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: “So Pele is the goddess of fire and lava, and Hi’iaka is the goddess of the sea. That’s the background.
So one day, Pele fell into one deep sleep, a sleep so deep her spirit jumped out of her body and started wandering around the island. And her spirit kept wandering and wandering, until it heard the drums of a hula dance in Kauai. And the spirit goes to Kauai and sees the hula, and her spirit takes over one of the female dancers. And she in love with the chief of Kauai, Lohiau. And they fall deeply in love, but Pele has to leave because she has to go back into her body. So after three days she goes back to her body, and she wake up, but she’s too weak to move. So she tells her sister Hi’iaka to voyage to go to Kauai and bring back Lohiau. So then Pele gives her forty days to get Lohiau and come back so that, I don’t know, they can have a wonderful life together. SO Hi’iaka ventures out and… there’s a whole series of events that happen. But then they make it to Lohiau on the island of Kauai on the fortieth day. And they’re like, ‘oh no we better hurry’ because Pele has a bit of a rage problem. So then they find the village where Lohiau was, and they’re asking around for him, but then… then a villager tells them that Lohiau died because his lover left them. So his body’s there but his spirit is gone. So the spirit is just wandering around…and they can’t find the spirit. So Hi’iaka brings the body back to Pele. And Pele sees the body and gets super pissed, and doesn’t even let them explain themselves, and goes full rage and consumes them with fire. And Hi’iaka survives because she’s a god, but Lohiau body gets burned. And Hi’iaka is super mad because she burned the body, so Hi’iaka brings the body to a sacred mountain. So she does a bunch of chants for the body. And then Lohiau’s spirit is still wandering around, but it takes over a guy on Māui, and he climbs up the mountain and finds Hi’iaka with Lohiau’s body, and Hi’iaka and Lohiau fall in love. They fall in love… and they come back down the mountain. Pele finds out about them falling in love, gets super pissed. Hi’iaka and Pele battle it out in the east, and all the fire and water make the big island of Hawaii. Hi’iaka wins and Pele is sent to the pits of Kilauea, the active volcano of Hawaii, and lives there. And Hi’iaka goes back to Lohiau.”
Context of Performance: We were having lunch when I asked him if he remembered any folktales from home.
Thoughts about the Piece: I love this piece, it was beautifully performed and well told. I love how it plays into the modern landscape of Hawaii.
Monthly Archives: May 2017
Balsamo Rice
Informant: My mother found culinary recipes that have been passed on through generations, and become a part of our family folklore.
Original Script: Charlie Balsamo is a dentist in Cape Girardeau, who was Granddaddy’s best friend. He was Granddaddy’s partner-in-crime when they would go to local university to pick up girls… that’s how Granddaddy got Grandmama and Dr. Balsamo was best man! We have a lot of recipes from the grand Balsamo family; Daddy said they were Northern Italians. We got this recipe from them, and it’s the only rice Grandmama would make growing up.
Context of Performance: My mother was sifting through old family recipes to send to me and my sister at college, so we wouldn’t forget our “southern heritage”.
Thoughts about the Piece: I liked this recipe because it is Italian, and although my family is not, we have adopted it as a tradition of our own.
Getting My Ears Pulled When Speaking of The Dead
Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): None
Age: 62
Residence: New York City, USA
Performance Date: April 8, 2017 (telephonically)
Alan is a 62- year old man, born and raised in New Jersey who is a 2nd Generation American whose ancestry is Austrian and Russian.
Interviewer: Good Morning. You mentioned that you experienced your mother’s family superstition first hand when you were a youngster. Can you explain it?
Informant: Sure. My mother would always pull my ears and those of my sister, when we were very young, when she heard that either a relative or person she knew had just died.
Interviewer: Was there a reason why she did this?
Informant: She never spoke directly about this, but my mother was a superstitious individual when it came to the evil eye. I have to assume that this had something to do with that. For instance, she would always dress my sister and me in red if we were visiting someone who she felt possessed an evil eye. I remember one time when she just stood in front of this particular person and walking backward pushed my sister and me out of the room. I was young and didn’t really think anything about it.
As I got older I began to realize that the pulling of our ears when she spoke about the dead was a part of her superstitious beliefs. I never observed this behavior with her sisters and brothers (my aunts and uncles). Her mother and father (my grandparents) were both dead before I was born so I never saw if it was somehow connected this action to them. However, knowing my mother, she might have come up with this crazy superstition all on her own.
Interviewer: Does She Still Do This?
Informant: No. The last time I remember her tugging at my ears was when my Great Uncle Joe had passed away when I was 13. We were driving to a supermarket and my father asked my Mother when was Joe’s funeral. As he did she reached around from the front car seat and managed to grab my left ear, but I twisted and prevented her from getting my right one. From that day forward, she never tugged my ears again!”
Thoughts about the piece:
Superstitious gestures like this one become ingrained even if connection to meaning is lost. http://www.imamother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=172695
For other Jewish superstitious customs see: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/popular-superstitions/
Flying a Kite on Easter
Nationality: Jamaican
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): French
Age: 33
Residence: New York City, USA
Performance Date: April 15, 2017 (Skype)
Garfield is a 33 year old man, born and raised in Ochos Rios, Jamaica who is a loss control manager for a large clothing store in New York City. He immigrated to the United States 6 years ago.
Interviewer: Good Evening. Do you have a family story about when you lived in Jamaica and celebrated the holiday of Easter?
Informant: So I was saying like today is Easter Saturday you most people are out on the play field fields, flying kites, you know. They play crickets and sometimes we have kiteflying competitions you know. Whose kites look the best the designs, or um whose is the biggest, like the biggest kites, there is a competition for that also. And um a lot of bun and cheese. Jamaicans love bun and cheese for Easter you know. A lot of homes bake pudding. Jamaicans also love pudding for Easter you know. They don’t do a lot cooking like from Good Friday. They put away the cooking and they bake from like Thursday or so to celebrate Good Friday. And then, today is Easter Saturday everybody has a kite, from the oldest to the youngest. When they fly kites, yes um. Some kids play marbles, but most focus on their kites today. Yes very nice. Very nice.
Interviewer: When you came to the Unites States did you carry on any of the traditions here?
Informant: No not really. Because.. ah.. I don’t see much place here. I don’t see them following the traditions here. I don’t see kites in the sky. So even if they have kites here they are ready made. Like I see some of the tree things tree tree thing looks like something from China. We make our kites from bamboo, Jamaican bamboo. Then we shave it and buy bags of colored paper and we design the kites you know. Everything is just different and there love for Easter is more you can feel a different energy really in Jamaica. You know here people having Palm Sunday that stuff like that. They go to Church but they don’t have the vibe when we celebrate Easter in Jamaica.
Interviewer: What is the significance of Kite Flying on Easter in Jamaica?
Informant: Well you know it is all about Jesus on Easter, When we put the kite in the sky you know it is about the rise of Jesus to heaven. Yes that is what it is.
Thoughts about the piece:
Family traditions and memories can be very emotional. I sense from the Informant that there is a great void not able to celebrate Easter in Jamaica with family and friends. I was struck by his observations about the “vibe” being so different in the US. Even though there is a significant Jamaican / Caribbean diaspora in New York, that doesn’t duplicate experiences in Jamaica. Other Caribbean Islanders also fly kites for Easter: https://www.thecaribbeancurrent.com/some-easter-traditions-in-the-caribbean/
Superstitions Amongst College and Professional Athletes in the Locker Room
Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): None
Age: 80
Residence: New York City, USA
Performance Date: April 9, 2017 (via Skype)
Robert is a 80 year old man, born and raised in New Jersey who is a retired business executive. He played varsity level college basketball at the University of Florida and in the National Basketball Association with the New York Knicks.
Interviewer: Good Morning. Do professional athletes have superstations when they are active players?
Informant: “Well basically if you had a good game you never change your socks for the next game, you wear the same jock. if you had a particular outfit that you wore to the game and it was a bad game then you would change the outfit and if it was a good game maybe you would wear it again the second day. And those are some of the superstitions. If you were parked in a specific spot and you did have a good night then you would want that same spot. Then you would arrange everything you could to make sure you got the same spot all over again.
Interviewer: So this is your recollection when you played ball in College as well as professionally for the New York Knicks.
Informent: Correct
Interviewer: Was this about all players?
Informant: Most players all have superstitions. Some of the guys would before the game have warm ups. They would want to be the last one to shot the ball in the hoop before the game started. So they kind of hang out when everyone is getting ready to go to the bench before the game started and then they would take the ball and shoot the little jump shot just cause that was a superstition and they wanted to have the last shot.
Interviewer: When did you first start observing these superstitions?
Informant: When I was in college at the University of Florida. Most ball players have a superstition. I mean it goes into how you put your uniform on, the same way. If you had a good game you always wondered what made you have a good game.
Interviewer: And ah did it ever play out to the point that where your superstition reinforced your belief?
Informant: Yes. You would have the superstition and if you hit three or four in a row you would say that’s it, that’s it, and then you would keep doing it until it changed. When it changed you would look for another superstition.
Thoughts about the piece:
Anyone who has played or even been a spectator of sports observes silly rituals that are important to fans and players. This professional basketball player took the rules of luck seriously. For other sports superstitions that famous athletes believe see: http://www.mensfitness.com/life/sports/10-most-superstitious-athletes