Author Archives: schropp

Aussi Hunt Down

Informant Background:

Informant’s Story:

When living in Australia I had created a punk-rock band with a few friends. Eventually we became fairly successful and toured around. As time went on, some of the band members were replaced, but the drummer and myself stuck around. We began to take the whole thing very seriously over time and decided that we were sick of replacing members so we created this absurd initiation process to see who was going to be the most dedicated. The process went something like this: At first we’d just get to know the potentials – heard them play, listen to their old bands music, talk about music, get drinks, check out some concerts. Then we started giving them all these sorts of tasks to do, like errands, phone calls and other random shit we seriously didn’t think anyone would do. We then pushed it to something a bit more extreme where we told them to get on our friends tractor with us in the middle of the night and drive through the forest. We then had other friends dressed in gorilla costumes who’d throw balls at us from the trees. They’d then pop out of the trees and attack us, of course going easy on the prospect so that he could try to save us. Eventually we’d reveal this was a joke and after a moment of shock and anger, the prospect would just laugh about it. One time though one of the prospects thought they were real gorillas, not just some jack asses trying to pick a fight, and he started to go kung fu on these guys. One of friends had a rib broken so we of course stopped the thing. We ended up getting 3 dedicated band members from it. They were with us to the end of the band days. Starting out though we didn’t seriously think anyone would stick around for the initiation. Punk music breeds some dedicated lokes.

About the Informant

The informant is a freelance construction worker who grew up in both American and Australia. While in Australia he played in a punk rock band for 6 years. He also became a father 12 years ago. Since then he’s been constantly leaning about the pervading sub cultures and rituals for children that were non existent or drastically different from his formative years.

Analyses:

I see this as a testament to the value of having one invest a great deal into something before having them join in order to create sustaining commitment. Sort of like what a fraternity does. And it is when these sorts of things work that long standing folkloric initiations come to be. This is definitely a bit much for just joining a band, but it clearly fixed their problem.

El Día de los Muertos – Day of the Dead

imgresDay-of-the-dead-1

 

 

Context:

El Día de los Muertos is a longs standing Mexican tradition/holiday that takes place in central and southern Mexico on November 1st and 2nd. The belief stands that on the 31st of October the gates of the heavens open, letting the dead back to earth. The first two days of November are used to celebrate their existence. This comes in the form of large festivals that contain art showcases, performances, food, stories, dancing and much more.

According to the informant, this holds a special significance for him because he has lost many people in his life, including family. This acts a cathartic two days where he and his friends/family bask in the nostalgia of their loved ones. He says its also a time for self expression. Artists from all other take the thematics of the festival, including the skull and finds new and decorate ways to present them.

My Thoughts:

Without knowing much of what this festival stands for, it could easily be mistaken for some sort of carnival or halloween event or possibly some freak show. Once one understands its purpose though, it becomes a very meaningful event. To us Americans this sort of thing is non existent. We do have holidays of course, but not one with such a sense of heavy handedness. That is celebrating the loss of loved ones. I can imagine that it is very therapeutic for the people as a whole.

 

Mud Vest – Poner en sus chalecos de barro

 

A mud vest is a figurative vest that you pretend to put on to suppress racial slurs.

Context:

“Explain to me what this mud vest is.”

“I grew up part time in San Diego in the lower class areas. You know, inland side. There was and still is a lot of tension between Blacks and Mexicans. As kids you grow up hearing your siblings and parents even saying derogatory things to others. A lot of fights and sometimes killings came from this. The best way to protect yourselves was to bite your lip when someone other anther ethnicity made you angry. Especially if you were weak or outnumbered. But because we would always saying racial things, it was hard to remember not to say anything, so what my friends and I came up with is what we call the mud vest. Before going anywhere occupied by black people and we weren’t looking to start anything, one of us would say ‘Poner en sus chalecos de barro’, which mean’t ‘put on your mud vests’. The mud vest is our symbolic suppression of such slurs. Saved us a lot of times from getting our assess whooped. ”

“Out of all things, why mud vest?”

“A vest protects, you know what i’m saying? Mud just sounded right (laughs)”

 

My thoughts:

This mud vest concept is a bit humorous and maybe a bit racist, which is ironic because this figurative mud vest is used to suppress racial slurs yet the name of it is derogatory: Mud is dark as are the people they are trying not to offend. The informant does not outright connect the two, but a few exchange of words not included in this post more clearly eludes to it.

This is a bit different than the other lore I collected simply because this ritual is used as a survival mechanism. That alone I find interesting and would like to find lore used in a similar context.

An additional thing to note is this piece of lore functions as a conceptual utility. It’s a tool that is to be applied in specific contexts to maintain or better one’s situation, but isn’t considered to be a remedy. It also contains entertainment value. Therefore its a multi purpose piece of lore.

 

The Banshee (Annotated)

image

When I traveled to Ireland to develop a friends house I was immersed in the culture of the country. Most of the time it was — where I stayed. The construction workrs there would share all sorts of stories with me during lunch. One being the mythological Banshee woman. They warned me that this woman, who would appear to be old or young , makes a horrendous cry that can drive you to madness and even death if experienced. One of the workers said they lost their friends daughter to the Banshee who happened to be the child’s grandmother who was found dead the same time as the daughter was found. What caused the parents to think this was the he neighbors who heard a loud screeching next door.

None of the other workers have stories like this and most only see it as either an old tradition of mythology or something that can only be experienced form your own delusions.

Out of all the stories I was told, this one stuck out the most because I did in fact run into an old woman who was living in the house across from where I was building. She would stare through the window almost every day with her penetrating eyes. It was quite creepy and it got me paranoid. It made me wonder if this story leads people who are innately paranoid to turn the situation into a reality when coming across an old lady.

 

 

ANNOTATION

The Banshee is a long standing Irish mythological  creature/being that people believed to be real. King James I of Scotland believed that he had seen one right before his death as have many other people. This Banshee is said to wear a red or green hood and arises from her cloak to reap terror. In some tales she reveals herself to be the goddess of war.

 

 

ANALYSIS

As the informant states I wonder if the Banshee is really just a psychological event. My interpretation is that it happens before you die and is elicited by some sort disorder.

Something else to note is that the informant chose this story specifically because it resonated with a personal experience. This leads me to think that what artifacts of Folklore that survive or have what is called temporal stickines are those thus resonant the most with people who come in contact with whatever it is.

Schnickles the Elf (Formerly Elf on the Shelf)

 

image

 

Description (What is being performed):

The informant and his wife will hide an elf doll or statue somewhere in their house for their child to find. Once found, the parents relocate it. This game goes on for the entire month leading up to Christmas Day. Within the informants family and amongst their family friends, the elf is named Schnickles. He/she is considered to be one of Santa’s informants who comes by the house each day to listen to the child’s wishes and also to see if the child has been naughty or nice. Schnickles then reports back to Santa each night then relocates somewhere in the house the next morning. With each new placement, the informant and his wife position the elf different poses and often gives him something to do. They will then share photos of the elf with other family friends who too have taken photos of their elves.

The Informant (Background info about performance from informant):

This game that is described is often known as Elf on the Shelf, which is a large scale phenomenon that started out in 2004. A woman and her daughters wrote a children’s book around the elf statue and assigned a game to it that they used to play which is nearly identical to the game described above. At first the concept was shared with people in a grass roots manor before becoming a commodified object. The informant first heard about the idea through a colleague at work at the start of the grass roots publicity and decided to adopt it with his own doll, which his son named Schnickles. Throughout the the first few years the informant spread the concept to his friends before the official concept reached them. The creative positioning of the elf took shape about a year in, which is something people who used the official game also did.

The informant shared many of his pains about the process of having to replace Schnickles each night. He and his wife took turns but would often get in fights about whose turn it was, especially when it wasn’t until the middle of the night that they’d remember to switch it. It wasn’t until they over heard their son talking to it as though it was his friend that they saw how much it meant to him, thus it became important for them. Also the factor that the elf would report the sons behavior meant that for the straight 30 days the child would behave extra well. This was emphasized greatly by the informant as being a god send during a very hectic time of year. He only wished the elf could be around all the time. He’s considered using the birthday addition that the makers of Elf on the Shelf created, but doesn’t like knowingly giving into the commercial nature of it.

About the Informant

The informant is a freelance construction worker who grew up in both American and Australia. While in Australia he played in a punk rock band for 6 years. He also became a father 12 years ago. Since then he’s been constantly leaning about the pervading sub cultures and rituals for children that were non existent or drastically different from his formative years.

The Analysis (My Thoughts):

The nature of this game is not cut and dry in terms of its classification as lore. The roots of this tradition came from a single family who then spread their tradition as first a non commodified entity to then a huge corporate child’s toy. As for the informant and his family and family friends traditions, they all stemmed from vaguely hearing about the Elf on the Shelf during its roots years and making it their own their renaming it and adding in the poses aspect. Although as they carried on this tradition, the original continued to grow into official culture. Does this then render the informants tradition as fake lore? I’d venture to say no simply because they not only altered the contents but when the openly borrow elf on the shelf it wasn’t official culture.