Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for TENNESSEE returned 5179 results.
IF YOU GET SOMEONE'S HAIR AND BURY IT UNDER YOUR DOOR, THAT PERSON WILL COME TO VISIT YOU.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE ; UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE ; BOOKSTORE
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Use of Object |
Date learned: 05-00-1970
WHEN SOMEONE DIES IN A FAMILY, THERE WILL USUALLY BE THREE
DEATHS IN THE FAMILY.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MURFREESBORO
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 06-18-1972
KILLING FROST
THE FIRST KILLING FROST IN THIS AREA WILL BE OCTOBER 20.
JOHN TOLD MY HUSBAND THIS JULY 22. I ASKED HIM HOW JOHN
KNEW AND HE SAID HE WOULD ASK HIM. JOHN EXPLAINED THAT
NINETY DAYS AFTER YOU HEAR THE FIRST KATYDIDS AND JAR
FLIES YOU WILL HAVE THE FIRST KILLING FROST.
JOHN RAISES A GOOD-SIZED GARDEN, AND ACCO RDING TO HIS
WIFE HE GOES OUT AND SITS IN THE GARDEN AFTER SUPPER
EVERY AFTERNOON. SHE SAYS HE'S NOT WORKING, JUST
SITTING OUT THERE. I GUESS HE WAS WAITING TO HEAR THE
KATYDIDS AND JAR FLIES.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; DONELSON
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Insect BELIEF -- Cloud Fog Mist Rain Hail Ice Snow Frost Dew |
Date learned: 07-23-1968
JUMP ROPE RHYME
I LOST MY HANKERCHIEF YESTERDAY
I FOUND IT TODAY
IT WAS FULL OF DIRT
SO I THREW IT AWAY
Where learned: TENNESSEE
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Verse without Music |
Date learned: 04-00-1979
IF YOU GRADUATE IN A CERTAIN YEAR YOU MUST HAVE YOUR CLASS RING
TURNED THAT NUMBER OF TIMES TO INSURE GOOD LUCK. EX- 1983-83 TURNS
BY 83 PEOPLE.
Submitter comment: THE RING SHOULD BE TURNED CLOCKWISE FROM THE WEARERS POINT OF VIEW.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MILLINGTON
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Number Counting beliefs BELIEF -- Good luck Jewelry (gems, rings, etc.) SPEECH -- Gesture |
Date learned: 00-00-1978
SIGNATURES
L.Y.L.A.S.A. LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER ALWAYS.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MILLINGTON
| Subject headings: | Z210 |
Date learned: 00001970S
LUCK
THE STUDENTS OF MILLINGTON CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL WORE THEIR CLASS
RINGS WITH THE WORD CENTRAL FACING THE KNUCKELE BEFORE GRADUATION
AND TURNED OPPOSITE AFTER GRADUATION FOR LUCK.
Submitter comment: INFORMANT STILLS UPHOLDS THE SUPERSTITION.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MILLINGTON
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Good luck Jewelry (gems, rings, etc.) |
Date learned: 00-00-1978
IF THE SUN SHINES WHILE RAIN IS FALLING, IT WILL RAIN THE
NEXT DAY.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated on 09-01-11
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MADISON
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Sign or prediction through Natural atmospheric phenomenon |
Date learned: 08-20-1973
ACHING CORNS AND BUNION SIGNAL THE COMING OF RAIN.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated on 09-01-11
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MADISON
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Sign or prediction through Pains |
Date learned: 11-01-1197
TO HEAR A SCREECH OWL IS TO BE WARNED OF DEATH.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; WINCHESTER
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN
A BLACKBIRD FLYING OVER A HOUSE IS A SIGN OF DEATH TO COME
IN THAT HOUSE.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; WINCHESTER
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Animal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN
NAME EACH CORNER OF BEDROOM FOR A BOY YOU KNOW AND THE CORNER
YOU ARE FACING WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING WILL TELL YOU
WHO YOU WILL MARRY.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; WINCHESTER
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Custom |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN
LAFAYETTE, TENNESSEE WAS NAMED FOR THE FAMOUS FRENCH
GENERAL LAFAYETTE. BUT LAFAYETTE, TENNESSEE PEOPLE PRONOUNCE
IT "LA(LONG A)FAYETTE.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; BOILING SPRINGS
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Explanation of a name |
Date learned: 03-29-1969
A HAIRY CHILD WILL BECOME A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Beautiful ; BELIEF ; CHILD ; Hairy ; PREDICTION ; SUPERSTITION ; Woman
| Subject headings: | Prediction / Divination |
Date learned: 04-00-1972
Custom
Grammaw's Average Day:
"...go milk the cow and put the milk in the springhouse...churn sum buttermilk 'n make the butter...'n make a batch of hominy...rest a little whilst shelling peas...hoe and weed the garden 'n carry sum vegetables back to the cabin...take sic Mandy Lou sum soup on the next farm 'n gather sum herbs to doctor wid later on...shell sum butterbeans...gather sum pears 'n make sum preserves...git the aigs outta the nests 'n get the goat outta the garden...cook three meals a day."
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE ; Boiling and Baking ; Booger Hollow
Keyword(s): ; Average ; Beans ; Chores ; CUSTOM ; Day ; Domestic ; Excerpt ; FARMING ; GARDEN ; Goat ; Grandma ; Narrative ; Peas ; Prose ; Shell ; Story ; VEGETABLE ; WORK
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Measure of time Routine activity |
Love
There was a little girl who lived all alone, her parents were
dead. All she had was a dog named Love. One day a murderer
broke into her house and said the only way he would let her
live is if she can think of a riddle that he could not guess.
She had three days to come up with the riddle. The man then
left. The girl thought and thought and thought. She stroked
her dog and rocked in her chair. On the third day the man
returned. The little girl had on a pair of gloves, a pair of
boots and a thick pair of pants. This was her riddle.
Love I sit
Love I stand
Love I hold, in my right hand.
I can see Love,
But Love can't see me.
If you can unriddle this,
You can hang me.
The man thought and thought and thought. The girl rocked and
rocked and rocked. Finally the man left, he could not figure
out the riddle. He never returned again and the girl spared
her life. The answer to the riddle was she had cut up her
dog. She placed a piece of the dog named Love under her
bottom as she sat in the chair. She placed another piece of
the dog in her boot and still another in her glove of her
right hand. She could still see the dog, but it, being dead,
could not see her.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; Sparta
James Callow Keyword(s): neck riddle
| Subject headings: | Favorites PROSE NARRATIVE -- Ordinary Tale |
Date learned: 00-00-1950
IF THE PICTURE OF A DEAD PERSON FALLS OFF THE WALL, IT'S A SIGN
OF DEATH. AT UNCLE'S FUNERAL, HIS SITER'S PICTURE FELL OFF
THE WALL, AND SHE HAD BEEN DEAD FOR A LONG TIME, BUT NOBOBY
DIED.
Submitter comment: SHE HEARD THIS FROM HER GRANDMOTHER AS A GIRL IN FORT SMITH.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE ; TENNESSEE, ASSUMED ; FORT SMITH ; ARKANSAS, ASSUMED
| Subject headings: | Observation BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 08-08-1968
IF A ROOSTER CROWS BEFORE MIDNIGHT, IT'S A SIGN OF DEATH.
Submitter comment: MRS. REAVES HEARD THIS WHEN SHE WAS A GIRL IN FORT SMITH.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE ; TENNESSEE, ASSUMED ; FORT SMITH ; ARKANSAS, ASSUMED
| Subject headings: | Observation BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 08-08-1968
COMPARISON TO A STUCK HOG
TO BLEED LIKE A STUCK HOG.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; CLARKSVILLE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Phrase PROVERB -- Proverbial Comparison |
THERE IS A BELIEF IN THE THEATRE THAT IT IS BAD LUCK TO WISH
AN ACTOR GOOD LUCK ON A PERFORMANCE. THE PERSON INSTEAD WISHES
THE ACTOR BAD LUCK BY SAYING "BREAK A LEG." THIS IN TURN WILL
BRING THE ACTOR GOOD LUCK ON HIS PERFORMANCE.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; CLARKSVILLE
| Subject headings: | DRAMA -- D000 BELIEF -- P82 BELIEF -- Fate Destiny Luck Chance BELIEF -- Good luck SPEECH -- Vocabulary of Special Group |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN