Category Archives: Material

Fountain of Mercy prayer

Nationality: Paraguayan-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Orlando, Florida
Performance Date: 3/15/19
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Main Piece: The Fountain of Mercy prayer takes place at 3 o’clock (either AM or PM), as this is considered a special hour where prayers will be more powerful. If you pray with your rosary at this time, it is said that all of your prayers will be answered. For each of the rosary beads, you pray that Jesus has mercy on a certain person, and it is common to list family and close friends. “However, towards the end you realize that you run out of people. There are about 20 beads on that thing – you’re gonna run out of names, so you start listing random people. Like, ‘have mercy for that one person I saw on the bus early last week,’ and ‘have mercy on the person at the checkout counter.’” The prayer is uniquely designed to force people to think about and pray for other people besides themselves: “It forces me to remember that other people outside of my direct orbit exist while I’m existing, too.”

Context: The informant (OC) is half Paraguayan and half American, and she speaks both Spanish and English. Her mother immigrated to the U.S. as a young adult, so the informant is first generation, but the rest of her mother’s side of the family resides in their home city – Caazapa, Paraguay – and are very well-known in their community. Her father’s side of the family are “classically Jewish” people from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. Although she is not religious herself, her upbringing was culturally Jewish and Catholic. Our discussion took place in her home in Orlando, Florida while her mom made us tea and lunch in the background. OC originally heard the prayer from her mom and cousin; she has always remembered it because Paraguayan culture highly values family and taking care of others, which is what the Fountain of Mercy prayer reinforces. Personally, the informant cannot perform the prayer every day at 3 o’clock because of her busy college schedule, but whenever she has a free moment to clear her mind, she does an abbreviated version and simply asks God to forgive certain people as well as herself.

Personal thoughts: I think it’s interesting to see how the informant adapts the prayer to her modern life, which reflects the disparity between her everyday life and the lives of her relatives in still living in Paraguay. As a first generation pre-med student who also works part-time, OC is working under the pressure to prove herself in a fast-paced, future-oriented America that values material success such as wealth. This American mindset directly contradicts the day-by-day, mindful lifestyle of her Paraguayan family. For example, her mother, who is still deeply connected to Paraguay, makes it a habit to perform the prayer every single day at 3pm, while OC almost scoffed at the idea of giving a whole hour of her schedule to prayer and nothing else. Rather, religious mindfulness comes secondary to the demands of America’s demanding education system, begging the question of whether modernity and future-oriented thinking (two concepts that are expanding more and more each year) can truly exist in perfect harmony with devout religiosity.

Sleeping Near Air Conditioning System (Chinese Belief)

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago, Illinois
Performance Date: 4/4/19
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Context/Background: The informant is Chinese-American and grew up with different Chinese folk beliefs. One in particular, involves the idea that one cannot sleep next to air conditioning to avoid damage done to the face as heard from her mother.

Informant:

[Face-to-Face]

“So, my mom, I think it was just because there’s this thing in China when you get too cold and your body just starts hurting. Have you like- have you ever just too cold and your stomach starts hurting a lil bit and it’s just like… ouchie. Well, yeah, so uh in order to prevent that, my mom- I’m assuming my mom just told me this- but it was this thing where she would tell us stories about how, if you slept near grates- like fan grates when they’re like on the floor of your house… Have you ever had air vent grates on the floor of your house?

KA: Umm, I haven’t, but I know that’s a thing.

“Okay, well I used to sleep near it because I… I used to lay by it because it was cold and the like… So like, my mom told me, and it was common knowledge that if you were close to it, and you fell asleep, your face would literally fall off and it would move to one side and then your face would just be on one side.”

Introduction: The informant was introduced to this belief from her mother.

Analysis/Interpretation: I find it interesting how much of these folk beliefs tend to come from parents and it makes me wonder if there’s a higher underlying meaning to it. I think this may have just been something passed down, so it wasn’t questioned by the informant, but I would find it useful to search further into the reasoning behind a sleeping story such as this.

Greek Coin Cake

Nationality: American/Greek
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Primary Language: English
Language: Greek

The Folklore:

E: You told me about a Greek New Year’s Day food tradition, could you tell me more about that?

H: Every year on New Year’s Day, my family eats a unique cake known as the Vasilopita, baked with a gold coin in the center. Its a tradition that has been passed down for generations, supposedly having been started with St. Basil centuries ago. He was said to have baked cakes for the poor on a holiday and snuck gold coins to them to help them out as well. Today, the whole household gets together to cut the cake, each slice for a different person. The first three are for the father, son and the holy spirit, the next is for the house, and the next is either the oldest member of the household or the head of the household, and then going down from there. Whoever gets the coin is supposed to be given good luck for the entire year.

E: Where did you learn this?

H: I’ve been doing it my whole life, but I always associate the tradition with my grandmother, because she is usually the one making the cake.

E: Why do you remember it?

H: It’s memorable because its always the first thing we do on the New Year. No matter if I’m at a party or out with friends or anything like that, my first move after that’s over is always to go home and cut the vasilopita with the family

E: What do you like about the tradition?

H: I think the tradition is about staying humble and remembering how lucky we all are. It’s also about hope and optimism with a whole new year just beginning. It sets the tone for the year and refocuses me on what’s ahead.

Context:

My informant is a first generation American his family being from Greece. He’s always been very lively when speaking about his heritage. He was elated when he heard I had to interview people about folklore. This was our transcribed conversation.

Analysis:

This is extremely similar to La Fève which is essentially the same concept but in France. I was so happy to see something from my culture have so many parallels with another culture. The only difference is in France instead of a gold coin it’s a figurine. Nonetheless, I believe it serves as a good reminder to be charitable and to come together with your family.

Pierogi Recipe

Nationality: German
Age: 82
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Orlando, Florida
Performance Date: 3/2/19
Primary Language: German
Language: English

Main piece: Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Heat to boiling and simmer until potatoes are very tender. Drain potatoes, reserving 1 cup of the liquid. In a small, non-stick frying pan, sauté onions in a little butter or oil until soft. Add onions to drained potatoes and mash using a potato masher or electric hand mixer. (Add reserved potato cooking water as needed to reach a smooth mashed potato consistency.) Add cheese, garlic, and salt. Mix well. Set aside to cool. Serve with cabbage and/or potato salad.

Context: The informant (BB) grew up in Schlesien (Silesia), Germany and immigrated to the United States when she was 24 in August 1960. BB and her husband, who was from East Prussia (now known as a territory in Poland), started a family of 3 children in Orlando, Florida, and ran a greenhouse business until their retirement. BB is a devout Christian with Lutheran roots. She is fluent in both German and English. Our conversation took place by the fireplace in my home in Atlanta. The informant learned of this dish from her mother-in-law; she is not Prussian herself, but she learned the recipe to honor her husband’s family tradition of eating pierogi at Christmas. BB loves pierogi because she is proud of embracing a tradition she did not grow up with but is nevertheless very important to BB, as it reminds her of her late husband. BB even adapted the recipe for her growing family in America. Although the original recipe dictates that the “filling” portion of pierogi be stuffed into dough and boiled, BB does not use dough at all in her recipe and instead opts to make pierogi as an open dish, often with potato salad on the side. She put this spin on the recipe because not everybody necessarily likes the dough and she can’t fit as much of the filling as she would like to into a dough pocket. Because of this, she’s able to make the pierogi in bulk so that it can feed a family for a week down the line.

Personal thoughts: What is perhaps most interesting about this particular recipe is the way the informant adapted it – and why. BB mentioned taking away the dough and to be able to make pierogi in bulk. As a young child growing up poor in World War II Germany, BB barely had enough to eat each day, as her community was forced to send the food they produced to the Nazis supporting the war effort. Hunger playing a significant role in her upbringing is evident in the fact that she has 2 refrigerators and 2 pantries in her house that are always stocked full of provisions. So, when BB makes pierogi in bulk, her motivations are not gluttonous or greedy; rather, they stem from an unshakeable, foundational feeling that she must ensure her and her family’s next meal in case of any unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, BB’s adaptation of the traditional pierogi recipe is a product of her childhood circumstances of WW2 scarcity.

Lunar New Year

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Manhattan Beach, California
Performance Date: 4/21/19
Primary Language: English

Abstract:

This piece is about a festival tradition at the lunar new year and the process of “wishing” something to your family members.

Main Piece:

“Every lunar new year, we go to my uncle’s house and then the entire side of my mom’s family comes. Like my grandparents, all her siblings, all their kids, their spouses. And we all have this big party, so you show up and then, um, well we usually bring food. Like a potluck situation, we’re all close. You’re in charge of this, you’re in charge of that… You bring this, you bring that… So we usually have egg rolls, this dish that has flour patties and shrimp sprinkled on it. And then we have like spring rolls and beef… We have noodles and papaya salad, like shredded young papaya that’s still green. We have a sauce with it and fish sauce with everything else. So we eat all the food and then afterwards, we cut up fruit. Fruit is a really big Asian thing for desert. Whatever is in season. Afterwards, the tradition is that it’s oldest to youngest. So all of the kids of my grandparents have to go to them and wish them something for the new year. So it’s either like good health, um, like, lots of money. Usually the grandparents will wish back lots of money or something. So we wish them good health or happiness or wisdom or whatever. So my mom has four siblings, so she is the oldest of the five, so her and my dad will go first. And the same follows for the next generation. Like then the grandkids will go and it’s the oldest there too.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old student who is Half-Vietnamese and Half-Polish. The tradition stems from her mother’s side. She was born in Anaheim, California, but now lives in Manhattan Beach, California. She participates in this event every year with her family.

Analysis:

The very specific foods that are eaten at the celebration reminds me of the very specific German foods that are eaten at celebrations in my own family. I think food and celebration are often correlated in every culture and it is interesting to examine the differences of cuisine as well. One aspect of this festival celebration is the aspect about different ages and the importance of order of birth. It seems like this culture values birth order due to the custom in this culture that oldest needs to go first.