Monthly Archives: May 2015

Aralez

Nationality: Armenian-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 15, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Armenian, Russian

“The Aralezs are a kind of mythical creature from Armenia. To put it simply, they are essentially like a cross between a dog or a wolf and an eagle, so basically a dog with wings. Legend has it that they live on Mount Ararat, which is pretty much the most sacred landmark to Armenians. They used to be worshipped along with a lot of the pagan gods and goddesses before Armenia was Christianized and stuff. I guess the most notable thing about them is that they come down from the mountain in times of war to lick and heal the wounds of Armenian people. I’ve also heard of some people entombing their dead relatives in towers so that the Aralezs could come down and revive them.”

This is from my roommate who was born in Yerevan, Armenia, but he and his family moved to the U.S. in the late 1990s, before he was even five years old. However, he has spent most of his summers back in Armenia, visiting family and whatnot. He is fluent in Armenian and speaks it at home. He’s never really believed in the Aralezs, but he learned about it from his grandpa who would always tell him stories, with some involving Armenian mythology.

Aldigench

Nationality: USA
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 23, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Informant was a 20 year old male who was born in North Carolina and moved to Santa Monica at an early age. He attends the University of San Diego and is an old family friend that came to visit.

Story:

“So my dad’s uncle used to tell them as kids that if they fucked around and did stupid shit, then the Aldigench was gonna get them. And they were always like “Who’s the Aldigench? What does he look like?” and my Great Uncle would never tell them. They used to go looking around the house and try to find him every time my Great Uncle would mention the Aldigench. So now, my sister, my cousins, and I all know about the Aldigench, because our fathers have continued this tradition of saying the Aldigench was going to get us. And we all know it’s fake, but now it has almost become like a running joke between our whole family. Especially when I was a kid, the Aldigench would often come up in conversation.”

This is a prime example of adults making things up in order to control their children. It’s the tactic of instilling fear in order to keep people under check, which, to be honest, is probably how most folklore was created. If there’s something you’re not supposed to do, then you can probably bet there’s a story telling you why you shouldn’t do it.

Cabbage Night

Nationality: american
Age: 60
Occupation: accountant
Residence: denver, colorado
Performance Date: 4/21/15
Primary Language: English

What is cabbage night?

RG: “It’s the night before Halloween. Some people called it mischief night, but we always called it cabbage night. But it was basically a mischief night, you’d throw toilet paper at houses and throw eggs and people would write in shaving cream in people’s driveways. It was really fun and just really counterproductive. People you didn’t like  you would egg their house, we had egg fights, put shaving cream on people”

Would you go out with your friends?

RG: “You would go out in packs. Packs of your friends, I was with all guys but girls did it too. And then the police would chase us around, I got caught by the cops a couple times and they put all the eggs in my pockets and hit you with your night stick and the eggs would crack in your pockets. That happened to me a couple times”

Would you target certain people?

RG: “Oh ya. If you had someone crazy in your neighborhood you’d go after them, there was specific targets you’d go after. There was a lady who lived around the corner from us who called the cops on us all the time because she was obsessed with her lawn”

“Cabbage night” was interesting because it was similar to Halloween in that it was acceptable to do things you normally couldn’t do. Just as on Halloween you were supposed to take strangers from candy, which you normally couldn’t do, cabbage night encouraged mischievous activities that were normally prohibited. Although there were slight repercussions, it was generally acceptable for young kids to wreak havoc on a town.

Chinese New Year

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: los angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

The informant, RD, describes the dishes and gatherinings her family partakes in for Chinese New Year:

RD: “So there was four main dishes that we made every year. The first was dumplings with one single peanut inside. Not every dumpling had a peanut inside so the people who got the peanut dumplings were the lucky ones who were supposed to have a good year. The next dish was a sticky rice with different kinds of fruit which you’d lay out on the new year. Well you made two, so one for you to eat and then one for the gods. It shows that gods that you are giving back and lets you pray for a year of hope and prosperity. And the other two dishes I don’t know how to explain in english (laughs), yeah I have no idea how to explain them. Oh but there was a lot of fish and meat because it was supposed to be, like, extravagant. People would pull out all the stops.

Who would make all the dishes?

RD: When it was at my house my mom and dad would make all the food, but it would switch between households every year. Like some years we’d go to my parents friends house and then other times all their friends would come over.

Was it mainly friends who came?

RD: “Yeah it was my parents friends and then we could invite our friends too. There wasn’t very many family members there because most of my parents relatives were still back in China. There was also a red bag tradition that we did every year where each child child would get a little red bag from there parents with money in it, like 100-500 dollars”

Was the money just a present?

RD: “It was supposed to recognize the child for having a great year, like it showed how proud your family was and how much you accomplished during the year.”

I thought the dishes they made for Chinese New Year were very interesting especially the dumpling with the peanut in it. It seems similar to many other food traditions, like when someone finds the baby figurine in the cake during Mardi Gras. It seems to be a common theme of people being lucky when they find something special in their food. This feeds a lot into the power of superstition on people’s beliefs.

I also thought the red bag was interesting because it signifies the pride of the parents. I though that was a unique way of receiving a gift. Unlike Christmas where you are granted gifts, I thought it was interesting that the children earn the money by being successful and sources of pride for their families.

A Mom’s Lullaby

Nationality: USA
Age: 53
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: Amherst, Ohio
Performance Date: April 2, 2015
Primary Language: English

“Lullaby,

Don’t you cry,

Go to sleep my little Meowser,

 

Close your eyes,

And start to yawn,

Sweet dreams until the dawn

 

Lullaby,

Don’t you cry,

Go to sleep my little Matt

 

Lullaby,

Don’t you cry,

Go to sleep my little Meow.”

 

This is a lullaby that my mom used to sing for me when I was a child. It definitely borrows the tune and theme from Brahm’s lullaby, but I couldn’t find that version of the lyrics anywhere. Additionally, my mom inserted my name (Matt) and my nicknames (Meowser and Meow) into the song, something her mother did for her. My mother said that it reminded her of the stressful but adorable task of getting me to bed at night, but she also has a very loving memory of it. For me, the song evokes strong emotion because my mom is the person that I’m closest to in my family, and i connect that song with my mother and with my childhood.