Author Archives: Brittaney Robinson

Call and Response

Nationality: African-American
Age: 51
Occupation: Diversity Consultant
Residence: Cleveland, OH
Performance Date: March 16, 2008
Primary Language: English

Call and Response Cheer

It takes a rockin’ chair to rock (one person yells)

Yeah Man! (everyone)

It takes a rubber ball to roll (one person)

Yeah Man! (everyone)

It takes a team like (fill in the blank with a name) (one person)

To satisfy my lovin’ soul (one person)

Yeah Man! (everyone)

Tell me how do you feel team? (one person) Satisfied! (everyone) Repeated 3x

Oh Satisfied Oh Satisfied! (everyone)

** Note: () indicate who is saying the stanza of the cheer. For example (One person) means that a designated person would say that line and that same one person would say the other lines that are marked (One person).

Val Robinson, my mother, learned this cheer when she was a little girl from her mother. She would use this cheer as a tool of inspiration and motivation. Val said, “My mom used to say it to us to make us laugh. For example, when I was having a bad day at school she would cheer me up by saying. It takes a rockin’ chair to rock. Yeah man! It takes a rubber ball to roll! Yeah Man! It takes a person like Val. Yeah Man! To satisfy my lovin’ soul. Tell me how do you feel Val? Satisfied! Tell me How do you feel Val? Satisfied! Tell me how do you feel Val? Satisfied. Oh Satisfied! Oh Satisfied!”

I have personally become fond of this cheer because this cheer was passed down to my brother and I. Val, my mother, would often use this cheer in the same context with us: as a mode of motivation and inspiration. I can remember my Mom shouting this cheer at my high school volleyball games when my team was losing. She would yell it from the bleachers in the parents section of the gym cheering my teammates and myself on. This cheer therefore, spread to the members of my volleyball team. The context of which it is performed allows for a large group cooperation and involvement. Hence, the process of diffusion amongst different groups has a great potential of rapidly spreading. Because there is no limit to the number of people who can chant this cheer, a person or group of people can learn and pass it on to large groups at one given time.

Song – Montego Bay, Jamaica

Nationality: Jamaican
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 18, 2008
Primary Language: English

Recess Song: “Pretty Pager Butterfly”

Informant Speaking: “When I was going to school in Jamaica there are a few songs that we used to sing. I don’t necessarily know the meanings behind them. But there is one about a butterfly that my Mom and me use to sing on my way from home when I was four years old. And it goes like this:

Pretty pager butterfly

What do you do all day

I roam around a sunny field

With nothing to do but play

Nothing to do but play

All the live long day

So fly butterfly, Fly butterfly

Don’t waste your time away

I remember singing it in school when we had field days. Because in Jamaica there is a day designated for activities outside. We would run around in the field freely with other four year olds in our field day uniforms which if I remember correctly were white shorts and a white shirt. Every time I think of that song it just brings back happiness. And sometimes I’ll flip back to images of me and my mother walking back home from school.”

This is a unique song that I have not heard of any other renditions of this song before. Michaela is unsure where she first heard this song before. But she does believe that she first learned it at Hemmingway Preparatory School in Montego Bay, Jamaica. This song may be unique to Jamaican culture. Michaela told me that she has not heard her version or any other version of this song in the United States.  I agree with Michaela’s interpretation of this song; it is a song that exudes happy feelings and childhood memories. The lyrics describe a child-like freedom that only children seem to express when they have no worries or stressors that daily life may bring that adults often feel. This song is perfect for the time and location in which it is performed. Recess where there is “nothing to do but play” and roam in sunny fields is the perfect atmosphere for children to enjoy singing “Pretty Pager Butterfly”.

Michaela Simpson Buttefly Song

Legend

Nationality: Greek, Native-American, European
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Moorpark, CA
Performance Date: March 30, 2007
Primary Language: English

Legend

Nichelle’s interpretation of this story goes as follows:

“This was a story of my great grandfather. In 1932, there was this one island called Crete that had a curse on it. The curse came on the island 7 generations before. After so many years this curse was supposed to come into effect. When it did, all of the young women (girls who started their periods but weren’t married) got possessed and their possession didn’t become bad until night time. And so there weren’t enough priests to deal with all of the girls. So what they had to do was recruit all the college young men because they would have had religious training. So, what they did, they had to do this mass exorcism. So the priests were going to walk around all the houses and say the exorcism prayers. So what they needed the young men to do…the belief was “the devil could not step over a true Christian”. So they wanted the young men to lie down in front of the doorways of the bedrooms (Greek bedrooms don’t usually have windows so all they had to do was worry about the door). The priests told them, “If you never speak to the devil then you can’t become possessed.” So they lead girls into their room. The girl that my great grandfather was keeping in her room was very young but strikingly beautiful. So she gets in her bed and he lies down on the floor inside and the priest told him to say prayers to himself. First, everything’s normal. First she starts asking him, “Oh please Mr. can I have some water?” or “Can you come fix my blankets?” So, basically anything to get him to move. As the night goes on she gets more persistent and he can’t talk to her. It starts getting so bad he can’t even look at her anymore. So his eyes are closed and all of a sudden he hears movement. He opens his eyes. The devil attacks people mentally who are mentally weak that they can’t fend off everything because their mentally not strong enough. And that’s why mentally insane people can’t really be helped by medicine, psychiatry or anything. A lot of times the church believes they’re actually possessed. And you know and the thing is with possession a lot of the times people will be completely normal sometimes and all of sudden they’ll have these attacks. Ok so we were at the point where he hears movement and so he opens his eyes to see where it’s coming from and he’s looking around the room, he can’t its dark, he really can’t see that much but he realizes light is moving. And he looks up and he realizes the light that’s moving is the candle on the shelf in the corner and its zooming from corner to corner to corner to corner of all the rooms and the girls just sitting there peacefully in her bed. And this thing is zooming and zooming and zooming all around the room. And he closes his eyes again because he is scared and he just says his prayers over and over and over again. So eventually this stops…but she starts screaming bloody murder. And again he opens his eyes and no longer does she look young and beautiful but she looks old and scary and screaming and clutching her her her bed sheets and screaming and screaming. And he shuts his eyes again cuz he is in complete terror now. He like doesn’t know what to do but she like never leaves her bed. She’s like in her bed the whole time. So eventually, morning comes the girl is like she passes out eventually. But you know, he gets up apparently the curse is broken, the girls no longer have any symptoms and the island is peaceful forever more.”

I agree with Nichelle’s interpretation of her great grandfather’s story. This story seems to be of great importance to the Megowan family that even the intricate detail that was described in this legend ended up being passed down to three generations. Nichelle told the story as if she was reliving the moment herself; she spoke with great dynamics and animation in her voice. I have not heard of any other legend such as this. But I could imagine that this legend is used as a tool to cherish the Megowan and Greek culture where it would be important to pass down this legend from one generation to another as a means of holding onto family tradition. I could also see this legend as a method of group identification amongst younger kids and peers. For example, a young child who would tell this legend in the Megowan family may be accepted into the group of kids who are known for telling scariest stories at summer camp.

This legend also reflects the history and the people of the Greek culture in the 1930’s on the island of Crete. The Greek people described in this legend were all of religious affiliation besides the possessed girls, which shows that religious identity was an important identification of that particular time. The priests and college boys seemed to consistently be practicing religious doctrine, and sticking to religious doctrine was important to their lifestyle.

Proverb

Nationality: Nigerian, African-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Wooster, OH
Performance Date: April 25, 2008
Primary Language: English

Proverb

“Almost doesn’t count only in horse shoes and hand grenades.”

Eric remembers learning this proverb from his Grandfather. Eric says you use it when you are close and have not quite reached the finish line or the mark of completion. This proverb is mostly used when plying sports, card games, or when you are almost finished with something but have not fully completed it.

Superstition/Fable – Greek

Nationality: Greek, Native-American, European
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Moorpark, CA
Performance Date: March 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

Superstition/Fable

Superstition: You are not supposed to sow on the eve of a Greek Holiday.

Story: On the eve of a holiday you’re not supposed to sow and it has something to do with if you prick your finger and bleed, then it is unholy. My YaYa (Greek for Grandmother) told me this story. Her older sister in Greece was a seamstress. She had a big order due and she wasn’t down with her order so she asked YaYa to come help her with the order. She started sowing. The sun goes down and it gets dark. Around midnight she goes to bed and hears a woman moaning. She looks outside and nobody is there. She looks outside again and sees nothing. She looked outside for a third time and they both see a woman who is very white who has an arrow through her chest w/ blood. The next day they go to church and the priest told my YaYa the story about how there was a saint that died. And they believed they saw the ghost of the Saint on the eve of a holiday (Nichelle was not sure what holiday it was). That night warned them to not break religious doctrine.

The story originated from a Greek Orthodox superstition which states, “one is not supposed to sow on the eve of a holiday”. The story that Nichelle told was an experience that her grandmother had when she was a child on the night before the particular holiday. This story was passed down to Nichelle’s grandmother’s children and grandchildren as a warning to not sow on the eve of a Holiday. One is not supposed to sow on the eve of a holiday because it is considered a disservice to the saints of that given holiday.

This superstition and accompanied story seem to be quite exaggerated to those who do not believe in ghosts or the consequences of ignoring a superstition. However, I do believe that those who do believe in superstitions will follow this particular belief, especially after hearing a story like Nichelle’s Ya Ya told. Her story shows supportive evidence of what could happen if you disobey a particular Greek Orthodox belief. I believe this superstition also supports the importance of resting before a Greek holiday, which is an important belief that Greek culture values. One is not supposed to work strenuously before celebrating a religious holiday.