Monthly Archives: May 2018

Easter Eggs– only eggs!

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/7/18
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: KK: Every Easter, we eat this thing called “Eggs a la Goldenrod”… and it’s a made up name haha. And it’s basically… biscuits with, okay sorry, first, it’s a process, so first you boil the eggs and color them and hide them because its Easter, and once you find the eggs you crack them, take the shells off, and separate the yolks from the whites in two separate bowls and you make an egg gravy out of the whites, and then you mash up the… it’s a hard-boiled egg so you mash up the hard yolk so it’s kinda sprinkly kinda egg yolk. Then you have to put it together a certain way so you open a biscuit in half, on the bottom, you put in the egg gravy and then you put the yolks on top, and then you can either have sausage on it or on the side, and then hot sauce on it, and this is how we always use eggs in Easter. And it’s because my mom’s family was really really big, they had like five kids, so they had to do something with all the eggs! I don’t know where my grandma learned it, but my mom learned it from her that you basically make a brunch that is ONLY EGGS!

 

Context: This dish is made every single Easter with KK’s family.

 

Background: KK and her family love to cook, and have a whole slew of recipes they tend to cook with each  other, but this was the very first thing to come to her mind for something that was a traditional meal in their household.


Analysis: Upon further research, KK and I discovered that Eggs a la Goldenrod is a fairly common dish, and other people have made it too! KK thought it was just because her mom’s family was huge, and they had to use all the eggs that were made for Easter, but lots of people make this dish! Because KK’s version of this dish involves her family’s size, and using their colored Easter eggs for it, it is still a piece of folklore.

Jinx, you owe me a coke!

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/7/18
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: KK: My family is VERY strict on jinxes, and if you say something like, “oh it’s been so nice out today, the sun’s been out all day”, or like “we’ve been really lucky today, no traffic!” we have to recount what we say or else we WILL have traffic. Basically, it’s any instance where you say that you’re lucky about something, that’s like bad luck. To fix it, you either have to knock on wood, or say “don’t jinx it!”, you just can’t say it and then not fix it, because if you don’t recount what you said then something bad will happen.

 

Context: This practice is done frequently in KK’s household, as she said, her family is very strict on curses and jinxes.

 

Background: KK grew up in a household full of folk medicine, folk songs, and countless fun little traditions, so it only makes sense that this same family would also be extremely superstitious in their actions.

 

Analysis: Jinxes are quite common bits of folklore, and interestingly enough when KK began to tell this story, she stopped because she said “Oh no, everyone does this, that’s not cool enough,” and I had to tell her that the whole point is that other people should do versions of this as well! Because “jinxing it” is so common in our society, it is easy to forget that it isn’t real, and is actually a piece of folklore, and isn’t just something that humans do.

 

Rockin, Rollin, Ridin!

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/7/18
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: KK: My mom used to sing this song to us, when we were falling asleep and stuff, and for the life of me I can’t ever figure out where it came from. She went: “Tommy’s at the engine, someone rings the bell, Sarah holds the lantern, to show that all is well, rockin rollin ridin, all along the rails, heading for morning town, many miles away.” It’s about a train, if you couldn’t tell, but I have no idea where she got that song, but she used to sing it!

 

Context: This song was sung as a lullaby when KK and her sister were young.

 

Background: KK’s mother learned this from her grandmother, who probably heard the version sung by The Seekers and turned it into a lullaby, much akin to “A Bushel and a Peck”, which is often used as lullabies as well.

 

Analysis: Turns out, upon research, this song is by The Seekers, and is called Morningtown Ride! So many people I saw said that their mother used to sing this song to them as a lullaby, so somewhere along the way this song turned into a typical lullaby. It is interesting to think about this alongside the issue of Simon and Garfunkel and their “folk” music, because even though this song was authored and created by a band and publicized, the fact that culture has taken it and turned it into a lullaby has changed it into a piece of folklore.

 

Cure for the Common Cold

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/7/18
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: KK: My grandma used to say that if you were sick, you should put Vicks on the bottom of your feet… which DOESN’T work, but I still do it sometimes! Because when you’re sick, you’ll do anything to be not sick.

 

Context: This tradition was used whenever KK or a family member was sick.

 

Background: KK’s family is fairly low-income, which is of particular interest with folk remedies, as people with less financial stability are more often going to resort to different sorts of ways to cure themselves, as opposed to going to a store and just buying some medicine.

 

Analysis: Vick’s is used quite often in folk medicine– many times it is put directly under your nose to clear it up. I think this is particularly interesting because KK clearly states that this doesn’t work at all, and yet she still does it. This is an interesting example of tradition in families– even if logically, KK knows that putting Vick’s on the bottom of your feet to make yourself feel better should not work, the thought that her grandma told her it does can often make her do it anyways, as a memory of her grandmother, and because she was raised to do this.

 

Happy New Year!

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/3/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Tagalog

Main Piece: SM: Do you do the thing on New Years, where your parents throw a bunch of money on the floor, like coins, near a door actually, and all the children kind of rush for it and try to collect as much money as you can, because it like symbolizes like good fortune, you’ll get rich, and it promises wealth. Also, when it strikes 12 you’re supposed to jump a lot, like try and touch the sky, and it promises you’ll grow taller. Both of these are LIES.  Still do it though, even though I don’t believe it, I still do it.

 

Context: These are two traditions, followed by Filipino cultures on New Year’s Eve.

 

Background: SM grew up in a fully Filipino household, and so these typical traditions surrounded her as she was growing up, and she still continues to practice them.

 

Analysis: Upon further research, New Year’s Eve traditions are huge in Filipino cultures. Her tradition of jumping to get taller is fairly unique, but the money one is pretty common. Most stories I found of this are the same, where the parents throw a bunch of coins and the children try to collect as much of it as they can to promise good fortune in the new year. I think SM’s tradition of jumping probably stemmed from the fact that she, and her whole family, are fairly short, and therefore to make her feel better about her height, her parents promised her that if she jumps right at midnight she’ll grow more!