Monthly Archives: May 2021

Holi Festival

Nationality: Indian
Age: 23
Occupation: Marketing
Residence: France
Primary Language: English

There was demonic king in India. His name is Hirankashap. It was known that he was an evil king and egotistic. He used to command everyone in the kingdom to worship him. He had a son named pralad, and the son did not believe you should worship kings. Pralad worshipped the real gods. So the king tried to kill his son many times, but somehow his son never died, because lord Vishnu, the one he was praying to, would save him every time. So every method to kill him was unsuccessful. The king had a sister named Holika who was immune to fire. The king told Holika to sit a fire and bring his son into it. Holika went into the fire and took Pralad into it, but Pralad kept chanting the name of lord Vishnu, and instead of Pralad, Holika burned. In the end, Pralad came out unharmed, and Vishnu was impressed with his devotion. 

The festival Holi is derived from Holika’s name. Normally, the day before Holi, we have huge bonfires all over India. And in the fire we throw away all our bad luck or whatever. Like Indians believe some objects in their house bring bad luck. So they basically leave these objects in bonfire, and try to burn out their bad thoughts and other bad things in fire. Its considered a sign of burning out all the bad things in life, and the next morning we wake up realizing we burned all the bad things in our life and we are supposed to feel happy. So we go out to celebrate and we play with colors.

Context: Indian people believe in devotion. They really believe that you have to be devoted to the gods you are praying to, and only if  your super devoted the gods will come down and save you. It also signifies even if your problem is really big, like your father is demon king, the gods will save you.

What are the colors do you play with?

Its started with people playing with natural colors, like a rose or something. So they actually make powders out of these flowers. 

Thoughts: I have seen photos of this festival online and it looks amazing. I feel great finally understanding what would prompt over a billion people to take  the streets and play with colors. It is interesting to note the contrast between the greyness of ashes left in the wake of burning negative things someone life to vibrant colors the very next day.

Ramayana – Floating Stone Bridge

Nationality: Indian
Age: 23
Occupation: Marketing
Residence: France
Primary Language: English

Ramayana is a story how all the gods meet each other and help each other out, you know fight evil. And it is related to one of our festivals. There is the story of Ram. Ram is one of our gods, and basically he was the king of one our capitals called [inaudible]. He was living his happy life and then before he got married his wife was kidnapped by a monster in Sri Lanka called Ravan. What happened was that the monster wanted to show off his powers, and the story goes Lord Ram contacted different gods; he went to the Himalayas; he got the support of monk and built an army. But, you know, Sri Lanka is island, and they had very large land army. So what they did was eventually, they did some prayers and contacted the higher lords or something and did a deal with them. The deal was that, if they write Shri Ram (his name) in on the stones they would float. So when they write that on the stones, and they start to float. So all of his army brought really big stones from all over India wrote his name, and the stones started floating in the sea. And that’s how they created a bridge from India to Sri Lanka. The army crossed the bridge to ultimately kill the monster called Ravan and get back his wife.

Context: If you look the maps you can see the bridge he had build, although it is eroded cause this was thousands of years ago. There is a city called Rameswaram, which is the southernmost city in India, and you can see the bridge is really going Sri Lanka. There’s like temples with And the stones really say Shri Ram. I’ve seen it, but it could be a big scam. The interesting aspect is that this thing exists, right? So what I was thinking is that someone saw the bridge with the floating stones, and on the basis of that created the story so that it seems real, but I don’t know.

Thoughts: I found this story, and landmark, very interesting. There seems much debate online as to the reasons why these stones float. Some suggest it porous pumice stone so it the air makes it lighter than water, while others say pumice would sink after some amount of time in the water. Either way it is fascinating to see the images of the bridge from space, and is a true wonder.

Cymbal Visuals

Occupation: Student
Primary Language: English

I’m a part of the Trojan Marching Band, and the TMB has a lot of traditions… I’m a cymbal in the drum line, where we do a fair amount of visuals. cymbal visuals are something that lots of schools do, a few examples are:

Table top: You flip your cymbal off of your hand where you catch it with the cymbal facing up, like a table.

Bucket Drop: Starting from the table top position and you flip the cymbal down, then flip it back up. So, its kind of like sticking your hand into a bucket.

Two-Handed Bucket Drop: Same as above except you have one hand go higher and the other go lower so that they don’t bang into each other.

Bishop: This one is famous in competitive DCI (Drum Corps International). You take your cymbal, and catch it on the rim like this in the air. And, you stick it by the strap of the other cymbal, so it kind of looks like your holding a gun.

Context: Informant is part of USC Trojan Marching Band. 

Thoughts: These visuals were performed live over a zoom session. The table top, bucket drop, and two-handed bucket drop seem to derive from the same base visual which starts from the table top position. The bucket drop variants involved good hand-eye coordination as the cymbals swing around the player’s wrists via the attached strap. 

Nader Shah – 10,000 Goats

Occupation: Businessman
Residence: LA
Primary Language: English

Nader Shah was a very powerful Persian ruler… One day heard news that a large number of enemy forces were preparing to attack one of towns. He knew he couldn’t get enough troops over there in time. So that night, he ordered all the farmers to gather 10,000 goats. He then had the farmers light their livestock’s horns on fire and direct them toward the enemy forces. The attackers saw from distance what seemed like a massive army approaching their camp, but they didn’t realize that it was just a bunch of goats. Fearing for their lives, they ran away, and the town was saved.

Context: Informant was born in Iran, and insists this story was an actual historical event.

Analysis: This story parallels another Armenian war story  I have heard (see Armenian Donkey Laser), although this version takes place hundreds of years before the other one. In both versions different animals motifs (goats/donkey) were used to outsmart and scare enemy forces from an attack using light motifs (fire/flashlights). Being that Iran and Armenia are neighbors, it is not unlikely a story like this would be shared between cultures and adapted for their own use. Initially I believed the Armenian version was possibly true, because it sounded plausible and I was biased. But, having heard two different variants of a similar plot, I’m dubious as to whether the events in either legend are true.

Armenian Nose Joke

Age: 28
Residence: Fresno
Primary Language: English

Why do Armenian’s have big noses? 

Because the air is free!

Context: [informant] I first heard this from my cousin when I was a kid. I really though she was going to give a reason why our people have big noses but it was joke about them being cheap. I kind of took it personal even though she was Armenian too, but later I heard the same exact  joke about Jews and thought it was funny.

Thoughts: This is a prime example of multiplicity and variation. The stereotypes here are that Armenian and Jews both have big noses and tend to be money-centric cultures, so it makes sense the same joke can be applied to either culture. Having “big” noses implies they use it sniff up as much free air as possible.