Item Detail
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The Gecko Superstition
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2/14/2017
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Orem, Utah
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Female
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Nagasaki, Japan
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Nagasaki, Japan
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54
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Mother
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Asian
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LDS
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The informant is a naturalized American citizen, originally from Japan.
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This event occurred in the mornings on the way to school, and again in the afternoons on the way home. Groups navigated narrow streets, not uncommon in the informant's hometown. The rocky sidewall was home to a host of geckos, which became the topic of superstition in this event.
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This event took place in the early 1970s when the informant was in elementary school. Children in Japan walked in groups to school for many miles. The informant was a participant in such a group.
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Japan, geckos
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This story was collected via voice recording and later transcribed. The informant is a native Japanese speaker. The text has been edited with italics and descriptors in parenthesis for clarity. Ums and\ruhs have been omitted.\r\rMaybe third grade, fourth grade? From home to school we walked like 40 minutes as a group, and we have to walk the really narrow street. This side (motions left) is like bushes, and this side (motions right) is like rocky wall thing, so it's like really uncomfortable to walk there because sometimes snakes there too. Especially on the rocky thing, there's a space right. . . .between rocks. Geckos came out. Like June time, you know, rainy season. It's kind of scary you know. So the kids walked like this (thumb tucked in fist). If you don't go like this, if it pees on it, it will get rotten! So everyone was walking with––(laughs). Really! We were serious! Then we told the little kids too––hey, hey, you have to do this! We heard it from the older kids, so I think it was passed down. Yeah, maybe something happened.
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Ashley
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Smith
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Female
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23
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ENG 391
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Eric Eliason