Category Archives: Kinesthetic

Body movements

Obo Shin Otten Totten

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student, Journalist
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29th, 2014
Primary Language: English

My Informant described this game that she played as a child at summer camp as similar in play to “Down by the Banks”, though the tune was different than most versions of “Down by the Banks” that she heard (Unfortunately, she could not remember the specific tune). Children would gather and sit in a circle and place their hands on top of their neighbors hand, so that each child could clap the next child’s hand. The children would go through the rhyme until the end of the count of ten, and whoever was clapped on ten was out. The game would continue until it was two children left, who would push their arms to each other, until the count of ten, when whoever’s arm was near their body would be out.

The rhyme’s words were this:

Obo shin otten totten, nay nay, I am boom boom boom, itty bitty otten totten, obo shin otten totten, obo shin otten totten boom! one two three four five six seven eight nine ten!

She remembered the game fondly, and that it was a good way for kids new to the camp to bond, and older kids to help younger kids acclimate to the camp environment.

It’s interesting to me how this clapping game is translated from group to group, as the general clapping motions stay relatively the same, while depending on the group, the melody or rhythm will change. I am not sure what this says about each group, but it is interesting that the motions stay consistent, while the song almost always changes fairly significantly.

Theatre Chant: Eat the Babies

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student, Journalist; Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA
Performance Date: April 29th, 2014
Primary Language: English

Two Informants told me of this theatre tradition, meant to prepare the cast and amp them up before the show. The cast gathers around in a circle, wrapping their arms around their neighbor’s shoulders, and begin chanting very fast:

We’re gonna rape, kill, pillage, and burn, we’re gonna rapekillpillageandburn (eat the babies!)

They will alternate between whispering and then shouting or screaming the chant until they feel adequately prepared for the show.

Neither Informant, one male and the other female, liked this chant very much. They found that their friends had more fun participated in this chant more than they did, and they chose to not participate themselves, despite participating in other theatre chants and traditions.

A different chant “My Acka Backa” was much preferred by my female informant, as it was much less lyrically violent. Both rhymes are fairly similar in what they achieve, and in how they are physically practiced. The difference is simply in the aggressive the lyrics are, as opposed to these fairly sexual lyrics, though the actions performed and the volume of singing is both equally aggressive.

Theatre Chant: My Acka Backa

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student, Journalist
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29th, 2014
Primary Language: English

Informant explained that to prepare and amp up for theatre performances, groups would gather in a circle, clap and dance in place to this particular rhyme, which they would chant over and over to a beat, increasing in energy, tempo, and volume, until it is shouted as loud as possible, and as fast as possible. Then the group would stop and cheer.

Informant:  And then this other rhyming one that goes like, “my acka backa, my soda cracker, my GTO, my booty ho, yo ma, yo ma, yo’ granny’s granny’s got a hole in her panties [Made a shape with her hands like a hole], got a big behind, like frankenstein [The hole shape made with the hand expands], goes beepbeepbeep [Often they would gesture honking a horn] down sesame street, that street is slick, as slick as glass, and if you don’t like it, you can kiss my [Rather than saying ass, she pointed to her back]—” and then loops over and over again, increasing energy/tempo/volume.

Informant explained that she had much more pleasant memories of this particular chant rather than the “Eat the Babies” chant. In particular, she remembers jumping up and down, holding hands, as the tempo and volume increased. Both rhymes are fairly similar in what they achieve, and in how they are physically practiced. The difference is simply in the aggressive the lyrics are, as opposed to these fairly sexual lyrics, though the actions performed and the volume of singing is both equally aggressive.

Stella Stella Olla

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student, Journalist
Residence: Los Angeles, CA; Vancouver, Canada
Performance Date: April 16, 2014
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Informant is a University student from Canada, and claimed to have a fuzzy memory of her childhood, and thus did not remember everything about the game. But she offered what she did know, and was intrigued by the similarities between the two games, but said she preferred her version, simply because of nostalgia. We were seated with the Informant’s friend, who was from the United States (possibly Northern California) and knew the version called “Down by the Banks” though she did not offer the rest of the rhyme she knew, as she got distracted by another conversation.

Informant: Pausing, thinking. Like playground games?

Author: Can I give you an example? Yeah, like playground games!

Informant: Yeah, an example would help.

Author: Okay, I know when I was a kid would would play this game called “Down By The Banks of the Hanky Panky” and like, every time I talk to people about it they give me a different rhyme for it, but when I was a kid, it would go, and you would all sit in a circle, like this [crossed leg with hands out facing the sky and wrists rested on knees] and you would slap the other person’s hand, in a circle, the next person’s hand, until you were down to two people, and you’d like [demonstrates pushing hands back and forth]

Informant: Oh, we called that “Stella Stella Olla”

Author: Tell me about “Stella Stella Olla” that’s awesome.

Informant: It… [singing] “Stella Stella Olla clap clap clap” I don’t even know the words, just like sounds, like [rocking head back and forth] “Asha Cheeka Cheeka Asha Cheeka Cheeka, Below, Below, Below, Below, Below, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5” and on the five it was the person who

Author: Who got slapped and they were out?

Informant: Yeah

Author: Oh okay, cool. And then how would you… So you would sit in a circle and everything or. Or how would you play it?

Informant: Yeah and you would [holding hands out] Can. Can I get like. Two people’s hands here?

Author: Yeah. [Other party and Author place hands in Informant’s hands.]

Other Party: [Big Laugh, then singing] Down by the Banks of the…

Informant: And like. No like this. [Places downward facing hand of Other Party upward] And then you would [slaps Other Party’s hand] “Stella Stella Olla” [Clapping to each word, lazily.] And you would like pass it around, and go.

Author: No, no yeah, I gotcha, I gotcha. Okay, cool.

Informant: And then the last one would be like this. [Performs a clapping gesture as though it were a pair of hands, slapping one hand to the center (a fist), and then the other hand, and continuing this pattern up and down.] 1,2, 3, 4, 5.

Author: Okay. Cool. And if it was just two people, this…

Informant: Yeah.

Author: Okay, gotcha. That’s really cool.

Informant: Mmhmm.

Author: For us it was like [performs separate version] so that’s like, very, very similar.

Informant: The rhythms are the same, but the words and melodies are like.

Author: Right, right.

It’s interesting to me how this clapping game is translated from group to group, as the general clapping motions stay relatively the same, while depending on the group, the melody or rhythm will change. I am not sure what this says about each group, but it is interesting that the motions stay consistent, while the song almost always changes fairly significantly.

Waluhmaloo Bird

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 22
Occupation: student/nanny
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 28 April 2014
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The informant (L) is a 22 year old film student at the California State University Los Angeles. She grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma until leaving for college after high school. She attended camp many summers during her middle and high school years. She told me the story of the Waluhmaloo bird that is told at Camp Waluhili in Chouteu, Oklahoma. She had never seen a written version of this story, so the spelling of Waluhmaloo is just a guess. The story is told by the older campers and counselors to the younger campers (who are as young as seven) when they are taking their first hike to the Indian graveyard. L was both told this story when she was a younger camper and later told this story to the younger campers when she was older. Below is a paraphrased version of her story:

“The camp is on an Indian graveyard. When the white people were attacking the Indians a long time ago, the Indians needed protection. The magical Waluhmaloo bird made a deal with the Indians that he would protect their graves if they agreed to stop hunting the Waluhmaloo birds. The Indians agreed and even now, the Waluhmaloo bird protects their graves and will cause something bad to happen to you if you disrespect the graves. Before you enter the graveyard, you have to spin around three times and say out loud that you believe in the Waluhmaloo bird. Once you go into the graveyard, if you step on a grave, you have to say you’re sorry out loud to the graves. ”

This story seems to give something for the older campers to distinguish themselves from the younger campers. The passing of the story from older campers to younger campers is a rite of passage and effectively lets the younger and older campers share something. This story may also remain popular with campers over the years because it gives a way to deal with the tension formed by being so close to not only a graveyard, but a graveyard of what are now seen as a group that the American government and people treated very unjustly in the past. There is a hesitance within American culture to deal with the dead, as if remains somehow hold some special property. This is symbolized by the Waluhmaloo bird, who is there to make sure the graves are not disrespected. I am not sure if the camp is actually on or near an Indian graveyard, and I was unable to find any more information about the practice through internet searches. I don’t really think that the realness of the graveyard matters as long as the campers themselves believe it is there, and that it is real.