Proverbs in an LSD Cult

Folk parodies of proverbs—altered in wording or context while retaining a recognizable resemblance to the original—offer insight into how people understand the original genre. The most parodied folklore form is the proverb, whose conventionality makes its parody especially incongruous and humorous. A newly discovered, esoteric type of proverb parody appears in the initiation rite of a small LSD cult in Dallas, Texas, organized about five years before the 1968–1969 collection. These epigrammatic sayings draw subtly on traditional proverb form and wisdom, serving a religious function within the cult rather than popular humor.

Study at a glance

Abstract

FOR THE FOLKLORIST interested in the folk's own conceptualization of the nature and function of their folklore, either conscious or unconscious, folk parodies of folklore forms constitute a highly productive area of investigation. Examination of the ways in which the original forms are altered in the construction of parodies and of how and when the parodies are employed yields insight, by contrast, into the original genre and the people's understanding of it.' One of the most parodied of folklore genres, usually for the purposes of humor, is the proverb. Incongruity and the violation of expectations are among the primary sources of humor, and since proverbs are highly conventionalized in form and content and are generally recognized to be so by the people among whom they are current, the alteration of the wording or context of a proverb, while preserving a recognizable resemblance to a traditional form, makes for an especially heightened feeling of incongruity. Hence the perverted proverbs, pseudo-Wellerisms, and shaggy-dog story punchlines that have themselves become widely popular and now occupy a place in tradition beside the proverbs they parody.2 We have recently discovered, however, a more esoteric kind of proverb parody, not traditional in its own right but extremely subtle in its drawing upon the traditional form and wisdom of the genre. These epigrammatic sayings constitute an integral part of the initiation rite of a relatively small and recently organized (ca. five years ago) LSD cult in Dallas, Texas, and were collected during DecemberJanuary, 1968-i969. The use of LSD as a means to the attainment of a religious experience and as the nucleus for the organization of religious cults has been widely reported and