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Folklore from Kansas

Customs, Beliefs, Superstitions

William E. Koch

xviii, 470 pages, 24 photographs, 2 maps, 3 tables, 6 x 9
Paper ISBN 978-0-7006-0244-5, $19.95

Book Cover ImageA major contribution to the heritage of the Great Plains region, this volume is a compilation of over 7,000 separate items, relating to the folk customs, beliefs, and superstitions of Kansas. More than 2,000 people, representing every county in the state, were interviewed during a fifteen-year survey conducted by Koch and his assistants. Individuals of all ages contributed material that has lived in oral tradition for decades--items ranging from superstitions about when to hold a wedding ceremony to remedies for hiccups and warts.

The collection is particularly strong in farming and ranching material and cowboy and rodeo lore. Included are rules to protect one from harm, to ensure good luck, and to help predict the future. The pages are rich with holiday customs, ethnic lore, and beliefs concerned with rites of passage.

A listing of general subject areas reveals the wealth and range of material collected: courtship and marriage; pregnancy, birth, and infancy; the prevention and cure of illnesses and injuries; death and funeral customs and beliefs; people; making wishes; the significance of dreams; luck; the weather; animal signs; plants and planting; animals, birds, and insects; and hunting and fishing. Interestingly, more than half the items are related to the categories of health, weather, and luck.

Folk beliefs make fascinating and delightful reading. If a possum hangs by its tail in the moonlight, the persimmon tree won't bear persimmons. If you want curly hair, shave your head, then place slices of onion on the bare skin. Boil an egg, fill the space of the yolk with salt, go to bed, and whoever you dream about will be your future marriage partner. When you see a load of hay, make a wish and turn away. If an east wind blows on a baby's bare chest, he will always have stomach trouble. Taken together, they illustrate a pseudo-scientific rationale for understanding life and nature.

This volume contains twenty-four photographs and an appendix with an abundance of statistical information, including maps, tables, and diagrams. it will help scholars and the general public alike too appreciate the traditional folklore that will always have a powerful influence on Mid-American culture.

"Now we can have the benefit of the accumulated wisdom and lore of the past in regulating our lives, curing ills, assuring good luck, and avoiding bad. A valuable collection and very amusing."--Topeka Daily Capital

"Interesting, informative, and totally enjoyable."--Great Bend Tribune

"A fun book. You will want to have it around to dip into now and then for light entertainment. It is a fascinating look at our past in a way that has never been presented before."--KMAN Radio, Manhattan

"Impressive."--Journal of American Folklore

"Provides for some interesting reading and many chuckles."--Frontier Times

"Koch has given us the closest thing to a definitive edition of Kansas folklore likely to be available for many years to come. Every serious student of Plains culture and folklore should own this work."--Nebraska History

"Koch has brought together great treasures in this excellent book. It is a solid collection of state folk beliefs and superstitions that adds greatly to our national store of such homespun wisdom and belief."--Wayland D. Hand, Center for the Study of Comparative Folklore and Mythology, UCLA

WILLIAM E. KOCH, associate professor of English and folklore at Kansas State University, is president of the Kansas Folklore Society and has published numerous articles on central plains life and folklore. As a singer of folk songs from the Great Plains he makes frequent appearances before clubs and college groups.