Main Piece: “Every Arab who is a Muslim and is a male is either named Mohamed, Ali, or Yousef” Context: On April 7, 2018 I called an Uber to go to a party. When the driver arrived I said “Hi, how are you doing today? My name is Jaeson. Nice to meet you”. He replied “ I am doing great. Yousef nice to meet you to. He then said “Yup… another Yousef”. He then said “Every Arab who is a Muslim and is a male is either named Mohamed, Ali, or Yousef”. I said I am sorry can you repeat that. He said ok and repeated it. I asked him if I could write it down as a collection of folklore and he said yes. Background: Yousef is a 27 year old Uber driver who drives a red Camry. He is Arab and he is also a Muslim. Analysis: I was intrigued to learn this stereotype about Arabs and Muslim from an Arab. I went to a high school that had a large population of Arabs and there was a large portion with the name Mohamed, Ali, and Yousef. However, it is not true that everyone single Arab has one of those three names. It surprises me how people could generalize a population with no evidence.
Author Archives: jaesonsa@usc.edu
Knock on Wood
Main Piece: When you say something that is good luck our you don’t want to like jinx it, you have to like knock on wood or say knock on wood. That like prevents you from getting bad luck and like stop you from like jinxing what you said. Context: This piece of folklore was collected in a Taco Bell I work at. I asked my fellow employee if there were any sayings or proverbs that he knew. He gave me one and then after when we both took our breaks he told me this proverb. This time we were sitting down at a table in the dining area and eating. Background: Lee is a third generation American. However, his ancestral roots originate in South Korea. Lee is unaware of who he learned this folk belief from. He also stated that it does not mean a lot to him; however, he still practices this belief just to make sure. My thoughts: This is a common subgenre of folk belief called folk protection. In this instance you protect yourself by knocking on wood or saying “knock on wood” from turning your good luck into bad luck. It would be interesting to see on how this folk belief started because of its wide popularity. This folk belief is interesting because it is practiced by many who do not believe in the protection, or who are not superstition. This folk belief has become so widespread that it is said and done as a habit. Another folk belief similar is when people say “Bless You” after someone sneezes.
Leprechaun
Main Piece:
Lee: The story of the leprechaun goes that they are little old men who wear green coats. They are like super mischievous. They are like little trouble makers. They work at making shoes and sell it for gold coins. The leprecoins (making a tongue twisted noise) the leprechauns all worked together for a really long time hid their gold coins in a pot. They then hid that pot at the end of the rainbow. The leprechauns hid the gold at the end of the rainbow so they could find it.That’s why people say follow the rain and at the end you’ll find a pot of gold.
Context:
This piece of folklore was collected in a Taco Bell I work at. I asked my fellow employee if there were any sayings or proverbs that he knew. He gave me one and then after when we both took our breaks he told me this proverb. This time we were sitting down at a table in the dining area and eating.
Background:
Lee is a third generation American. However, his ancestral roots originate in South Korea. Lee is unaware of who he learned this folk belief from. He said he learned this tale from a book his mom used to read him when he would go to sleep. This tale hold sentiment to him for this reason.
My thoughts:
This particular tale also incorporates a bit of variation and a common folk belief. In different variations of this tale, the pot of gold created the rainbow. The folk belief incorporated is that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
It is also interesting to see different folk beliefs for certain objects. For example, a rainbow is also believed to be a symbol from God saying that he will no longer flood the earth. It is a belied tied to Christian belief that Earth was flooded and the only survivors were those on Noah’s Arc.
Powderpuff
Main Content: My high school, you know… Bell High School we had a tradition we did every year called Powderpuff. Essentially what it was was every year we had a flag football game in which the seniors played against the juniors. What was super funny though was that it was umm reversed. So the girls played the football game and the boys were the cheer leaders. It was like a huge event that we had the week before homecoming. Even during lunch there was… we would have a huge pep rally and both teams would run up onto the stage and everyone would be cheering. Then the guy cheerleader … who buy the way were dressed in cheerleader outfits and had makeup and even wigs. They would have a dance battle. The seniors versus the juniors. Background: Kevin is a 20 year old attending California State University Los Angeles. Both his parents are from El Salvador but he was born and raised in Huntington Park, California. Kevin stated that this powderpuff was an important part of his high school experience. He said that he actually participated and it allowed him to feel and have the perspective of a female cheerleader. Context: Kevin and I were playing video games and when we took a break to eat I asked him if he could help me with my collection of folklore. He agreed and allowed me to record the conversation with the condition that I would not post the video interview. We were both sitting on the couch. My Thoughts: Powderpuff is an example of inversion rituals. In this example the roles of males and females were inverted. I believe that this type of ritual is important especially in defining equality for women. Not only does it show that women can play sports that are deemed to be male only sports, but it also allows men to view sports in the perspective of women.
Quicenera
Main Content: A quincenera is when a girl turns 15 and they do a big party to celebrate that she is no longer alittle girl but instead a woman. Parents usually start to save money from the day theirdaughters are born because it is very expensive to throw a quincenera. For a quincenera girlsusually wear puffy dresses and have damas (female court) and chambelanes (male court) who are wearing the same color as her dress. First they have to go to church and have a mass. Then they go take pictures and then the party starts. In the middle of the party the girl’s dad takes off the girl’s flat shoes and puts on some heels. Then they give the girl a doll which is the last doll she is going to get meaning that she is no longer a little girl. After the dad and girl dance together. This is one of the most sentimental parts of the quincenera because the next time they would dance together would be at her wedding. After this, there is a surprise dance. Context: This piece is an interview that I directly copied every word said. The participants name is Jonathan. I had asked the participate in advance over phone if he had any folklore and he asked what I meant by that. After giving a few examples he said he actually did have something to share. So we met in his apartment a few hour later. We entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. Background: Jonathan is a 19-year-old college student whose ethnicity is half Cuban and Half Mexican. He is a sophomore attending UCLA. Analysis: A quincenera is a common example of Hispanic life cycle folklore. It is more common for woman, but it can also be for a male. A quincenera is transition from a child to an adult. In the quincenera there is a motif, the high heel. It represents a woman and therefore the father removes the flat shoe and puts on the heel. I find it fascinating that there is no scientific evidence stating that when a female turns 15, she become an adult. This transition from childhood to adult hood does have different variations across different cultures. For example, other cultures have a sweet 16. The basis is the same but instead of transitioning to adulthood at 15, it is at 16.