Author Archives: Steven Cassettari

School Tunnels

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chino Hills, California
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

My informant is in high school where there is a legend that there is a series of tunnels that go under the campus that one could use to go to another side of the campus without being seen. He has heard this rumor from other students and whenever a teacher is seen somewhere unexpected it is accredited as evidence of a tunnel. This legend is often tied in with another legend stating that one of the classrooms used to be a bomb shelter until the school needed extra space and that the closet in this classroom has a trapdoor to the tunnels in it.

This legend is similar to ones that other high school have, but each has their own variation on it like this school has the association with the bomb shelter being the starting point. This is a legend that no one believes, but is still told over and over again by the different classes going through the school. It is a form of bonding between the students as they tell stories about what makes their school unique.

Party Till The Cows Come Home

Nationality: American
Occupation: Owner of a fire sprinkler company
Residence: Chino Hills, California
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Party till the cows come home is an expression about staying out all night and partying the whole time. My informant said that the saying specifically means staying out until the sun comes up, but can be used without staying out that long. One might say it to joke around with friends when they won’t actually being out that long. He believes that the expression started by farmers who had to milk cows in the morning, but had no responsibilities until then. He believed that the expression then caught on and spread to others even though the expression would not make sense for them.

The reason for this piece of folklore existing seems to be sound, as otherwise it would seem to be random. While my informant has never worked on a farm or knows anyone who did he still said the expression was fairly common showing that even if that is how the expression began that is not how it is spread now.

Full Moon Craziness

The full moon makes people go crazy

My informant has heard since he was child that people go crazy on a full moon. Not everyone would go crazy but it would make the chance of encountering someone doing something crazy much more likely. People will drink too much or become stressed out and act aggressive or drive dangerously. My informant said that if he encountered a bad driver at night he would always check to see if it was a full moon because that could be the reason for it. He cannot remember where he originally heard the belief, but he said he has always grown up with it and it was treated as a fact.

The full moon comes only once a month and has always been a fairly important event. People have attached significance to those dates and it could be that because people expect others to act crazy on a full moon just makes them pay attention to events that they otherwise would just ignore as random. The belief could be true, but whether it is or not my informant said that he experienced events that made him a believer making the scientific proof of the matter not as important.

 

Annotation: This folk belief is the basis of the episode 13 “My Full Moon” in season 8 of the television series Scrubs. In this episode the doctors at the hospital have to deal with crazy patients on the night shift during a full moon.

Kadomatsu

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Kaneohe, Hawaii
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Giving a Kadomatsu for the New year

A new year tradition that exists in Hawaii is the giving of a kadomatsu. It is an arrangement of bamboo and pine that generally has the tallest piece of bamboo in the center flanked by other pieces, but this isn’t always the case. For my informant the kadumatsu were expensive and difficult to find so she did not have one every year and when she did it was something special. Having a kadumatsu by one’s door around the new year is supposed to bring good luck in the coming year. My informant said that while the tradition started out as important to her ancestors it is not something that she feels is that important anymore. In her mind the tradition is continued mainly to honor their ancestors.

 

This is a gift giving tradition in Hawaii that originated in Japan. It is hard to tell from this telling what exactly led to this tradition other than the need to celebrate the new year. Leaving it by the door probably has a connection to entering and leaving and during the new year one is leaving the old year and entering the new one.

The Legend of Pali Lookout

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 72
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Kaneohe, Hawaii
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

This is a Hawaiian legend dealing with the unification of the Hawaiian Islands.

There was a king on the largest island in Hawaii who wanted to conquer all the other islands so he went island by island conquering and leaving a bloody trail behind him as the other kings resisted. On Oahu the king from the large island was victorious and he drove the enemy army off a cliff at what is now known as the Pali Lookout. Because of the gruesome nature of their deaths though some of the spirits of that army continue to linger in the area. While not seen by all, there are some who claim to have seen spirits there and have felt their presence.

This story is based in truth as king Kamehameha did in fact conquer all the Hawaiian Islands. This shows that the story has been around for some time. There wasn’t much told about what the spirits do, but because it was a violent death there is a negative stigma attached. This legend is particular to the island as each islands story of being conquered would be different. This means that while the conquering of the islands unified them it still had some elements that made each island distinct with certain items of folklore like this one.