Author Archives: Emma Perea

First Communion

Age: 21

Text:
“For my First Communion, we had to wear these pretty white dresses, and I actually wore my mom’s from when she got her First Communion. At that point, it was over 30 years old. We all went to the church, and I was with all my friends from elementary school. I think we were in first grade at the time, and we received our 1st communion. I felt so cute. My mom let me pick out my headband from a really cute First Communion store. And then we went to dinner and we saw Lady Gaga, and it was the best day ever.”

Context:
A catholic girl from NYC who had her First Communion, a coming of age ritual in Catholicism, in the first grade.

Analysis:
Her description of her First Communion demonstrates passing of tradition, the foundation of folklore. This coming of age event that she was excited to experience because it represented a huge milestone in her life. By wearing the same dress her mother did during her First Communion, she was able to connect with her and the celebration even deeper.

Bat Mitzvah

Age: 21

Text: “In the Jewish religion, the really religious people, Orthodox, celebrate it differently. In those cases, the girls don’t actually have Bat Mitzvahs because they’re technically not supposed to read the Torah. But I did because my family’s more reformed. So I obviously had a Bat Mitzvah, and I thought it was the biggest deal ever at the time. It obviously still is, but I thought it was the biggest deal. There was a lot of preparation before because I had to learn like five passages from the Torah and actually learn how to read it. In the Torah it’s hard to read because there’s no accents or anything so you kind of have to know what you’re saying to be able to read it. But it was really, really fun. And then after my service, I had a party, and it was really fun.”

Context: A Jewish girl from Miami. She had her Bat Mitzvah when she was 12, which is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. The Bat Mitzvah is a celebration and transition of girlhood into adulthood. The boy equivalent is a Bar Mitzvah.

Analysis: It was interesting to hear the difference between her Bat Mitzvah and an Orthodox Bar Mitzvahs, especially that Bat Mitzvahs actually don’t exist for Orthodox Jews due to their beliefs. Her Bat Mitzvah is remembered as a very big deal, which is representative of the importance of this ritual. She was excited for this coming-of-age ritual, studied and practiced for it, and completed it with a celebration. She will pass down this religious tradition to her children, as her parents did to her.

Crossing the Street Expression

Age: 19

Text:
“The story I have to tell is an expression that my grandma says. She’s from Guatemala and came to the U.S. in the 80s. The town my grandma is from is really small. The expression that she says is, in Spanish, ‘Look both ways when you cross the street because you don’t know if it’s your dad driving. And even if it is, you don’t know if he’s drunk or not.’ People drink a lot in that little town, and it’s dark.”

Context:
A boy from Pamona, CA sharing a proverb that his grandma and other people from her town use when crossing the street. She is from a small town in Guatemala that has a big drinking culture.

Analysis:
This saying is likely a proverb passed down through generations to educate their children on safety when crossing the road, especially given that the town has such a large drinking culture. This also suggests that there may have been drunk-driving accidents in this town and that it is common for people to drive under the influence. Instead of changing the drinking culture of their community, they turn to educate their children on the risks of drunk driving. This has turned into a folk metaphor, passed down through generations.

Upstate New York Ghost Story

Age: 19

Text:
“Back in like 2010 I’d say, because I just turned four and moved into a new house. So my house is around 200 years old. It’s an old farmhouse. It was built in 1820, so however old it was at that point. I just moved into this house, and I was four, so I was asleep. My mom, apparently the first few nights we moved there, she smelled smoke. It’s important to know my parents are very anti-smokers. They’re very against smoking, so it clearly wasn’t them, but my mom would hear smoking and she’d smell cigarette smoke every night around the same hour. She would see a haze too in the kitchen, and the smell was cigarette smoke. It happened for three nights straight, and it was all at the same hour, same time. My dad would be at work and then it was just me and my brother, and we’d be asleep. She’d smell it every time at the same hour, so she thinks it’s a ghost that’s living in our house, which you know, could make sense based on how old it is. She went up to talk to the ghost one night around that hour, and she was just like, ‘Hey, listen, you’re free to stay here and welcome of course, but my husband and son have asthma and they can’t deal with the cigarette smoke. Can you just smoke outside on the porch?’ After that, she’s never smelt it again.”

Context:
A girl from upstate New York who heard a ghost story from her mom about when she moved into her house when she was around four years old. She has not experienced other paranormal activity since this experience.

Analysis:
While it is a ghost story, this story serves as excellent framework for efficient communication. Her mom could have called a priest or exorcist, like others do, and forced the spirit away from her home, but instead, she took a friendlier approach and simply communicated with the ghost. By asking nicely and explaining the reasoning behind her request, she got her wishes and was never bothered by the indoor-smoking ghost again. I think we can all take a page out of her mom’s book and apply her extraordinary communication and confrontation skills to our own lives. As for whether the story is true or not, only her mom knows. It’s possible it could have been fabricated to warn her kids against smoking.

Horse Riddle

Age: 22

Text:
“A man rode out of town on Sunday. He stayed the whole night at a hotel and rode back to town the next day on Sunday. How is this possible? The horse’s name is Sunday.”

Context:
A girl from LA who learned this riddle from her grandma.

Analysis:
Interestingly enough, I have heard this riddle before, but the horse’s name was Friday instead of Sunday. This serves as an example of multiplicity and variation when sharing and spreading folk speech like riddles.