Monthly Archives: November 2010

Folktale – Chinese

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Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 25, 2008
Primary Language: English

My friend Alex told me this Chinese tale that he learned from his grandmother.  Alex said there was this couple who lived in a house and a mother who lived with them. The mother loved eating carp, but the nearest stream was 5 miles away. The water from the stream was so fresh the children always brought this water for their grandma to drink and for her to cook the carp in. Every morning at 5AM, they would go catch four or five carp and bring back buckets of water to cook for their mother and grandmother.  They did this every day for two or three years. Then one day, one of the rocks cracked in their yard and out came a stream of water and carp.  Alex said that the stream with the water and carp appeared in their yard because God was saying thank you for taking care of their elders and now they didn’t have to go far for the carp or forther water that was as sweet as that from the river.

Alex said that he heard this folktale from his grandmother who used to tell it to him when he was younger.  According to Alex the Chinese culture is very family oriented and that is illustrated in the folktale as the children go to great lengths to do something kind for their parents and to take care of them.  In the story the children are rewarded for the kindness and care towards their parents.  But Alex emphasized the point that the children did not know they would be rewarded for this, so they did it of their own accord, not because they had incentive behind it.

I think like many cultural folklore, the meaning and understanding of it reveals much about the morals, values, and beliefs of a the culture.  Like Alex said, this folktale exemplifies the dutifulness of the children to their parents which could be indicative of the great respect honor that is paid to elders in the Chinese culture.  It also demonstrates the religious side of the culture that obviously feels that God will “reward” those who are deserving accordingly.

Fairytale – Japanese

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Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English

Issun Boshi – Little One Inch

My friend Mikey told me this Japanese fairytale and said his mom used to tell it to him sometimes as a bed time story when he was a little kid.  The story is called Little One Inch, which translated into Japanese is Issun Boshi.  I asked Mikey to tell me the story and he said that there was a married couple with no children so one day they went to a shrine and prayed for a child of their own.  Then on their way home they heard a baby crying in the grass and found a small baby boy wrapped in a blanket.  They were so happy that their prayers had been answered they took the boy home and raised him as their son.  But the boy was very tiny, he was bout the size of a person’s thumb so they named him Little One Inch.  When Little One Inch grew older he told his parents he was very thankful for them but he wanted to go out in the world and make his own fortune.  His parents tried to tell him he was too little but Little One Inch eventually convinced them to let him go out into the world on his own.  To prepare him for his journey they gave him a rice bowl to use as a boat, a chopstick to use as a paddle and a needle to use as a sword.  So Little One Inch set off on his journey down the river in his rice bowl.  But his bowl was soon overturned by a frog in the river that hit it.  But Little One Inch was able to swim to shore and found himself in front a great castle.  Little One Inch went to the front of the castle and called out for someone.  A man servant came at first could not even see Little One Inch standing in front of him.  He was so surprised when he saw the boy he went to go get hid lord.  Little One Inch told the lord he came to seek his fortune and asked that he let him be a guard in his castle.  he said that he maybe little but he could fight fiercely with his sword.  The lord was very amused so he let Little One Inch stay in the castle and play with his daughter the princess.  Little One Inch and the Princess played everyday and became very good friends.  Then one day when they went to visit a nearby temple a demon appeared and tried to get the princess.  Little One Inch tried to attack the demon with his sword but the needle did not even penetrate the demon’s toes.  So Little One Inch climbed up the demon’s body onto his arm and waved his sword.  This made the demon angry so he opened his mouth and roared.  When the demon did this Little One Inch umped into the demon’s mouth and began to cut is tongue with his sword.  This hurt the demon so much he spit Little One Inch out and ran away also dropping his magic hammer in the process.  The princess picked up the hammer and said now we can make a wish, and she wished that  Little One Inch would grow taller.  She shook the magic hammer and Little One Inch began to grow until they were both the same height.  They were both very happy and so was the lord when her heard what happened.  The Princess and Little One Inch then got married and lived happily ever after.

Mikey said his mother and his grandmother used to tell him this fairytale sometimes when he was younger.  He says he’s not sure why he remembers this particular story, he just does.  I think he was probably told this story as a way of creating somewhat of a cultural identity and creating some ties to his Japanese heritage/descent.  Because is Japanese, Issei means first generation and usually means the generation of Japanese people born in Japan that perhaps immigrated to another country such as the United States.  The second generation is called Nissei, the third generation is Sansei, and the fourth generation is Yonsei.  Mikey is fourth generation in his family, as am I.  I know that because my parents are Sansei and I am Yonsei we partake in much less traditional Japanese customs compared to my grandmother and compared to how my grandmothers raised my parents.  Therefore, as the traditional Japanese customs and culture seems to be less and less with each generation I think these little pieces of Japanese folklore help create a sense of cultural identity and become increasingly significant and important.  This could explain why Mikey’s mom and grandma told him this fairytale and could also explain why he remembers this specific story; the strong cultural ties and meaning behind it.  This fairytale can be found among many other popular Japanese folktales in Florence Sadake’s book Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories on page 60.  These folktales are all translated and written in English.

Little One Inch fits Propp’s 31 Funtions very nicely.  The story starts with a lack, as the married couple is without children or a child that they so desperately want.  Then the lack is fulfilled and the audience is introduced in the story’s hero, Little One Inch.  Little One Inch grows up and eventually decides he must go on a journey and venture out into the world, which is the departure from home in Propp’s functions.  Then of course the hero must meet obstacles along his journey, such as having is ice bowl boat over turned by the frog in the river and having to swim to shore.  Next in sequence is the meeting of the villain, which is the demon that Little One Inch and the Princess encounter in the nearby temple.  There is a struggle, which is the fight between Little One Inch and the demon.  Little One Inch had to be clever about in defeating a demon so much larger than himself in size.  Finally victory over the villain by the hero, who returns home or in this case to the castle and marries the girl or princess of the story.  It is very interesting to see how Propp’s functions can be followed by many folktales from many different cultures.

Annotation: Sadake, Florence.  Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories. Vermont: Tuttle Publishing:2003.

Joke

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Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Derek: What do you do when your dishwasher stops cleaning?

Me: I don’t know, what?

Derek: Hit her

Derek told me this joke but before doing so he gave a disclaimer warning me it was sexist and that he learned the joke from a friend.  Folklore in the form of jokes can reveal a great deal about a culture because knowing what a culture thinks is funny helps one better understand a particular culture.  In a way, jokes are a significant window into a specific culture.  If you look at jokes in a Freudian way it can be said that jokes offer an outlet for people to express or explore things that are not normally or socially acceptable to talk about such as aggression, sexuality, stereotypes, etc.  This joke in particular is a sexist joke based on older gender stereotypes in which women were strictly confined to domestic chores.  In this particular joke when Derek said dishwasher what came to my mind was dishwasher in the sense of the actual electric appliance that you would purchase at a store.  However the punch-line implies that women are dishwashers and if they don’t stick to their domestic duties it is okay to physically abuse them.  The telling of these types of jokes are pretty common and popular which could be because it does express something that is in a way “forbidden” or at least no longer social acceptable viewpoints about gender and gender roles in society.   But like Derek, most people give a disclaimer before or after the telling of the joke saying that the joke is not theirs, but rather that they heard it from a friend or even a friend of a friend (FOAF).  This is suppose to excuse them from the fact that they are telling an offensive joke but they should not be held accountable for it because it is not their joke and they are therefore, in this case not sexist.

Cultural Wedding Custom/Tradition

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Nationality: Japanese
Age: 48
Residence: Palos Verdes, CA
Performance Date: March 22, 2008
Primary Language: English

1001 Paper Cranes

In Japanese tradition, it is supposedly good luck to have 1001 paper cranes when you get married.  Paper cranes are made by intricately folding a square piece of paper in a series of specific steps.  It is a Japanese art form known as origami.  Typically the bride and groom do not make the paper cranes.  Friends and family usually all join together to help make the cranes because it takes quite a bit of time to fold 1001 cranes and the end product is usually a gift to the newlyweds.  The cranes can be made in all different sizes and out of all different colors of paper and all the cranes do not have to be uniform.  Usually the size and color of the paper used to make the cranes depends on how the paper cranes are going to be displayed at the wedding.  The paper cranes can be displayed in really any way and people have gotten very creative with the display of the cranes.  For example, my mother told me that at my Aunt’s wedding the paper cranes were all made out of white paper and her bridesmaids strung all the cranes onto white thread, using knots to evenly separate the cranes on the string and hold them in place.  Then they got a tree branch and spray painted it white, and draped/arranged the cranes on the string in the branch so that it looked like a small willow tree filled with white cranes.  For my uncle’s wedding, his friends and his fiancee’s friends folded paper cranes using red, black, and gold paper, and then with the paper cranes lying flat, arranged them into the family mon, which means crest in Japanese and had the arrangement framed.

Paper cranes are not only made for weddings.  I remember I used to make paper cranes just for fun with my mom and my grandmother.  My mom was the one who originally taught me although I don’t remember exactly how or why she taught me.  I probably learned or was taught to make paper cranes as a way of establishing cultural identity.  I know my grandmother really liked teaching me Japanese things like words, customs and traditions.  I suppose she enjoyed being able to teach her grandchildren about their culture and make sure that we grew up a sense of our Japanese identity.

Paper cranes are also part of the popular art form of origami and is cited in various works.  For example, paper cranes have come to symbolize peace because of a widely published book called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.  I actually remember reading this exact book when I was in elementary school.  The book is based on the true story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki who was born in 1943.  The atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, when Sadako was two years old.  People who knew Sadako say that growing up she was a strong, courageous and athletic girl.  Sadako was a runner but in 1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground.  She was diagnosed with Leukemia, also known as “the atom bomb” disease.  After her diagnosis one of her best friends told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish.  Sadako hoped that the gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She started to work on the paper cranes and completed over 1000 before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of twelve.

To the left is Sadako, pictured at age 12 (1955) and to the right is Sadako’s monument in Hiroshima, Japan.

Annotation: Coerr, Eleanor.  Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.  New York: The Penguin Group, 1977.

The next few pages have pictured instructions on how to make paper cranes and example of them.  Below is a step by step diagram with instructions on how to fold a paper crane.

To the left is a picture of a paper crane that was made but is folded to that is flat.  Below is an example of a family crest that was made by putting together 1001 paper cranes (flat) similar to the one pictured to the left

Weddings are often full of folklore because they surround the liminal period or mark the transition of a couple from dating to being married.  Wedding are also a very special and joyous occasion in many cultures.  It is also a pretty big deal in many cultures and isn’t something taken too lightly (one indicator cold the the great amount of time, money and energy that normally go into them) which could explain why there are so may superstitions and or rituals involved that are supposed to bless the marriage or bring the marriage good luck.  Just like the 1001 paper cranes are supposed to bring good luck, I have heard other superstitions such as the groom cant see the bride before the wedding, or the bride has to wear something, old something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

Myth

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Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My friend Derek told me a myth that he learned from his father when he was about 12 or 13 years old.  The myth explains why people have all different shades of skin color.  Derek said that according to the myth his father told him that when the Earth was first created there was just one giant continent and running through the middle of the continent was a one giant river.  He said that everyone living on the continent was very dark but at the at top of the river, near the opening or delta of the river the people would wash themselves in the river and they eventually became lighter and lighter until their skin was not dark anymore but instead it was white.  The water continued to flow down the river and the people further along the river also washed themselves with the river’s water.  Derek said that their skin became lighter but not as white as the people before them because the water was had already been used and wasn’t as clean.  Derek said then towards the bottom of the river there was hardly any water left so the people who lived there could only wash the palms of their hands, the bottom on their feet and their lips.

According to Derek this myth is supposed to explain the difference in skin color and appearance of different people.  He said the people who washed themselves in the river first are supposed to be white people and the people towards the bottom of the river are supposed to be black people.  Everyone in between has various shades of skin color, representing all the other ethnicities or races.  Ultimately the skin color of the people is supposed to get progressively darker as you move down the river.  Derek said he doesn’t remember why his father told him this myth but he said he remembers the myth because he thought it was a funny way of trying to explain different skin colors.  I agree it is a sort of comical way of reasoning why people have different skin colors but I also think it could be taken offensively for the reason that the logic behind the myth is that basically people were washing the dirt of themselves with the river water and the people at the bottom of the river could get their skin to be as light because the river water had already been used by so many people and was dirty.  But I’m sure that the myth is not intended to be offensive or suggest that people of darker skin tones are “dirty”.  However I think that the fact that the myth is comical adds to its popularity.  Like jokes, this myth explores race and skin color, often things that are not normally acceptable to discuss in society.  People are always saying that its not what’s on the outside like skin color that matters or should matter.  Because we are taught not to point out difference is skin color this myth be a humorous way of poking fun at something that you are really supposed to joke about.