Author Archives: Alexandra Allman

Greek Fruit and Vegetables

Informant A is a 17-year-old Sophomore at USC studying Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis on Neuroscience. She is ¼ Greek Cypriote, ¼ German and ¼ Argentinian but she strongly identifies with the Greek side of her. She spent 9 years in Greek school and goes to Greece every summer. She speaks Greek with her grandparents.

So one of the biggest things on the island is a stress on the importance of fruits and vegetables, because we grow all of our own. And some of my family members actually own farms. So one of the important things that my grandfather did with me as a tradition together, because he knew I wasn’t getting it in such an industrialized urban America, since I lived in New York City, was he brought me to my family’s farm and he had me pick the figs with him. So I know how to pick a perfect fig now! I know exactly the ripeness to pick, I can see it up in the tree, I’ll tell him and point at it, and he’ll take the ladder and go pick the fig down, and I got to eat it right there, right off the tree totally fresh. We’d feed the bad ones to the chickens or rabbits. We’d pick peaches and grapes and he basically wanted me to have experience with the outdoors with the food that you’re eating because he felt that American culture is so far removed from the actual farming and from the food. You just kind of accept what’s in front of you and put it into your mouth and your body without knowing what it is.  He stressed things like knowing which chickens gave you your eggs, and where you’re getting your flowers from. We would drive 2 hours to a nearby village to get our Halloumi cheese. I would always come back with like 20 packages. I guess one of the advantages the US has over Cypress is access to things like toothpaste and Listerine, these things are such luxuries in Cypress. I would actually bring a suitcase full of this stuff. When I come back though my suitcase would all be full of cheese!

There’s a big contrast between the industrial and the farm land. So what would happen with this food, its usually community based, and you’d make your dishes and invite people over and they’d bring the dishes that they made. But the way that the structure works as far as the meals go, which I really like it that you don’t actually start off with a bread or a soup, you start off with some cheese, you use that to tide you over. And they always have the bowls of fruit out. The fruit is completely different. They’re so small but so sweet. I miss it. They only pick it when its ripe and you eat it right away. My family specialty is pastichio, and it’s like a “Greek lasagna” and I call it that just because it has pasta and meat in different layers. Its purpose was to fill you up and give you enough energy for the long day, because most of the people in Cypress work in the fields. It’s a layer of noodles in the bottom, and then you would have a layer of ground beef with mint and parsley, and olive oil and chopped up onions, and then you add all the vegetables to get your nourishment. And then the top is béchamel cream. It’s a very light creamy mixture that adds some substance, and then you put a little cinnamon on top. And one small square like the size of your fist will completely fill you up, it’s a full meal. I actually called my grandmother to get the exact family recipe when I made it here. It doesn’t taste the same if you buy it in a store. Every family makes it a little differently. The family recipes correlate exactly to what the villages would grow, each dish will taste a little differently in each place. In the US we like storage. We need pre-packaged food or canned food, something that we can open easily and work on. In Cypress we have all these fruits and vegetables and its just around, you can pick it and you can make it, you have the time.

 

Analysis:

Here the informant A talks about the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables in Greece and also about the tradition she and her grandfather share when she went to pick the figs, and also the tradition of making her family recipes. She also describes how she called her Grandmother for the recipe and how that strengthened their bond.  She describes the importance of community and how everyone will come together over the home cooked food. She doesn’t think that this same type of community exists in the US because people cook much less here because they just want things fast, and have less special family recipes that are passed down.

3 Greek Proverbs

Informant A is a 17-year-old Sophomore at USC studying Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis on Neuroscience. She is ¼ Greek Cypriote, ¼ German and ¼ Argentinian but she strongly identifies with the Greek side of her. She spent 9 years in Greek school and goes to Greece every summer. She speaks Greek with her grandparents.

“So when I was younger my grandparents wanted to stress on me, not only my ancient Greek heritage, but also the important Greek proverbs that everyone learned in school. So one of the big ones you actually hear a lot in English is

En eetha otee uu then ee eetha

which is Socrates when he was pronounced the smartest man in the world. It actually means ‘I know that I know nothing, which is why I’m the smartest man’. He knew that there was so much more that he needed to learn. So that was basically their way of saying ‘Don’t let your head get too big’. Like even though you may know a lot there’s still so much more to explore so don’t treat this world like you’ve done everything it has to offer because there’s always so much more. I learned this when Grandfather sat me down and started talking about the history of Greece and he told me to remember that. You know everyone has an opinion on everything even if they know nothing. This proverb was like a self-reminder for me. A lot of the proverbs my grandparents told me were supposed to be for you internally, they’re something you think of when you’re struggling. Another proverb my grandparents told me is ‘Nothing easy is worth it’. So when I was telling them how hard my Physics class was last semester, they actually told me this. They asked me, ‘Do you think it’s worth it, are you learning a lot? Because that’s what’s meaningful and it’s good you’re working hard. If it were easy you probably wouldn’t actually like it and that you like the challenge.’ I think this proverb was from one of the ancient Greek philosophers like way back when. This last proverb is definitely one you’ve heard in English. But the original Greek is not what the actual translation is in English. The original Greek is

Pan metron ariston

which means “always measure absolutely perfectly” but what you’ve heard in English is “Everything in moderation”, that’s what that was translated from. It says you can have everything you want, but make sure you measure it well. Make sure you understand what’s moderation and what’s excess. A lot of these proverbs they’ve said have been for my physical and mental strength. And a lot of these proverbs have been passed down to the people who lived in Cypress and Greece. When some of these people came to America, some tried to teach the lessons and morals rather than the myths and the proverbs. That may be why there’s this divide between Greek-American culture and traditional Greek culture. Most of my friends and family in Greece though would definitely recognize these proverbs. They actually teach them in the Greek schools. These proverbs really shape the Greek culture and unite us in our values of work hard, be kind to strangers… You don’t see the kind of similarity in values in the US because there are so many different cultures here. I think something is lost when you move away from the land and aren’t surrounded by the people who share the same history and the same values. You’re not in the community anymore.

 

Analysis:

Informant A mentions 3 proverbs here and how they are important to her. She emphasizes how she thinks of them in times when she is struggling and uses them as bits of advice. The Greeks seem to stress learning these proverbs, they actually teach them in their schools, and A explains how they are less emphasized in the US. The Greek people value working hard, self sufficiency, and humbleness, as most of their workforce depends on agriculture which requires hard work and determination.  The informants family also primarily works in agriculture.  She talks about how the US not emphasizing proverbs makes some of the values that these proverbs teach less prominent in US communities because the people are in such a mixed environment.  Generally people in the US want the shortened version and just the lesson rather than the long story, even if this may be less effective at communicating the lesson.

Greek Jasmine Song

Informant A is a 17-year-old Sophomore at USC studying Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis on Neuroscience. She is ¼ Greek Cypriote, ¼ German and ¼ Argentinian but she strongly identifies with the Greek side of her. She spent 9 years in Greek school and goes to Greece every summer. She speaks Greek with her grandparents.

So I’ve always really liked to sing and I’m one of the few people in my family who doesn’t sound like a dying like woodchuck when I sing. My grandparents and my extended family always give me song requests. I learned a lot of songs in Greek school. One of the famous Cypriot artists in addition to doing all her pop albums, did one titled “Cypress” in Greek. And on that album, she has a lot of traditional songs, with modern instruments. So I was at the beach one morning with my grandparents, and we went at 8am because my grandparents are like 80 years old, and everyone else is also like 80 years old. And I’m like walking towards the ocean kinda doing my own thing, and I start humming The Jasmine, which is a song about this flower, the Jasmine flower.There’s like a particularly potent one in Cypress. And scent is one of the strongest connections people have. And so there’s this whole song written about this Jasmine and its about a lover who was trying to talk to this woman but the parents were keeping them away, but he remembered that every day outside of her window there was the Jasmine. So he almost sings it to the Jasmine, and it’s a very powerful song. And so I learned the song after the CD from this major pop artist. And I was just humming it on the beach, and like everyone joined in. It was kind of creepy, it was like a real life musical. It’s such an emotional song, not only to this flower of our island but also something beautiful that we can all relate to; loving something so much. Everyone who’s from the old villages knows this song, it’s passed down through like party nights. There’s a lot of old Greek Orthodox festivals, and they bring the entire village together and they get the bouzoukis, which is like the Cypriote guitar, except with more range. And they play traditional songs and whoever wants to can come up and sing with them or dance and everyone just shares culture and eats food. Music is really important to the Greeks, its how people express themselves. And back in the day, all the myths used to be sung. And that’s how you’d remember the stories, they’d remember the lyrics rather than words. And music is a really good way to express emotions. And so everyone knows that song because of these festivals. So everyone joined in. I was a little freaked out. And this song is actually so old, it has Turkish words in it. And Cypress has been divided into the Greek and the Turkish side since 1964. It was a terrible war and now there’s a lot of animosity between the two sides. But back in the day, before the tensions with the Turkish mainland, everyone would live next to each other. Everyone spoke a little Turkish and Greek. And so this is one song that everyone knows because it’s basically half Greek and half Turkish. It’s a really old song, maybe like 1700s, it does mention some houses and stuff. All the older people actually request that I sing it.

 

Γιασεμί μου (Greek)

Το γιασεμί στην πόρτα σου
γιασεμί μου
ήρθα να το κλαδέψω
ωχ γιαβρί μου
και νόμισε η μάνα σου
γιασεμί μου
πως ήρθα να σε κλέψω
ωχ γιαβρί μου

Το γιασεμί στην πόρτα σου
γιασεμί μου
μοσκοβολά τις στράτες
ωχ γιαβρί μου
κι η μυρωδιά του η πολλή
γιασεμί μου
σκλαβώνει τους διαβάτες
ωχ γιαβρί μου

 

Yasemí mou (phonetic translation)

To yasemí stin pórta sou,
yasemí mou,
írtha na se kladépso,
okh, yiavrí mou,
ke nómise i mana sou,
yasemí mou,
pos írtha na se klépso,
okh, yiavrí mou.

To yasemí stin pórta sou,
yasemí mou,
moskhovolá tis strátes,
okh, yiavrí mou,
ki i mirodiá tou i polí,
yasemí mou,
sklavóni tous diavátes,
okh, yiavrí mou.

 

The Jasmine (English)

This jasmine outside your door
My jasmine
I came to prune it
Oh, my love
And your mother thought that
My jasmine
I came to steal you
Oh, my love

This jasmine outside your door
My jasmine
Has a great smell in the walkers
and its much smell
My jasmine
Makes passer-bies stay there like slaves
Oh, my love

 

Analysis:

Here informant A talks about the importance of songs and music in Greek culture. She mentions also a bit about Greek Orthodox festivals and their importance in passing on these songs and the community culture. These songs are a link for the community back to the past where most of their entertainment and values were encompassed in the myths that were sung. The entire community comes together around these songs and that the oldest and the youngest know them. It is also a link for A to her Greek culture back home. This song is especially important because it ties the Turks and the Greeks together in their common past and it is a strong reminder for the Greeks when they see the Jasmine flower of their culture.

Translation from

My jasmine. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2015, from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/γιασεμί-μου-my-jasmine.html

 

Athena and a Bow and Arrow

Informant A is a 17-year-old Sophomore at USC studying Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis on Neuroscience. She is ¼ Greek Cypriote, ¼ German and ¼ Argentinian but she strongly identifies with the Greek side of her. She spent 9 years in Greek school and goes to Greece every summer. She speaks Greek with her grandparents.

A: Let me think of some good legends that I’ve grown up with…mostly the Greek myths. We would, um I knew them in English when I was younger because we got introduced to them in elementary school, and then I told my grandparents I was really interested in them and so they actually found me a Greek version so that I could read it in Greek and solidify my learning there. But we would talk about, um well mostly the PG ones, you know Greek mythology. And one of the ways children were often entertained in Greece was to tell them these myths and stories. These stories were used not only to pass time, but to also carry down values.

The one, I think the one that we would talk about the most is Athena. So Athena, the Goddess of wisdom, but also the Goddess of war, and her affinity is the olive branch, but also the bow and arrow. And my grandparents have always been like, ‘You’re a little Athena! You like to learn, but you’re also really feisty, so you got the war in you’ and to actually perpetrate that, my grandfather once actually went to our backyard and cut a little branch off of an olive tree and made a bow and arrow out of it for me. Kind of a fake one because you couldn’t actually shoot with it, but he like sharpened an arrow, like not sharp enough to kill an animal, but sharp enough to hit a target. And we had that fun together making that, because he’s an engineer so he like makes random stuff. He taught me a lot like how to measure batteries, and play with a solder machine, so I had a lot of fun sharing that with him and learning about what I could do. And actually too Athena is the goddess of weaving, which is why I knit with my grandmother, it’s a fun way to create with her and connect, which is how you leave a legacy, by creating something meaningful.

Me: So do you still have this bow and arrow?

A: Oh gosh I think I left it in Cypress. I’m sure it’s in a closet somewhere with my name on it. I must have been like nine or ten so it’s been a while.

Me: So you talk about how your family prized you for being like Athena, would you say that this is prized in the larger Greek community? Like you say Athena has the wisdom but also like the fire behind it.

A: Absolutely. I think that’s something that really encompasses all the women in my family. My family is mostly women. Although the ‘take charge’ role in mostly cultures is dealt with by men, in my family it is the women who are the strong ones. My family mostly grew up in the Cypress villages farming though which is why they value me going to school so much, and starting early, and are so amazed by how much I know and how I wanted to learn more, just like the values Athena prizes.

 

Analysis:

Here informant A talks about some of the values that her Greek culture prizes and how her family compares her to the Greek Goddess Athena. The Greek legends and myths are extremely important and popular to them, so much so that the Greek stories and their values will come up within conversations in her family. She also talks about the folk item, the bow and arrow, that came out of the conversations with her family and also emphasizes how important these values of strength and wisdom especially are to them, enough so that her grandfather would take the time to make a bow and arrow for her.  She also explains a bit about how unlike most cultures, the Greek myths, like Athena, have influenced her family to prize strong women rather than only strong men.  Her grandfather was proud to show her bits about engineering and then encourage her to be an engineer, instead of some culture where this might be frowned upon.  These stories also helped tie together the informants family and connect the generations.

Tarot Card Superstitions

Informant S is 21 years old from Boise Idaho. He is a Philosophy major who also plans on attending Medical School. He is half Columbian and half American. His grandmother is an older Colombian woman lives in Bogotá. She has a strong religious background as a Jehovah Witness.

 

S: My mom had certain superstitions like if you clear your mind the Devil will get into your head and um when I was really young my mom wouldn’t let me collect anything “demonic” or um anything with horns like Pokémon cards, Digimon. Anything that indicated a tie to Satan. Her mother, or you know my grandma, was a hard-core Jehovah Witness so she sorta reinforced that in my mom. I found it incredibly annoying but it sorta scared me when I was a kid too.

Me: Do you have an example of something you tried to collect but your mom said no?

S: No but my sister did. My sister got this dollar store um crystal ball and it came with a set of really shitty cheap um foreign made tarot cards, yeah they’re like these um cards tied to paganism, they represent like if I remember correctly sort of essentialistic aspects of human culture, no its not Paganism its Hermeticism. Honestly I’m not 100% sure. But they’re the pack of cards you see in like movies where a fortuneteller flips them around and they say things like death, Prince, God, and the fortuneteller ties them together and tells you your fortune. Jehovah Witnesses are hard-core into researching Christianity’s origins and when the Roman Empire split there was supposed to be a fusion between a lot of Christian and Pagan themes in the eastern Roman Empire. So they tried to avoid those sorts of things in their religious practice, the Pagan ones. So when my grandmother saw that she bought that set she freaked out and gave my sister like a 30-minute tongue lashing about how she brought the Devil into our home. It was kind of terrifying to see how livid it made her.

 

Analysis: Here S talks about how his religious grandmother has superstitions especially about the Devil and how that came into conflict with something his younger sister had bought. For his grandmother these beliefs are very important, but they are less important for S and his sister. For him, the most terrifying was his grandmothers reaction to the cards rather than the superstitions themselves, mostly because S is not religious with a strong belief in the Devil, but it shows how important it is to keep the Devil and anything associated with him out of the home for his grandmother.  He says although he finds this grandmothers religion annoying, it also made an impression on him and scared him too.