Author Archives: Jan Bross

The Golden Temple

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Tokyo, Japan
Performance Date: 04/01/2017
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

Main Piece: One of the most beautiful buildings in Kyoto is the Golden Temple of Kinkaku-Jin. It is a small shrine to Buddha that is covered in golden leaf and sits on top of a pond, where its reflection is mirrored by the water. But this is not the original temple. This is a second temple that they constructed exactly the same as the first, because its beauty came with a curse. Many years ago, a young monk arrived to Kyoto and he fell in love with the beauty of the gold temple. He loved it as if it were a spouse; he stared at it for countless hours, he talked to it, and it made him feel closer to God. He loved it so much that he became jealous of all the other monks that prayed in the temple, and he became to be tortured by this jealousy. In time, the only thing he could think about was the beauty of the temple. He couldn’t eat or work or even pray; he became consumed by it. So, one day, he decided he couldn’t take it any longer. He lit a steak on fire and there it in the temple, which was immediately consumed by the flames. After there was nothing left of it, the monk tried killing himself with a sword, but he was stopped by the local authorities, who arrived because of the fire. When they asked him why he did it he told them that he “could not stand the beauty of the temple”.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Ga Hyun was born and raised in Tokyo Japan. She and her family heard this story this from locals when they visited the rebuilt Golden Temple. They gave her no specific names or dates.

Context on the piece: Historically, the building was burned down in 1950 by a 22-year-old monk who did try to commit suicide. The part of the story which gives it its status as a legend is the motives that the monk had for doing this. In reality, he was trialed on the accounts of mental illness, and there are no official documents in which he is recorded saying that he did it because he couldn’t stand its beauty.

Thoughts on the piece: The motive that the story gives to the monk for burning the temple shows an emphasis on the aesthetic beauty on the Temple. It makes me wonder if the story is not actually folklore, but rather a fakelore to attract tourists by using the beauty of the temple as a plot device.

Proverb from Cecina

Nationality: Italian
Age: 26
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cecina, Italy
Performance Date: 04/17/2017
Primary Language: Italian
Language: English

Main Piece:  Better to have a death in the family than a guy from Pisa at the door.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Lorenzo was born in raised in Cecina, Italy, which is a small rural town in the Tuscan region. For unspecified reasons, the town has a rivalry with the town of Pisa, which is also in Tuscany. According to Lorenzo, part of the resentment comes form the fact the Pisa has “sold out”, becoming too indulgent to the tourists because of the famous “Leaning Tower” and loosing its original traditions to this. Lorenzo hates the use of this proverb as he sees it as intolerant, but it is common among his family members and colleges.

Context on the piece: The proverb is generally used to insult people from Pisa. It can also b used as a joke to lighten the mood when there is an actual family death.

Thoughts on the piece: It is interesting how one of the defining proverbs from Pisa is meant to specifically insult an entire group of people. It is the way of the people of Cecina to create bonds with each other, as they establish the “us” and “them” with proverbs like this. It also provides insight to how these locals see capitalised tourism, as they think that it ruins the authenticity of the region.

 

The Little Goat

Nationality: Mexcian
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mexico City
Performance Date: 03/16/2017
Primary Language: Spanish

Main Piece: Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the wolf, so that he gets the goat out of there.

The wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the stick, so that he beats the wolf.

The stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the fire, so that he burns the stick.

The fire doesn’t want to burn the stick, the stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the water, so that he wets the fire.

The water doesn’t want to wet the fire, the fire doesn’t want to burn the stick, the stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the cow, so that she drinks the water.

The cow doesn’t want to drink the water, water doesn’t want to wet the fire, the fire doesn’t want to burn the stick, the stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the farmer, so that he tames the cow.

The farmer wants to tame the cow, the cow wants to drink the water, water wants to wet the fire, the fire wants to burn the stick, the stick wants to beat the wolf, the wolf wants to go for the goat and the goat wants to get out of there.

And that’s how the little goat got out!

Background information about the piece by the informant: Daniela is a resident of Mexico City and this is a song that she remembers from her early childhood. She claims that her kindergarten used to make her and his classmates sing it.

Context on the piece: Although there are many variations to the song, it is popular for children in Mexico City. This type of song is popular in other countries and cultures. For example, Russia has “The Giant Turnip” about a turnip that doesn’t want to get out of the ground and the singers call on different characters to help it get out.

Thoughts on the piece: Despite it being used as a distraction for children, the song can show how individuals and cultures think of the idea of power. In this case, it is the human who is in power, as he is the one that makes a decision and gets every character to do their job in a chain reaction. This shows a high regard for humans in the culture, but there are versions of the song in where the chin gets to God and he makes everyone do his job. This would imply a more deist sensibility than this version of the song.

Kolobok: The Little Round Bun

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Student
Residence: Tumbridge, Vermont
Performance Date: 04/19/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Russian

Main piece: Once upon a time there was an old man and an old housewife. The man demanded his wife to make him a bun from the flour box. And so, she swept out the bin and made some dough in the shape of a little round bun. She put in the oven for it to bake and then next to the window for it to cool. The bun jumped out the window and rolled along the road until he met with a Rabbit coming towards him. The Rabbit told him “I’m going to eat you little bun”, and in response the the bun sang him a song:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

So the bun rolled away, until he saw a wolf coming at him. The wolf told him “I’m going to eat you little bun”, and so he sang again:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

So the bun rolled away, until he met with a fox in front of him. The fox told him “I’m going to eat you little bun”, and so he sang to the fox:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

The fox told him “Sing some more, please don’t stop! Hop onto my mouth so I can hear you better”. And so the bun jumped into the fox’s mouth and sang:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin-

But before he could go on the fox closed his mouth and he gobbled up the little bun.

Background information about the piece by the informant: William Murawski is an American from Polish and Russian decent. His grandparents from Russia used to tell him tales and nursery rhymes from their hometown as a child. William is an aficionado of Russian folk tales and likes to tell preform them the same way as his grandparents performed them for him when he was a child.

Context on the performance: The tale is usually told to children. The song sang by the bun is told with a melody, which is why it is easy to remember verbatim.

Thoughts on piece: The seems more nonsensical than classic western European tales, as they usually have anthropomorphic animals, but rarely a simple object like a bun acting with human characteristics. The resolution of the story is also anti-climatic and dower, but it does provide children with a lesson, which is that one must not be overconfident on a victory like the bun did in the end, as well as the power of wit, as the fox showed. This shows that Russian folk tales are concerned with providing life lessons rather than having feel-good endings.

Mexican Proverb

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 56
Occupation: Film Director
Residence: Mexico City
Performance Date: 03/13/2017
Primary Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

  1. Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente.
  2. Shrimp that sleeps is carried away by the water.
  3. A sleeping shrimp is swept away by the water.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Simon was born and raised in Mexico City, where this proverb is a very common saying. It dates back to before he was born in 1960, as he claims his father used to tell it to him,

Context on the performance: People recite this proverb to refer to a situation in which someone is distracted or not present and end up getting taken advantage if because of it. For example, if someone steals seats from someone when that person is not looking, it is common for the person who stole the seats to say this to the other person. Under that context, it is usually seen as an assertion of power, but it can also be used as a way to impart wisdom.

Thoughts on the piece: This proverb may tell us that Mexican culture believes that if opportunities are stolen from someone it is partially that person’s fault. It serves a reminder for people not to blame the circumstances, but to see the flaws within themselves. It also works as a way to tell people that they should be alert at all times if they don’t want to loose and opportunity.