Author Archives: Giselle Strong

Mexican Lullaby- Goodnight song

Informant Information 
Nationality: Hispanic American 
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Nevada
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 4, 2022
Primary Language: English 

Background
My informant is a family member coworker of Mexican descent. Every night, she sings a good night song to her children, a song that was passed down to her. This is the song performed by her daughter.

Performance 
Spanish- Duérmase mi niño, duérmase me ya. Porque ahí viene el coyote y te comerá. 

English- Go to sleep little boy, go to sleep right now. Because the coyote is coming and he’ll eat you up.

Audio Recording

Thoughts
I don’t know Spanish so when I first heard the song, I thought it was just a sweet lullaby that tells your kids like “sweet dreams” or something like that. Finding out the song was about a coyote coming to eat you if you don’t is really funny. I found a different variation of the song. There is a version that instead of the coyote coming to eat you, an angel is going to rock you to sleep. 

Lumi Lumi/ Tui Na Massage

Informant Information 
Nationality: Filipino American 
Occupation: Teacher 
Residence: California
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 23, 2022
Primary Language: English 

Background
My informant is my mentor who is Filipino and Hawaiian and during one of our phone conversations, we talked about Filipino folk medicine/massages.

Performance
S- We do a type of massage and it uses taping these two thin sticks, two tan sticks you held open the pores of the body so you tap it on to the skin of the body and so the person lays on their stomach with their back exposed and you would think someone’s whipping them with the sticks but what it’s actually doing is helping get the toxins to come to the surface like beating. There’s– there’s a guava oil that’s rubbed down your back in your legs and your back your neck and you lay out in the sun until it starts to open your pores, and then they tap you as if you’re playing a drum, up and down your back real thin sticks so it isn’t– it isn’t hitting hard, it’s more of a whipping the skin to bring the toxins to the surface other than fatty tissues and then all that guava that is put on you turns black, then you— then you go into a stream or river and wash it off but all that all the toxins in the body are brought up in the guava is the stabilizer in holds the toxins.

Thoughts
This massage reminds me of an ionic foot massage where a person places their feet in a footbath filled with water and a probe is placed in the water that draws out the toxins. After a little more research, I learned this massage is also done to treat children with stomach problems and soothe pregnant women. 

Spy, Pencil-circleSummer, et al. “What Is Lomi Lomi Massage?” What Is Lomi Lomi Massage? | Lomi Lomi | Good Spa Guide, 6 May 2016, https://goodspaguide.co.uk/features/lomi-lomi-massage.

Dia de Los Muertos

Informant information
Nationality: Afro-Latina American  
Occupation: Teacher 
Residence: California
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 9, 2022
Primary Language: English 
Other Language(s): Spanish

Background
My informant is my co-worker who is Afro-Latina and while sitting at the front desk, we started talking about Dia de Los Muertos.

Performance 
X-  Whatever you put on your altar is supposed to– it’s like– so on your altar, you’re putting, ideally, you’re putting objects and food and bread that were like favorite dishes from the person who died, so you’re celebrating the person who died and usually celebrate on the first and second. The first I believe is for the children or that’s the second, the second is children,  the first for the adults, and what happens is on the first, the veil comes down, and that allows for the souls to pass back onto the land of the living and they are supposed to come and see the altar and eat the food and drink the liquor and you just celebrate with your family members or whoever and that celebration in the evening. And cultures go– go down to the graveyard and go build their alters around the gravestone then they go back to their houses and they eat all the food and they celebrate the life of the person who passed because day of the dead isn’t about mourning, it’s about celebrating them and so you’ll put their photos of who died and it’s it’s it’s really just like a celebration of living like a grand party. 

Thoughts
I didn’t know much about Dia de Los Muertos before having this conversation with X, but I learned a lot in understanding that it is not a day of mourning but of celebration and I think that’s really beautiful.

Brazilian Superstitions

Informant Information 
Nationality: Brazilian American 
Occupation: Student
Residence: California 
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 27, 2022
Primary Language: English 

Background 
My informant is a good friend of mine and we started talking about her Brazillian culture in McDonald’s after our bible study.

Performance 
S- There’s so many random superstitions. So like this one scares me because it’s happened to me once so I believe it now but maybe it was just bad timing and chocolate but it’s if you point at the sky and point at the stars and the moon you going to end up with a big mole or pimple on your nose like a witch. So I got it one time and I had a pimple the next morning and so I was so mad about it so now when I point at the sky, I use my knuckle. Or like if you keep your flip-flops up like upside-down, that means you want your mother dead. There’s some weird witchcraft ones.

Thoughts
I didn’t know that the superstitions existed and after talking with S, I’m definitely going to make sure that I don’t point at the moon or the stars or keep my flip-flops upside down.

New Years in Brazil

Informant Information 
Nationality: Brazilian American 
Occupation: Student 
Residence: California
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 27, 2022
Primary Language: English 
Other Language(s): Portuguese

Background
My informant is a good friend of mine and we started talking about her Brazillian culture in McDonald’s after our bible study.

Performance
S- So for New Year’s, everyone wears white to symbolize new beginnings. So everyone has on a white outfit and then you basically party all night, watch the fireworks that’s all normal. Everyone makes wishes and dreams but it’s mostly wearing white and a night full of dancing and celebration and stuff but when we say a night full of dancing, it really is like It’s not fake like America like we danced for an hour and then we call it a night, like we are dancing, we’re celebrating we’re feasting and dishes of fish and so usually on more celebratory days fish is the option because steak is a common thing and there’s a famous meal called bacalhau, which is I forget what type of fish it is in English but it’s a fish dish with potatoes and vegetables and it’s so bomb and it’s the steakhouse the rest of the time, we’re all carnivores.  

Thoughts
This is the first time I’ve heard of wearing all white as a New Year’s. If carnival is any indication of how long and hard Brazilians can party, I believe that New Year’s would be no different.