Category Archives: Musical

Colombian Nursery Rhyme

Nationality: Colombian
Age: 22
Residence: Los Angeles, Mexico, Colombia
Primary Language: Spanish

Type: Folk Nursery Rhyme

  1. “Sana que sana, colita de rana si no sanas hoy sanarás mañana.” Translation from Spanish to English: “Heal, heal, little frog’s bottom, if you don’t heal today, you’ll heal tomorrow.”
  2. I obtained this piece of folklore from my friend Daniela. Daniela was born and partially raised (only for a couple years) in the country of Columbia, in the city of Bogota. Since she spent a significant part of her childhood in Columbia, she remembers fondly this nursey rhyme. She was told this by her parents, friends of her parents, teachers, and other adults in her life. When appropriate and applicable, Daniela still sings the rhyme in her head, even if the listener is not Columbian or speaks Spanish. The translation from Spanish to English was provided by Daniela, who is multilingual.
  3. This rhyme has a specific role in Columbian life and culture. It is said whenever a child or young falls down and/or hurt themselves in the process. According to Daniela, this rhyme is one of the first thing you learn as a child. It is normal for adults to say this to children anywhere and jokingly to teens or adults under the age of 50. This is not just something said on the playground or at school, it is said anywhere, but only when children fall to the ground. It would also be rude to say this when older people (over the age of 50) fall.
  4. I really enjoy this short little rhyme. In American society we have similar sayings, such as “kaboom!” Clearly the Columbian version is longer, but what is interesting about this is that, according to Daniela, the saying is widely known by Columbians, especially since it is something learned during childhood. The rhyme is apart of the Columbian identity which is very special.

The Unitarian Universalist Church

Nationality: Scottish-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milton, MA
Performance Date: 3/25/17
Primary Language: English

Context: Gathered from one of my roommates once he found out about my collection project.

Background: My roommate has never had a set religious background, and was always in something of a melting pot of faiths when he went to churches like the one described here.

Dialogue: So, I don’t know exactly how Unitarianism, like, started, but… At some point it was just this sort of culmination of, like, various Christian sects, like Episcopalian or Protestant or whatever was around Massachusetts going on. Just a bunch of them sort of, like, coalesced into one group that’s like… “You know what, Trinity or Unity, doesn’t matter! We all have spirit!”

Analysis: The intereseting thing about this piece of folklore to me is how much is blended together in a church like this. It’s not only a mixing of various religious sects, either: at one point, my roommate sang a song he was taught as a kid, about the “Seven Guiding Principles of Kindness.” He remembers only these lines:

One, each person is important
Two, be kind in all you do

The song, interestingly enough, is set to the tune of “Do-Re-Mi” fromthe mucial The Sound of Music. So we have a mashup of popular culture, religion, and folk belief, all in this single church.

Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Houston, TX
Performance Date: March 13, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky

 

 

Subject: Childhood Game

 

 

Informant: Natalie Thurman

 

 

Background Information/Context: Natalie used to play this game called “Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky” when she was younger with her friends.

 

The following is Natalie’s description of the game to me:

 

 

 

“I used to play this one all the time with my friends. We would all sit around in a circle, close, so that your knees are touching—you would sit criss-cross. And you would put your hands on the knees of the people sitting next to you, palms up. The hand on the knee of the person to your right would be over the hand of that person. The hand on the knee of the person to your left would be under the hand of that person. I feel like that was really confusing—did you understand that? [I say yes.] Ok good. So you have your hands like that—oh my God, this is giving me so many flashbacks—and you start the game. You all start singing the song. It goes like this: [singing]

 

 

Down by the banks of the hanky panky

Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky

Singing oops, opps, curly pops

Snap crack-a-doodle and a cur-plop

 

 

And while you’re singing it, you bring your left hand, that’s resting on the hand of the person on your left, over their knee—you bring that left hand over to your right side and slap the hand of the person on your right, whose hand is resting on your right hand, which is resting on their left knee, if that makes sense. And you try to go with the rhythm, but towards the end, everyone ends up going as fast as they can so that it doesn’t land on you.

 

 

So when the song ends, and you say cur-plop, on ‘plop,’ whosever hand is the last one to be slapped is out, and they’re removed from the circle. Then you just keep going until you get to the last person, and they win the game. It gets really intense though when there’s less and less people. Like, when it gets down to the last two people, it’s so intense, everyone’s energy goes up like times ten. It was really fun.”

 

 

When Natalie first started describing the game to me, I immediately knew what she was talking about. I also played this game often with my friends when I was little, but I had completely forgotten about it until she brought it back up. It was particularly interesting to me to hear her actually tell me the lyrics of the song because I remember being a kid and not knowing the exact words that we were supposed to say, so instead, I would just make something up that sort of sounded like what everyone else was saying. I wonder if Natalie did the same thing, or if she told me the lyrics of a version of the song that she and her friends consistently used. It was also humorous for me to watch her try to explain the circle formation, as I could tell how difficult it was to explain in words. I think it’s a game that is much better suited as oral and performance folklore instead of for writing down how the game works. Because of this, the game doesn’t have official instructions, and can change slightly each time someone introduces it to a new set of friends.

“What-a To Do”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Houston, TX
Performance Date: April 5, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Subject: Game, Song

 

Informant: Natalie Thurman

 

Background Information/Context: Natalie, like me, is a theatre major. I asked her if she had any theatre games or warm-up activities at school, and she thought of this one:

 

“There was this theatre exercise we used to do at my high school called ‘what-a to do.’ We would just do it before rehearsal or before shows to warm up our voices and articulation. It was just like a little song that went:

 

What a to do to die today

At a minute or two to two

A thing distinctly hard to say

But harder still to do

For they’ll beat a tattoo at two to two

A rat-a-ta-rat-a-ta-ta-ta-ta-too

And the dragon will come

When he hears the drum

At a minute or two to two today

At a minute or two to two.

 

I had never really thought about what we were saying because we focused so much on our articulation, because that’s what we used it for—as a warm-up. But when I got to college, we used it in one of my acting classes in a completely different context. We had to build a story around it. And we talked about the text in class and, like, what it was actually saying. It’s a children’s nursery rhyme, but it’s one of those nursery rhymes that’s like super dark, like ring around the rosy.

 

It’s about a soldier going to war for the first time, and at the beginning of it, it takes place on the battlefield, right before the two armies are about to charge at each other, and he’s really scared and knows he’s going to die in a few minutes—‘at a minute or two to 2:00. And then the ‘tattoo’ is a drum that the drummer person beats, signaling the charge forward. And then right after that is the climax of it. And then when it ends, the soldier looks around him and sees that everyone has died but him, and he’s the last one standing. But like all of his friends are dead around him. Wow, that was really dark, sorry! But yeah, really different from using it as a warm-up.

 

Bedtime Song

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 50
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Bothell, WA
Performance Date: 3/5/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

TM is an accountant who was born in Sunnyside, WA and now is currently living in Bothell, WA. He descends from a heavy Irish and Italian background which have influenced much of his culture growing up. His grandparents were the ones to teach him the most about his culture through their traditions and common sayings.

Are there any rituals or things you did on a daily basis that you felt were unique to your family or culture?

TM: There wasn’t anything that was very different. There was the bed time prayers we used to say, those were very unique and I never heard them in the bible or any of my friends who were catholic who would say them. My grandmother taught my father how to say them and in turn my father passed it to me as I have passed it to my children. Hopefully they will pass it on.

Do you happen to remember the prayer?

TM: Yes I do, the way it went was; “Now I lay me, down to sleep, pray the Lord, my soul to keep. Keep me safe, through the night, and wake me with, thy mornings light. Amen.”

Do you know what it means or the significance behind it?

TM: It is supposed to be a bedtime prayer for children but some adults I knew still said it. It basically means that when you sleep you hope that God will keep you safe and that you will wake up the next morning safe in your bed. I think it became sort of a chore or habit more than a ritual for me. Many times, when I said it I didn’t really mean it and I just wanted to go to sleep. Now that I am older and I have a different relationship with God the words resonate deeper with me which is why I think I wanted my kids to say it too. We all want our kids to sleep safe and this was a way of keeping an ease at mind in a way. I liked to say it with them sometimes when they were really little. I think it loses it significance when you don’t really understand what you are saying especially when you are young.

Analysis:

Prayers at bedtime right before you sleep is common between many devout Catholics and Christians. This particular prayer TM shared is common but not widely known or practiced. It would serve as a protection or barrier against harm or bad dreams which is why it was very common among children. When I researched the prayer, there were many variations to the middle phrase of the prayer, ‘keep me safe, through the night’. Sometimes it was ‘may angels watch me through the night’ or ‘guide me safely through the night’. Or I came across one with an alternative ending, ‘god bless family, friends, and fun, I thank you each for every one. Although they vary, they all seem to carry the same message of protection and trust in God.