Monthly Archives: May 2022

Easter Capirotada

Background: The informant is a 50 year old man. He was born in Tecate, Mexico, moving to California when he was young. He grew up with his four siblings and two parents, moving from location to location across California. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California. 

Context: The context was a few weeks before Easter, and the informant began sharing stories about what happens before Easter when walking in the mall past Easter decorations.


Text:

UI: “Around Easter, when I was a kid, we used to go to my grandmothers, in uh, Delano, which is a small town near Bakersfield, and, and what she used to do is that she would make this, hm, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like a bread pudding and in Spanish it’s called capirotada. You know, I haven’t had it in so long because it takes like all day to make it. What you do is start off with about a week old bread, and then you put it in a tray with butter. And basically, it’s like traditional Mexican bread. It’s like a bread pudding type bread, and you typically make it before Easter and it’s like day old bread with raisins and butter and nuts, and it’s just like it all melts together with cinnamon and they sprinkle it with cheese on top and it all kind of like blends together into a weird pudding mixture, and that’s basically in preparation for Easter. I used to help my grandmother make it, because she would make trays and trays for everybody. The bread represents the body of Christ, the syrup is his blood, and the cloves are the nails of the cross, and the whole cinnamon sticks are the woods of the cross, and the melted cheese stands for the holy shroud. I guess it’s just like hidden meanings with the crucifixion of Jesus for Easter within the food.” 

Analysis:

Informant: He was very excited when sharing the story and appeared actually nostalgic for his childhood. Evidently, the time making food with his grandmother was a peaceful time of his life, and he loved the food.

Mine: Many of the foods around the holiday have hidden religious meanings behind them, having a dual cultural significance for both being a food to bring together family on holidays and for the religious context. The informant made the food with his grandmother, serving as time for the two of them to bond and for him to be taught the recipe of the Mexican dish. He was in the transition state from passively accepting the tradition when he began cooking with his grandmother. Then, the capirotada holds religious folklore, with each element not being randomly chosen, but rather chosen to represent an element of Christ. Given that the informantant still remembers the information after all these years, it is clear that the message imparted onto him by his grandmother held a deep value for him. It is our elders who are carrying on the traditions and they must be listened to in order to fully absorb it.

Don’t be Born on Eclipses

Background: The informant is a 50 year old man. He was born in Tecate, Mexico, moving to California when he was young. He grew up with his four siblings and two parents, moving from location to location across California. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California. 

Context: The context was when watching an astronomy show together on a streaming platform. They made a mention of an eclipse.

Text:

UI: Now, one superstition that I grew up with, that I was very well aware of and it’s going to sound completely strange, is that pregnant women should not go outside when there’s an eclipse. If a pregnant woman is outside during the time of an eclipse like that somehow or other, because of the eclipse, that the baby will be born deformed. Now, the thing with the eclipse is that, in actual fact, I don’t really know how it works. I don’t know if it’s because, you know, maybe the rays of the sun get distorted or, you know, I mean look in aztec culture they would look at it [eclipses] when they occurred. During the times of the Aztecs it was sort of like,  the moon is fighting with the sun and and the sun is overcoming the moon, It’s just something I’ve always remembered as a kid.

Me: Who did you hear it from?

UI: I had heard it from my mom. I had heard it from friends.

Me: What about when your wife was pregnant?

UI: There was an eclipse, and after explaining it to her, she understood and stayed inside.

Analysis:

Informant: The informant understands that the superstition may be considered strange by many people, self-aware that the superstition may not be well spread throughout his family. However, it is clear that the informant still believes in superstition to a strong degree.

Mine: The superstition was something new to me. It reveals a few things about Mexican culture. The first is the protective nature over pregnant women and the baby they are carrying. Since women are treated very delicately by this superstition, it would be interesting to see how it compares with other Mexican folkloric ideas. Second, not wanting the women to be exposed during an eclipse so that the baby will not be deformed shows a societal, not just Mexican, belief against children who are not born healthy. It has some negative connotations that a baby with defects is not wanted. However, that is a more modern interpretation of the superstition, and placing it into a past time period, many women used to die during childhood or their children would die when extremely young. Anything would want to be done to protect the child and the mother. If a baby does have deformities, it could ned up hurting the mother or the child might not live for long, which was extremely concerning.

Korean Proverb 2

1) Original Performance: “세 살 버릇 여든까지 간다”

Romanization/Transliteration: Sae sal buh-leut yuh-deun kkaji ganda

Full Translation (Literal / Dynamic): “A three year old’s habits go till the age of 80” / “Old habits last a lifetime”

2) The informant is my grandfather, a Korean who immigrated to the US in the 1970s. My grandfather learned this piece from his elementary school teacher, during a scolding apparently. He told me this piece because he believes that as I am still young, it has great value for me to hear. He says that if I can develop good habits now, I can benefit for the rest of my life. 

3) This was performed along with a set of four Korean proverbs that I asked my grandfather to tell me while eating dinner at his house a month or so ago. I specifically asked him to tell me his four favorite or most inspirational proverbs that he could think of. 

4) This proverb rings of Korea’s Confucian value system and provides some insight as to why children are held to an extremely high standard of discipline at a young age. This is even reflected in Korea’s speaking system, wherein young people use a specialized, elevated form of speech when talking to their elders. It is through perpetual systems like these that young Korean’s can develop the “habits” referred to in this proverb. 

Korean Proverb 1

1) Original Performance: “개천에서 용 난다”

Romanization/Transliteration: Gae-cheon eh-suh yong nan-da

Full Translation (Literal / Dynamic): “A dragon is born from a stream” / “Great people come from humble beginnings”

2) The informant is my grandfather, a Korean who immigrated to the US in the 1970s. My grandfather learned this piece from my great grandmother, who told this proverb to him when he was a child in the Korean countryside with few resources (due to the destruction of the Korean War). He told me he likes this piece because he feels as if he has overcome his circumstances to emerge as a “dragon,” so to speak. 

3) This was performed along with a set of four Korean proverbs that I asked my grandfather to tell me while eating dinner at his house a month or so ago. I specifically asked him to tell me his four favorite or most inspirational proverbs that he could think of. 

4) In thinking about this performance, I was surprised by the text’s raw references to nature and mythical characters. Upon further thinking, I realized that Korea puts great emphasis on the Lunar Calendar, and that the symbols of luck, strength, and fortune that are associated with the dragon match with the idea of an individual’s journey towards prosperity. 

Korean Proverb 3

1) Original Performance: “호랑이도 제 말 하면 온다”

Romanization/Transliteration: Ho-rang-ee do jeh mal ha-myun on-dah

Full Translation (Literal / Dynamic): “speak about a tiger and he will appear” / “speak of the devil and he will appear”

2) The informant is my grandfather, a Korean who immigrated to the US in the 1970s. My grandfather said that this proverb is such a universally known piece of folklore, that he can’t recall who exactly he learned it from. This is similar to how I have heard “speak of the devil” a million times, but can’t pinpoint the first time I heard it. He shared this piece with me because according to him, there’s no reason to be talking about people behind their back. He told me this proverb in order to encourage me to ponder things like current events and creative ideas. 

3) This was performed along with a set of four Korean proverbs that I asked my grandfather to tell me while eating dinner at his house a month or so ago. I specifically asked him to tell me his four favorite or most inspirational proverbs that he could think of. 

4) In comparing this proverb to its English equivalent, I noticed that both a tiger and devil are aggressive entities that are characterized as threats or forms of danger in common perception. They highlight that there is an inclination to speak of what “shouldn’t” be spoken of, but also a consequence of this. When contextualizing this proverb within Korea itself, I would say the probability for an “appearance” of the tiger is something that should be taken even more heed than in a society with a more individualistic backdrop. Korea is a society based on Confucianism and thus relationships, meaning people are in a closer locality, whether literally or figuratively, and there is more risk for the speaker to be exposed.