Category Archives: Game

Bloody Mary

Nationality: Italian
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 04/29/2013
Primary Language: English

There’s always the myth that around midnight – at least it’s that way with my brother and friends – that at midnight if you go to a mirror and turn off all the lights and say “Bloody Mary.” three times that she’ll show up and that she’ll throw a rose at you that will turn you inside out, like your guts come out and everything. And the rule is, as she throws the rose just before she hits you say “Candyman. Candyman. Candyman” and the Candyman comes out from the movies and he protects it.

 

From the movies?

Yeah. Well, he doesn’t come out from the movies, but like you know, the candyman. Yeah. And then you have 2 monsters that you have to deal with. And uh, I guess my brother made up that you have to say “Chuckie. Chuckie. Chuckie.”  And then Chuckie comes out. And you just keep building monsters.

 

And they just fight each other?

Yeah.

Did you ever try this?

No, we were too scared to.

 

Where did you guys hear this from?

Like my brother would just make it up. It was him.

 

But you heard the “Bloody Mary” thing from someone?

Yeah. No, that was like everyone like always shared that story.

 

And your brother decided to add the rest of it?

Yeah.

 

Just because?

Just because, I don’t know why. I think cause it didn’t seem like it had closure to it. So that’s why it’s like, oh she shows up and then she throws a rose at you, that turns you inside out, but if you do this, this and that, like you know?

 

So where did you hear about the rose and the inside out part of the story? I’d never heard of that before.

My brother.

 

He’s a creative fellow?

He’s a jackass.

 

Did you tell anyone about this particular variation?

Yeah. I told everyone.

 

And no one ever did it?

No. They were too scared.

 

The “at midnight” part, did your brother make that up too? Or was that always part of it?

I remember it being explained like that.

 

By other kids?

Yeah.

 

Have you still not tried it to this day?

No. I’m too scared.

 

My Reaction:

Who hasn’t heard of the “Bloody Mary” thing before? Everyone I know has heard of some variation of this. I had never heard of it having to take place at midnight, so it was interesting when Mike told me that for him, midnight was part of the process. I guess that would only amplify the scariness of it. Because when you’re young, late night is scary. It’s quiet and dark and not as many people are awake, and this makes you feel more vulnerable. But regardless of the time of day, I still, to this day, have never tried to do the “Bloody Mary” thing. I honestly don’t believe that anything would happen, but there’s still that part of you this is nervous that maybe something could happen. As for Mike’s crazy variation on the “Bloody Mary” thing, I wonder if other kids ever added to it because I’ve never heard of something like that before.

Grasping Test

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 48
Occupation: Software Engineer
Residence: Naperville, Illinois
Performance Date: 4/9/13
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

MATERIAL

 

小孩满一周岁时，很多家庭会给孩子“抓周”，也就是在桌子上摆放不同的东西，比如笔、钱币、印章等等，让孩子去抓，看孩子最先抓到什么来预测孩子长大后会往哪个方向发展。比如抓到笔，表示孩子以后会走学术之路；如果抓到钱币，表示孩子以后会做生意。

 

After a child has his or her first birthday, many parents will give him or her the “grasping test”. This test involves putting different items on a table in front of a child. These items symbolize different things and the test is to see which item the child grabs first. Depending on which item he or she grabs, it is said that the child’s future lies with what the items symbols. For example, many parents will put a pen, a coin, and a rubber stamp in front of their children. If they grab the pen, it means they will be very academically driven and smart. If they grab the coin, it means they will be very rich and successful. If they grab the stamp, it means they have a future in politics.

 

ANALYSIS
This reflects the Chinese philosophy that with the proper dedication, you can do whatever you set your mind to. Everything that the parents set out for the baby to grasp leads to success – they just represent different types of successes and futures. There are no failure options for the baby to grasp. This also reflects on the stereotypical future-obsessive Asian parent. In China, parents are very much so hands-on in their child’s education and future. There is the thought that they have to give their child more opportunities than they were given as children.

 

My informant is my mother and on my first birthday party, she set the three items mentioned above along with a small flute in front of me. I grabbed the pen and the flute simultaneously, which led my parents to enroll me in many extracurricular musical activities and academic clubs. In turns out that I am very musically driven and love learning. My informant clearly believes in this folk tradition, because it has held true in her experience, but I believe that it is also kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I had chosen instead the stamp, maybe my parents would have enrolled me in Model UN and other political activities instead of piano lessons, thus acquiring my taste for politics.

Egg War

Nationality: Armenian American
Age: 19
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: April 19, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Armenian and Russian

Form of Folklore: Holiday Ritual

Informant Bio: The informant was born in Yerevan, Armenia, moved to Moscow, Russia at six months, then to Detroit Michigan at age three. Since she was five years old, she was raised in Glendale, California. Most of the folklore she knows is from her mother (passing down traditions she learned) and from peers at school. Her mother remains as her main source of cultural folklore (Armenian) whereas her friends in school exposed her to the folklore of American culture.

Context: The interview was conducted on the porch of another informant’s house in the presence of two other informants.

Item: On Easter morning, after the eggs are painted and put out on the table (it’s part of breakfast). So we basically eat the eggs for breakfast. And before we eat them, the way we open them is like… um… taping the top of one egg against the bottom of the other, so the pointier side is hitting the flatter side. And if it cracks that egg, that means you like won the egg fight. And if there’s a few people playing, you move on to try and crack theirs. And then if you win all of it, you’re egg is like the sacred egg and you don’t eat it; you put it aside and you eat one of the ones that was weaker.

Informant Comments: The informant believes that this Easter ritual is a pleasant way of getting the family together to play an innocent game. She enjoys playing the game and believes the best part is being able to eat all of the loosing eggs and saving the winning egg for another day (another war). Everyone wonders if the egg will be able to beat the rest of the eggs the next day also.

Analysis: This Easter ritual seems like a harmless game that can bring some excitement to a regular morning breakfast. This egg war is very common in Armenia (where the informant is from). This ritual, unlike others, brings out some good natured competitiveness in the family member. Luckily, it almost never leads to an argument since the strength of the eggs the members of the family have chosen have nothing to do with the people who chose them; thus, no egos are wounded. Essentially, only good can come from adapting this Easter ritual because it starts the day off with a certain level of excitement and offers an initial topic of discussion for the rest of the meal.

Lemon

Nationality: Armenian American
Age: 19
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: April 19, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Armenian and Russian

Form of Folklore: Game

Informant Bio: The informant was born in Yerevan, Armenia, moved to Moscow, Russia at six months, then to Detroit Michigan at age three. Since she was five years old, she was raised in Glendale, California. Most of the folklore she knows is from her mother (passing down traditions she learned) and from peers at school. Her mother remains as her main source of cultural folklore (Armenian) whereas her friends in school exposed her to the folklore of American culture.

Context: The interview was conducted in the living room of the informant’s house in the presence of two other informants.

Item: This is a game called Lemon. Ok so basically ahh the first part is just picking four girls names. It works out better if you do four girls you know; it just comes out funnier. So four girls you know, things you do to a lemon (things like lick or zest or cut or squeeze, things like that) so four of those. Four boys names, again four boys preferably that you know or who also know the girls you listed. And then four body parts (elbow, finger, arm… doesn’t matter). And that’s about it. The numbers are jumbled in each category, so then you just match up number to number… to number… and it comes out like … a girl’s name does this thing to this boy’s body part. It’s not something really done for a person, this is more mutually played between whoever’s there; it can be four people, five people together just making it for fun… just to see the results.

Informant Comments: The informant learned this game in high school. She believes it was a fun way for teenagers to see what weird and sometimes perverted results came from the game. Usually, the game would lead to some sort of sexual act or an action that seems nearly impossible. The game was not played often, but when it was, all of the participating players would take advantage of the rare opportunity to make certain girls match with certain boys.

Analysis: This game seems to bring out the curiosities of teenagers who are going through all sorts of new experiences (in high school). Having their hormones increase and decrease on different levels, teenagers pass down this game from person to person, as a way to vent out their sexual thoughts. At a younger age, this game would not be as popular since most pre-teens are not as obsessed with sex and physicality as teenagers are. Similarly, adults (over eighteen years old) are more experienced and knowledgeable than teenagers, so Lemon does not have as much entertainment value. This is a teenage game that will most likely continue to exist (or at least some version of it) as long as teenagers are sexually curious.

MASH

Nationality: Armenian American
Age: 19
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: April 19, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Armenian and Russian

Form of Folklore: Game

Informant Bio: The informant was born in Yerevan, Armenia, moved to Moscow, Russia at six months, then to Detroit Michigan at age three. Since she was five years old, she was raised in Glendale, California. Most of the folklore she knows is from her mother (passing down traditions she learned) and from peers at school. Her mother remains as her main source of cultural folklore (Armenian) whereas her friends in school exposed her to the folklore of American culture.

Context: The interview was conducted in the living room of the informant’s house in the presence of two other informants.

Item: Ok so you write down “MASH” at the top of the page; “MASH” stands for… “M” for Mansion, “A” for Apartment, “S” for Shack, and “H” for House and those stand for where you’re gonna live. Under that you make categories for “Husband”, “Wedding Dress”, “Cars”, “Pets”, “# of Kids”, and “Honeymoon”. Each category has one through four; the first three being what you’d like to happen, the last thing, what you wouldn’t want to happen. And then the person you’re playing with tells you when to stop as you’re making tally marks. And you stop and that’s the number you count to going around and around all these categories and crossing of when you stop at that number. And at the end you’re left with one thing in each category and that is supposed to be telling them their future and what will happen to them.

Informant Comments: The informer learned this game when she was in middle school. She does not believe it can actually predict the future; she used to play MASH as an entertaining game just to see what life (and which celebrity) she would end up with. Even though she never thought it would actually tell her about her future, she still felt a certain degree of disappointment when she did not get a future she was really fond of.

Analysis: MASH is a harmless game which is used as a way to predict the future lives of kids. It has an element of fear that the person MASH is being done for will end up with all of the things that they would not want to happen. Most children’s games do not have this quality; most have a happy ending no matter what. Also, this game introduces children to the idea of marriage and motherhood. It is clear that this is a game for females since it has categories like “Husband” and “Wedding Dress”. Many girls begin to think about their futures as a woman simply by playing this game that was intended to inform them of their futures. Though the game does not actually predict the future, it does make it a part of the reality that little girls will eventually have to deal with.