Monthly Archives: March 2011

Festival – Switzerland

Nationality: Italian
Age: 48
Occupation: Director of Sales
Residence: Swtizlerand
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: French

Swiss Festival- Fêtes des Vignerons de Vevey

“This is not only a wine festival. For the Swiss it represents the celebration of 2 rural communities: the wine growers and the farmers living in the mountains and producing cheese. Usually the show is very well balanced and gives the same importance and visibility to wine growers from the lake side region and the “armaillis” coming from the “Fribourg” state. Among traditional families living in both regions it is not rare to have 2 to 3 generations taking part to the show as every participant is non-professional.

Traditionally, the emotion is at its peak when the “armaillis” are singing the “Ranz des vaches.” This song is well known by all the Swiss and it is a kind of regional hymn. In the old days when Swiss people used to be mercenary soldiers in the various European courts, it was considered as a national hymn. The song is written in a local dialect and the typical alphorn instruments are supporting the melody.” –Gino

Analysis:

Gino is a client and family friend of my dad’s and told me about this wine festival, which interestingly enough takes place roughly every generation. It is the world’s greatest wine festival and has taken place in the years 1905, 1927, 1955, 1977, and 1999 (the most recent festival to occur). While Gino is Italian, he was born and educated in the French speaking part of Switzerland, which is why he’s so familiar with the festival. However, he admits that he doesn’t have the same emotional ties to the event as the Swiss do. He has a few memories here and there of the event in the years 1977 and 1999. Although he wasn’t in the middle of the festival during 1977, he followed the events on TV and vividly remembers the main performance, “Lyoba.” In 1999, he was living right in the middle of the wine producing region. Almost the entire village was involved in the event. As an outsider of Italian origin, Gino was impressed with the dedication and efforts put forth by the non-professional actors who put together a great performance. The preparation went on for more than a year and is comparable to the famous preparation of the Samba School in Rio de Janeiro.

I found an article about this event on the New York Times website, “Travel Advisory; Swiss Winemakers Prepare to Party,” by Christopher Hall and published in December 27, 1998. It gives a rundown of the festival’s activities. It also provides basic statistics of the event’s normal turnout. Over 450,000 visitors celebrate in the town of Vevey (population 70,000) near the eastern end of Lake Geneva. The festival that year (1999) was organized by the Confrerie des Vignerons, a trade guild created back in the 17th century to promote the wine industry in the two wine regions of Lavaux and Chablais. The guild’s job was to build an arena fit for 16,000 people in Vevey’s Market Square, which faces the snowcapped French Alps. The main event is usually a performance. That year, 4600 actors, singers, and artists (mostly townspeople, not professionals) put together a performance, which presented myths, folklore, and contemporary aspects of winemaking. Other highlights included original live performances by Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Like any other national festival, Fêtes des Vignerons de Vevey provides music, food and dancing for approximately two weeks (the duration of the festival). The festival closes with a crowning of the region’s best vintners.

I had never heard of this festival before. I was curious to find out whether or not cities in the States hold versions of this festival. After doing some research, I learned that the small town of Vevay (population 1735) in Switzerland County, Indiana along the Ohio River celebrates a version of Fêtes des Vignerons de Vevey. Vevay holds the Swiss Wine Festival every year usually on the last weekend of August. Typical activities include amusement rides, pageants, car shows, cheerleading competitions, musical performances, famous grape stomping, and a showcase of the town’s Beer and Wine Gardens. People from all over Switzerland County partake in this celebration. This would be an example of how American culture and customs have been incorporated into the festival. From the article on Wikipedia, it was difficult to gauge how touristy this event is. However, Gino had mentioned that the celebration in Switzerland pays homage to wine and cheese producers. Evidently, the festival in Indiana does not focus as much on this aspect of the original festival, but still provides participants with an enjoyable Swiss experience.

Annotation: Hall, Christopher. “TRAVEL ADVISORY; Swiss Winemakers Prepare to Party.” New York Times 27 Dec. 1998. 24 Apr. 2008 <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE0D8123CF934A15751C1A96E958260

Recipe – Sao Paulo, Brazil

Nationality: Chinese, American, Brazilian
Age: 47
Occupation: ESL Teacher
Residence: Ossining, New York
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese

Feijao

1.      Soak a pound of feijao in water overnight

2.      Change water once or twice.

3.      If possible buy a pound of miscellaneous pork parts; ears, tongue…all dried and        sautéed meat. If the meat is not available, then get a pound of smoked sausage.

4.      Mince four garlic cloves and chop one yellow onion.

5.      Sauté garlic and onion in hot oil in a pressure cooker.

6.      Drain feijao and sauté with garlic and onion till onion is translucent.

7.      Add the meat or smoked sausage or both.

8.      Add enough water to cover the feijao mixture twice.

9.      Cover the pressure cooker and cook on medium low for at least an hour.

10.  “Feijoada” is ready.

11.  Serve it with kale (vegetable), farofa (a manioc flour), and orange (to take away the heaviness of the dish).

Analysis:

My mother grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil for almost twenty years before coming to the States. She doesn’t remember a specific person introducing her to this traditional Brazilian dish. She said she learned the recipe from her girlfriends in Brazil and her cleaning lady. There are endless ways to prepare the dish, so she learned it differently every time. Also, while no one knows why, it is common to eat feijoada every Wednesday and Saturday. Most Brazilians know that feijoada was originally a slave dish. Slaves used feijao (beans) and all the leftover meat from their masters’ kitchen to make this dish. The stew-like dish is rich in protein, which gave the slaves their strength.

“The Production and Consumption of Culture in Brazil,” by Ruben George Oliven, explores the history of feijoada and its cultural significance as a stamp of Brazilian culture. While feijoada is considered a national dish by Brazilians, some varieties of beans (a major component of the dish) are still considered “food only for Blacks (soul food).” (104) I think this misconception is largely a result of a lack of awareness of Brazil’s demographics. Brazil’s Northeastern region has a high population of Blacks, a historical product of colonization and slavery on the sugar cane engenhos. (Wikipedia.com) The Southern and Western regions are much more balanced in terms of demographics. The Afro-Brazilian presence is manifested in a variety of cultural elements, including food and the feijoada dish.

Like my mom addressed earlier, feijado is usually eaten with other foods, such as vegetables or rice (which is my personal favorite). My mom makes this dish about twice a year. She usually makes a huge batch that we end up eating as leftovers for the next month or two (the leftovers taste just as good as the original). I personally love the underlying history of feijoada.  Brazilians today owe so much of their culture to the African slaves, including a less relevant but equally important cultural element, the traditional dance of capoeira, which is also addressed in the article, “The Production and Consumption in Brazil.”

Annotation: George, Ruben. “The Production and Consumption in Brazil.” Latin American Perspectives (1984). JSTOR. 24 Apr. 2008.

Folk Item/Folk Remedy – Sicily, Italy

Nationality: Italian-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Colorado Springs, CO
Performance Date: April 18, 2008
Primary Language: English

Italian Folklore- Talisman/ Folk Remedy from Sicily

“The bull horn is worn as a talisman to guard against demons and protect its wearers from the evil eye. Another similar symbol worn in Sicily is the image of a fist with the thumb and pinky fingers pointed outward.  These symbols come out of a superstitious culture, and Gramma says as good Catholic people we are supposed to trust in God to protect us and shouldn’t rely on old superstitions.  They continue to be worn however because it is tradition, and even Gramma has them.  One of them is in the form of a keychain and resembles a red chili pepper more than an actual horn which I find quite amusing.  Whenever I ask Gramma about old traditions she dismisses them saying, “What do we know, we’re dumb immigrants” and this sentiment reflects how, as for many immigrants of the early twentieth century, it was more important to become Americanized and adopt American traditions then to hold on to the old Italian ones.

Another tradition I recall Gramma telling me about is her famous folk remedy to cure ear infections. She was around five at the time she used to get pretty regular ear infections and ear aches. Her mother used to take her down to nursing mothers at the hospital and they would spray breast milk in her ears. Because she was so young, she doesn’t remember if the home remedy worked or not. I don’t think she uses this remedy anymore. She doesn’t get ear infections anymore, but more importantly, she abandoned a lot of her old Italian ways the more she accustomed to American traditions.” – Mary Z.

Analysis:

Mary later told me that the talisman, which looks like a chili pepper, evolved out of the phallic symbols of pre Catholic Italy, which she learned on the History Channel. More women than men wear this talisman as a way to ward off the evil eye, which is the blanket term for a curse that someone might cast on someone else’s family. Although her grandmother does not believe in the talisman’s power to ward off the evil eye, she continues to wear the amulet out of tradition. Her quick abandonment of Italian rituals probably had to do with the fact that she settled in Cleveland, Ohio, a city that does not particularly have a high concentration of Italian immigrants. This talisman, also known as the “corno,” which translates into “little horn,” can be coral, gold, or silver. The horn part of the amulet is always gold or coral. It is common for non-Italians to mistake this amulet for a chili pepper. At the same time, many Italians today don’t know the full origin of the corno and its homage to both the Lunar and Sea Goddess (Wikipedia.com)

Rose Scurria, Mary’s grandmother, is 89 years old and was a homemaker her whole life. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but spent her childhood years travelling back and forth between the US and Sicily. Her family lived in the small mountain village of Lonngi. Lonngi is one of several poor mountain villages in Sicily, where residents wash clothes on rocks and essentially live backwards lives. Constant travelling and prior experience living in the mountain village of Lonngi has given Rose a wealth of knowledge as far as folklore and folk remedy go.

While I do not have a solid understanding of Italian culture, I can relate to the culture in terms of its belief in superstition and the power of talisman. I wear a cloth bracelet that I got from Brazil, which honors a saint in the Northeast city of Bahia. While the bracelet does not ward off evil spirits, it supposedly brings the person wearing it good luck if they tie the bracelet three times in a knot while making a wish. If anything, I wear the bracelet as a constant reminder of my Brazilian identity and belief in the good luck it brings.

Ritual – Armenian

Nationality: Armenian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: April 17, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Armenian

Armenian Wedding Rituals

Part 1

“So, Armenians from Iran (Persian Armenians) have this tradition on the wedding day. When the bride is getting ready in her room, and all her bridesmaids and her mom and grandma and close relatives are helping her get ready, they take the bride’s shoe and write all the bridesmaid’s names on the bottom of the shoe. The meaning is that, once the night is over, the bride takes off her shoes and the name that’s still on the shoe and that hasn’t been rubbed off on the floor or anything is the name of the bridesmaid who will get married next. It’s cute. I’ve never heard of that before my friend told me that she was in a wedding where they did that. I think it’s pretty superstitious and I don’t really believe it, but it’s fun and entertaining!”

Part 2

“Armenians are obsessed with marriage and matchmaking and love and predicting love, and just getting everyone married off because that’s what makes them happy! We’re so obsessed that we have a Saint’s Day dedicated to predicting WHO we’re going to fall in love and marry! I know…! It’s called Saint Sarkis Day, and girls are the only ones who participate in this day’s traditions. What happens is that on the evening of this certain day, girls go to their local Armenian deli and get this really really salty bread. We eat a piece of this bread before we go to sleep. We can’t drink ANY water or liquids or whatever after we eat this bread because it’s supposed to make us dream about, or see IN a dream, the guy we’re going to marry. It’s worked for like half of my female family members and failed for a few… My grandma said that she dreamt about being in my grandpa’s (her husband’s) house in Armenia, but she didn’t know that that was HIS house until she married him and saw pictures of his mom – she saw his mom in the dream. So it was like an indirect…uhhh…what’s the word? Like revelation! I found out about it THIS YEAR! All these years, I’ve been DEPRIVED of the knowledge of knowing who I’m potentially going to marry! That’s not fair! I wanna know!!! But then again, I don’t, ya know?!! It’ll ruin life’s surprise! None of my friends do it. Actually, I can’t say that; I haven’t really asked them. But I feel like they would talk about it if they did it, ya know?”

Analysis:

When I initially learned about this project, I knew Nicole would be one of the best resources to go to. A little background on Nicole: she has accumulated a repertoire of folklore since childhood and essentially lives and breathes Armenian culture. When I asked Nicole to share some Armenian folklore with me, she looked overwhelmed. The thought of having to choose only a few to share seemed an impossible task. She is a particularly active member of her ethnic community. She explained to me that ever since the Armenian genocide took place, Armenians all over the world have been fighting to create awareness about the genocide and prove that it actually happened (since Turkey continues to deny all accusations of its role in the genocide). However, being an Armenian in the US makes this a difficult task since Turkey is an ally to our country. Nonetheless, Nicole continues to spread the awareness through individual and group efforts. She decided to share Armenian wedding rituals with me.

The fact that wedding rituals came to mind first speaks volumes to the significance of this ceremony in Armenian culture. As mentioned above, Nicole learned about the first ritual from a friend and the second one from her grandmother. The two rituals don’t have a specific relational or chronological order; I chose to include both of them as a way of reinforcing the importance of the wedding day in Armenian culture. I gather that women of this culture tend to get married at a much younger age than American women. In the Armenian culture, young women are constantly reminded of their future wedding day. The time leading up to this day is spent dreaming about and pursuing the perfect man.

I have never heard of either ritual, but they seem to rely heavily on superstition and luck. These traditions remind me of childhood games I used to play with my friends when we were in elementary school, “he loves me, he loves me not,” which involves a girl plucking petals off of a flower and alternating between “he loves me” and “he loves me not.” The last petal pertains to your her fate. However, I can’t think of any games that I would play at this age (I am 20 years old now) pertaining to a future husband. The culture that I was brought up with does not focus so much on marriage as it does getting a solid education and a successful job. However, I think it would still be fun to engage in some of these rituals (even Nicole does not fully believe in them).

Legend

Nationality: Irish, Hispanic, Polish, German
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Granger, IN
Performance Date: April 26, 2008
Primary Language: English

Legend of Tannadoonnah

“There is a tribe of Indians who lived where camp is now…land of birches; you know, birch trees and a birch lake. They lead a simple, peaceful life…they farmed and gathered fish. They lived like this for many years and eventually the white settlers spread into Michigan. They felt their lives were interrupted because white men were taking things from them. Things were tense because they couldn’t communicate with each other and it looked like there was going to be a war. The chief’s daughter was the peacemaker between the Indian tribe and white man because she won affections of one of the white men. Instead of gaining trust from both, she made both sides suspicious of her. All the Indians were afraid she was betraying them. White men saw how close she was with her father and thought she was a fraud. But then, one day, fighting erupted between the Indians and white men, and the princess was scared and didn’t want her people to get hurt. She didn’t want her new friends to get hurt either, so she got in middle of it. She was killed. The main white man told them she wasn’t a spy…was trying to make peace all along, so the white men and Indian tribe gave Tannadoonah a nice burial site. They grew a tree on top of her grave. It grew and now it protects and watches over the land and is supposed to symbolize protection and friendship between nature (Indians) and white men (campers).

They say that campers are still haunted by Indians. Most of the time, Indians go back to their old ways and play tricks on white men. The council fire room at the camp site was the big council meeting room for Indians. You can go to this tree and her spirit is still there. You can see how she lives through the tree. The roots are twisted and you can see parts of her face and elbow in the tree. It’s her body being incorporated into tree.” –Caitlin Fitzgerald

Analysis:

One day when reminiscing about old summer camp memories, my roommate Caitlin shared this story with me. She went to Camp Tannadoonah, a camp affiliated with Campfire Girls. She learned about the story on a tour of the camp when she was five years old. Every summer when she went back to camp, her campfire leader would retell the story. Caitlin definitely believes in the story. The tree and council room have different connotations. While the tree represents princess Tannadoonah’s guardian spirit, the council room holds scary spirits (and continues to scare the campers).

Before telling me her version of the story (the version her camp leader told her when she was five), she gave me the original story as it was presented on both the camp’s website and others who remember the original version. She says:

“Princess Tannadoonah was promised to be married to a warrior. There was a drought, so the men were in charge of finding food. The princess didn’t want to leave home. She decided to stay because her husband promised to come back for her. In the end, she died before he could come back. He buried her body and planted a tree over her grave. The tree, that is now the tree of Tannadoonah, grew over many years. All of its branches represent the amount of love that Princess Tannadoonah and her warrior had for one another.”

For a camp that has been around since 1921, the legend inevitably experienced multiplicity and variation. Today, according to Caitlin, there are endless variations of the story.

After hearing her story, I recalled my days at Camp Cayuga, sitting around a campfire at 9:00 pm (which was late for me at the time since I was in 8th grade), watching camp counselors and campers enact certain camp songs and stories. This daily ritual essentially brings folklore to life and emulates the traditional act of storytelling that Native Americans started hundreds of years ago. All in all, I could not think of a better place to find folklore than at summer camp. Camp brings people together, creates a sense of belonging, and preserves legends and rituals. I almost think of summer camp as a culture that kids engage in. Since I’m from the east coast (and apparently summer camps are more prevalent there than they are on the west coast), I always bring up summer camp rituals, only to find that no one else knows what I’m talking about. Caitlin was similarly surprised that I had never heard of Tannadoonah’s story.