Author Archives: Rachel Johnson

Hitori Kakurenbo – Hide and Seek Alone

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/23/19
Primary Language: English

The informant is marked IN.

IN: It’s kind of like a cult game, like in the same genre of the Ouija board, but like different…. And it’s called, like, Hitori Kakurenbo – Hide and Seek Alone. And it’s like, this elaborate ritual where you invite this ghost to come play hide and seek with you. And to do so you need to do like all this crazy shit. Like you need to get this doll, take all the stuffing out, and then you need to stuff it with rice, and they you need to put, like, a .. you need to put like blood, or a fingernail, or like a hair trimming into the doll. Like connect it with your spirit. And then you, what is it you have to like drown it in a bathtub and tie it with a string? Which are all elements of like, there’s some in Japanese folklore culture I believe. I know the rice has something to do with life, which makes sense cause it’s like, a carb. And i have read online that people did it and nothing worked. But then others say they did it and like, the TVs were changing. Apparently a korean version called living  doll, where like you take a doll – and I forgot to mention that in the original, Hitori Kakurenbo, it’s important that you get this stuffed animal that doesn’t look human-like. Because if you get one that looks human it has more power or something like that, which i guess kind of makes sense, like I don’t know? But living doll, you get a real ass doll, and then you invite it to like come, I don’t know, turn your lights off or eat you or something. And apparently people are like scared at shit that happened.

Context: I met the informant for lunch and she brought up an old game she heard about from her friend.

Background: The informant is a second year student at USC who is Korean-American. She heard about this game from a friend in Saint Louis, where she grew up. She believes her friend read about this game online on a website, likely Reddit.

Analysis: This was intriguing to me because it’s like a very ritualistic version of Ouija, calling out a spirit but adding in a physical voodoo-esque doll. It’s also interesting that people out there are willing to try this out in hopes of meeting or playing with a ghost.

Abiyoyo

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/23/19
Primary Language: English

IN: Okay, so far away in a village in Africa, uhm there was a giant by the name of Abiyoyo. For some reason, he got angry and started rampaging, like towards the village of people. Until this little boy decided to take this guitar and start singing, “abiyoyo, abiyoyo, abiyoyo..” and all of the villagers joined in and it started to make him get happy. The giant started dancing, and he and the boy walked into the sunset singing the song.

JJ: Does abiyoyo mean anything? Or did it start to mean anything after?

IN: No, as far as I know it was just kind of arbitrary, like a cool sounding word. It could mean something I guess.

Context: During a slow work shift I asked the informant if he remembered any folktales from his childhood.

Background: The informant is s South-African American. This was a story his father used to always tell him before bed. It is one of the few ways that his family actively passed down their African heritage to him in the States, so this was a significant story to him growing up.

Analysis: In this tale, we see music as a healing tool and important instrument in society. Music is a huge piece in African culture, and this story undoubtedly expresses that. Music has the ability to calm and tranquilize even a beastly giant, and gives reason for little kids to learn instruments and develop and explain interest in music.

 

Palae, Fire Goddess

Nationality: American
Age: 27
Occupation: Manager for Auxiliary Services
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/24/19
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

IN: Palae, our fire goddess, she like materializes herself into different forms and different ages stuff. And apparently, if you go, if your driving around in like a volcano area, and you see this women in white – but like you wont see her face – she’s hitchhiking you have to pick her up. And you’re not supposed to look at her in the rearview mirror adn she’s gonna ask you for a cigarette and you have to give her one. Or you have to get one to give to her.

JJ: Do you know anyone who that happened to?

IN: Because apparently um, when she’s, when she’s hitchhiking she’s in her beautiful form but if you look at her in the mirror she turns into her thousand year old self and shes all like “eeeeeehhhgg”

And her and her brother, the pig god, didn’t get along. so if you’re driving um towards the volcano and you pass this mile marker, your car will break down if you have pork products in your car. True. It has happened to me. I mean not like, right at the marker, but I mean like, four minutes in my car broke down. Because I had beef jerkey. And I was like, what the hell – I couldnt figure it out. and I was like, “Oh, so it’s true.”

JJ: Was it pork beef jerky? –

IN: Yeah

JJ: -I mean I guess I don’t know what beef jerky is made out of.

IN: But yeah pork products and you’ll break down. I’ve experienced it. Unless its just impeccable coincidence that my car broke down right at the marker.

Context: During a slow work shift, I asked the informant if he had any Folklore from Hawaii.

Background: The informant is Hawaiian. He heard this information about their gods throughout his childhood and adulthood in Hawaii. These gods are very present in current culture and life so it was always something prevalent to him.

Analysis: I was surprised at the relevancy of Hawaiian gods today. I had never heard about them so it was really cool to learn more about Hawaiian culture and beliefs. I’d imagine that Palae can serve as both a protector and a perpetrator. When she is treated decently, in this case someone lets her hitchhike, she is not angry and the volcanoes remain calm. If one erupts or a fire breaks out, it can be connected to someone not taking her along.

Hard Boiled Egg Black Eye

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/23/19
Primary Language: English

IN: When I was little, I fell up some stairs when I was trying to like, race up on hands an knees or something. I hit my face really hard, like thats why I have this scar on my eyebrow here. Anyways, I got this like really, really bad blackeye. And my grandma would take an egg, boil it to be like hard boiled, and then wrap in in a cloth and press it to my eye. And I remember her and my parents telling me it was sucking out all of the bad stuff. Like, the bad energy or something. Like she wouldn’t let me eat it after either, which I was pretty sad about most of the time. Like it was because of the bad energy that I couldn’t eat it.

I looked it up and it just says that like, it’s an actual thing people do, but like I guess it’s just the warmth that’s supposed to help you. But like I clearly remember my parents telling me it was sucking out the bad stuff, just bad evil energy and blackness from my eye.

Context: I met the informant at lunch and asked about any folk remedies her grandmother used when she was little.

Background: The informant is a second year student at USC who is Chinese-American, but her parents grew up in Vietnam. Her grandmother used a lot of folk medicine growing up, and this was a method used to treat her black eye.

Analysis: I found this really interesting because at the core it could be a more scientifically backed treatment if you approach it from the “heat-healing” perspective of increasing bloodflow in the area to alleviate the bruise. However, the informant was very adament that it was about the evil blackness for her grandmother, and that it was likely something she learned from her mother before her.

Spinach and Tofu

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/23/19
Primary Language: English

The informant is marked IN. The collector is marked JJ.

IN: My mom told me I can’t eat spinach and tofu together otherwise I would die. Like all throughout my childhood, she never let me eat spinach and tofu.

JJ: Did she explain why you would die?

IN: No she had no idea why and I told her I don’t believe you and she was like it’s real I heard it on the Chinese television. And my mom believes a lot of things from chinese television and they have the weirdest like, health talks where it’s like, they bring up the weirdest shit and it’s usually not true.

Context: I met the informant at lunch and asked about any folk medicine used by her parents.

Background: The informant is a Chinese-American whose parents were raised in Vietnam. Her parents collect a lot of health remedies from Chinese television, often explained with little scientific backing – which is something that the informant has never agreed with but faced a lot growing up.

Analysis: I found this interesting because both foods are very healthy and to my knowledge used often in Chinese cooking. I can’t imagine reasons for avoiding these two foods, folkloric or scientific.