Author Archives: Kelly Williams

Legend – Japanese

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 31
Occupation: Student
Residence: Saigon, Vietnam
Performance Date: Aprill 22, 2008
Primary Language: Vietnamese
Language: Mandrin, Japanese, French, English

A small town in Japan, known as Aomori claims to be home to the tomb of Jesus. The townspeople believe that Jesus left the Middle East when he was 32 and traveled with his brother, James, to India. In India the two studied religion with Indian monks and kept traveling through China into Aomori. There it is held that Jesus settled down and married a local woman. Together they had three daughters and spent the rest of their life there. It is believed that Jesus died in Aomori and on his tomb lays a lock of James’s hair.

Kevin, my brother’s roommate, has led a very international lifestyle and heard about this tomb when he was living in Japan. The tomb in Aomori is the only international tourist attraction in northern Japan and therefore it is well known throughout the country. To Christians and westerners this town legend seems blasphemous but in the town itself it is just an interesting old legend. A reporter from BBC investigated the story, interviewing the local people.

According to the legend Jesus escaped from Jerusalem and traveled across Russia and Serbia to Aomori where he became a rice farmer, married, had a family and died peacefully at the age of 114. It is also said that in the town there still is a descendent of Jesus himself.  The legend’s origins are also fairly recent. According to the article the legend began in the 1930s with the discovery of claimed ancient Hebrew documents that detailed Jesus’ life and death in Japan. However, these documents are now no where to be found and the town has never excavated the grave.

With these extra bits of information it can be speculated that this legend may infact be “fakelore.” It could be speculated that the entire story, tomb, and ancient house of Jesus that the town sells to tourists may only be a gimmick made up by the townspeople to draw in income. From Kevin’s interview and the article I gathered that the tomb is the entire region of Northern Japan’s claim to fame which is ironic because only 1% of Japan is officially Christian, however in an intervtiew with a Christian-Japanese priest had no qualms with the Aomori legend because it helps the people feel respect for Jesus in the Bible and shows that  “they are trying to make a connection with Jesus in some way.”  Perhaps any form of Christianity, despite its popular acceptance, is considered beneficial to the Japanese Christians and the Northern Japanese economy.

Annotation:

Bartlett, Duncan. “Japanese Jesus Trail.” BBC News (2006). 28 Apr. 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/5326614.stm>.

Prank/Tradition – Phoenix, Arizona

Nationality: Welsh
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Phoenix, AZ
Performance Date: March 05, 2008
Primary Language: English

“So every year at Brophy seniors sell tickets to freshman for the pool party on top of the gym. The party usually is at the end of the year or something. If a freshman says “Let me see a picture or something” the seniors show them a picture that from the air looks like there is a pool but its really the ventilation on the roof or something. So for years now there’s been a “pool on the gym roof.” Tickets would be like $5-10 depending on who you bought them from. If you were a freshman and got tickets to the pool party, you were the shit until you found out it was a hoax and then you were gay. I got tickets when I was a freshman, but I never sold them to freshman when I was a senior.”

Brophy College Preparatory High School in Phoenix, Arizona is an all boys Jesuit high school. Directly adjacent to Brophy is Xavier College Preparatory High School, an all girls Catholic school (the white buildings closest to the baseball field). Therefore a pool party was guaranteed to be teeming with lots of the Xavier girls, which according to Parker was a big deal for the freshman guys who were isolated from the girls in their all boys school. As a freshman at Xavier at the same time as Parker, I heard about the pool party too but was told that girls didn’t need to buy tickets because we got in for free.

The pool party hoax has been around every year for a very long time. No one is really sure of who started it, my older brothers who went to Brophy in the 90s also fell victim to this prank when they were freshman. Parker guessed that the prank started soon after the gym was remodeled, in the 80s. The picture for proof didn’t exist when my brothers went to school at Brophy but Parker thinks that the picture existed for about 4 years before he came to Brophy.

The prank is definitely considered a rite of initiation at Brophy. The freshman guys are usually the only ones who fall victim to the pranks that are carried out by seniors only. Selling the tickets is also a form of initiation for the seniors. Ever since a freshman finds out about that he has been conned he waits until he is a senior to get his retaliation, and usually, his money back. The tickets are only sold for the first week or two of school usually because the secret gets out quickly that there really is no pool on the roof.

The pool on the roof prank disclaims responsibility of the seniors because it is tradition that the faculty and older students already know about and do not try to stop. It is an accepted rite of passage at the high school. The lore of Brophy is quickly learned by the freshman folk the hard way however, with the prank also acts as a method to unify the class, usually against the seniors, but unity none the less is a crucial aspect to building friendships.

Joke – Swedish

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 66
Occupation: Self-Employed
Residence: Scottsdale, AZ
Performance Date: April 01, 2008
Primary Language: English

“Before we begin, it is important for you to know that Swedish men like to argue and that they always like to get that “zing” into a conversation.” With that said the story goes like this.

Ole and his wife were going to go over to Sven’s house to visit with he and his wife and have dinner. As they were getting ready, Ole’s wife said to him, “Now Ole, ven ve go over to Sven’s house you have to promise not to say anything about Sven’s son, you know dat da boy has no ears and Sven is very sensitive about dat.” Well the conversation went on this way until they were just about ready to leave and finally Ole threw up his hands and said “O.K.O.K., I promise I von’t say da vord ear all night, O.K?

Well being a man of his word Ole’s wife said O.K. and they were on their way. As was always the case they had a delicious dinner and great couples conversation and after dinner the ladies got up and started taking things to the kitchen while the men began making their way to the den.

After about an hour or more of arguing about one thing or another, Ole looked up on a shelf and saw a picture of Sven’s son and he said, “Hey Sven, dats a good looking boy you got dere” and Sven being very suspicious of where this conversation might lead said, “Yeah, he’s a good looking boy, takes after his mudder you know.

Then Ole said “Dat boy, he’s got nice eyes, yeah? To which Sven said “Oh yeah, he’s got nice eyes” Sven got this look of pride and said “Tventy tventy vision you know.

Then Ole said, “Vell it’s a damn good ting Sven cause he sure as hell can’t vere glasses can he?”

Rene, my stepfather, comes from Swedish descent. He cannot recall when exactly he first heard this joke. This joke is only one of about 15 jokes that Rene knows starring Sven and Ole. Rene also told me that these jokes are so popular that a book has been written to compile them, however this joke is not found in the book.

Personally I have heard Sven and Ole jokes told many times growing up with Rene around the house. We would tell them at dinner, around friends and family or even to people we just met as a way to break the ice. Rene does not have a specific time when he tells the jokes but “tells them to all sorts of people, any time its appropriate.” My mother has also become a teller of the Sven and Ole jokes, however personally I don’t think she tells them as well as Rene.

Rene did make it a point however to note that he does not tell jokes about any other nationalities because he risks offending them but says that all people, including Swedes love the Sven and Ole jokes because they are witty and goofy and do not particularly offend the Swedes or imply negative stereotypes.

Legend – Oahu, Hawaii

Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Merced, CA
Performance Date: March 31, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Hawaiian

In the time of the Ancient Hawaiians, on the island of Oahu, Kaneana Point was often a place of rituals and sacrifices, often human sacrifices. At this time there was a shark who lived in a sea cave directly below Kaneana Point. The cave is called Makua Cave. This shark, known today as Makua Charley, is rumored to have a taste for human blood and flesh because he fed on the human sacrifices. The cave is also close to a popular surf spot on the island. Although the cave is now above water and the reaches of the tides it is still believed that a giant under water lava tube passage may be the residence of Makua Charley, waiting for an unfortunate person to be sucked in by the undertow.

Sam’s father told him this story after he first learned how to surf in Hawaii. His dad was taking him around the island showing him some of the good, locals-only surf spots when he was told about Makua Charley and his appetite for blood. Sam claims that the story scared him a little bit at first and fed to his innate fear of sharks while surfing. But because the cave is no longer submerged and the story is hundreds of years old, he is not really scared of the ancient shark.

This legend serves many purposes, principally demonstrating a relationship with nature. First it establishes a fear and respect for nature; fear of the shark and his hunger for humans but also respect for the shark as he was more or less fed the sacrifices. Also, the friendly name Makua Charley establishes a more friendly relationship between the

humans and shark. The name Charley doesn’t have the connotation of a blood-hungry shark but rather an old friend.

As Sam mentioned, surfers today who surf near the Makua cave do not feel threatened or scared by Makua Charley. He also mentioned that Makua Charley has become more of a joke or term used when someone does something really wrong in relationship to surfing. For example, if a surfer is absolutely crazy and unsafe someone might say, “He’s on his way to visit Makua Charley.”

I think this legend evolved from a scare tactic used to keep certain people from disrespecting a beautiful point of the island (which is now protected) to an ominous story used to teach young surfers to be respectful of the ocean and its inhabitants. The legend is commonly passed down through families and friends all with the same intention. The ties the Hawaiian people feel with their islands are constantly exhibited in their mythologies and legends. The Kaneana Point/Makua Cave legend is no exception.

Ghost Story – Hispanic/Native-American

Nationality: Italian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ventura, CA
Performance Date: April 02, 2008
Primary Language: English

The San Buena Ventura Mission in Ventura County, CA was built on an Indian Burial ground.  Next to the mission a school was built called Holy Cross for grades kindergarten through eight. One of the buildings was really old, it was first building of the school. The school used to be a small one-building school. The building had a bell tower and the bell tower was said haunted by the spirits from the burial site. Friends of Charly claim to have heard funny noises and seen shadows when no one was there. The bell tower was torn down 4 years ago. On the night the tower was torn down people nearby claimed that there were strange noises and lights around the construction site. A new, really large school building was built in its place. Now it is said that if you are at the new building at night time lights will flash on and off and that you will hear sounds. These are supposed to be signs from the angry spirits in the burial ground. They were angry that they were built on top of in the first place and remain angry that buildings still stand over the burial ground.

Charly went to Holy Cross School in the 6th grade. She said that she heard the story when she became a student at the school. She said that the new students were always told this story when they first got to the school to scare them. This ghost story could be seen as a type of initiation for the new students. Charly said the kids would tell the new kids this story and then also embellish different parts of the story. She said that the kids would pick normal, modern objects and claim that they were haunted too just to scare the new kids and make them feel uncomfortable. This would go on only for a few weeks in the beginning of the year according to Charly, after that liminal period the students would get tired of scaring and just accept the new kids.

The setting of angry Indian spirits is a common beginning to many ghost stories. The Indian polytheistic belief system is directly juxtaposed with the Christian monotheism in this story because a Christian mission is built on top of the burial ground. This may symbolize the stomping out of Naive American beliefs by monotheism and the oppression the Indians went through during the colonization and Christianization of southern California. The angry spirits are a means of retaliation by the Indian people and also bring recognition of their presence.

The active bearers of the story are middle school aged children, ages 12-13. At this age kids are beginning to want to impress others, boys impressing girls and vice versa, and therefore scaring a new kid may be a way to impress these groups. Also, if a new kid says he or she’s not scared he will probably impress the new kids more than if he bought into the story and revealed his fear.

Kids telling ghost stories or daring each other is a commonplace in middle schools, especially when it involves welcoming a new person into social groups. At this age social groups and standards are becoming more important and cliques are established. The ghost story of the Indian burial ground at Holy Cross appears to serve more as a hazing ritual for the new students at the school versus a story actually investigated by the students.