Author Archives: Carla Frankenbach

Castells (Human Tower)

Nationality: Spanish
Age: 35
Occupation: Spanish Professor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“The other manifestation of our culture that I really like is Castells, which are human towers. And again, the tradition is passed in between the families, because it is a very risky tradition, as they all stand on each other’s shoulders, and, um, the very young kids go all the way to the top, you know and it could be as high as eight or nine levels. So you either grow up inside that tradition and you understand why you’re doing it and you believe in why you’re doing it or there is no way anyone is going to allow their kids to go all the way up there because it is risky. But it also is a very…unique group. People who belong to Castell have been part of it for a many many generations, and again it was forbidden during Franco’s time but they found a way to continue and preserve their own tradition of Castells and they were getting together, you know, secretly, and practicing. And again, after Franco died there has been a renewal and an effort by the government to bring it back.”

Informant Analysis: “Um, I do like Castells very much that although different towns have their different groups and they have different colors, and they take pride in their colors and in their group, in order to make Castell you have to have a huge base that supports the top. What I particularly like from this tradition is even though you belong to another team, if someone is trying to accomplish a very high tower and they need manpower or, you know, power in the base, everyone pitches in, no matter what team you belong to. I think it really represents the union of the Cataluñans as a group, because everyone participates and can be part of it”

Analysis: Castells is a huge event for everyone involved, but it seems that those who are actually forming the human towers capture the most attention and have the biggest job. Despite the focus on the “stars” of the event, the unification element seems very important for this ritual, not only because many different groups of people come together, but also because it brought people together at a darker time in Spain when Franco was ruling. The fact that this tradition survived along with the others the informant describes points to the commitment to sustaining the culture of Spain, even when they had to do it in secret.

Sardana (Dance)

Nationality: Spanish
Age: 35
Occupation: Spanish Professor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“There’s a dance that’s called Sardana, which is very very different than Flamingo, which is the typical dance people think about when they think about Spain. Um, it is a more, it’s more quiet, and you dance it as a group. So you kind of hold hands and make a circle similar to, I don’t know, maybe with the Greeks Sirtaki where the people are holding hands. Um there is a group leader that counts the steps as you’re dancing and he announces what comes next. There are three basic steps to the dance and you follow the song. It’s played with only three instruments, una grulla, which is a very different flute, a little drum, and then a variation of a flute, so it’s kind of two flutes with a little drum. What I like from that dance is um, no matter how good or bad you are, (of course there’s always professional groups that dance together) but whenever there is a celebration, everyone joins a big circle. So kind of the town gets to do something together at the same time which is also really really nice. And origins come from Middle Ages and have evolved, and again during Franco’s time they were forbidden, but after Franco died I think there has been a renewal of the tradition and a big effort by the Catalan government to get them back to the society. They’re brought into schools and kids are taught how to dance the Sardanas these days.”

This dance is simple, but very important for celebrating and bringing people together. As with the other cultural traditions of Cataluña that the informant mentioned, this one was also influenced by Franco’s strict rules. Despite these restrictions, it is obvious that the dance is valued because they are making such an effort to promote it and teach it to the new generation. Like the Castells, this ritual is a way for people to feel the unity of their town or region, because everyone is joined together. It is a treasured Spanish dance (though not the well known Flamingo), but the informant also relates it to a Greek dance, so she does not necessarily take ownership of it for Spain exclusively.

Catalan Christmas

Nationality: Spanish
Age: 35
Occupation: Spanish Professor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: Spanish

“I wanted to tell you about Catalan traditions, which are very different from the rest of Spain and not that well known. When I say Catalan traditions I mean those that originated in Cataluña, in the North of Spain. Um, I mean there are several that I can share because I grew up with them. One of them is, well, I grew up and I didn’t grow up, my family moved to Germany to work, but they made a point of telling us things from Cataluna when we were in Spain. So I was living them, but outside of Cataluna, I was living them in Germany. The first of them, which was very unique and weird to a certain extent, happens in the night of the 24th, so you have to think in the context of Santa. So kids, um, bring home, um, strange creatures made of wood, with four wooden legs, and then it has, you know, decorated with a red barentina, which is a red baret, and you bring that piece of wood in, and you generally put it next to a fire or next to a Christmas tree these days, and you cover it with a blanket so it’s comfortable and warm, and you feed it every morning. So the kids usually put some fruits or vegetables or candies, and they magically disappear during the day, so you’re kind of feeding that little creature. And then the night of the 24th, everyone gets together around it, and you know parents have to make sure that something is put underneath the blanket so it looks like it’s getting fatter and stronger as its eating. And the weird weird tradition is that you get a stick and the kids hit the little creature with the stick and you sing a little song in Catalan, and literally the pig “shits” the presents. So traditionally, it was more candies and little books, this day is a lot of parents are using it as Santa so kids are getting bigger and bigger presents and, then it depends on families, some families do it all at once, so the kids go to the kitchen and wet the stick and then they go back and they hit the piggy and all the presents come out at once, some families do it kid by kid, so as the kid gets the stick wet the parents make sure that underneath the blanket comes the present that is assigned for that kid, but it’s a very strange tradition in how it is delivered.”

Informant Analysis: “One thing that’s interesting about it too is that I grew up with it in my family because my dad is from Cataluna, my mom is not, but we did it in my dad’s side of the family, and I thought it was the normal thing in Spain, so when I was ten and I returned to Spain, I moved to Northern Spain and I talked about this and people looked at me as if I was crazy, you know, because they don’t do it over there and during Franco’s time during the dictatorship it was forbidden, so many kids of my generation grew up during Franco’s time and were not allowed to do that unless they were doing it in hiding at home, so for me something that was very normal was not necessarily for everyone.”

Analysis: I think this is a fun way to include the children in the present giving process, because they are “feeding” the small animal that they create, so they have a part in it. Usually the parents are the ones buying and giving the presents, so this way its more of a group effort. This ritual was obviously important to the informant because it helped her hold on to her Catalan heritage even when she wasn’t physically there.

Abiyoyo (Annotated)

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Barbara, CA
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: English

“Once upon a time, there’s a little village and it’s in a valley with hills all around it…I’m not sure if I can remember the exact version from school…and just on the other side of the hills, was this giant named Abiyoyo (I’m supposed to say it in a scary voice)…and he would come and he would eat all the farm animals, and he would terrorize the villagers, and then he’d go back to his home, somewhere beyond the hills. And in this little town, there was a father and a son who nobody really liked, because they were just annoying. The son was always singing and dancing and bothering people when they were working, and the father was a magician who would make things disappear, and sometimes he would make things disappear when people needed them. So anyways, one day Abiyoyo is coming for some lunch, and for lunch he has sheep and cows and other things in the village. And, all of the villagers are running away as usual, and the father and the son decide that this is the last time that Abiyoyo is coming to town. So the son goes out to the field where Abiyoyo is eating some sheep, which is very sad, and the son starts singing and dancing, and he sings a song about the monster, Abiyoyo, and this makes Abiyoyo really happy, because he’s been alone his whole life, and he doesn’t think that anybody would ever be nice to him. He just thought people would run away whenever they came near him. But this little boy was singing to him. And so Abiyoyo started singing along and he had a really scary loud voice, but he was singing and dancing, and eventually he was dancing long enough that he had to lie down, and the second he lay down, the father brought out his magic wand, and made Abiyoyo disappear. All the villagers came running back, because the monster was gone, and all the villagers were safe, and they didn’t have to worry about all their farm animals being eaten, and they didn’t have to worry about Abiyoyo coming over the hills and terrorizing their village. And it was all thanks to the father and the son who nobody had ever liked, and now they were the village heroes.”

The informant heard this legend when she was in elementary school in Boston. She remembers the story being very scary as a child, but also a sweet tale of outsiders (the father and son) “proving themselves” and finally becoming part of the community. Primarily considered a South African lullaby, The Abiyoyo story is most well known as told and performed by Pete Seeger, a famous folk singer who introduces the story with a song:

“Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo

Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo,

Abiyoyo, Abi yo yo yo yo yo yo yo

Abi yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo”

See Seeger’s Performance Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlDGHEk68XI

Seeger has an illustrated story book titled Abiyoyo as well. The story relies on the Abiyoyo song, which the young boy sings to the giant to coax him, and Pete Seeger weaves this into the story in his performances. The story is often used in school classrooms like it was the in the informant’s as part of “Africa Units” in Social Studies, but beyond learning about Africa, the story seems to fit neatly into the Children’s folklore category because it features a child hero, the young boy who coaxes the giant. Though him and his father are initially misfits, they are eventually accepted for their heroism.

 

Frederick The Mouse (Annotated)

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Barbara, CA
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: English

“Once upon a time, there was a mouse, I think his name was Frederick, so anyways, the story starts out, and it’s the middle of summertime, which is a really important time for field mice because they need to gather all the food they’re gonna eat all winter, because when there’s snow covering the ground they can’t collect all the seeds and whatnot that they’ll be eating all winter. So everyone in this mouse community is running around, working as hard as they can, they’re collecting all the seeds they can find and they’re storing them up in their communal storage facility underground. But Frederick is sitting on this rock, and his face is pointing at the sky and he’s looking all around him, and he’s not collecting any food. So a couple of the mice come up to Frederick, and they’re pretty mad at him, because everyone else is working hard to collect food, and it seems like he’s sort of taking a nap. So they say “Frederick, what are you doing?!” and he says “I’m looking at the sky, and remembering the blue, I’m looking at the trees, and remembering the green. I’m looking at the flowers and remembering all their rainbows. And then the mice think he’s stupid and run away. So everyone else keeps working and they’re gonna be fine all winter. So now it’s February, and its grey, and there’s snow on the ground, and they’re all just hanging out in their tunnels, and they have food, but they’re sorta sad, and there’s not a lot going on. They’re really just waiting for the springtime to come again. And there’s nothing to talk about because they’ve all been just sitting together for a long time, and there’s nothing really new happening in the world. So Frederick comes out of his little corner, he’s a shy mouse so he’s alone a lot of the time, and he asks if anyone wants to hear about summertime. At first, everyone is sort of confused because they’ve all seen summertime before so they don’t really know what Frederick could tell them. But they decide to listen, at least for a minute, and so they all sit down, and Frederick starts describing everything that summertime looks like. And he’s describing in such vivid detail, that if the mice close their eyes, they can almost feel the warm sun on their faces, and they can see all the flowers blooming. And suddenly, springtime doesn’t seem to far away, and winter doesn’t seem so hard, and when the story is over, they’re all so happy that Frederick spent all this time collecting the colors of summer. Because he made them so happy and they realized that having these things is almost as important as having the food.”

The informant’s mother would tell her this as a bedtime story during cold winters in New England. She says that it made her excited for summertime and offered an escape from the sometimes-depressing elements of winter. This story is probably most effective in seasonal areas, where winter and summer are drastically different. Like the informant’s other story, Abiyoyo, again the small mouse is a child hero who rises to the occasion and proves himself. This structure is appealing for children, as they can easily see themselves in the hero’s role.  The informant later found out that the story is an adaptation of Aesop’s fable “The Ant and The Grasshopper” in which the grasshopper spends all summer singing for an ant as they collect their food, and then once winter comes the grasshopper is hungry and dying, and must ask the ant for food. The grasshopper is condemned for this, and the ant denies him any assistance. The moral of the story seems to be that those who are not cautious in preparing for the future will get burned. The “Frederick” version is actually a much more optimistic version, where Frederick, the one not initially doing the work, is praised and appreciated instead of left to die. Though “The Ant and the Grasshopper” is considered a children’s story as well, the harsh outcome makes it a little traumatic for a bedtime story. This may be why the informant’s mother chose to tell her the Frederick one instead.