Monthly Archives: April 2018

Teddy Bear

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 10
Occupation: Elementary student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/13/2018
Primary Language: English

The following was an interview of a Participant/interviewee about a folk game that is passed around mainly in elementary. She is marked as CT. I am marked as DM.

CT: Teddy bear, teddy bear touch the ground (touch the ground). Teddy bear, teddy bear turn around (spin in a circle). Teddy bear, teddy bear tie your shoe (touch your shoe). Teddy bear, teddy bear get out of school.

Background/Context:

The participant is ten years old in the fifth grade. She grew up in Los Angeles, California, but she has Mexican parents and family. Christine, who is marked as CT, is my sister. I was at home for my mother’s birthday party on Friday, April 13, 2018, when I overheard my sister playing a hand game with my cousin. I noticed it was the same games I played in elementary, but the lyrics of the game were slightly different. I began to ask her questions about the game. In this particular game, the objective was to see touch the ground, turn around, and act like you are tying your shoe all while jump roping.

DM: Where did you learn this game?

CT: I learn this from my friend Stella.

DM: Why do you like this game?

CT: I like this one cause I like jumping a lot

DM: Do you know where Stella learned it from?

CT: She learned it from Krishell.

DM: What is the meaning of this game to you?

CT: This game means to me like, to like be active and it like makes you cheerful cause like, like, like I can’t explain it but like its like really active and then like when you also wanna hang out with your friends.

DM: So it’s a fun way to be active?

CT: Yeah, it’s a fun way to be active.

Analysis/ My Thoughts:

While I was in elementary, this “Teddy Bear” game was very popular during recess when we had enough time to rest but not to play full games like kickball or handball. My sister told me this game was also very popular in her recess. Although they were both similar, the lyrics are different. Today’s version is shown above while the one I did in elementary nine years ago goes as stated: Teddy bear, teddy bear touch the ground (touch the ground). Teddy bear, teddy bear turn around (spin in a circle). Teddy bear, teddy bear tie your shoe (touch your shoe). Teddy bear, teddy bear I love you. Then the song would repeat in a faster pace until one missed to jump the rope. My initial thought when I heard my sister’s version of the song was “How could a kid’s game be telling them to get out of school? And where did this version come from?”. I was shocked that the song would be telling a kid to get out of school. The kids might not be thinking about the actual meaning of the song, but when looking back to it, they are going to realize what they were saying.

 

Lemonade

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 10
Occupation: Elementary student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/13/2018
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: Lemonade

The following was an interview of a Participant/interviewee about a folk game that is passed around mainly in elementary schools. She is marked as CT. I am marked as DM.

CT: Lemonade(clap, clap, clap), iced tea (clap, clap clap), Coca-Cola(clap, clap, clap), Pepsi(clap, clap, clap), Lemonade, iced tea, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, turn around, touch the ground, kick your boyfriend out of town, and freeze.

Background/Context:

The participant is ten years old in the fifth grade. She grew up in Los Angeles, California, but she has Mexican parents and family. Christine, who is marked as CT, is my sister. I was at home for my mother’s birthday party on Friday, April 13, 2018, when I overheard my sister playing a hand game with my cousin. I noticed it was the same games I played in elementary, but the lyrics of the game were slightly different. I began to ask her questions about the game. In this particular game, the objective was to see who would be the first one to move after the word “freeze”. One could not even blink.

DM: Who did you learn this game?

CT: I learn this from one of my friends.

DM: Where did you learn this?

CT: At school.

DM: What was your friend’s name?

CT: Melanie

DM: Why do you like this game?

CT: I like this game because there is a lot of hand motions and its like action. Whenever I am bored, I do it.

DM: What is the meaning of this game to you?

CT: It means to me like, like you get to have fun with your friends with a handshake. Well not a handshake, it’s a game.

Analysis/ My Thoughts:

While I was in elementary, this “Lemonade” game was very popular during recess when we had enough time to rest but not to play full games like kickball or handball. My sister told me this game was also very popular in her recess. Although they were both similar, the lyrics are different. Today’s version is shown above while the one I did in elementary nine years ago goes as stated: Lemonade(clap, clap, clap), crunchy ice (clap, clap clap), beat it once(clap, clap, clap), beat it twice(clap, clap, clap), Lemonade, crunchy ice, beat it once, beat it twice, and freeze.

Chinese Funeral Customs

Nationality: Half Chinese, Half Caucasian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Ramon, California
Performance Date: 4/22
Primary Language: English

Interviewer:  Are there any practices in your culture that revolve around life transitions, like funerals, weddings, or birthdays?

 

Informant:  So at Chinese funerals there is often a viewing beforehand where it’s like a reception and people make speeches and you bow and pay your respects to whoever has died.  And then before you sit down for the service you are given a red envelope that already had money and candy in them.  They are usually prepared by the immediate family of the deceased and then handed out to guests.  And when you go up to casket after the speeches in a specific order depending on family and friends, we did it that way because we didn’t know everyone that had come so we just wanted to have an orderly way of doing it.

 

Interviewer: So who are the envelopes for and what do you do with them?

 

Informant: The envelopes are made of the guests.  You don’t give the envelopes to the deceased or the family of the deceased they give them to those who have come to pay their respects.

 

Interviewer: And what do the envelopes symbolize?

 

Informant: Well I haven’t been to a lot of funerals but I believe my grandparents said that it was for good luck and a way of spreading prosperity.

 

Interviewer:  Do you do anything else?

 

Informant: After the viewing you get into your cars and drive to the cemetery.  At the cemetery then you say more things as the casket is getting lowered.  We also put fake money in the grave with the caskets and we bowed again, and said a prayer.  Some people depending on their relationship to the person who has died, they get different colored ribbons based on the placement of that person in the family.  And then once you get to the cemetery you take off the ribbons and put them in with the casket.  SO my mom wore a ribbon at my great aunt’s funeral but my brothers and I did not.  After everything is done at the cemetery, it is customary to go and visit another place before going home from the cemetery.  You have to spend the money you are given and eat or visit some other location as a way to not lead the spirit back to your home.  And then once everything has passed, the newly dead become part of other festivals like the Ching Ming festival.

 

Interviewer: So in a way everything is connected! That’s actually really cool. Thanks again for sharing.

 

Background: The informant is a Junior at USC studying human biology and a roommate of the interviewer.  She is a second generation Chinese American and is also half Italian.  Her grandparents immigrated from China when they were young and had her mother and uncle.  She has two brothers as well.  For her this piece was also a learning experience because she has only been to a few Chinese funerals and was especially new to taking on a role within the funeral customs.

 

Context: This interview was done during an afternoon in our apartment.  The context of the informant experiencing this custom was when her great aunt died in the previous year on her mother’s side. It was the first time someone relatively close to her had died and she had to take on certain roles like passing out envelopes and where her mother had to engage in the custom of wearing a colored ribbon.

 

Analysis: This piece extremely interesting because I had never heard it before.  It also provided a lot of context for other festivals that the informant had shared with me. Being able to better understand the cycle of a culture’s beliefs made the pieces less like random facts and more like I was truly learning about my roommate’s culture and traditions and where they came from.

 

Full Moon Magic

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 56
Occupation: Physician
Residence: San Mateo, California
Performance Date: 4/7/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Interviewer: Do you have any occupational folklore or superstitions that come with the jobs or things that you or someone else has experienced?

 

Informant: There’s this huge belief among physicians that when there’s a full moon, we get patients who are somewhat more crazy.  The cases overall are more strange and difficult.  It gets more chaotic and dangerous to be like working in the ER or even just seeing everyday patients.

 

Interviewer: Do you have some examples?

 

Informant: Well more women seem to go into labor when there’s a full moon.  There are weirder cases that we usually don’t see very often.  For instance, rotating in the ER you see more stabbings, more shooting victims and more car accident cases that on a regular day would not happen.

 

Interviewer: Now that you aren’t rotating at the hospital, do you still see weird cases? Do your regular patients act in a weird way?

 

Informant: Yes, definitely.  But more than seeing weird cases or situations of why they are coming to visit it is more that the patients I see around a full moon are acting strangely or they aren’t behaving like their normal selves.  It seems like a psychological change, that all of a sudden there’s a shift and then these people that I know just change.  It’s interesting though because even if I don’t know its currently a full moon, and I have a lot of these strange experiences with patients, it will turn out that the following night is a full moon.

 

Interviewer: Is there anything you do to prepare or protect yourself if you know a full moon is coming?

 

Informant: No, I think I’ve found that it is going to happen no matter what you try to do to resist it so it’s just better to take it as it comes. If you just acknowledge the power of the full moon then you won’s be so distressed about the things that are happening and realize it’s not you it’s just the way it is.

 

Interviewer: Thanks so much for sharing, it has been really helpful and interesting to hear about this.

 

Background: Maria Juarez-Reyes has been a physician for over twenty years and while she used to round at a hospital, she has since moved to primary care.  Despite her change of work venue, this belief in the magic of the moon has followed her as it seems to have followed many in the health care professions.  To her this piece is not only folklore containing magic but also occupational folklore as she has yet to find another profession that sees this phenomenon.

 

Context: This interview took place while at a weekend at home with family.  The informant first experience this phenomenon while an intern who was rounding at her first hospital and then has experienced it ever since.  She has also had colleagues who have had their own experiences with the power of the moon and have contributed to the overall belief and its potency.

 

Analysis:  This piece is extremely interesting not only because it is well known within the community of health care professionals but also because those outside this profession associate the magic with doctors.  Even professor Thompson brought up this example during lecturer one day as an example of folk magic and related it back to a common belief among physicians.  It is also interesting to point out the development of folk beliefs that women are said to be biologically in tune with the moon cycles and to see it in some ways come to life.  Especially with the example that more women often go into labor when the moon is full.

 

Softball Superstition

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 59
Occupation: Professor
Residence: San Mateo, California
Performance Date: 4/7/18
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: You’ve coached a lot of softball so I was wondering if you knew of any superstitions or beliefs that people have?

 

Informant: I’m sure there are a lot, and over time each player develops her own superstitions around playing. But one of the most prominent ones that I’ve seen, especially if both teams are on the field is that no one can step on the white lines before the game starts.  If they get messed up but natural causes or eventually throughout the game they get changed then that’s okay.  But if you mess them up before the game or purposefully step on them then players believe that they won’t get any hits during the game or make errors on the field or even lose the game.

 

Interviewer: So have you seen players do some drastic things to avoid touching the lines?

 

Informant: Oh yeah.  Players walk over them, jump, dive.  And sometimes they don’t even let their equipment touch the lines because that would be just as bad.  Both teams usually line up before the game along the base lines and they even avoid touching or letting their cleats touch the lines.

 

Interviewer: Have you seen people try to counteract the superstition or do the opposite to get rid of the bad energy?

 

Informant: I have seen players find unused white chalk and rub it on themselves or on their hands or up and down their bats.  In a way it’s like if you control the white chalk then it can’t hurt you or have a negative impact on how you play.

 

 

Background: Informant, Joe Reyes, has been coaching softball for over ten years and also played baseball in his youth.  This superstition that he witnessed affected the older teams he has coached and often the younger players were not so concerned with losing so their superstitions were not based around that.

Context: This interview took place during a family weekend at home.  The context of experiencing this superstition first happened when he began coaching teams with ages around 10.  This is when the players started learning superstitions from the older players and taking them more seriously.

Analysis: It wasn’t until I heard my dad state this superstition that I realized that most superstitions are passed down from older groups to younger groups.  In this case I learned my beliefs from my players but then with softball I had superstitions because my older friends told me that they were important and that winning was important.