Author Archives: Jordan

Russian Easter Food Way

Nationality: American; Russian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Clovis, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 24, 2011
Primary Language: English

I went to my grandfather’s house for an Easter celebration this year, and my cousin brought his girlfriend, whose parents are from Russia, to meet the family. She brought a desert bread loaf, topped with a drizzle of frosting and powdered sugar and garnished with two hard-boiled (non-colored) eggs, to give to my grandparents. I asked her more about the gift, and the following is her response: “It’s a Russian tradition to bake lots of kulich and on Easter, go and give them away to neighbors, friends, relatives, or exchange for theirs. My mom knows how to make it – I don’t…I don’t even know why the eggs are added to it…but yeah, she does this every year and made this one for me to bring here since I am meeting everyone…I guess it’s to make a good impression (laughs). But I guess it represents being just a good person during Easter and caring for your neighbors and friends…a way of keeping peace and good relations among the people around you.”

Her analyses of the tradition makes, and I would only expand on it to show why such a gift, presented in this way and at this time, would make people happy to receive it. Traditionally, Easter falls within the life cycle analysis of the cyclical calendar year. It is during the spring, a time of fertility and flowers blossoming. The entire season and Easter specifically symbolize reproduction and preparation for marriage and procreation. This can be seen with the fact that “Easter” is derived from “estrus,” or a female dog’s heat cycle. Moreover, “estrogen,” and the ancient Goddesses Esther and Astarte are highly connected with the underlying currents of this celebration. Thus, the kulich exchange with the all-important eggs is a symbolic way of ensuring that your friends and neighbors will be blessed with fertility and reproductive abundance. The eggs represent life, the woman’s ability to reproduce, and arguably the male’s testes (as there are two presented with the bread). In this way, one is helping and showing concern for the reproductive life of their friends, family, and neighbors.

High School Senior Class Tradition

Nationality: Mexican; Slovenian; American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 20, 2011
Primary Language: English

A classmate informed me of the following tradition at her high school: “It’s a tradition for the graduating senior class at my high school in Virginia to get a wall – every person gets to write on it, who is a part of the class. There are only about 70 seniors every year, and the wall in painted a background color for them. People usually put significant quotes, and it’s always done at the end of the year. Started in cafeteria, and has moved to halls and stairways … but always on the walls of the hall or stairway. People in school are very close – the school goes from 6th-12th grade with only 600 total students…it’s an alternative to others in the area. It also promotes the arts, and is, or feels much more relaxed. It makes sense that, uh, what would be considered defacement is encouraged. It’s a way of remembering the previous classes – it’s inspiring.”

I agree with the idea of this tradition being inspiring and performed as a way of remembering those who came before you. Likewise, it is a means of preserving where you have been for those writing on the wall. Borrowing Van Gennup’s idea of rituals and “liminal stages,” this fits within the notion of the liminality of ending high school and commencement. It is a beginning and an ending, the conclusion of childhood with the onset of being an adult and all that is encompassed with it. Very often this time of an individual’s life is celebrated, and this example provides one more of the many ways in which group identity plays a part of the process. As the informant mentioned, it is a small school, everyone knows each other, and the writing on the wall is not only tolerated, but encouraged by the school’s administration. This definitely showcases one of the defining qualities of folklore, that of letting people know to which group they belong. Those who write on the wall know they have been part of this school, they will leave a part of themselves with the school, and the younger students see these textual memories throughout the year as a reminder of who they are and who they will be upon their graduation.

State Trooper

Nationality: Hispanic; Mexican; American
Age: 70
Occupation: Cosmetologist
Residence: Three Rivers, CA, USA
Performance Date: March 24, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The following is the performance of a joke from my grandmother: “I heard this joke from one of my clients…it’s a good one. So, an old man decided that life was passing him by. He had been successful during his life and made a lot of money, and decided it was time to spend it. So, one day, he went to a Porsche dealership and bought the fastest car they had. He immediately took it for a cruise. It was like magic…the car was smooth, fast, and he began to accelerate on the flat, straight, open road….75 mph…85 mph…95 mph…and just as he was peaking 100, he flew past a State Trooper that flashed his lights and gave chase. The man thought he could outrun the Trooper, and sped up, giving himself the thrill of his lifetime…105, 110, 115. The Trooper wasn’t stopping the chase, and the man thought he better stop, so he pulled over as fast as he could and waited anxiously for the uh, the uh Trooper to walk up to the window. So, the Trooper walks up, takes a look at the outside of the car, then the old man inside. ‘OK, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do,’ he says. He says, ‘I can see what’s going on here…it’s late, no one was on the road, and I was just getting off my shift…so I’m gonna make a deal with you. Give me one good reason why you were speeding up, and I’ll let you go with a warning.’ The old man thought for a couple minutes, and after a few seconds said, ‘well, officer, see my wife ran away with a Trooper thirty years ago, and I thought you were bringing her back.’ The old man was let go.”

My grandmother felt this was comical because of the punch line, when the old man essentially puts down his wife by implying that he would drive 115 mph to get away from her. While this is comical, I would expand on this to reveal the overall societal implications of what that signifies. It shows the classic example of the male seeking independence, free from the constraints of a women or even the law. Thus, it is not only a negotiation and signification of identity between men and women, but also between the man and social structure (the law enforcement). This gap between the every man and structure is deconstructed by the mutuality expressed via the man’s wife, who he wittingly says eloped with a law enforcement officer. In this way, the authority is questioned (after all, what respectful officer would take someone’s wife?), yet simultaneously is given a light side by showing compassion and understanding for the aging man. On this note, the idea of age is also expressed, and its ability to long for the adventurous and youthful individual within. There is then much beneath the surface of this humorous joke.

Baganda Myth

Nationality: Baganda; Ugandan
Age: 26
Occupation: Youth Organization Director
Residence: Kampala, Uganda
Performance Date: April 1, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Luganda

The following is the myth of Kintu as told my a friend and member of the Baganda of Uganda.

“So, ok, this is the story of Kintu…it’s one of the…it’s…everyone who is Baganda knows it. There are some changes, but most of it is the same. We just tell it now to remember our story, but most people don’t believe it is true anymore. It just means tradition now and remembering where we came from. Ok, long ago, there were no people in the country of Uganda except one man. His name was Kintu. He had one cow, and even though this cow was his good friend, Kintu was still very lonely all by himself on the Earth.

In the sky there was a lovely kingdom called Cloud Land, and the king was called Ggulu. He had many sons and daughters, and these children used to wait for a rainbow to touch the Earth so they would slide down on it and stay a little while below, and they…they would play among the trees. Since rainbows do not last for very long, they had to make sure they left to go back home before the rainbow disa…you know, went away.

One day, two of Ggulu’s sons saw a rainbow touching the Earth, and they called to their sister, Nambi, to come with them. Nambi was a very beautiful girl, and Ggulu loved her very much. She went quickly with her brothers and slid down to the Earth, and the area where they landed was what is now Uganda. As they looked around to see what fun they could have, they saw Kintu walking his cow in a field. This was the first time they had ever seen a man, and they were afraid. But they soon made friends with Kintu, and they stayed a long time talking with him. He told them how lonely he was and Nambi, who had a soft heart, felt sorry for Kintu.

‘I will come back again and marry you, and then you won’t be lonely any more in this beautiful country,’ she said. When they were on their way home, the brothers scolded Nambi.

‘Why did you say that? You know our father Ggulu will never allow you to go away and marry Kintu,’ they told her. Nambi replied, ‘I will go. I promised Kintu, and father would never wish for me to break a promise. I will go home now and tell father, and then pack up all my things and go to the Earth to live there forever.’
When they arrived back in Cloud Land they told Ggulu all they had done, and Nambi told him that she had promised to marry Kintu and go live on the Earth. At first Ggulu was angry, but at last he gave his consent. However, it was  on the condition that Kintu could do many tasks, showing he was worthy enough to marry Nambi. She happily returned to Earth to give the message to Kintu.

Kintu was given a small house to live in where Ggulu’s servants could keep a close watch. On the first day, Kintu had to eat all of the food that was given to him. He was able to eat it all at first, but then as he was about to give up, he thought, No – this is my destiny, and I cannot be given a task I cannot handle because of my, uh, my strong faith. Because of this, Kintu was able to work magic of his own, and he noticed a hole had suddenly appeared in the floor. He dumped the rest of the food into the hole, and Ggulu was impressed to see that Kintu has completed the first task. But he was not done testing Kintu.

On the second day, Kintu woke up to find Ggulu’s servants handing him a basket. His task was to fetch water from a well far away and fill up an empty tank next to his house. Kintu set off for the well, but did not know how he was going to retrieve the water from that deep in the ground. A spider crawled over to him and spun a strong web around the basket, letting Kintu to lower the basket into the well and get the water. By sunset, he had filled the empty tank. Again, Ggulu was pleased, but was not ready to let him take his daughter.

On the third day, Kintu was asked to use Ggulu’s axe to chop pieces of rock, which Ggulu used as firewood, and not chip the axe. He was told to then bundle the rock pieces and carry them to Ggulu. Kintu used his magic for this task, and he soon came running up to Ggulu with bundles of chopped rocks under his arms. Ggulu was very pleased, and he told Kintu to meet him the next morning for breakfast.

Kintu said yes and ate with Ggulu on the morning of the fourth day after a good night’s rest. ‘I have one more task for you,’ said Ggulu. ‘You have to find your cow among my herd of cows in the field. If you can do this, then you can marry Nambi.’

As soon as Ggulu finished these words, a wasp, only visible to Kintu, took him straight to his cow in the middle of the field. Ggulu gave him permission to marry his daughter. He allowed for Kintu to go back home to prepare and called for Nambi to tell her of his decision.

‘I must warn you, if you want to be happy on the Earth you must go secretly and never return to Cloud Land. Pack your things very carefully, and the two brothers who know Kintu will go with you and see that you arrive safely. No matter what, it is very important that you do not tell any of the others that you are going. If your brother Death, Walumbe, hears of it, he will want to go with you. This would ruin beautiful Earth.”’

Nambi agreed, and her and the two brothers packed all her things in bundles. She said good-bye to her father, and they waited for a rainbow to slide back down to Earth. Her brothers talked for a little bit with Kintu, told him of their father’s warning, and then went back to Cloud Land. Nambi and Kintu began to make their new life together, and they got along and loved each other very much. Then, one day, Nambi realized that she did not have millet for her chicken.

‘I have forgotten the millet seed!’ she shouted. ‘I have to go back and get some bags of millet seed so my chickens will not starve to death.’ Kintu tried to hold her back, but could not. Nambi went back quickly and found some bags of seed. Just as she has found a rainbow to return to Earth, she saw her brother Walumbe.

‘Where are you going?’ he asked. Nambi was very frightened, and though she tried to hide what she was doing, Walumbe knew she was hiding something from him.
‘I know you are not telling me something,’ he said.

‘You cannot come with me,’ cried Nambi. ‘I am going to the Earth, and our father said you were not to go with me.’
‘So you were trying to keep a secret from me! Go ahead and leave, but I shall come and visit the two of you very shortly,’ said Walumbe. Nambi began to cry as she slid down the rainbow with her bags of millet seed, but her fears quickly left as she saw Kintu again.

As Nimbi began to forget about what had happened, Walumbe came down to see them. She told Kintu all about her brother and said, ‘We must get rid of him – whatever it takes…we just have to get rid of him. My father told me he would ruin Earth.’ All of their ways to get rid of Walumbe weren’t working, but, so Kintu made a deal with him…with Walumbe. He offered their first child to Walumbe upon only ift he left them alone on Earth. Walumbe agreed, and left.

Kintu and Nambi lived happily for a long time and had many children. As they were about to completely forget their deal, Walumbe came back to take their first child. Kintu was very angry and tried to get rid of him, but this time Walumbe would not leave.

‘Since you did not keep your promise and give me your first child, now I will stay on the Earth always, and I will take what I want’…this is what Walumbe said. So…uh, Kintu and Nambi had so many children that Uganda was full of people, still every now and then bad Walumbe comes to take one away, sometimes an old man, sometimes a young one, and sometimes even a little baby. Uganda still has people who have beautiful banana gardens, many cows and chickens. Even the rainbows still come down from the Cloud Land and touch the Earth, as they did in the days when Nambi played with her brothers.

The analysis of the myth of Kintu could perhaps be an entire paper or book unto itself. It has been described as the “yolk” of the Baganda people and provides an account of their first ancestral parents, who birthed the Baganda population. As such, the oral tradition of Kintu serves as the history of their origin to the Baganda people and provides “the nature of their human existence, the creation of their universe, the essence of their supreme, and why they have to die.” (1). In short, this myth is arguably the most important narrative or article of folklore within the Baganda community, and an essential element of the myth could perhaps explain the willingness of the Baganda to practice Christianity today, as roughly 85% of the population is Christian (2).

The choice of Nambi to denounce her father’s forbiddance to return to Cloud Land can be interpreted as a parallel to the Book of Genesis’ story of Adam and Eve. As Nambi disobeyed her father, so too was Eve urged to disobey God and eat of the forbidden fruit. This lack of obedience in both stories results in the ruination of Earth and allowance of death among its inhabitants. Moreover, this narrative contains the Baganda’s reasoning for implementing various gender roles, as it bears the authority that females are the weaker sex and should not be given the responsibility of important societal aspects, such as playing the drums (3). Moreover, it is interesting that the three-task model appears, again showing Western influence on the Baganda culture. The similarities contribute to the fascination of the myth, if not provide an argument for the Baganda’s embracing of Christianity.

Withholding the intricacies of the conversion history and integration of Christianity into the culture, the hybrid cosmology that exists today is fairly straightforward. Due to international media and the British foundation laid while Uganda was a protectorate, the Baganda accept the Bible and its western world interpretations, including the apple as being the fruit of which Eve partook. The Holy Book has even been printed in their native dialect. However, a well- rooted aspect of Baganda religion and superstition is that of witchcraft. Sick children are still sometimes viewed as being victims of witchcraft, though the Baganda see the evildoers as satanic followers of the Devil. In a way, Christianity provides an explanation for the behavior of those whom the Baganda view as witches or sorcerers.
1 Kizza Immaculate N., The Oral Tradition of the Baganda of Uganda, pp. 37 Another version of the myth can be found here.
2 Otiso Kefa, Cultures and Customs of Uganda, pp. 22
3 Nannyonga-Tamusuza Sylvia Antonia. Baakisimba: Gender in the Music and Dance of the Baganda People of Uganda, pp.1-5

Fountain Run

Nationality: Scottish; American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oak Park, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 20, 2011
Primary Language: English

“A tradition for graduating seniors at USC is to run through all 29 fountains on campus. And although I don’t think too many people actually do this, you’re supposed to have a shot in each fountain. People can either buy shirts from the Facebook group or make their own. Some people wear goggles, or floaties. A few like to climb all over the fountains and stuff. Uh, yeah, so basically I think this means that you’re graduating and saying goodbye to campus, so you’re seeing the landmarks one last time with your classmates before you disperse into the world.”

I completely agree with the analysis and would just add that it is a liminal stage of transition to being an active, educated member of society. People employ such a tactic in order to also act against authority one “last” time by participating in a festivity that would ordinarily have a certain degree of ramifications. It is altogether a way of ending an era, remembering it, and preparing for the life ahead.