Category Archives: Material

Muses Decorated Heels

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Orleans
Performance Date: 4/20/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

According to EG, a resident of New Orleans, Muses is one of the first all female parades in Mardi Gras. To set it apart from the other parades they started throwing decorated heels. Each rider decorates their own shoes and put their spin on them, with glitter, writing, and designs. It turns into a pretty sculpture of a shoe. Each rider decorates 10-12 shoes and throws them off of their float during the parade. She has caught 3 shoes in her time at Mardi Gras and she considers it a symbol of New Orleans Mardi Gras. Because of muses other parades have started to throw other items like it. Other parades like the Krewe of Tucks and the Krewe of Nyx throw decorated toilet plungers and purses respectively.

Context:

EG is a college aged resident of New Orleans. She was born there and has lived there her entire life. This was collected in a conversation at my home. She has been to Mardi Gras every year since her birth and considers it to be a central part of her life.

Thoughts:

I, also being a resident from New Orleans, understand this piece of folklore very well. The heels thrown from the float are a sub-genre of what is know as throws, or things float riders throw off a float during a parade. Beads and Doubloons are what people mainly consider as Mardi Gras throws, but there are many more. Cups, spears, and as EG mentioned, heels and other decorated items are all throws that separate one parade from another. I think the main reason for these throws is that each has a distinct item that not only tells a story of the rider and the parade, but something you can only get if you participate in or go to the parade during the season.

New Orleans King Cake

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Orleans
Performance Date: 4/20/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

EG, a resident of New Orleans, if very fond of the Mardi Gras season and the treats that come during it. One of these is King Cake. King Cakes originate in France as a cake to eat during Carnival season. It is a sweetcake covered in sugar and icing. A tradition for carnival season. They begin selling them on Twelfth Night, January 6th, and stop on Mardi Gras day. Some stores sell them any time of the year but not as a true “king cake”. A Baby is inside of the king cake. In many traditions if you get the baby you must buy the next king cake. In school every Friday one person would bring a king cake and the next week another person would have to get the king cake. 

Context:

EG is a college aged resident of New Orleans. She was born there and has lived there her entire life. This was collected in a conversation at my home. She has been to Mardi Gras every year since her birth and considers it to be a central part of her life.

Thoughts:

I enjoy the history and idea of king cake not just as a New Orleanian who likes the food, but as a tradition. The whole idea to me is that we eat this super unhealthy food so much during this carnival season as last hurrah before Lent begins right after Fat Tuesday. The baby being inside of the cake as a reward is very interesting. I like the tradition of having the recipient of the baby bring the king cake the next week. The wide variety of them in New Orleans also would mean that different people would bring in different king cakes which would give everyone in her class a different experience each time they eat it.

Mardi Gras Ladders

Nationality: American
Residence: New Orleans
Performance Date: 4/20/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Mardi Gras ladders are used during Mardi Gras each year. They are used to put children higher up in the air to see the parade and to keep them safe from going in the street. Usually decorated in purple, green, and gold with a family’s name. They are on a ladder so that kids can see a float. Wheels are on the sides to help them roll easier from the car to parade route. On top of the ladders are seats which children sit in and they usually have a bar on the front to keep the kids from falling. Cup holders are put on the side for a parents’s drinks. They are put 6 feet away from the curb on the sidewalk or neutral ground, all painted differently. Families tend to put their ladders in certain spots next to each other forming a long row of ladders.

Context:

SG is my mother and has been to Mardi Gras with kids since I was born. She is from New Orleans and attends every year. This was taken during a conversation with her in our backyard while reminiscing Mardi Gras. She still brings ladders out each year for her younger children.

Thoughts:

I like this piece of folklore a lot as it brings me back to when I was much younger attending Mardi Gras. When I only went with my parents and not friends, my mom would put me in a ladder with my twin sister as we shouted at the float riders to throw us beads and other items. The uniqueness of these ladders is very important to me as I had the opportunity to decorate the newest ladder that we use for my little brothers. We painted it purple, green, and gold, while also putting our hand prints on it. This is something I had grown up with and realized how specific a ladder with a seat on it like this is to New Orleans and that you rarely see it elsewhere.

Holy Name of Jesus Crawfish Boil Competition

Residence: New Orleans
Performance Date: 4/20/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

SG is a mother in New Orleans. Crawfish boils are major events throughout New Orleans and Louisiana as a whole. They tend to be more of a social hour rather than a meal. Holy Name of Jesus, SG son’s school, has an annual crawfish boil as a fundraiser for their school. Around 10 different groups, parents and relatives of kids at the school, compete to see who makes the best crawfish boil. Generally each boil has potatoes, corn, crawfish, seasoning, but everyone puts their own spin on it trying to win the competition. The voters are the students and families visiting, and they each get tickets which they can give to the group that they think had the best crawfish. We have gone a couple of years in a row, and they usually have good music, atmosphere, and of course food. As a social hour, since Crawfish at typically eaten standing up, you stand around a table with others and socialize more than just eat crawfish. SG says that crawfish boils are a big aspect of Louisana culture.

Context:

SG is a resident of New Orleans who’s youngest sons attend Holy Name of Jesus School. She has attended this with the rest of her family since her youngest sons attended the school, and plans to go after.

Thoughts:

The idea of this being a social event is really appealing to me. The idea of dining as a social event has always been present be it with dates, luncheons, or business dinners, but this is different. It is similar to a barbecue or cookout, in which you invite others over to eat with you and socialize, but is unique in how people are positions. The fact that you are usually standing at a crawfish boil is interesting to me because that is more like behavior at a bar which functions mainly as a social place. The idea of it being a competition is also interesting because it shows the culture of food in New Orleans. It shows that everyday people in the city care about perfecting the craft that their city is known for and that they want people to socialize around it.

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival: The Origin of Mooncakes

Performance Date: April 15, 2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

The following was transcribed from an interview between the informant and the interviewer.

“So usually in the fall time there’s a holiday called the mid-autumn festival or sometimes people call it the mooncake festival because the thing that people eat during this festival is called a mooncake. It’s basically like this um, roundish like, very dense um, pastry, and on the inside there’s like different fillings. So sometimes like mixed nuts as a filling, red bean paste, or loaded bean paste, or these like different things. And um there’s like a legend about why we celebrate the mid-autumn festival or the moon festival. And it’s like basically the story is that a really long time ago, like in ancient times, there were actually ten suns on earth, um, and, it was like really hot, and it made people’s lives very difficult ‘cause it was super, super hot all the time. And then there was this guy who was a hero, and he wanted to help people because they were struggling under the heat of the ten suns. So, he like used a bow and arrow and his great strength and he shot down nine of the ten suns (laughs). Um so, after he like did this, he became a big hero, everybody loved him. And then, as all stories go, he like met a princess, and he married her. And they were living happily ever after. Um, but then, the hero, he like didn’t want to die, so then he was looking for a way to live forever. And then, this like magician gave him a potion which would cause him to go to heaven and become a god. But then, instead of drinking it because he wasn’t sure, he took it home and gave it to his wife. Um and she was just supposed to keep it, but basically, she drank it. And then the moment that she drank it, she flew out of the window and ascended into the sky. And then she lived on the moon, so the princess that lived on the moon that’s why it’s the moon festival. And then we eat these cakes to like remember her.”

Context: I collected this piece of folklore during an over the phone interview. My informant is a Chinese American who resides in California. Her family has participated in the Chinese holiday called the mid-autumn festival or the mooncake festival.. When the mooncake is made with an egg yolk inside it is meant to represent the moon. This legend that my informant told me is meant to be the reason why they celebrate the holiday.

My Thoughts:

Even though this story is of Asian descent and not European, there are many similarities with this tale and the formula that Propp discovered that fits most Europeans tales. However, there is a twist with this Chinese legend. As in most European tales a hero identifies a need (in this case he wants to save the people from the ten suns by destroying most of them), he battles the villain (in this case the villains are the suns), the need is resolved (people no longer are struggling from overheating), the hero returns and there is a wedding. The part of this legend that is different than European tales is after there is a happy ending, the story keeps going. I find it interesting that the story ends with the hero’s wife becoming immortal and ascending to be a god which then becomes the person that is remembered through the festival. You would think the festival would be to honor the guy who slayed nine suns for human’s continued existence, but instead it’s his wife, who just so happened to drink a potion at the end of the story. This legend kind of makes being a hero seem not worth it.