Author Archives: Morgann Ramirez

11:11

Nationality: German
Age: 23
Occupation: Front Desk Worker/ Grad Student
Residence: The Valley
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English

Story:

“My aunt was injured in a skiing accident and she’s parapaligic and now my cousin believes in 11:11 and now he has an alarm that goes off.  And every 11:11 he makes a wish for her to walk again.  I believe it too and I also make a wish for her.”

The 11:11 wish is relatively new.  The earliest it could have started is the beginning of digital clocks and clocks that actually showed 11:11.  Plus, it is only possible to have two if the time is not military.  It is the only numbers on the clock that is the same backwards, forwards and upside down.  Somehow, this has given the number special powers and has people believing that it is a sign or signals spirit presence.  For this family though, it is a way to influence something they feel helpless in front of.  When medicine doesn’t work, it is much easier to turn to some kind of magic to help.

German Pickle Tradition

Nationality: German
Age: 23
Occupation: Front Desk Worker/ Grad Student
Residence: The Valley
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English

Every Christmas, my informant’s family will hide a pickle ornament in the tree and whoever can find it first gets a jar of pickles as a prize.  She said that this is how they also initiate people into the family.  She remembered when her brother-in-law first came to the house for Christmas and he was very confused and thought that it was weird.  She says people always get this look on their face when they walk in the door and are told “Ok, now find the Pickle!”

While typically this tradition is for children on Christmas morning, my informant’s family has changed this to a family tradition that helps the test people who are new to the family such as a potential spouse.  The emphasis for this traction is on family ties and having a game that includes everyone, even the new comers.  It’s an initiation ceremony.

Vietnam Vet joke

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Waukesha, Wisconsin
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English

My informant told me this joke as we were commenting on jokes in bad taste, such as racist jokes and dead baby jokes.

How many Vietnam vets does it take to screw in a light bulb?

YOU DON’T KNOW MAN, YOU WEREN’T THERE!

 

She thought it was funny because it plays off of the stereotype of the PTSD Vietnam soldier who overreacts to the slightest thing.  She says that people love stereotypes, even if they know they aren’t true.

 

This joke takes a known form of a joke “How many x does it take to screw in a light bulb?” and throws in the vetern sterotype.  This form is very easy to make blason poulaire out of because it relys on puns and stereotypes as the punchline.  It is also a way to cope with the difficult issue of the Vietnam war.  The punchline is a quote from Jacob’s Ladder, a thriller about a Vietnam war veteran made in 1990.  The movie is about a traumatized vet who finds out that his post-war life isn’t what he believes it to be when he’s attacked by  horned creatures in the subway and his dead son comes to visit him*

 

*Jacob’s ladder: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/

Easter Bunnies Messengers

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Waukesha, Wisconsin
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English

Story:

 

“When I was a little girl my mother told me that the bunnies that came out during the spring were the Easter Bunny’s messengers and they told him what I was doing and whether or not I was being a good girl. The amount of candy and presents I got would depend on how good I had been. Later I found out the Easter Bunny wasn’t real and that the bunnies were just bunnies, but I always wondered whether my mother had changed the amount of candy my sister and I got because she thought we had been bad children. I doubt it though.

 

I remembered this from my childhood because I love animals and because bunnies always start coming out in the spring and whenever I see one I can’t help but remember. I loved holidays and I think my family made this up to discipline the children subtly. They wanted us to behave and they bribed us in a way. Just like during the Christmas season when children are told St. Nick is watching. I guess this story was a variation on that. “

 

Many other countries have holiday figures with helpers, like Santa Claus and the Krampus in Germany.  The rabbit is a fertility symbol during Easter which, before becoming Christianized, was a fertility ritual.  All of the rabbits are coming out so they would be easy to spot in the days before Easter.

Roma origin Story

Nationality: Mexican, Portuguese, Roma, Gypsy
Age: 25
Occupation: Real Estate
Residence: Venice Beach, California
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English

My informant learned this from her parents when she was a child. It is the origins of the Roma people

“The oldest stories come from Egypt. Gitano is how they say gypsy in Spain, so Gitano like hyptano. Like Egyptian.  They say that on the outskirts of Egypt there lived the mystery people. They had the knowledge of the past and future and could cure people.  They would be called in by the pharaoh if he needed soothsayers….so the Roma people became very powerful in the land. And people got jealous and so they drove them out into the desert and they continue to wander and continue to be a nomadic people.”

My informant believes that this is a very important story because the Roma people are nomadic and so it is important to know where they came from.

It is very important for this group to know where they come from, especially since they have been so split up over the centuries.  Nation states do not take kindly to nomadic people who wander over their borders and so the Roma people need to be strong in their identity.  This story also allows them to have always been outsiders with mysterious powers.  It’s very empowering for a people to know that they had all of this power before and could continue to use it.