Monthly Archives: April 2018

Breaking Wishbones.

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Flemington, New Jersey.
Performance Date: 4/22/18
Primary Language: English
Language: N/A

Michael Gordon, a junior studying Pop Music at the University of Southern California, who hails from Flemington, New Jersey, provided four pieces of folklore for this collection.

The interview was run, within his studio, at Orchard Avenue, on the outskirts of the University of Southern California

Folk Performance: Breaking Wishbones.

Folk Type: Folk-Practice.

“Are there any like really random practices? Like stuff you’d do unconsciously but, like, have no real context of?”

STORY: Yeah, the whole wishbone thing I’ve always thought was kinda confusing. You have a bone, right? And then you have the little joint in the middle and it’s like, it makes a V and two people pull the V and whoever gets the joint…do they make a wish? Wait, so before you break it both of the pulling parties make a wish and whoever gets the longest part will have their wish come true. Yeah.

Background information: The ritual of breaking a wishbone has its ties in Medieval Europe. The Etruscans, an ancient Italian civilization, believed geese had prophetic powers residing within their bones.

Michael learned the proverb on the playground and his attachment to it comes from the proverbs ubiquity and it’s tie to his early development.

Context of Performance: The appropriate context of this folk practice is described within the story.

Michael learned this act on the playground, from friends. It’s importance to him

Thoughts: Throughout this project, I’ve noticed that much of the folklore that one remembers is learned in early childhood. I suppose this occurs because as we grow, our views become more solidified. When we are children, we are at our most malleable and, therefore, seem to take in the most information.

 

 

 

The Story of Aktamar

Nationality: Armenian
Age: 83
Performance Date: 04/02/18

Tamar is a woman’s name. And Aktamar means oh Tamar. Tamar was in love with this guy, and the girl’s father was against it. So the girl says… oh wait they live on Lake Van. It’s a big lake between Turkey and western Armenia. So he says he’s gonna elope with her. So he says “What I’m gonna do is I’m gonna have a candle lit up. And I’ll be waiting for you on the shore so pay attention to the candle.” So he jumps in the water and swims to shore… but it happens to be a windy day and the candle wears away. And the poor guy swims and swims and swims back and forth to relight the candle until he drowns. And as he’s drowning, he says “AKTAMAR, AKTAMAR, AKTAMAR” which means like “Oh Tamar” and now this island where the candle was supposed to be is called Aktamar Island.

  1. Where is Lake Van located exactly?

Lake Van is a big lake and it used to be an Armenian lake, but the Turks took it over and now it’s in Turkey.

  1. Was the lake lost to Turkey after the genocide?

It was taken before the genocide… it was under ottoman rule, and after the genocide, there was no part of it left in Armenia.

  1. Where did you first hear this story?

I don’t remember really, it’s a kind of Armenian folklore, and when someone loses his girlfriend basically the boys all cry out “Aktamar” basically saying, I tried very hard but I lost.

 

 

My Thoughts:

This reminds me of a variation of Romeo and Juliet. It’s a nice story about love however very sad how both of them end in tragedy. Also within the story of Midsummer Nights Dream, there’s another story that is very similar to this one.

The Blue Sky Lodge

Age: 27
Occupation: Sales Associate
Performance Date: April 17, 2018
Primary Language: English

“About three weeks ago I went to the Bay for my first cousin’s wedding. I was super excited to reunite with all my siblings and extended family in Carmel, which is definitely one of the most beautiful cities in California and by far my favorite. My parents checked us in to the Blue Sky Lodge on a Friday afternoon. Immediately after walking in to our room, I looked at my sister and said ‘This place is so sketchy.’ I looked around at the layer of dust covering the creepy paintings and outdated furniture. I also screeched as the wooden floors let out a creek with every step I took. My sister and I ran to our parents’ room next door and complained about how strange this place was. Mom told us to stop complaining and to get ready for dinner.”

“After a beautiful rehearsal dinner overlooking the ocean, my family returned to our weird lodge and got ready for bed. I noticed that there was a light in the closet that did not have a switch to turn it off. Instead, a single string hung from the ceiling, which I gently tugged at to make the room dark. I got in to bed next to my sister and we put a movie on. Then, we were interrupted by the closet light flickering on and off continuously for the next two minutes straight. My sister and I were both a little tipsy from the evening’s festivities, leading this occurrence to freak us out big time. We put the covers over our heads and watched our movie in total darkness since we were both too scared to get up and examine the situation.”

“Then, in the middle of the night, I woke up to a loud screeching noise followed by the closet light flickering on and off AGAIN. This time, the light was flickering faster and faster and it went on for five minutes straight. I woke up my sister, but both of us were too tired and scared to grab our parents. The next morning, we ran in to my mom’s room and told her that this place was SCARY. We then decided to look up our hotel online, only to discover that it is one of the most haunted places in all of California! There have been reports of paranormal experiences and various guests described feelings of uneasiness in reviews online. One website claimed, ‘Inexplicable fears, stress, and vivid nightmares make for a very restless evening.’ The feelings of unease that I felt at the Blue Sky Lodge led me to believe that there were haunted spirits in the Carmel atmosphere. I am not really sure why this happened and I don’t have an explanation, but I am certain that there was some type of paranormal activity going on.”

 

My Interpretation of the story:

 

In listening to this story, there are many possible reasons for the specific paranormal activity that happened in the tellers room. It is noted in the beginning of the story that the hotel is not the nicest of places, which does not make it hard to believe that there are mechanical errors in lighting and other appliances. The sounds of screeching can also be explained through the wretchedness of the hotel. What I found interesting was what followed the actual ghost story, and that is the research on the hotel. A trait that makes a ghost story more likely to be accurate and believable is consistency. This hotel and are in Carmel has a history of strange experiences that have been reported but multiple guests, that support the claims made by the story teller. It is noted that the teller has not specific ties with the hotel or the area, meaning that the experience must be related to the hotel or its location rather than the people effected. Because activity has been reported by many of different people, it is evident that the situation is revolved around the hotel specifically and can be attributed to the other strange occurrences that have happened there.

 

Beer Pong Rules (Common underage drinking game).

Nationality: American.
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Flemington, New Jersey.
Performance Date: 4/22/18
Primary Language: English
Language: N/A

Michael Gordon, a junior studying Pop Music at the University of Southern California, who hails from Flemington, New Jersey, provided four pieces of folklore for this collection.

The interview was run, within his studio, at Orchard Avenue, on the outskirts of the University of Southern California.

Folk Performance: Beer Pong Rules (Common underage drinking game).

Folk Type: Folk-Practice.

“How do you play pong where you’re from?” – Stanley Kalu

STORY: Oh My God, everyone plays it so different. The thing that’s different, I remember…like if you shoot the shot and you or your partner makes it. The other team is supposed to take the cup away, like immediately. If they don’t and you or your partner sinks another shot in the same cup then its game over cause the other team didn’t take their drink. How people play here is if you get the ball into the cup, the other team will just leave it there until your partner takes his shot.

Background Information: Michael enjoys this piece because the drinking culture on the east coast is particularly strong. He learned of it in high-school while drinking with his friends.   

Context of Performance: The context was illustrated in the story section.

Thoughts: I’ve never understood drinking games. Why not just drink? Why go through such a process for the same effect? seems inefficient.

The Red Cardinal

Nationality: Jewish
Age: 52
Occupation: Business Owner
Performance Date: April 6, 2018
Primary Language: English

“I really think that my Dad comes back to me as a bird. He was obsessed with birds and bird watching, especially the red cardinal, his entire life. Only after my dad died is when I started to notice red birds fly around me all the time. Occasionally when I walk outside, I see a red cardinal just fly out from around a tree and perch right near me and I think…there is my dad.”

“There was one particular instance that really spooked me. It was about two months after he passed. I was visiting my mom in Livingston, New Jersey, helping her pack up my Dad’s old clothes and trinkets. I brought my youngest daughter, Maddie, with me. Over dinner one night, my mother broke out her bird watching book and bored Maddie to tears after detailing all of her favorite birds. When she flipped to the page of the red cardinal, my mom and I looked at each other and smiled. ‘This bird was your grandfather’s absolute favorite. He loved how low they lied to the ground and always fed them each morning in New Jersey’ my mother explained.”

“The next morning, Maddie, my mother, and I walked down to the lawn where my Dad always sat. We took a seat on the lawn and ate our breakfast. Suddenly, we were interrupted when a small red bird with a black face swooped right in and took a piece of bacon off Maddie’s plate. The bird was clearly a red cardinal. All of us jumped up and looked at the bird, perching itself on a tree right next to us, eating its slice of bacon. Not only was my father a lover of the red cardinal, but he also lived for bacon in the morning. ‘There he is…’ my mother whispered to me. I really think that the afterlife sends signals and I believe my dad is sending me one in the form of a red cardinal.”

 

My Interpretation of the story:

 

When it comes to the loss of someone loved very much and have strong familial ties to you, it is common to notice little things in life that can be associated to them. In this case, it is apparent that the family was very close and appreciated and miss their father and grandfather very much. Because the father/grandfather had many particularities, it seems to be easy for the family to associate specific things with their father/grandfather. The strong connection to birds allows them to feel his presence when they simply just see or think about birds. The specificity of the red cardinal does allow the family to speculate this specific situation and offer an alternate explanation to give them a sense that the father/grandfather is not truly gone, but in a sense “watching over them”. The addition of the bird specifically taking the bacon as opposed to a different food, in the place that the father/grandfather usually enjoyed his morning bacon, does add more to the idea that the bird in fact could be the spirit of the father/grandfather. In my personal opinion, I believe this is a classic case of attaching the love of a lost one to a tangible item in the real world. Emotions have a huge effect on our mind and thought processes and give us the ability to link specific objects and situations to others in order to give us a more holistic mindset.