Author Archives: Timothy Chen

EL Cielo Pobrado

Story

My informant’s great grandfather on his mom’s side once invented a successful Columbian product and it apparently is all over South America and the world. It’s called ‘El Cielo Pobrado’, which is a type of ceiling texture that had never existed before. He successfully started a house construction company that focused on this.

Analysis

My informant finds pride as a Columbian in this legend as there is a successful ancestor in his family. Despite the fact that he seems to firmly believe that this is an actual product, after researching on the internet, I found that there is no such product. When I told him that, however, he said that his mom also believed this story and that it was passed down from the mid-late 1800s. Thinking about it, perhaps this family legend might have been created to bolster the family reputation. It also gives the family a sense of pride. If this story was true, however, then, in my interpretation, the product’s success may have been bloated as it was passed down from generation to generation.

Leaving the money

Story

Before the war, my informant’s great grandfather worked at a bank in China. In World War II, during the panic, he escaped with a lot of money from the bank, intending to use it when he reached safety. But when he reached the Chinese border, he said “This is not my money” and after dropping the sacks, he crossed.

Analysis

This is a family legend that my informant told me and she believed for a long time. Her mother used to tell it to her and used it as both a moral lesson and as a source of family pride. Her mom heard this from her aunt, the informant’s grand-aunt. But her other grand-aunt disputes this story and claims it was made up, although she says he did still work in the bank. The discrepancy in the family legend shows how even within one generation the story can be morphed and retold from a basic fact. Furthermore, the legend displays their family pride and puts their lineage on a higher moral pedestal.

Lo Bat Go(蘿蔔糕)

This is a traditional recipe for Chinese radish cake that my informant learned when she was a child while watching her mom cook it. She cooked it sometimes, not specifically for a special occasion, but she learnt it from her parents also by watching them make it. Her mom didn’t actually teach her the recipe, so she thinks that she might be off from the original.

Ingredients

1) 10 lbs of shredded raddish

2) Lap cheong (腊肠) (Chinese Sausage)

3) Mushroom

4) Hoisin sauce

5) Shrimp

6) Salt & Pepper

Recipe

1) You chop up the lap cheong, mushroom and shrimp

2) Mix it with the raddish

3) Press it to get liquid out

4) Press it into the pan

5) Steam it for about 30 mins

Analysis: In my opinion, this recipe is an example of a family tradition that is passed down from generation to generation. Even though this is tied to no celebration or special moment, the method by which this tradition survived emphasizes the folkloric aspect of this recipe. Furthermore, since the recipe is passed down from observation and not orally, the recipe supposedly varies with every generation.

Baba Yaga (Campfire edition)

This was a story that my informant heard while he was on a camping trip with his friends near Los Angeles. Rather than telling scary stories, which was the usual tradition, the theme was just interesting stories that they found interesting that someone told them.

Once there was a Russian witch named Baba Yaga. She had a house in the middle of the forest on stilts with chicken feet attached to them. One time, an orphan bot was wandering in the forest and he saw this house. He opened the gate and it creaked. Then he saw Baba Yaga who caught him and put him in a cage so she could eat him. Then he came across a hungry cat who asked “Can you feed me?” When the orphan boy does that, the cat becomes satisfied and asks him for anything he wished. The boy asked if he could open the lock. So the cat did. Then while he is running to freedom, he comes across a rug which seemed very dusty. He decided to dust it since Baba Yaga was nowhere in sight. At this moment, the carpet comes to life, thanks the boy and flies away. The boy, too terrified about Baba Yaga, decided to keep running to the gate. On his way, he decided to grab a stick of butter, thinking that it might come in handy at a later time. When he reached the gate, he realizes the gates were creaky so he decided to oil them. The gate also comes to life, thanks the boy, and allows him to go out. But on his way out, he encounters Baba Yaga coming out of the forest. Her teeth glistened in the sun and at the reflection she started to chase the orphan on her flying broomstick. But the carpet comes back and aids the boy, who gets on his back, and flies across a lake. Baba Yaga, being unable to control her broom, falls into the water and melts. But she somehow manages to revive through remolding herself at the lake’s edge. But by that time the boy had already ran far enough that she couldn’t chase him. She shook her fist then went back in the forest.

Analysis

The story seems like a regular campfire story, which implies that there are some exaggerations and changes involved in the story. The story seems to be based off the Russian folktale of Baba Yaga, which can be found here (http://www.jstor.org/stable/1497406). But in this version, there seems to be some other stories mixed in. For example, the flying carpet can be traced to an Arabian origin, while the three trials was an addition from Propp. But there also seems to be some additions from the original tale, like the forest and her cannibalism. Nevertheless, this story seems to have a mixed origin and reflects a garbled story which is told at a campfire for entertainment.

Cooking with Eggs

If you have a mole in your eye and you look at a dish that involves eggs while it’s being made, it won’t turn out well, especially when the recipe involves stew. The possible accidents can range from the egg popping to the stew ending up going bad.

Analysis: This is a type of contagious magic that my informant’s family believes. My informant actually does have a mole in his eye and this actually occurred multiple times. He believes the mole came from his mother’s side and that all these incidents are actually coincidences. However, whenever an egg stew is being made, his family tells him specifically to get out of the kitchen. I think these are also coincidences, since I’m sure the recipe has gone wrong more than once when the informant was not in the kitchen. The informant was never told how having a mole could mess up the recipe, so this seems to be without evidence.