Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Natalie Skinner 19: Blues House Ghost Story/ Legend

“My aunt on my moms side lives in a small town in mississippi called bay st louis. She and her husband after katrina, and they were the only house on their street that survived and they left. They moved to a blues hall up the road, which has a lot of history. During the prohibition, all of the town gathered in the blues hall and had a bunch of alcohol and music. Because of their illegal escapades, there were deaths in the house. They renovated half of the building to be a home, and left the stage and the hall to throw events and rent it out. After about a year of living in the blues home, my aunt called my mom saying she heard incoherent voices coming from somewhere in her house. She walks into the party room that they had set up and she watches her 12 foot table get dragged across the room. Now the entire family believes the building is haunted and has encountered multiple supernatural events.”

Background: “Heard the story about five years ago for the first time, and have been hearing about it from my family ever since.”

Context: this story was told to me during a folklore class by Natalie. Her family is from the Louisiana where ghost stories are pretty common thanks to the old structures that are present everywhere.

Analysis: in my opinion, it makes sense that people are telling stories of the travesties of the prohibition, as that time literally still haunts America. Also this is an event that connects her entire family together: this belief of spirits and probably makes them all feel connected to each other as a family.

Bardia Soltani 21: Rostam

“Basically Rostam is a persian warrior who is really known. He’s like the strongest man in Iran and is always protecting Iran. I’m not sure if he was a real person, it’s not really known. One of the stories about him is that he goes head to head in battle with this enemy army and he slays his own son who is the commander of the other army. I think he blinds his son too. When his son dies, he takes off his helmet or whatever and finds out he was his son and is really sad. His son’s name is Estambiar.”
Q: “Is there a lesson to the story?”
A: “I don’t remember, But it was this whole tragic thing. I really remember it on that complex level.”

Context: Bardia is a student at the University of Southern California. He was born in Iran and emigrated when he was seven years old. To him, this is a story that his dad told that is very close to his heart. It is a way of connecting with his father and his lineage.

Analysis: This story unites the Iranian people and makes them feel connected as a group. Stories like these create a commonality in people that they can share and feel like a part of the community. It unites people with common values (heroism, bravery) and also unites them with certain relatable themes such as tragedy.

How to get kids to finish their meal (Taiwanese)

Nationality: Taiwanese/American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin Chinese

Background information:

My friend introduced me to a piece of folklore about how one can effectively get children to finish their meals. He is of Taiwanese descent, as he was born in San Francisco, California and both of his parents were born in Taipei, Taiwan. His family moved to California since before he was born and have assimilated into the American lifestyle but still stay very true to their Taiwanese roots.

 

Main piece:

My friend explained to me a saying that is often used in Taiwan to get children to finish their meals and not leave any food on the plate. The saying goes that if one wants a child to finish their meal and eat everything on the plate, they tell the child that if he or she does not finish their meal, they will marry someone with facial blemishes growing up. He said that his interpretation of this as a child was that he always thought of the remaining food pieces on his plate as signifying the multitude of blemishes that would be on the future spouse’s face when he grew up. Therefore, in order not to risk this, he would always quickly finish his food.

 

Personal thoughts:

I think that this piece of folklore is quite comical because there is no way that there could possibly be any correlation between finishing a plate of food and one’s future partner having acne. I enjoyed that this was a very different saying than what I was used to hearing in the culture that I am immersed in today, as it is refreshing to hear something that I have not heard before. I did find it a bit strange, however, that it would be considered a fear factor to have a partner with acne or facial blemishes because I do not think that this is what one should focus on when considering potential future partners.

Hia Hia Witch (Swedish)

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 74
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

My grandmother was born in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden, and has three sisters who are roughly the same age as her. Together, they have always been best friends and have supported each other through everything. My grandmother and her sisters all have grandchildren, and us grandchildren go out to our collectively shared summerhouse in the Swedish archipelago every summer. This summerhouse was built by my grandmother’s parents and has been in the family for a while, giving it immense sentimental value. The shared summerhouse is located roughly two hours outside of Stockholm, Sweden by a boat ride and is very peaceful as it is located on an island called Södra Träskö that is completely without cars or internet connection.

 

Main piece:

Ever since I was young, my grandmother and her sisters talked about the famous witch that lived in the middle of the island where our shared summerhouse is located: her name was Hia Hia. Every summer when we visited the summerhouse, my grandmother and her sisters would take all of the grandchildren to the middle of the island where Hia Hia supposedly lived and we would search for her. My grandmother and her sisters would hide and someone would shout “Hia Hia”, pronounced “Heeyah Heeyah” which would spook all of the younger children as they did not notice that one of the grandmothers had disappeared and though that the witch, Hia Hia, was making the noises. Delving deeper and exploring more of the middle of the island, it was always apparent that “Hia Hia” had left small goody bags of candy for the grandchildren on an abandoned treehouse that was located in the very middle of the island. As the grandchildren, including I, became older, we realized that Hia Hia was in fact our grandmothers, but carry this tradition onto the children of the newer generations of our family, so that they can experience the fun that we had with Hia Hia at Södra Träskö.

 

Personal thoughts:

This is one of my favorite traditions that my grandmother introduced me to, as it truly shaped my experience visiting the summerhouse on the island in Sweden. My grandmother is a creative woman who does everything she can to make people happy and truly knows how to live into childrens’ fantasies, which I am very grateful for.

MacGyver scavenger hunt tradition

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 74
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/23/18
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Background information:

My grandmother was born in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden, and has three sisters who are roughly the same age as her. Together, they have always been best friends and have supported each other through everything. My grandmother and her sisters all have grandchildren, and us grandchildren go out to our collectively shared summerhouse in the Swedish archipelago every summer. This summerhouse was built by my grandmother’s parents and has been in the family for a while, giving it immense sentimental value. The shared summerhouse is located roughly two hours outside of Stockholm, Sweden by a boat ride and is very peaceful as it is located on an island called Södra Träskö that is completely without cars or internet connection.

 

Main piece:

Among other fantasies and games that my grandmother and her sisters created for the children visiting the summerhouse in the archipelago every summer, I vividly remember my grandmother’s creation of the MacGyver annual scavenger hunt. My grandmother and her sisters are amazing with children and therefore try to do everything to get their grandchildren to enjoy themselves when they are at the summerhouse. The MacGyver annual scavenger hunt around the summerhouse property was created by my grandmother as a way for the grandchildren to follow a scavenger hunt to ultimately attain a small toy prize in the end. She organized this scavenger hunt by placing various notes in different locations throughout the summerhouse property on the island of Södra Träskö with each note leading to the next. The final note therefore led to the small toy prize for the grandchildren, with my grandmother saying that MacGyver had created this scavenger hunt for the children which we all believed until we became older and realized that it was my grandmother all along.

 

Personal thoughts:

Ever since I was young, I looked forward to the MacGyver scavenger hunt which was held at our shared summerhouse every summer. This is a very informal event, with my grandmother organizing this for her grandchildren as well as her sister’s grandchildren. It is a very simple event but has a tremendously happy impact on the children and their feeling about the summerhouse.