Monthly Archives: May 2011

Folk belief – Narrative

Nationality: American - black/Mexican
Age: 25
Occupation: High school mentor
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: English

My informant shared a story in heard from his babysitter while he lived in Puerto Rico. His babysitter was a black woman from St. Croix and she was a strong believer of mythical creatures, mystical occurrences, legends, witchcraft and magic. My informant does not remember extreme details of the story but he does remember her legitimate belief in it.

This is the story as he remembers it: One time late at night she heard footprints walking behind her but every time she turned around to look, no one was there. She then got in her care and drove home. Even when she got out of her car and walked up toward her house she continued to hear the footprints. When she got up on her porch and to her door she turned around as fast as she could and at the bottom of her porch she saw what she described as a hoofed man. Startled, she went into her house and nothing else happened. The next morning in the dirt along her drive she saw hoof prints leading up to her porch. She also said that a similar incident had happened to her cousin in St. Croix.

My informant said his babysitter was telling his this story to share her experience and not to scare him as it would seem based on the story content. The informant’s babysitter took a folklore creature and added him to a real life experience that she believed in. The creature she described is similar to pan or satyrs in Greek mythology or a faun in Roman mythology. These half goat half man creatures are also present in African mythology which is where my informants babysitter most likely got her belief from. There are also many accepted folk beliefs, myths and legends in Puerto Rico and the discussion of them is more widely accepted than in the United States.

Funny Name Legend

Nationality: African American
Age: 14
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Fresno, CA
Performance Date: March 28, 2011
Primary Language: English

“There was a woman that wanted to name her twin daughters, Vagina and Erotica.  And apparently there are two people in America named ESPN after the sports channel.”

The informant said that he heard this story from a classmate at his high school a few months ago in December. He found the story shocking at first, then incredible and funny. He isn’t sure if he believes if it is actually true. The topic came up amongst his classmates because they heard that in some other countries parents aren’t allowed to name their infants whatever they want and have to select a name off of a list. The informant and his friends found this strange in comparison to the American culture they grew up in and so someone told this story. He thinks it shows that maybe people can’t be trusted to name their children whatever they want with practically no restrictions.

This legend is probably a variation of the popular “Funny Name” legend that has been circulating in the US at least since the early 1900s. The earlier variations of this legend usually describe the woman in the story as a black woman. It was probably repeated to show that black people weren’t even smart enough to give their children “sensible names” and just named them whatever sounded good. This legend reflected the racial prejudice that was socially acceptable in the culture of America in the early 1900. While there are still a fair amount of stories circulating about the strange names that African American parents give their children, in this version that my informant heard, the race of the woman was either left out (because the informant is African American and might have taken offense) or the race of the woman is no longer relevant in today’s culture.

There have been many accounts in the media about the unusual names that people give their children and these people are from many different racial backgrounds. People find these “unusual name” stories quite entertaining. A few years ago there was a news story about a Chinese couple that wanted to name their son @ after the @ symbol (CNN.com) and currently there is a lot of talk over a young man who named his child, Facebook after the social networking website (NPR radio broadcast).   Perhaps now people’s opinion has moved from one race not being intelligent enough to do something as simple as naming a child to what my informant said, which is that maybe some people either can’t be trusted with or that they purposely abuse the freedom they have.

Annotation: This legend does have some truth to it though according to this article written on ESPN’s official website. There at least three people with the name ESPN.

Texas toddler at least the third named espn. (2004, June 26). ESPN, Retrieved from http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=1829996

Humor – Joke

Nationality: American - black/Mexican
Age: 25
Occupation: High school mentor
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: English

Joke:

There were three men on an airplane; a white man, an Asian man and a Mexican man. They each had with them some cargo from their country. The white man had a bunch of hamburgers, the Asian man had tons of rice and the Mexican man had loads of tacos. The plane was too heavy so the captain told them ‘You’re going to have to throw out some of your cargo.’ The Asian man dumped the rice and said, “I have enough of these in my country,” as he threw out some rice. The Mexican man threw out some tacos and said, “I have enough of these in my country”. Then the white man threw the Mexican man out of the plane and said, “I have enough of these in my country.”

The joke is an example of blason populaire because it makes fun of one specific ethnic group. A white classmate told my informant this joke in elementary school. My informant went to a fairly conservative private elementary school and the boy who told him the joke was most likely repeating what he had heard from an adult or older person with a developed political opinion. He remembers being offended by the joke but thought it was funny at the same time. The joke definitely made an impact on my informant because he remembers the joke approximately ten years after he was first told it.  The joke reflects the sentiments of many (white) Americans regarding immigration of Mexican people to the United States. People often use jokes as a way to lightheartedly and inappropriately share their prejudices.

Gnomes

Nationality: American - Black
Age: 50
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Performance Date: March 2011
Primary Language: English

Gnomes live in mushrooms that grow in our backyard.

Kim’s grandmother told her this when she spotted some mushrooms that had grown in their grass when she was young. Every time Kim would spot some mushrooms in the grass she would tell her grandmother and her grandmother would tell her a new fact about gnomes and their lives in the little mushrooms.

Kim’s grandmother is of African-American and white descent. Kim believes that her grandmother learned this story from her white side of the family since gnomes are an European folkloric creature. In this situation, the story was simply used to awe and entertain a young child. Even though her grandmother did not actually believe that gnomes lived in mushrooms she saw it as an interesting and imaginative story to share with her granddaughter.

Customs – Food

Nationality: American - Black
Age: 50
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: English

On Christmas Eve every year, Kim cooks gumbo for her family and sometimes friends. Gumbo is a hearty seafood, sausage and chicken with okra made from a roux (base for sauce).  The dish is made in one massive pot and takes almost all day to make well. Kim and her sisters all make the dish differently because partially because they do not have a written recipe and they all measure mix and stir by eye.

Kim was born in and her family is from Louisiana, both New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Gumbo is a customary dish of the South and every cook has his or her own variations of the stew. Southerners cook it at other times throughout the year but it traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve.

Kim is unaware of the reasoning behind the tradition but she remembers eating her grandmother’s gumbo on Christmas Eve as a child. For her immediate family it is a way to remain connected to her Southern roots.