't satisfy this crave, she will get a beauty mark in the shape of that food somewhere on her body. My cousin has a beauty mark similar to a pork chop and her mother claims to have craved for pork.
Data entry tech comment:
motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original Bn [P680] crossed out and replaced with current classification
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE POINTE WOODS ; Myself
Keyword(s): BABY ; BELIEF ; CHILD ; Craving ; ETHNIC ; FOOD ; Italian ; Old Wives Tale ; SUPERSTITION
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Ethnic: German
Superstition:
In German villages it is believed that if a boy has a dog and the dog runs away, then the boy must follow the dog in search of his fortune. If the dog returns without his master, then the boy is dead. If the dog does not return, the boy has found his fortune.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P800] crossed out. Replaced with current classification.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Boy ; DIVINATION ; DOG ; ETHNIC ; FATE ; fortune ; GERMAN ; Ordaining ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |
Superstition: Pregnancy
Cats:
Cats shouldn't be allowed in the same room as a sleeping baby because the smell of milk on a baby's breath will cause the cat to suffocate the baby when the cat attempts to suck the milk out of the baby through the baby's mouth.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P400] crossed out / replaced with current classification
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): ANIMAL ; ASPHYXIATION ; BABY ; CAT ; CHILD ; DEATH ; FEAR ; Feline ; FOOD ; Kill ; Milk ; Newborn ; Offspring ; Suffocate ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |
Superstition: Pregnancy
Cats and Babies:
Many mothers will not leace cats in the same room as an infant. They believe a cat can suck all the aior out of a baby's lungs and kill it.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): ASPHYXIATION ; BABY ; CAT ; CHILD ; FEAR ; Feline ; infant ; Newborn ; Suffocate ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |
Superstition: Pregnancy
Cat Belief:
Never place a baby unattended in the same room as a cat, because the cat will leap up onto the child and take hold of the child's tongue and strangle the child.
Submitter comment:
Informant said she saw a cat do this and was able to save the child before the child expired.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P740] crossed out / replaced with current classification
Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; KALAMAZOO
Keyword(s): ASPHYXIATION ; BABY ; CAT ; CHILD ; FEAR ; Feline ; infant ; Newborn ; STRANGULATION ; SUFFOCATION ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |
Superstition: Pregnancy
Cats:
Never let a Tom Cat sleep in the same bedroom with a child, it will take the child's breath away and smother it, killing the child.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P549] crossed out. Replaced with current classification.
Where learned: OHIO ; LUCAS COUNTY
Keyword(s): ASPHYXIATION ; BABY ; CAT ; CHILD ; FEAR ; Feline ; SUFFOCATION ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |