Author Archives: Frances ONeil

Festival – Mexico

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 24
Occupation: Events Coordinator
Residence: Huntington Park, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“The Day of the Dead is the Mexican version of Halloween. It is more like a party, or a celebration of a person’s life.”

Is there anything unique about this day? “Some people go to the extent of having picnics over the graves of their loved ones who have deceased.”

Are there any special foods you eat on this day? “I’m not too sure about that, but have you ever been to Olvera street downtown? There are always these decorations and paper mache skulls down there that are common for this celebration.”

Guillermo told me that he and his immediate family do not usually celebrate this holiday every year, which falls on the 1st of November. However, he said that he knows of it from older members of his family who would celebrate it more frequently. He said that this celebration is held to remember those who have passed away and to honor what they did during their life. He explained that a family remembers their relatives who have passed away and brings pictures of them to the celebration or picnic. He told me about the use of skull symbolism in the decorations for this day and how those images represent how the dead are incorporated and involved in this celebration.

He explained to me how this celebration is significant for the family members who are still living as a way to accept the loss of their loved ones. This day allows family members to have a party in their honor so to enjoy and remember all the happy memories they had with that person. It sheds a more positive light on death, expressing it as a natural occurrence. It is not usually a sad or mournful celebration, but one that helps the family come to terms with their loss. He said that this celebration is significant in shaping the way in which the natural process of life and death are understood.

The iconographic importance of the skull during this celebration has a significant meaning. According to Stanley Brandes, he there are several different kinds of treats eaten on this celebration which are made in the shape of skulls or skeletons. There are candy skulls made of white sugar with colorful decorative sugar frosting on it, which are given as treats to children. There are chocolate caskets with these sugar skeletons inside, viewed through an opening or window, with a string attached that when pulled moves the skeleton as if resurrected. These treats and images are tied to humor and lightheartedness, linked with children and jokes. Brandes explains that this expression of art and philosophy on death has not been thwarted by the oppression Mexico has endured in its history. (“Iconography in Mexico’s…”).

This cultural celebration of death also seems as a way for the living community to help the deceased transition into the afterlife. By having a celebration their honor, even having a picnic over their grave, it still allows the dead to participate in the living world even though they are not bodily present on earth. I agree with Guillermo that this celebration helps the living to cope with the loss of loved ones in coming to terms with the natural processes of life and death.

Annotation: Brandes, Stanley. “Iconography in Mexico’s Day of the Dead: Origins and Meaning.” Ethnohistory. 45.2 (1998): 181-218. 30 Apr. 2008. <http://www.jstor.org/pss/483058>.

Folk Song – Denmark

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Culver City, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

“Juligen”

“Christmas”

“Nu har vi Jul igen
“Actually have we Christmas again

Nu har vi Jul igen

Actually have we Christmas again

Julen har indtil Påske
Christmas has to Easter

Nej det er ikke adkomsten
No it is no the right!

Nej det er ikke adkomsten
No it is no the right!
Julen har indtil Pinse!”
Christmas has to Pentecost!”

“Now we have Christmas again

Now we have Christmas again

We have Christmas until Easter

No that isn’t so!

No that isn’t so!

We have Christmas until Pentecost!”

Tyler learned this song from his grandfather when he was very young, probably around the age of five in Culver City. He told me that he and his family sing this song every year on Christmas Eve. He said that they usually sing this song while standing outside around a Christmas tree – either the one from inside the house that they bring outside, or another Christmas tree set up outside. He told me that his family gets together on Christmas Eve each year and go to his grandparents’ house to celebrate with the Jensen side.

Tyler believes that the significance of this song is the fact that the Jensen side of his family get together for Christmas Eve each year to reunite. In a sense, this song brings them together as a family around the Christmas tree where they can all connect to one another through singing. He explained how he does not always see all his extended family very often during the year, but they always meet on Christmas Eve. For him this song symbolizes the bond that holds family together, even though they might not see or talk with one another for months at a time. This song represents the ties that families retain, and that kindred spirit shared during family celebrations.

This song seems to affirm a certain familial bond shared in the Jensen household, but it also declares that his bond is not only shared one day out of the year. Although extended families do not always see every relative on a regular basis, their love for one another does not last for just one day. Just like in the song how Christmas lasts until Pentecost, a family’s love and care for one another lasts well past the Christmas season and throughout the year. The love and grace that is celebrated during the Christmas season is continued on through family bonds.

Folk Song – London, England

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

“Among the parts of London’s highest life,

The ghost of Anne Boleyn walks daily there

For Anne Boleyn was once King Henry’s wife

Until he had the headsman bob her hair

With her head tucked underneath her arm

She walks the bloody tower

With her head tucked underneath her arm

At the midnight hour

Along the drafty corridors for miles and miles she goes

She often catches cold, poor thing, it’s cold there when it blows

She finds it very awkward when she has to blow her nose

With her head tucked underneath her arm”

Michaela told me she learned this song from her grandfather on a trip in Paris when she was around eight or nine years old. She told me her grandfather was from England, and when they were traveling their way through Europe and going to go to London Tower he sang this song. She said that his Cockney accent caused him to drop some of the “h” sounds in the lyrics and made the song more entertaining for her when she was a young girl. She explained that her grandfather knew it because a famous comedian in Britain performed it and it had become popular.

She told me that this song was significant for her because it actually taught her about King Henry VIII and his wives. She believes that the comedic approach to history helped her remember and understand it better as she traveled to the historic London Tower where Anne Boleyn was beheaded. It helped her make the association between the landmark and the figures from history. This song also gave her a sense of her grandfather’s English heritage and shaped her own ethnic identity through learning to sing, which is now a very important aspect of her musical endeavors.

I consider the humorous lyrics of this song as a satire of the ridiculous amount of violence King Henry VIII used in order to produce an heir. This song speaks about the power and control men had over their wives in the past. As revenge for being beheaded, the ghost of Anne Boleyn walks the corridors and haunts her husband, according to the song. This song is representative of female empowerment and undermines King Henry’s bloody reign by mocking his rash decisions. This song embodies a more modern approach to women’s rights and their influence in society.

Game – Barrington, Rhode Island

Nationality: Polish, Italian, American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Barrington, RI
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

“There was a game we used to play during lunch at school where you would, uh, hold an apple by its stem. Then you would twist the apple, and with each twist you would say like ‘A, B, C…’ and so on. Whatever letter you said with the stem broke off represented the first initial of a boy. Then you would take the stem and start to poke and stab your apple with it, while saying ‘A, B, C…’ again. Whatever letter you said when the stem broke the skin of the apple stood for the second initial of a boy’s name. The two initials together were those of the boy you were going to marry.”

Catherine told me she would play this game in elementary school probably first learning it when she was about 8 years old in Barrington. She described that this game was always played with girls during lunch and they would giggle and laugh and try to guess what boy in school had the initials that you would get. If they could think of a boy with those initials then they would tease and say, “you’re gonna marry _____!” This could be embarrassing if you did happen to have a crush on that boy or if he happened to be a boy who was very annoying and you could not stand. Either way, it was all light-hearted fun that girls could joke about.

Catherine felt that this game was children’s way of making fun of the institution of marriage. It allowed her and her friends, who had little responsibility at a young age, to control their future with regards to a very serious and mature commitment such as marriage. She believed that it was their attempts to try and grasp adult notions of relationships but by making it a fun and amusing game to laugh about. Because this game was so silly, Catherine believes that it was a way to undermine the almost somberness that can come with a serious relationship and to liven it up with spontaneity in determining your future.

I noticed the symbolic significance of the apple in this game of future mates. Apples are associated with Eve and the Fall into Original Sin, implying temptation and lust for the mate that your apple would decide for you. Furthermore, it stresses the importance for girls to bear children, or the fruit of their loins so to speak. To do so, she would need a suitable mate with which to procreate. This game touches on issues of sexuality and female maturity, creating a situation where young girls can pretend to involved in adult issues but not actually have to deal with the responsibilities that come with marriage or motherhood.

Superstition – Sicily, Italy

Nationality: Italian, Native-American, African-American, Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Westchester, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

“In bocca al lupo!”

“In mouth to the wolf!”

“In the mouth of the wolf!”

Nick told me that he learned this phrase from his grandmother who was from Sicily and used it frequently. He said that this phrase is used in the Sicilian tradition to wish a person good luck. You would tell this to a person who was about to make a big leap or an important decision in their life. He said that it was almost the equivalent to “break a leg” in English. You would say this to a person when you hope that they are successful in their endeavors and that they come out of it safe and has gained some wisdom from the experience.

Nick was unsure of the correlation between a wolf and wishing someone good luck, but said that he believed it was tied to the story of Romulus and Remus. He explained to me how Romulus and Remus were put into a basket as young babies. A she-wolf came upon them and carried them in her mouth to safety. The wolf nursed the boys and took care of them. Nick explained that it was possible that this phrase was meant to bestow the same luck the boys received when the wolf had come along and carried them to safety.  In other words, it would of good fortune for a person to land in the mouth of a wolf of the likes who saved Romulus and Remus.

This phrase initially confused me when Nick had first told me the translation. It brought to mind the story of the boy who cried “wolf” and I had thought of it as more of a didactic piece of advice. I thought it was a way of telling someone not to be foolish and to make smart decisions so as to not be eaten by the wolf when it really does show up. After hearing Nick’s explanation, I can see now that it is a more encouraging phrase. The saying is used to bolster a person’s courage and to see them enjoy success and health in making the decisions that they so choose. It seems a very invigorating way of cheering a person on and seems to express the need for bravery and boldness in living a full and happy life. This phrase carries connotations of brazenness in giving someone the encouragement they need to accomplish their goals.