Monthly Archives: May 2012

St. Patrick in Kerry

Nationality: Irish-American
Age: 62
Occupation: Pastor
Residence: Plano, TX
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

When St. Patrick was coming through Kerry, he had a pet goat, and they killed the goat and ate it. And St. Patrick put a curse on them, that from that day forward, everyone from Kerry would speak in a way that no one would understand and all the other Irish people would laugh at them.

If we ever met an Irish person that we couldn’t understand, we’d always say they were from Kerry.

I think that this is a simple way of building cultural identity. There is a certain anxiety with not being able to understand people that are supposedly ‘from your own homeland’, so they need a reason to justify this, and being that so many Irish people are Catholic, a faux-reigious reason gives it verisimilitude.

 

Jewish Naming

Nationality: Jewish American
Age: 60
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Plano, TX
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

In the Jewish religion, you always name your kid after someone who has died, it was Jewish tradition. So, I’m named after my Mother’s father, who’s name is Jack. So I never quite figured out how Jane ended up being Jack, but whatever. He passed away within 24 hours of my birth. And I’m named after him.

My mom always told me that Papa Jack would watch over me from heaven because I was named after him. All of the kids are named after relatives she thought would keep watch on them from Heaven.

The most common Jewish reason associated with this has to do with fooling the angel of death—that if you name a baby after a living person, the angel might get confused and take the baby by accident. I can see how this oikotype would appear in my family because now and in America infant mortality rates are much lower than they were, so what becomes more important is having the children ‘looked after’. Whereas concern used to be on infant death, now it’s on the growing up process.

Kennahera

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 60
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Plano, TX
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

When ever a Jewish person said something good, they always said “Kennahera”.

 

It prevented a kind of jinx. It wards off the evil eye.

 

This is basic preventative magic. It’s like a Jewish version of ‘knocking on wood’. It’s just a way of trying to control the uncontrollable– also, I notice that unlike knock on wood, you say it when something GOOD is brought up. I think this is because, at least form my family, the Jewish culture seems to always expect negative things to happen.

Erin the Kabouter

Nationality: Dutch American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 25
Primary Language: English

This little statue showed up on my moms door, and it was this little gnome that was made out of stone. His mom told him that it was Erin the Kabouter. And apparently, as I found out later, this stone figure of a gnome was actually like passed down the family. Erin the Kabouter (a dutch idea, like gnomes) could move around, and she would move the stone around the property of the house. The sign of a Kabouter is like, an “okay” hand sign tucked behind their back. The move around and are kind of creepy.

 

They were supposed to be good, and they were keepers of your land. JUST his family’s Kabouter was named Erin. Other Dutch families also have Kabouters. To have him in the house he takes care of things, and overall brings good fortune.

 

I think that the Kabouter doesn’t so much bring good luck as prevent bad luck. In drug culture, the Kabouter is associated with protecting one during a ‘magic mushroom’ experience. I believe that by moving around (causing mischief) he actually prevents mischief from occurring. Kabouters are a main part of this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283721/

Dunking for Luck

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 60
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Plano, TX
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

Every time you eat any kind of cookies with tea, you had to dunk at least once and say “Good luck”.

 

I don’t know where it comes from, but dunking a cookie into tea is good luck. When eating a cookie with a beverage, it is bad luck not to dunk at least once. My mother would say she was “dunking for good luck” and that her father did it too. But I only remember it with tea.

 

Her father was English so it might have had something to do with the tea. Because tea and the tea industry is supposed to have such positive connotations in England, maybe this is a subconscious way of developing and maintaining those positive connotations as an extension of British cultural identity in America.