Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

What is a Gay Bear?

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2014
Primary Language: English

My informant is a 20 year old gay film student who self-identifies as a bear. Gay bears are loosely defined as masculine, bigger, hairier guys who are into other masculine, bigger, hairier guys. Here he tries to define what a gay bear is:

“So the bear community if you don’t already know is a community of gay men who tend to be on the heavier side of life. And uh, weight, like, there’s no specified weight that makes you a bear, there’s a lot of schools of thought on it and the jury’s kinda out on it, but um, people tend to think that it’s just bigger guys. Muscular, heavy, just big. But really the biggest, uh, the biggest component is hair. Hairy men, hairy gay men, are bears. ….That’s not a good quote. But the bear flag is a nice little piece of folklore, it consists of uh, orange, black, brown, and uhm… orange black brown colors, more, and those are supposed to be the colors of, all the different colors of body hair, all the different possible colors of body hair on men.”

The informant knows about the bear identity and the bear flag through friends who are bears, but initially (especially in high school) gained most of his information about bears through the internet, because “nobody really talks about gay culture in high school, let alone bears.” As he said, the jury is out on what really defines a bear, and the definitions of the identity is in itself so diverse and numerous that anyone you ask will have a slightly different concept of it. However, here my informant references a semi-official (though born out of folklore) bear “flag” to identify gay bears more with hairiness.

Dancing at Chalma

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 74
Occupation: Professor
Residence: Mexico City, Mexico
Performance Date: March 15, 2014
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

My informant is my 74 year old grandmother, who is a language professor born and raised in Mexico City, and currently living and working there. She first used this proverb or saying with me when talking about something that can’t be fixed at all, “ni yendo bailar a Chalma” or “not even going to dance at Chalma”. Here’s her explanation when I asked her what Chalma is:
“Es un pueblito donde hay un santuario donde la gente va a rezar por milagros. Y allí hay un lugar donde unos señores tocan violincillo y donde la gente baila con flores en la cabeza para que les conceda el milagro. Y el señor de Chalma es un Cristo negro que esta allí bailando.”
“Y donde conociste eso de Chalma?”
“Todo el mundo se lo sabe!”
Translation: “It’s a little village where there’s a sanctuary where people go to pray for miracles. And there there’s a place where some men are playing little violins and where people dance with flowers on their heads so their miracle can come true. And the man of Chalma is a black Jesus that’s there dancing.”
“And where’d you learn this about Chalma?”
“Everyone knows it!”

The significance for my grandmother is relatively little, as she’s only been to Chalma as a tourist, but she knows of many people that have made pilgrimages to cure an ailing relative or themselves. The interesting thing about Chalma is that while it is a place people go to pray for miracles, traditionally, there’s also this often-used saying that dismisses it as an option. You can go pray and dance at Chalma if you want, but some things cannot be fixed not even going to dance at Chalma.

The Haunting of Bakersfield High

Nationality: Japanese American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bakersfield, California
Performance Date: 4/23/14
Primary Language: English

The Haunting of Bakersfield

Personal Background:

Ashley is a 19 year old student at the University of Southern California. She grew up in Bakersfield and went to Bakersfield High School. She had a family that had a lot of American culture, as well as Japanese culture since her mother is Japanese. She is able to bring bits of each into her every day.

Local Legend:

Ashley says there have been rumors for as long as she can remember about her old high school being haunted. It is a very old school, built before the city even had a name. She has heard multiple stories from others that there were strange things happening around campus, specifically in the auditorium. Before the high school was a high school, it was a college, and before that it was a hospital, and it has been haunted ever since. Many of the students there are bodies buried underneath the school. Or that certain people who died in the hospital now haunt the school. There are also a lot of different rooms through the school that have not been opened for years. There are  underground tunnels that have not been used since the hospital was there, so people has their suspicions of what could be down there.

With the auditorium being the place with the most haunted things, people try not to go there very often alone. It has been heard that there have been strange noises and doors shutting without other people being there. This was due to an apparent death during a play of Peter Pan. One of the wires broke, killing the person who was attached to it. This person is known to be the one who is haunting the auditorium.

There is also a rumor of a couple who broke up and committed suicide on campus. They are also haunting different areas of the school at night. Ashley says that this is way to keep all the “stupid people” off campus at night. All of these stories come from people Ashley know and trust, and this is why she believes the what she has heard.

To Ashley, these stories are a fun way for people to spread rumors in school. It is a way to bring the community together, and a way to scare the young kids from going to the high school at night. It is a way to keep a story going through the high school, even after the people she know and who know her have gone off to college.

Analysis:

To me, these stories are way to keep the past and present connected. It is a way to connect the students and give them a common legend to follow. They can talk about it with the students from the past, as well as the current students. It can be a way of initiation to the newer students coming into the school. They may need to know the stories in order to be part of the theater groups or other groups that spend a lot of time within the auditorium. This is a type of urban legend that has the town keeping up with the things that are happening in the high school. It has a lot to do with the belief of the people in town, and nobody has been able to disprove any of it. The rumors that are very specific are what make it a legend. They have to do with historical events that may or may not have actually happened. It has created a belief within the school that seems to connect the student body.

Fish for New Year

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/29/14
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Fish for New Year

Personal Background:

Roger is a sophomore at the University of Southern California studying Inernational Relations. He has grown up with mostly Taiwanese traditions. He is living in Los Angeles right now, but is originally from Huntington Beach, California. He lives with his mother, who was born in Taiwan. His mother and him speak Mandarin at home. As much as Roger loves living in California, he still follows certain traditions that make him closer to Taiwan.

 Tradition:

Chinese New Year is a very important time of the year  no matter where someone is in the world. People who are not even asian seem to be getting into it. There are a lot of different traditions and festivals that go on with this changing of the year, but there was one in particular Roger explained that I had never heard of before. Apparently, everyone participating in Chinese New Year must eat fish during this time of year, but one must not finish the fish.

The reason for this has to do with the Chinese character for fish in Mandarin.  It is very similar to that of wealth. When they eat it, it is as if they are eating some of their wealth. But they need to make sure they do not finish the fish, because if they eat it all they are eating all of their wealth. They leave pieces in hope for wealth for next year.

Even though this is something everyone does, and it is something people do to celebrate together, Roger does not believe it it actually gives wealth. He has been doing this for as long as he can remember, but he does not think of it as a tradition he is able to do with this family and friends during their celebrations.

Analysis:

This is a type of tradition that also brings in some folk beliefs as well. They ones who are eating the fish are hoping there is some form of magic from the fish, and they hope the power from it will rub off on them, giving them wealth. What makes it a tradition is the fact that it is an activity family and friends can do together. It links them to their past and to their ancestors who also did this same thing. The fact that is something that people need to do in order to get their wealth, makes it a tradition.

To me, this tradition is a way to bring family and friends together as they remember the past year and look forward to the new one. It is also a way to give people hope about their year. If someone has had a hard year, leaving the bits of fish may be exactly what they need in order to look forward to the next year. It is very similar in American new year. People want something to look forward to for the next year, so they kiss someone at midnight in hope of having love in the next year. Even though Chinese New Year and New Year in America are very different, there are some pieces that cross over between both cultures.

Getting Good Grades at Cal State Fullerton

Nationality: Hispanic/White
Age: 22
Occupation: Tattify employee
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/29/14
Primary Language: English

Getting Good Grades at Cal State Fullerton

Personal Background:

My brother is 22 years old and recently graduated from California State University Fullerton with a major in radio, TV, and film. He is now working for temporary tattoo company and has some small film jobs on the side. He is currently living in Los Angeles.

Tradition:

            While my brother was going to school in Fullerton, there was a tradition during finals week where all of the students would touch the butt of their Statue of David as good luck. During finals week every year, the students will line up to touch the statue that is in pieces in their quad. It is a way to connect with the rest of the student body as they go through a very stressful week. It is something funny that can help relieve some of the tension they might be feeling. It is also something everyone must do to really be considered a Titan.

My brother is not quite sure if doing this actually works, but he still did it the two years he was there. To him, it was better to be safe about it than to risk not doing it and not doing well on finals. He first heard about it when he was on a tour of the school. He said, “It seemed as though everyone knew they were supposed to do this, even without any sort of conversation about it.” It made him want to do it even more since it was a way he was able to get together with his fellow classmates who were going through the same crazy week as him.

Analysis:

This type of tradition is a folk belief. The students who attend this college have a belief that this works, yet it is not something that can be scientifically proven. By touching the butt of the fallen statue of David, it is funny way to get the students together, and it can also be a way for the students to “save their butts” and not fail their finals. It is more of a psychological superstition than ritual that will actually work. They think that the power that the statue of David has will rub off onto them and give them the power to do remember everything they learned that semester. There may even be luck involved when the students get their grades back. To me, it is a way the students try to get control when the only thing they can take control during study days is how much they study for their finals.