Informant: My friend was born and raised in Hawaii. He grew up in a culture rich in stories, myths, and legends, a few of which he shared with me.
Original Piece: “Long long time ago, there’s this braddah named Māui, and he really loves his culture, and he wanted to be a fisherman when he grow up, but the best way to fish was to make their own hooks. And the best ones, the number one ones, was made from the ancestors…so his grandmother, on his mother’s side, he made one from her jaw…but the thing was, Māui was a terrible fisherman, but he wanted to be a good fisherman, so he went with his braddahs, he snuck on their canoe, and they went out to sea and they found him, they threw him off the boat, and he had to go and swim back to shore with his hook and his fishing line, and he went fishing on shore by himself. But he caught one mono—one shark—braddahs came back, they were so impressed that they took him fishing the next day. He took out his hook… he was the last one on the boat. He was facing the other way, Māui threw his line out, with the magical hook from his grandmother’s jaw, and he caught something, something big. Māui told his braddahs, ‘don’t look back, keep paddling, I’m gonna fish this up.’ And they were paddling hard, paddling hard, for like half an hour. Then one of the braddahs looked back, and Māui saw him and said, ‘NO!’ and then he hooked up an island. And that’s the island of Māui.”
Context of Performance: We were having lunch when I asked him if he remembered any folktales from home.
Thoughts about the Piece: This one was a lot of fun, because while telling it the performer threw some Pidgin into the dialogue.
For more information on the legend of Māui, see “Legends of Maui.” Maui Kayak Adventures. N.p., 19 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.
Monthly Archives: May 2017
Tamil Wedding Food
Informant: My friend’s family is from southern India, and every few years they go back in the summer for family weddings. This past summer she went to three, and recounted some of the traditions for me.
Original Piece: “Wedding food is a tradition, because we always have the same thing. You have your vegetarian floor, and your non-vegetarian floor. and rows of tables, and rows and rows of banana leaves. And you sit, and men come around with these huge silver—what are they called… like a canister. Like a really big canister and a ladle of food. and they put it on your plate unless you say you don’t want it. Like you have biryani…Tandoori chicken…and some other vegetable dishes.
But not everyone can eat at the same time because there’s too many people.
There’s another part of the wedding where the bride and groom stand at the end of the stage and people come and talk to them individually. So you’re either waiting for food or waiting to talk to the bride and groom. And people go up and talk to the bride and the groom, and give their gift, and take a picture. And so the bride and grooms can talk to everyone at the wedding, and thank them.”
Context of Piece: My friend was showing me pictures from this summer, and I asked her to tell me a bit more about their weddings customs.
Thoughts about the Piece: This piece was interesting, as it brought some order and sense to an otherwise crowded proceeding.
Marichol
Informant: My friend’s family is from southern India, and every few years they go back in the summer for family weddings. This past summer she went to three, and recounted some of the traditions for me.
Original Piece: “Something called Marichol, where… it’s gonna sound really weird, when I explain the reason behind it. So, it’s where, if the guy is getting married… or let’s say it was my female cousin that’s getting married, me and other cousins would block the groom from entering the ceremony unless he gave them money. It’s because you are… like shaming them, or getting mad at them for not marrying you. Like, since you’re not marrying me I need other compensation. Then guys block the entrance for the groom too, but because they can’t marry the bride. And they’re prepared for it, the groom comes with bills in his pocket.
When people are entering, there’s a table at the front. There’s these bida on the table, and people take a little bit of it to eat, and someone’s standing there and there’s this canister thing that you sprinkle on people before they go.”
Context of Piece: My friend was showing me pictures from this summer, and I asked her to tell me a bit more about their weddings customs.
Thoughts about the Piece: I like this one the best, as my friend spoke from personal experience, having blocked the entrance for the groom several times before.
Tamil Wedding Guests
Informant: My friend’s family is from southern India, and every few years they go back in the summer for family weddings. This past summer she went to three, and recounted some of the traditions for me.
Original Piece: “There’s the engagement, not like a proposal, but the engagement is a ceremony that happens one or two days before the wedding. It’s like the announcement that they’re getting married, but everyone already knows they’re getting married because it’s two days before the wedding. It’s just close friends and family, so it’s the smallest group of people, but still like a hundred people. Then there’s the actual wedding ceremony, because we’re Christian Tamal ours is in a church. Then there’s receptions… usually in the girl’s hometown and the guy’s hometown, so there’s those two. Then there’s…then sometimes there’s another one in another city, like where they went to college. Some people go to all of them, but some people go to just portions of them.
Usually you give an invitation to one person in the family. Like, you send out 300, but 1200 people come. But you plan for 1200 people. And it’s rude to give invitations through the mail if you’re within driving distance. Even if it’s a couple hours away, you need to hand deliver the invitation. Some people have not gone to weddings because they received invitations through the mail.”
Context of Piece: My friend was showing me pictures from this summer, and I asked her to tell me a bit more about their weddings customs.
Thoughts about the Piece: I thought this was interesting, that overall the wedding proceedings could last for days.
Tamil Wedding Gifts
Informant: My friend’s family is from southern India, and every few years they go back in the summer for family weddings. This past summer she went to three, and recounted some of the traditions for me.
Original Piece: “Wedding traditions… there’s so many. This is very specific to Christian Tamil weddings. Bride and grooms families, they exchange fruits. And you give fruits because it’s a symbol of plenty… like having a lot, you know? Like fruitfulness, you know? It’s like a blessing. There’s a lot that has to do with food in all the traditions. Because it’s a symbol of plenty.
The bride’s family buys the groom a gold chain. Why do they do this…. it’s the first gift to give. Gold is a very big part of Indian culture and tradition, because it doesn’t lose value. So giving it to people in different life phases is very important, so it’s the first gift they give to the son-in-law. And they put it on during the wedding ceremony. The groom’s family buys the girl gold bangles and puts in on during the ceremony as well.”
Context of Piece: My friend was showing me pictures from this summer, and I asked her to tell me a bit more about their weddings customs.
Thoughts about the Piece: I really like this piece, and learning about the tradition of gifts in the culture. Rather than toasters or pots and pans, they get food and gold, all symbolic for the marriage.