Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
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NOT GIVEN
ON HALLOWE'EN NIGHT BETWEEN ELEVEN AND MIDNIGHT IF A GIRL SITS
BEFORE A MIRROR WITH A CANDLE, EATING AN APPLE AND COMBING HER
HAIR, SHE WILL SEE THE MAN SHE WILL MARRY IN THE MIRROR. BUT
IF SHE TURNS AROUND TO LOOK, HE WILL DISAPPEAR.
Where learned: OHIO ; COLUMBUS
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Air Weather Fire |
SUPERSTITIONS AND CONTAGIOUS MAGIC
A PACKET CONTAINING NAIL PARINGS, A LOCK OF HAIR AND
THREE DROPS OF BODY FLUID, USUALLY BLOOD, PLACED UNDER THE
BOTTOM STEP OF A LOVE OBJECT WILL ENSURE THAT THE LOVED (ONE)
WILL LOVE NO OTHER. MM
A MIXTURE OF ROOSTER BLOOD, CORN WHISKEY, AND A SMALL
AMOUNT OF DRIED BULL DUNG WILL ENSURE POTENNENCE AND MALE
OFFSPRING. CC POTENCY MM
A WOMAN WHO HANDLES ANY ANIMALS DURING HER PREGNANCY
"MARK" HER BABY WITH EITHER ANIMALISTIC FEATURES OR
BEHAVIOR. CC MARKS? MM
IF YOU ALLOW AN ALBINO PERSON TO TOUCH YOU YOU WILL BE
BLINDED OR ONE LEG WILL BECOME SHORTER THAN THE OTHER
BY THE NEXT FULL MOON FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT.
Where learned: SOUTH CAROLINA ; COLUMBUS
Date learned: 00-00-1918
AT MISSISSIPPI STATE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN AN
OLD TREE STANDS NEAR THE ENTRANCE GATE.
IT IS SAID, FOR EACH LEAF THAT FALLS FROM
THE TREE IN THE SPRING, A MSCW GIRL
MARRIES A MISSISSIPPI STATE BOY.
Where learned: MISSISSIPPI ; COLUMBUS ; MSCW
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Plant |
Date learned: 03-20-1969
AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A PINNING ENGAGEMENT IN THE DELTA
TAU DELTA FRATERNITY, THE FRATERNITY MEN WOULD SERENADE THE
GIRL. AFTER THE SERENADE THE ENGAGED COUPLE WOULD B PICKED
UP AND CARRIED BACK TO THE DELTA'S HOUSE WHERE IN (ON) THE
FRONT LAWN AWAITED A BATHTUB FILLED WITH WATER. THE COUPLE
WOULD BE DROPPED INTO THE WATER.
Where learned: OHIO ; COLUMBUS
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Marriage |
Date learned: 09-16-1973
DURING FINALS WEEK, ALL THE CURTAINS ARE PULLED IN THE HOUSE.
Where learned: OHIO ; COLUMBUS
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 09-16-1973
"INCHY PINCHY"
This practical joke begins when one person convinces
another (usually a younger/naive) person that they are
going to be initiated into a special group. The "initiate"
is taken into a darkened room, with perhaps only a candle
for a light, and seated on the floor. Others come into the
room (quietly and reverentially) and seat themselves in
a circle, in which the "initiate" is included. (Everyone
but the person who is the target of the joke is a co-conspirator.)
After everyone is seated in a circle, the
leader (seated next to the victim) announces that the
ceremony is about to begin. He instructs the "initiate"
to copy his motions exactly, doing to his neighbor what
is done to him. The leader, then, reaches out and grabs
the victim's cheek and gently pulls on it, saying
solemnly, "Inchy Pinchy." This should be intoned slowly--
"In...chy Pin...chy." The victim pulls the cheek of
the person next to him and does likewise, and the motion is
passed around the circle. Again the leader reaches out
and grabs another part of the victim's face, perhaps the
forehead or nose, and says "Inchy Pinchy." Again the
motion is passed around the circle. This continues as
many times as the leader wants. When the "ritual" is
over, the victim is instructed to look in the mirror to
verify how the ceremony has transformed him. When he
does so, he realizes that each time the leader touched
his face, that he had been smeared with lipstick (or any
other substance that can be concealed in the hand). At the
moment of realization everyone shouts "INCHY PINCHY!"
Submitter comment:
This was a joke I learned at a slumber party when I was
in seventh grade. My older brother and I successfully
played it on my younger brother, Greg, who reminded me
of it when I asked for any possible folklore items,
especially children's songs/games. A copy of a story he
wrote about this experience has been submitted as
supplementary material.
Where learned: OHIO ; COLUMBUS
Keyword(s): Humor, trick, mock rite-of-passage
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Entertainment Diversion CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Initiation rite Hazing |
Date learned: 00001965CA
PARODY RHYME
CHINKA, CHINKA, CHINAMEN SITT IN ON A FENCE
CHINA MAKES A DOLLAR ON A FIFTY-FIVE CENTS.
SHE MISS, SHE MISS, SHE MISS LIKE THIS.
Submitter comment: THIS IS USED WHEN DETERMINING WHO GOES FIRST IN A GAME.
Where learned: OHIO ; COLUMBUS
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse Game Verse |