Monthly Archives: May 2023

Herobrine (Minecraft Legend)

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Performance Date: 4/2/23
Primary Language: English

Original Text:

Informant: “In Minecraft, basically…well, Notch created Minecraft. And when he created Minecraft, there was this big thing that there was like a bug in the game and it created Herobrine, who was like an evil default avatar with white eyes. Herobrine would go into peoples Minecraft servers and kill them in Minecraft, and burn their buildings, and put lava everywhere. So then everyone was like have you seen Herobrine in your game? And people would lie and say ‘yeah Herobrine was in my game’, but it wasn’t possible for Herobrine to be in the pocket edition of Minecraft. Pocket edition is just Minecraft on your phone. It was only possible on the computer” [

Collector: Is it real?

Informant: “Probably not real, but…I was playing on pocket edition with my brother one time, we were just hanging out, and then I joined a new world and I randomly just get killed and I was like OMG ITS HEROBRINE! Herobine killed me! Im pretty sure I just accidentally walked back into lava and then burned alive but yeah. We all would tell our Herobrine stories. My brother and his friends said that they actually had a Herobrine war, like they were fighting him, I don’t think it was real, but yeah.”

Context: The informant in 18 years old and grew up in Orinda, California. He says that he was an avid player of Minecraft from 5th to 6th grade and it was cool to be really good at the game among his peers. His brother’s friends were especially good at the game, and he wanted to be able to play with them. The informant watched a lot of YouTube videos about Herobrine that further cemented his belief in the legend.

Analysis: The legend of Herobrine is obviously terminus post quem the invention of Minecraft (2011). The same way children tell ghost stories because they are unfamiliar with the concept of death, children like the informant and his friends would tell stories about Herobrine, who was a white-eyed scary version of the default Minecraft avatar. Just because there is a new digital age, doesn’t mean the typical types of legends from the past don’t resurface online. Little boys like the informant would naturally be intrigued by a scary, other-worldy version of their avatar with the desire to haunt and kill them. To add on, the invention of the internet and games is still very new, and people often make up stories like Herobrine to deal with the unknown factor they find eerie about the internet — like it perhaps having a mind of its own.

Thanksgiving Tradition (the year I learned the true meaning of Thanksgiving)

Context:

My informant is my father who comes from a southern family, although he was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I asked him for any holiday traditions he could think of aside from the ones that I am a part of and I thought of a story he told me about one of our family members a while back and thought it would be perfect. So here is what he said:

Text:

“At 16 years old, I didn’t fully understand the meaning of Thanksgiving. To me, it was just a day of eating lots of food with family and friends. But when I moved to Connecticut, my grandmother Ruby showed me the true meaning of the holiday. On Thanksgiving Day, Ruby spent a whole week preparing dinner and wrapping several plates of food in foil. I didn’t understand why she was doing this until she explained that we were going to give the food to people who were less fortunate than us. We drove to a city building where Ruby distributed the plates of food to people living on the streets. Seeing their gratitude and smiles made me realize that Thanksgiving was not just about feasting with family and friends, but also about giving back to the community. From then on, I made a commitment to give back every Thanksgiving, and the lesson my grandmother taught me stayed with me for life.”

Analysis:

From what I know about the origins of Thanksgiving, it started with the Pilgrims in the 1600s. During this time a harvest feast was shared between two groups of people to celebrate an expedition. I am not sure where the turkeys came into play, but that’s not the point of this story.

I too had the issue of not truly understanding the meaning Thanksgiving, but then my father told me this story and through movies and everything else its a time to show others you are grateful towards them and to openly express kindness to others. I enjoy this holiday for the food especially, so it is sad think about the people who do not get to enjoy it. Over the years, I feel Thanksgiving has strayed away from its roots a little bit, but I think the true meaning behind the holiday is to put aside differences for a day to celebrate being grateful and kind to each other.

Something that also comes to mind is the fact that this was my fathers grandmother who if I’m correct is from Texas. I say this because I think of the phrase “Southern Hospitality”. That and maybe things were different and there was more of a community dynamic, something more old school. People are still kind today, but I believe it is important to see more of that during Thanksgiving.

A Day in my life on Christmas

Context:

My informant is a college student who lives in the same apartment complex as me. He is a communications major, 23 years old, and he is from Chicago. I asked him if he had any holiday traditions and mentioned what his family partakes in during Christmas. I was interested to see how similar his traditions are to mine and any other traditions I have heard, so here is what he shared with me:

Text:

“Okay so each Christmas my sister and I open our stockings first because when we were babies my mom bought us embroidered stockings with out names on them, then the presents are divided under the tree and everyone opens their gifts in order one person at a time, then we eat around noon, usually honey ham, green bean casserole, potatoes, and wine. Then we watch a Christmas or hallmark movie and then the day is pretty much over. But my sister having two kids has definitely changed things up.”

Analysis:

From the sound of it there are many Christmas traditions that families from all over share. My informant, as mentioned previously is from Chicago, but my family and I from California partake in a similar tradition. I think the main point of Christmas is to make each other happy and share a day with family giving to each other and enjoying the month leading up to this time. Christmas is the biggest holiday celebrated in the sense that stores will have sections dedicated to this time, and music will be played there are tree lighting festivals and little light shows you can go to to see the decorated houses and lights. Although there is a lot of history surrounding Christmas, the traditions that I have heard and the ones my family practices are not far from normal. These are all classic examples of holiday traditions that are practiced all around the world, even in different cultures. This kind of folklore can be seen in movies, shared from previous generations, and even researched in history books or music.

After further research, it could be examined that people would decorate trees in their homes with lights and colorful toys as far back as the 1500s. This goes to show that because these traditions have been documented and passed from different cultures and generations it still lives on and might even slightly change.

Ghost Story

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Self Employed
Residence: Santa Clarita, California
Performance Date: 04/04/23
Primary Language: English

Context:

My informant is my father, he is 55 years old and he is born and raised in California. He has traveled a lot in his life as he was in the navy for some time and comes from a long line of people who are from Texas and other places. He decided to tell me about a ghost story that he experienced as a kid while he was visiting his grandmother and this is what he said:

Text:

Dad: “When I was about 10 years old, I used to take a trip to Texas every summer. I would fly to Dallas to visit my grandmother, and eventually make my way to Marshall, where my cousins lived. One year, while I was sitting on the couch in Marshall, the rotary dial phone started dialing by itself. It was like someone was using the phones without actually touching it. “

Me: “Was this the first time something like this has happened to you?”

Dad: “Another strange occurrence happened when my cousin and I overheard my aunt talking to someone in her room. But when we went to check, no one was there except for my aunt, who seemed startled to see us. We noticed that there was an indention in the mattress as if someone had been sitting there next to her, but it disappeared as soon as we entered the room. “

Me: “How did this make you feel?”

Dad: “These unexplained events left us puzzled and wondering what could have caused them”

Analysis:

In my analysis, the story that was told to me from an experience my dad had could be considered a memorate. By definition, a memorate is an oral narrative from memory relating a personal experience or a personal narrative involving an encounter with a supernatural being. Although this encounter was unexplained, many supernatural encounters can be unexplained. Additionally, because this happened in Texas, I believe Texas is filled with a lot history and it could be common to experience these types of things there. In terms of folklore, in an article from the Journal of Folklore Research by Ulo Valk, titled “Ghostly Possession and Real Estate: The Dead in Contemporary Estonian Folklore,” Valk elaborates on ghosts as a way to “provide meaning in a chaotic social environment”. Although this interpretation may not make complete sense, it creates an opening for further exploration on the subject of ghostly encounters like this one that happened to my father. As mentioned in this article, ghosts want to maintain traditions and culture, so maybe this space was special in some way.

A Limpia in Mexico

A limpia, a cleansing, is done to get rid of negative energy. The informant heard of it because she was walking around in Mexico City with her family, and saw people doing it on the street at a little shop. Her family approached to see it being done and what all the commotion was. The service was donation based and she asked if they wanted to do it. The lady who was in charge of the ritual was indigenous, and worse Aztec decorated and inspired clothing. She explained what she was doing so they would understand what they would be going through. First, she started by asking them to close their eyes, sprayed some kind of liquid(herbs mixed into a liquid that smelled like lavender), and told them to rub it all over their hair, face, and clothes. She said a prayer, then started to burn incense and circled their body. She did this a couple of times, then grabbed a fresh herb and smacked them on their legs and body. Their eyes stayed closed the whole time. Then, she blew a whistle that is supposed to symbolize a jaguar, twice in each ear, then blew a concha, then rubbed the liquid once more, and said a final prayer. She said it was to get rid of bad energy or imbalance, to bring balance and positive energy. Prayer is done in Spanish which said, “Relieve this person from any harm in their life, may this limpia be helpful with the presence of god”.

The informant doesn’t believe in those things but did it because her mom wanted to do it. She enjoyed the smell of herbs, and the incense made it relaxing but did not believe in the superstition. She grew up hearing of limpias because her father received limpias all the time when she was a kid, and she would also see it done in other cultures. 

This limpia is a form of folk medicine done in Mexican culture. It revolves around being faced with bad energy and thus people needing a way to remove this bad energy. It involves some aspects of religious tie-ins such as the prayer, the incense, and the rubbing of some oil, or liquid made of herbs but also relates to Aztec culture. Additionally, herbs seem to be a part of this reliance on natural remedies for the curing of illnesses that are commonly found in Latin America.