Monthly Archives: May 2011

The Devil is Beating His Wife

Nationality: American, white/hispanic
Age: 22
Occupation: accountant
Residence: Scottsdale, Arizona
Performance Date: 25 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Russian

White/Native American

University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Southern California

International Relations

Accountant for Make a Wish

English, Russian

Scottsdale, Arizona

25 April 2011

Folk speech- The Devil is beating his wife.

Used in the context of when it’s Sunny but still Raining.

“I think this is folklore. I once pointed out to my mother that it was weird that it was sunny outside but still raining. My mother…um she replied kinda in a matter of fact tone, that it was because the Devil was beating is wife. I just went with it, I didn’t really understand why. Let’s imagine that this was real, and the Devil inhabited some real space in the world. Rain falls down, is the Devil in heaven then? Makes more sense that Jesus was crying cause were sinners or something.” Clearly, RA was focusing on the validity of the argument for using the Devil in this metaphor.

Though what RA said does make some kind of sense, I feel that there might be no real reason why this strange event is referred by this phrase. Disregarding this though, the idea behind this phrase is that the rain represents the tears being shed by the woman being beaten. It also makes sense, that the Devil, who personifies evil in Christian tradition, would be beating his wife. It would not surprise me if this metaphor was really old, going back to a time when most people were farmers, an occupation where understanding weather was very important. I had only heard this phrase once before from a friend. The only things they both had in common was that they were both from the Southwest, RA is from Arizona, my other friend was from Texas, and they were both self identified Christians. There is a good chance, that they both used this phrase because they were from a similar geographic area with little rain or because of the Christian overtones that are inherent in the metaphor.

Folklore 2.0: Pedo Bear

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: Colorist for Cartoon Network
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 20 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish, Japanese

White/Hispanic

California State University Fullerton

Illustration

Colorist for Cartoon Network’s Regular Show

English, Spanish

20 April 2011

Internet meme/Folklore 2.0-Pedo Bear

“I don’t remember when I first saw slash heard about pedo bear. It just kinda popped up on the Internet a few years ago. It’s just kinda this innocent looking bear thing that supposedly preys on little girls. People like to photobomb pictures of kids with it, and post them on the Internet for laughs. Its pretty much viral now, there’s now a website dedicated to pedo bear, it appears on shirts. I don’t think that in anyway is it actually supposed to be used to signify child pornography or anything. For awhile the media was portraying pedo bear as some sort of secret code or rallying message for a group of pedophiles. While I’m sure some do, it really isn’t used for that from what I’ve seen.” AT considers pedo bear as largely harmless, an Internet phenomena that’s being tossed around by bored people on the Internet. Some of its use seems to be making a joke of something that is obscene and terrible. She states, “sometimes young people put up risqué pictures of themselves online, like on Myspace. People take these photos and then insert pedo bear to show that the fact that someone is posting these pictures in the first place is inappropriate.

Looking at the description and argument put forth by AT, I conclude that her observations are pretty spot on. As an artist, she is familiar with the ways characters can personify meanings and stereotypes. Pedo bear is an example of Folklore 2.0, it originally started on 4chan, an internet blogging site. From there, pedo bear had gone viral and has jumped to several different mediums. I have seen it on shirts, mugs, hats, and stenciled on a school sign. Pedo bear has gone so mainstream on the internet, that I saw a news report to watch out for child molesters after an individual dressed up as pedo bear at an anime convention. During the Vancouver Winter Olympics, a Polish newspaper printed a picture of Pedo bear that was snuck into an image of the Olympic mascots. Calling someone a pedo bear is akin to calling someone a pedophile. The biggest characteristic is that he is basically a pedophile. Though a pedophile, the character is considered funny and likeable to an extent.

Nigerian Myth: How The Tortoise’s Shell Got Its Cracks

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 28
Occupation: Chemical Engineering Student
Residence: Nigeria
Performance Date: April 23, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Pidgin English, French, Conversational Arabic

“The story goes (pause). So you know how a turtle’s shell isn’t perfectly symmetrical? Like it isn’t totally round and you know it has cracks everywhere on it. So you know how when a plate is broken you glue it back together but you can still see all of the cracks and stuff but it’s still whole? Well that’s like a turtle’s shell. And this story sort of explains how the shell got this way. Well all of the animals were having a big party in the sky or heaven or whatever and um the turtle, or the tortoise, couldn’t go because he couldn’t fly. So all of the birds gave him some feathers so he could fly up to the party. When he got to the party, the tortoise said that all of the animals should have names and they all agreed to have names. So every animal chose it’s name and whatever and the tortoise said his name was ‘All of You.’ So you know they all had their names and the tortoise was Mr. All of You. So when they started bringing all of the food out for the party and they would say you know who is this for and they would respond ‘All of you’ the tortoise would say ‘Oh, that’s me’ and get all of the food. And when the drinks came out, because you know this was a huge party with drinks and food and all sorts of the things, he would just kind of take it all for himself. And all the other animals started getting really pissed off and angry at him and you know the birds got really angry at him. So when it was time to go home the birds took back all of their feathers and then the tortoise was like ‘well how will I get home?’ and they just didn’t care they were so pissed off. So the tortoise asked one of the birds to tell his wife to get all of the mattresses and blankets and all of the soft things and lay them out. So the bird goes down and finds the tortoise’s wife and tells her that he’s [the tortoise’s] up to something and that she should get all of the hard things out, all of the dishes and plates and pots. So she goes out and lays out all of her dishes and pots and plates and silverware and just all of the hard stuff she could find. And so when the tortoise jumped down he landed on all of that and that’s sort of why his shell is the way it is. And you know the moral is don’t be selfish.”

My informant first heard this myth from his parents in Nigeria when he was a child. His parents would tell him and his siblings stories like this one when they would do things as a family, or, as my informant said, during “long, boring parent-child time.” His parents would repeat this particular myth during my informant’s “selfish stage,” both when he was a young kid and did not want to share with his siblings and as he got older and did not want to spend time with his parents. My informant believes that the myth is told to children to teach them not to be selfish. The story shows, according to him, that if you are selfish and greedy, that in your time of need no one will help you, just like the birds “didn’t give a shit” that the tortoise could not get home from the party in the sky.

I agree with my informant’s interpretation of this myth. This myth seems to be a great way to satisfy a child’s curiosity about the world, by answering a legitimate question about the tortoise’s shell, while teaching two important lessons: one, that actions have consequences and two, that it is better to share than be selfish. My informant has also mentioned to me that he has four siblings, and that where he is from in Nigeria his family is considered small. At my informant’s home, I would imagine, learning to share with others from a young age would have been vital for ensuring a peaceful household. By telling this story, my informant’s parents were trying to teach their children to share and not be selfish, and therefore create a more harmonious home.

Folk Games: ??????? (Gorodki)

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Acoountant
Residence: Scottsdale, AZ
Performance Date: 25 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Russian

White/Native American

University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Southern California

International Relations

Accountant for Make a Wish

English, Russian

Scottsdale, Arizona

25 April 2011

Russian Folk game- ???????

Roman spelling- Gorodki

Direct translation- townletts

Translation- little cities

“So Gorodki is a Russian peasant folk game that was taught to me by my Russian language teacher. I only played it once but the rules are pretty simple. Basically, you draw or make a square on the ground. The square is called a gorod, meaning a city in English. You then take these short cylindrical pieces of wood, and stack them into shapes. There are more than like 10 ten of these shapes and each has a name. After this, you walk like 20 feet and then throw a larger piece of wood at the formation. You then get points for the number of pieces of wood you knock out of the square. Players take turns and when the pieces of wood are all out of the square, the person who knocked out the most pieces wins.” RA explained that the game was really easy to make, and he believes that this is the case because the pieces are so simple. He mentioned all you really need is a bunch of sticks to play. He mentions that it was a pretty big sport for the peasants of Russia. He also believes that it was partially started by Soldiers because several of the names of the wood configurations look and have a “military sound to them.” Ie. artillery, canon, shooting gallery, and watchmen. Clearly, the game is still being changed, as configurations of modern configurations are included (machine gun installation and airplane). He mentions that his Russian teacher showed a really old picture of Leo Tolstoy playing the game, showing the game has existed for more than a hundred years.

From the information RA gave me, I believe that Gorodki is an example of folklore. Foremost, is the fact that it is still referred to as a peasant game. The simplicity of the game makes it easily taught or understood through observation and minimal instruction. The game also allows for variation, as individuals can make up their own configurations of wood or stand further back to make it harder. The game is still played today, showing how popular it was/is in Russia.

After some basic research, I found that Gorodki is a very old game. It existed very similar to the modern game in the 1600’s. Though considered a folk game, Gorodki was apparently played by some of the aristocracy of Russia. It existed without formal rules until the 1920’s, when it was organized into an official sport by the Soviet Union. Gorodki appears as a game for the Wii video game console and appeared as a challenge in the television show The Amazing Race season 17, episode 7. 

Mexican Folk Remedy- Pulling Back Skin

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 47
Occupation: Accountant
Residence: Sacramento, CA
Performance Date: March 15, 2011
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

The informant is a 47-year old accountant working in California, originally from Michoacán, Mexico. She lived a modest life as a young adult, having to take care of her family at a very young age while still finding success in management. She then moved to the United States with her husband to raise their family and now works in accounting. She primarily speaks Spanish with English as a second language.  He shall be referred to as MB.

“Jalar el cuero,” “jalar el piel”- The informant, MB, explained that this is often a “tough love” approach to curing a stomach ache. The child lies on his or her stomach and the parent begins pinching and pulling at the skin on their back repeatedly (but never to a point beyond moderate discomfort). The informal way of referring to this is to “Jalar el cuero” (“Pull the skin,” “pulling the animal back skin”), as “cuero” refers to the meat taken off an animal’s back.

This animal reference (“el cuero”) to the child’s back is largely reflective of MB’s origin living on a ranch in her childhood. Being very practical people, they turned to any basic solutions to medical problems before consulting a doctor. I believe it is a term of endearment, as MB is also aware of other ranch-related nicknames for children. Attributing an animal status to a child can be good-naturedly mocking, but as with animals, they are the objects of close care and nurturing.  The parent thus uses that term to express their compassion for the child in a humorous, not overly sentimental manner.

I believe that the seemingly non-medicinal nature of these remedies is reflective of MB’s Catholic origin. As the town was made up largely of the devoutly religious, they were unlikely to question that which made no scientific sense and instead function more on faith. After all, there doesn’t seem to be any scientific reasoning for this remedy, but MB insists that it worked.