Monthly Archives: May 2018

“De grão em grão, a galinha enche o papo”

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 53
Occupation: Dentist
Residence: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Performance Date: 03/17/2018
Primary Language: Portuguese

My mom is a very superstitious person and has a strong belief in faith. She has many sayings that she uses on a daily basis to teach lessons about life. I grew up listening to her proverbs and attempting to use them in my life because all of them are meaningful to her and I think it became meaningful for me too. This is her proverb and the story behind it:

“Eu costumo falar um dito popular: de grão em grão a galinha enche o papo. A primeira vez que eu ouvi foi a minha avó falando,  depois a minha mãe. Hoje em dia, sou eu que falo. Então é uma tradição de família falar esse dito popular. Foi passada de geração para geração e eu espero poder continuar com essa tradição. Isso representa para mim o não desperdício. Se você consegue guardar e não gastar demasiadamente, você vai ter no futuro. É importante porque é algo que todas as pessoas têm que ter em mente. Isso se aplica para muitas coisas mas principalmente o dinheiro, que é o que te faz conseguir viver. Outro também que eu costumo usar é: sabendo usar, não vai faltar. E acho que esse se aplica bem ao que eu falei antes. São relacionados e muito importantes para mim. Portanto, costumo falar com frequência.

The proverb is “from grain to grain the hen fills her belly.” My mom says that the first time she heard it was from her grandmother, then from her mother. Nowadays, she’s the one who says it. So it is a family tradition to speak this popular saying. It has been handed down from generation to generation and she hopes to continue with this tradition. It represents to her the act of not wasting/spending. She says that if you can save and not spend too much, you will have it in the future. It is important because it is something that all people have to keep in mind. This applies to many things but especially to money, which is what makes you live. I believe this is extremely important to keep in mind because little by little things get to an end. It reminds me to always try to manage my money in a way that it lasts. I apply this to my life with my college budget because if I start spending money on unnecessary things the money will soon come an end. I believe that life is always about balance and knowing what is worth doing. Therefore, I am always attempting to keep this in mind and as a family tradition I will pass it down to the future generations.

New Year’s Eve – Waves

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 20
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA; São Paulo, Brazil
Performance Date: 04/15/2018
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English

Artur, my friend from Brazil and my roommate in USC, was telling me about one of his traditions during New Year’s Eve, which has many celebrations all over the country. The story was told in Portuguese because is something that he does only when he celebrates in Brazil. It is extremely common to have superstitions and perform certain rituals right when the year stars. He tells the tradition like this:

“Tem uma tradição que a gente segue no Brasil, que todo Reveillon, para dar boa sorte no ano seguinte, a gente pula 7 ondas na praia. É um negócio que todo mundo faz quando tá na praia. Pessoas de todas as idades e também de todo mundo que estão lá. E acho que a primeira vez que eu ouvi disso, acho que eu era pequeno, tinha ido para a praia depois de um Reveillon, e eu não sei bem quem me falou para fazer isso, minha mãe ou minha avó, e eu comecei a prestar atenção com outros fins de ano que passei ali, que todo mundo fazia isso, então eu comecei a fazer também. Eu sei que, a origem dessa tradição tá relacionada com o Candomblé, que é a religião que surgiu no estado da Bahia por causa de uma mistura de diversas religiões do oeste da África que foram trazidos pelos escravos africanos durante a colonização do Brasil. E saiu como uma referenda para uma religião chamada iemanjá, que umas das figuras mais místicas, mais importantes dessa religião. Apesar de eu não ser da Bahia, eu sigo essa tradição muito menos pela oferenda, e mais pelo costume cultural disso.

 

“É por esse motivo que você gosta dessa tradição né? Mais pela parte cultura?”- I asked him.

Sim, você vai no “bandwagon” né. Mais eu acho simpático. Não sou supersticioso, mas, é, não custa nada.

“Ela tem algum significado especial para você?” – I asked him.

“Sinceramente não, só uma tradição que eu faço de vez em quando. Existem algumas no Reveillon, eu faço essa.”

Artur says that he has a tradition and superstition to jump over seven waves during New Year’s Eve. His grandma told him to do it and as he observed other people doing the same thing, he began to join this tradition, more as a bandwagon rather than any other specific reason. He says not to be really superstitious in general but he goes with this one because is something that everyone does in Brazil and it’s a way to start a new year with something to chase. I know Artur well enough to acknowledge that he isn’t in fact a superstitious person. I believe that this is a common thing in Brazil, just to “go with the flow” and do what others are doing, especially when you are young. In fact, this tradition is something that I also follow and although I am superstitious in this sense it was just something I did as a bandwagon. My parents told me about this tradition and how everyone did this so I decided to do it every year too. It’s a good way to start the year with a few dreams and to go after and achieve them. For every wave I jump, I come up with a wish and try to make this wish a reality in the upcoming year. I’ve been doing this until today and I plan to continue with this superstition throughout my life.

“Saci-Pererê”

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 20
Occupation: University of Chicago Student
Residence: Chicago; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Performance Date: 04/06/2018
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English

There’s this urban legend in Brazil of a child called “Saci-Pererê”. He is from an indigenous tribe and only has one leg and runs around naked with a smoking pipe and a red hood. He is known to be a funny and disobedient, who plays with animals and hides stuff. According to legend, the Saci is in the swirling wind and can be captured by throwing a sieve over the swirls. After capture, you must remove the hood of the creature to ensure its obedience and trap it in a bottle. I used to love him when I was younger.

Saci is a famous folkloric legend in Brazil, everyone knows him. He is said to be a myth but occasionally someone would appear dressed up as him in kid’s parties.  Brazil is known to have many figures in folklore and he is definitely one of the most popular ones. It is interesting to hear about him again because I didn’t remember the story of how to capture him, I only remembered of his appearance. I believe children like him so much because he represents the kids in a way: a disobedient person who likes animals and plays around with objects.

Academic source:

https://www.eamb.org/2011/03/saci-perere/

“Casa da Mãe Joana”

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 22
Occupation: Software Engineer
Residence: San Francisco, California; São Paulo, Brazil
Performance Date: 04/07/2018
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English

My folk simile is a very popular one in Brazil, in Portuguese the simile says: “Isso tá que nem casa da mãe Joana.” In English this would translate to “this is like mom Joana’s house.” I heard this folk simile for the first time a couple of years ago in a movie. The name of the movie was actually “Casa da Mãe Joana” and essentially what it means is a really messy house with a bunch of people and when things get really out of hand and there are a lot of things going on, super messy, everything is all over the place, this is a mom Joana’s house. So every time I think about a place where things are out of hand I think of this comparison.

As Alexandre mentioned, this simile is very popular in Brazil. People use it a lot in parties when things get completely out of control and everything is all over the place. My parents use it a lot, I guess it’s an old saying and comparison but that has been present until this day. Apparently Mom Joana’s house was a very messy place in the movie and as a consequence people make this comparison. It’s an amusing way to say that the place is a mess without sounding bad. It’s perhaps a proposition to get things in order and organize the place. People who aren’t familiar with this comparison will have a hard time to understand what it means but it’s so common in Brazil that I believe almost everyone knows.

Saint Longinus

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 22
Occupation: Economics Student
Residence: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Performance Date: 03/16/2018
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English

Whenever I lose something in brazil, and you can’t find it, there is this little, sort of prayer that we do, we promise to Saint Longinus that if he brings back, whatever we lost, we are going to jump three times for him. Apparently he likes jumping, I don’t really know. I heard this for the first time from my grandmother when I was around 10 years old and I lost a toy. She actually told me to pray to him and promise that I was going to jump three times if I found my toy. That’s exactly what happened and it became a tradition to me. Nowadays I just try to look for the things I lose. I didn’t really continue with this belief but it’s something that I trusted throughout my childhood.

Daniel is my brother and I grew up my entire life knowing about this belief. I don’t remember doing that when I lost something but I think it’s a nice way to believe that you will find what you’ve lost. For the most part, I just prayed in general that I would find something that I was looking for but I never really jumped three times for Saint Longinus. This belief is famous in Brazil and many people, even adults, still do this. In my opinion, this is more related to religion and faith than any other thing.