Category Archives: Folk speech

Childhood Riddles

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Residence: Oxford, Connecticut
Performance Date: 04/23/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Text: 

Childhood Riddles 

Background on Informant: 

My informant is a current student who has shared with me his experiences of childhood folklore and traditions that he grew up with. In a series of interviews he has shared with me his knowledge. 

Context: 

He explained: 

“Riddles are such a huge part of my childhood. We were exposed to them everywhere, I remember my school used to do a weekly contest where they would have us compete to solve a riddle and whoever got it first would win a prize. So you can say I might be a bit of an expert on them. 

Some I remember are:

Riddle: If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?

Answer: Nine!

Riddle: What begins with T, finishes with T, and has T in it?

Answer: A teapot.

I don’t know if this counts but 

Why are ghosts bad at lying?

Answer: Because you can see right through them.

Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old, what am I?

Solution: A candle.

I could go on for hours but riddles are always good fun, I remember the popsicles used to have them on the stick and the Laffy Taffy candies. See we’ve been exposed to riddles in almost every aspect of our childhood.”

Analysis/Thoughts: 

Riddles are truly a giant part of growing up. From being exposed through family or school, riddles have played a major part in childhood. They are an integral part of children’s folklore and have continued to remain a major part of our childhood past. It was interesting to see the one’s he remembered because I could recall so many as well. Riddles have always been important, especially as society’s means of evaluating cleverness and intelligence, but for me I’ve always viewed it as good fun. These connections to our childhood past are important in order for this folklore to remain alive and continue to thrive for the next riddle experts to experience. 

Házi Áldás

Nationality: Hungarian
Age: 45
Residence: Queens, New York
Performance Date: 04/13/2021
Primary Language: Hungarian
Language: English

Main Text:

Házi Áldás 

Hol hit, ott szeretet

Hol szeretet, ott béke

How béke, ott áldás

Hol áldás, ott Isten 

Hol Isten 

Ott szükség nincsen. 

Translation: 

House Blessing 

Where there is faith, there is love

Where there is love, there is peace

Where there is peace, there is blessing

Where there is blessing, there is God

Where there is God

There is no need. 

Background about Informant: 

She was born and raised in Hungary, but moved to the United States in 1997. She is knowledgable of her roots and has lots of wisdom to share about its’ cultural traditions. She comes from a religious background in Catholicism and is experienced with Hungary Catholic practices and beliefs. 

Context: 

She explains: 

(translated)

“In Hungary, entering a household is considered scared and thus its’ sacredness is embodied in the Házi Áldás (House Blessing). It is often seen in embroidery, carved in wood, and other traditional arts. 

In bonds with Hungarian Catholicism, it is meant to serve as a list of virtues to living a pious life under God’s blessings. 

It is also a statement of wisdom that reflects familial bonds and a connection to past cultural beliefs tied with religion. 

In the past, people would hang this on the wall to preserve their faith in God. It began only being used in civic houses, but eventually it even started appearing in peasant households and farmhouses. 

The power of the text allowed people to believe that God would bless the people in the house if the text was present. It is traditionally placed in kitchens. 

Lots of people still sell them today at craft fairs and mostly to tourists.

It’s not really used as much as it was in the past and today it’s used more for decoration, than for spiritual purposes.”

Analysis: 

In my research and interview, I was able to learn more about the history behind the Házi Áldás. Having Hungarian roots myself and a Házi Áldás in my own kitchen, I’ve always wondered what its’ purpose has been. Since my informant is religious and grew up in a Hungarian Catholic household, she was very knowledge about the context behind the Házi Áldás rich history. Hungary has a history of being religious and attributing to its’ history it was no surprise that people dealt a great deal of value to such texts, but it was interesting to learn about how it shifted from civic houses to the poorer population, because even so today most of the poorer population are the ones contributing to the religious life in Hungary. 

I also found the shift from the Házi Áldás as a sacred text to now a symbol of craft and tourist souvenirs. It highlights the disconnect between Hungary’s traditional past which suffered a lot because of its’ Communism past where a lot of these traditions are not practiced or valued because of its’ censorship under particular leaders. But overall, I was very ‘blessed’ to learn about the history behind the Házi Áldás and its’ shift from a valuable text of great importance to now being found in every gift shop available, a path that many of these relics are finding themselves headed towards, opening eyes to how Hungary is trying to preserve their past. 

Annotations:

For visual references and information visit:

https://farfringe.com/stj1043-szekely-aldas/

https://i.etsystatic.com/11885944/r/il/c54015/1478550723/il_570xN.1478550723_eb1w.jpg

“Let the road rise to meet you. Let the wind be always at your back.” – Proverb

Nationality: Irish
Age: 63
Occupation: Biomedical Research
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 2, 2021
Primary Language: English

Background
This quote was given to me by my dad in a conversation about Irish folklore. He’s from Northern Ireland, hence the connection. He doesn’t seem to have a particularly strong connection to it though. It seemed to be something he remembered offhand. I’m not sure if he even remember when he first heard it, except that it was just an old Irish blessing.

Context
This is often seen to be one of Ireland’s most famous blessings, but the context is hard to pin down. It was originally part of a larger piece, involving additional lines on the sun and rain, in addition to the wind. In full, his was largely interpreted to be a reference to the holy trinity, as described here:
https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/road-rise-meet-you-irish-blessing-meaning
However, others point out the frequent mistranslations when moving the phrase from its original Gaelic language into English. They also point out how the Celts would often use nature to form godly connections, which illustrates the often difficult relationship irish folklore has when it comes to navigating its celtic origins with christianity:

May the road rise up to meet you: the meaning behind the traditional Irish blessing

Thoughts
I’d definitely heard this saying before. I think the idea of the road rising to meet you is very interesting. Not only is Ireland full of grassy hills (i.e., the rising of the road) but this sentimentality also reflects the strong emphasis on luck the society has. It’s not you going out to walk on the road; it’s the road rising up so that you may walk on it. In this sense, you have no control over the path you take, or over the wind guiding you forward. It’s all a matter of chance, and this prayer simply seems to ask that chance be on your side.

Find a Penny, Pick It Up and All Day You’ll Have Good Luck

Nationality: American, Ancestral: Scottish and Germanic
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Scotland
Performance Date: 04/27/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Main Content:

M: Me I: Informant

I: It’s like Find a penny pick it up and all day you’ll have good luck. Is that like folklore?

M: Yup that’s good!

I: I did that constantly.

M: Now was that something that you learned from other kids or did that come from um your family?

I: Um definitely my family, my parents. They’d be like “Op, penny!” Sometimes my dad would drop pennies just so I could pick them up and have good luck. I loved it.

M: That’s so cute! Um is there, does the penny, I think I remember, the penny has be head up, right?

I: Oh there’s something like that, but I never cared *laughs*

M: *laughs*

I: Free money!

Context: This is something that she learned from her father. Everytime she sees a penny she still picks it up and feels as though it brings her luck. It also is a sweet reminder of her dad. This phrase though is very American in its ideals. Rhyming sayings like this are funny for people to learn/ regurgitate and lift spirits.

Analysis: Rhyming sayings, otherwise known as proverbs, like this are a good means of transferring ideas as the rhyming device makes it easy to remember and delivers the thought eloquently. I stated earlier that I thought that this speech was innately American and I even conferred with my Norwegian friend who agreed that while finding money on the ground is considered lucky- it’s considered lucky because you found money, not so much for any other purpose. Whereas with this saying, we have to recognize the focus on “free money!” And how reflective that is of the values of the United States. Traditionally the American view is that you work and struggle to earn your money and that is something that is difficult, but people that pride in that. Additionally, we know that this phrase goes beyond simply luck because they found money on the floor as the penny is relatively worthless and literally cost more to produce than its worth.

Step on A Crack, Break Your Mama’s Back

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Business Owner
Residence: USA
Performance Date: 04/28/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Content:

M: Me, I: Informant

I: I don’t walk on cracks on sidewalks

M: You don’t walk on the sidewalks. How come you don’t walk on sidewalks?

I: If I walk on a gridded

M: On the cracks on the sidewalk. Yeah why don’t you walk on the cracks

I: I don’t know. Step on a crack, break your momma’s back. You’ve never heard that saying?

M: I have but for the purpose of this I need it *laughing*

I: I think that’s why. I don’t know is the answer. I really don’t know. It’s bad luck. It’s bad luck.

M: It’s bad luck. But to you, is that actually going to happen or no? Do you believe it to be true or is it just that not that your mom’s back will be broken but that something bad is going to happen.

I: I think I do it half for entertainment. 

M: Uh-huh (agreeing)

I: I don’t think deep down inside I believe something bad is going to happen, but I don’t want to take the chance so I just step over the crack.

Context: My informant learned this as a child and while he may have taken it more seriously back then, it still is a part of his life many years later, just in a slightly different way.

Analysis: I think that it is significant to note that he says deep down he does not believe anything bad is going to happen and yet he still avoids sidewalk cracks to ‘not take the chance.’ This is very common with American superstitions as coming from a country that values science and logic so much, you’d think these would all be rejected giving their lack of evidence. However, we must remember that these aren’t based on science or evidence, but rather group belief. While many people would admit that they don’t truly believe in the superstition, they still choose not to run the risk And may even be entertained by it. This is how I think the logical side of our brain makes peace with the emotional side of our brains. Asserting that you don’t believe it appeases the logical side, but still avoiding the cracks just in case appeases the emotional side.