Author Archives: pritzker

Little Burnt Face

Nationality: American
Age: 36
Occupation: Personal Assistant
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/26/16
Primary Language: English

Once there was a girl in a village. She lived with her terrible sisters who would burn her. The village called her little burnt face. She had the kindest soul.

One day the village chiefs sister told the Village that her brother the great chief was looking for a bride. That anyone who could “see” her brother he would marry.

So all the women in the village lined up one by one to see the chief who had never been seen before.

One after one, the sister would ask the women- “Do you see my brother?”

And they would reply- “yes”

She would ask then what is his shoulder strap made of-

They would reply- “with a strip of rawhide”

She asked: what does he pull his sled with

They replied with a green writhe

She knew that they had not seen her brother.

Now little burnt face decided to go meet the chief to see what the magical chief was all about.

She bathed and dressed in her best birch bark clothes and tatters moccasins.

She went to see the chief-

The sister asked: do you see my brother-

She exclaimed “yes, I see him and he is magical and amazing!”

The sister asked her the question- what is his shoulder strap made of?

She replied- A BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW! Exclaimed little burnt face

His sister asked what is his bow made of;

IT’S THE MILKY WAY!!!!

the sister said ” you have truly seen my brother.”

The sister took little burnt face to her wigwam where she bathed her in magical waters and all her burns disappeared. She dressed her in the best clothes and she took her seat next to the chief for all eternity.

The end.

ANOTATION:

For a more extesive verision of the story see Native American Legends: Little Burnt Face, A Micmac Legend

http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/LittleBurnt-Face-Micmac.html

Alabama Football

Nationality: USA
Age: 54
Occupation: Marketing
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/21/16
Primary Language: English

The Elephant Story  and University of Alabama Football

College Football in the south is quite the phenomenon and Alabama has always had a relationship with elephants.  It happened during a football game and the story was one my grandfather told me as a little girl.  Growing up in Alabama we cheered for Alabama , the Crimson Tide, but my favorite animals have always been the elephant.

The story of how Alabama became associated with the “elephant” goes back to the 1930 season when Coach Wallace Wade had assembled a great football team.

On October 8, 1930, sports writer Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story of the Alabama-Mississippi game he had witnessed in Tuscaloosa four days earlier. Strupper wrote, “That Alabama team of 1930 is a typical Wade machine, powerful, big, tough, fast, aggressive, well-schooled in fundamentals, and the best blocking team for this early in the season that I have ever seen. When those big brutes hit you I mean you go down and stay down, often for an additional two minutes.

“Coach Wade started his second team that was plenty big and they went right to their knitting scoring a touchdown in the first quarter against one of the best fighting small lines that I have seen. For Ole Miss was truly battling the big boys for every inch of ground.

“At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, ‘Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,’ and out stamped this Alabama varsity.

“It was the first time that I had seen it and the size of the entire eleven nearly knocked me cold, men that I had seen play last year looking like they had nearly doubled in size.”

Strupper and other writers continued to refer to the Alabama linemen as “Red Elephants,” the color referring to the crimson jerseys.

 

Golem

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Artist
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/24/16
Primary Language: English

So this is a piece of Jewish Folklore that I learned while living in Prague.  Rabbi Loew is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Prague, which I have visited many times, and I have a statue of the Golem which I purchased at a stall outside of the cemetery.  The Old-New Synagogue, built in the 13th century, still has services for the jewish community remaining in Prague.  The Golem story has appeared often in literature and film, including Michael Chabon’s novel written in 2000 called “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.”

A “Golem” is a being formed on inanimate matter, magically animated into a living being.  Many examples of Golems exist in Jewish folklore, including the Golem of Chelm, but the most famous is the Golem of Prague.  In the 16th century, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bazalei  created a Golem to protect the Jews of Prague from antisemitism.  He fashioned the creature from clay taken from the banks of the Vltava river, and animated him using rituals and incantations, and by placing a “shem,” or name written on a piece of paper into the Golem’s mouth.  As long as Rabbi Loew removed the “shem” on Shabbat, putting it back at the end, the Golem would protect the Jews of Prague.  Finally, the Golem became violent, and went on a rampage – there are a lot of stories as to why this happened, one being that the Golem fell in love and was rejected.  However, the accepted version is that Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the “shem” on Shabbat.  He was eventually able to remove the “shem,” and the Golem turned to clay.  The legend goes that the Golem was placed into the attic of the Old New Synagogue, which was then locked, and there he remains.  The attic is still locked, and no one is allowed up there, where the Golem rests until he is needed again.
ANALYSIS:
Coming form Jewish faith myself, I had never heard this piece of folklore before and have actually come to really appreciate it. It kind of reminds me of a piece of Indian God folklore that I once heard while traveling in India. I really enjoy folklore that has to do with magic, I think it is almost childish,  but still thrilling.

Norwegian Apple Peel

Nationality: USA
Age: 59
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: Hawaii
Performance Date: 4/3/16
Primary Language: English
Language: a little German, a little French

Something I learned from my Norwegian grandmother. She made lots of apple desserts, especially apple dumplings, which required whole peeled apples. We used paring knives to peel the apples, and she would tell us that if we were successful in cutting away the peel in one continuous spiral, and threw it over our left shoulder, the peel would form the first letter of the first name of our future husband. I remember doing this in her kitchen at about age seven (after many unsuccessful tries, it is harder than it sounds to peel an apple in one unbroken spiral). The peel formed a “J” which, as you know, turned out to be correct.

I’ve only tried this a few times. I remember the first one because my grandmother was there and shared the story with me. It was Thanksgiving and we were making apple dumplings together. I loved baking with my Grandma – she is the one who taught me how to cook – and this memory takes me right back to her kitchen. Just FYI, it is not easy to have the perfect peel – it takes concentration and time. Usually when I am baking, I’m in a bit of a hurry and none of the peels come off in one piece. Even when concentrating, only about one in four apples will peel whole. Plus, the peel must be quite thin – if it is too thick, it will break on hitting the floor – a null answer. I remember getting a “J” more than once, which is funny because I’ve been married twice and both times the first name began with “J”. Anyway, only single women do this (otherwise the magic would be negative – as if one did not want to be married) so my last time was more than 28 years ago. At the last Thanksgiving, I shared this tradition with Caroline, my daughter. (And no, I will not disclose her answer!)

I’m a little connected to my Norwegian heritage, mostly through cooking and a few traditions, like real candles on the Christmas tree, opening presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day, certain songs, and most definitely all the fairy tales and stories (trolls and dwarves and mountains turning into people or vice versa). I have my great grandfather’s hand carved snuff box – woodworking is a big Norwegian tradition. I’d always wanted to visit Norway and last summer, I went for the first time. I stopped in Bergen for a few days – my grandfather emigrated from that city when he was 3 years old. It is a colorful, gorgeous, fishing town. A wonderful country, felt very much like home.
ANALYSIS:
I think a part of many cultures is the yearning to know who you will spend your life with and marry. I know that as a kid I played games and participated in activities that were supposed to signify who I would marry. For example, as a child I used to play a game with my friends where we would twist the stem of an apple and each full turn around that the apple did would stand for a letter in the alphabet. When the stem finally broke off (usually didnt take too long) whatever letter you were on would be the first letter of the name of your future husband or wife.

Danish Viking Reenactment

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/20/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is a fellow peer, who has ancestors from Denmark that were Vikings and who’s grandfather participated in a reenactment in 1949.

So my grandfather, Palle Gregard, was chosen to be a part of a viking reenactment in 1949. The Vikings were chosen by the queen of Denmark for the journey to reenact the viking trip from Copenhagen to London England. The best athletes and rowers in the country were chosen and it was a big deal at the time. The guys became instant celebrities . I believe the trip it took two weeks, and they landed at Broadstairs, England in July of 1949. The boat was an authentic replica of a Viking ship, built with no nails. And when they landed at Broadstairs, thousands of people were waiting to greet them cheering, and tons of newspaper articles were written about the landing there like in The Daily Graphic and Chicago Tribune.

My mom has snippets of these news articles and a pamphlet of the journey and a bunch of pictures of the ship and the Vikings and one of my grandfather. I remember visiting the Vikingeskibs Museet (Viking Museum) in Denmark about a year and a half ago, when I was traveling with my family. I was able to see the actual ship that my grandfather sailed in. Being at the museum and seeing and learning about the vikings and Denmark’s past made me feel very connected to grandfather, and I felt as though what I was learning in the museum was my past as well.

If I had the chance, I think I would participate in a reenactment like this one. Below are newspaper clippings from reports on the voyage, and photos of of my grandfather on the ship. I really love having this physical evidence of my ancestry and am very prideful of it.

\Daily Graphic Article 1949Viking Ship Palle Gregard