Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

The Mothman

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: April 25th, 2017
Primary Language: English

Background: My informant was a American who has lived across the country and has learned a lot of stories about other people through her travels.She is currently a student at the University of Southern California studying game design.

 

Main Piece: The Mothman is a man with wings and red eyes that shows up on this very specific highway near Pittsburgh. It scares people because they can see it in their rear view mirror. It’s similar to Sasquatch. It comes from a story from West Virginia wherein a bridge collapsed  killing dozens of people. It is said that before the bridge collapsed, and before other events both there, in Pittsburgh, and even in the world, the people saw premonition in the form of the Mothman. The Mothman is a sort of boogeyman that everyone talks about and blames, although the informant does not believe in it. It is as common as Sasquatch in the area, but is about as believable.

Performance Context: According to my informant, the story was heard by her while she lived there as it is a fairly common folk story about the mysterious creature. It is much like most other forms of cryptozoology.

My Thoughts: I think it is interesting because this touches upon this idea of cryptozoology, strange animals and animal-like creatures that may or may not purportedly exist. There is also a strong connection with prophecy and premonition with this and other stories. If we see something strange, there must be a reason. It must be some sort of experiment, or some sort of a sign. We start to attribute theorized motifs to the creature and further describe and explain its existence. It is really interesting from the perspective that we are encapsulating our fear of the unknown as well as our loose explanations of nature, which many feel is not meant to be conquered as humans do, in the form of folklore through these creatures.

Dragon Boat Festival

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/22/17
Primary Language: English

Background Information: I have been on the Dragon Boat team at USC for one year, and I have been to multiple dragonboat festivals. I interviewed one of my friends on the team, who is of Taiwanese descent, and grew up in Hong Kong. At her school in Hong Kong, she heard many folk stories about the origins of the dragon boat festival, which is an important part of the culture in both Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Sabrina: “So, legend has it that a long time ago, there was a really famed scholar, who was like, really important in the king’s court, and um, he was like, one of the king’s top advisors. And like, one day a lot of other people were out for his position, and they didn’t like the way that he was controlling the king. But like the way he was controlling the king was like, he was like, making him really benevolent and like, generous. But then, um, like so the other advisors wanted to control the king to give themselves more power, right, so they like, murdered him? Like they told the king that he lied about something, and then the king like, ordered his execution. And then they dumped his body in the river. So um, but like, since he was beloved to all the people, like since he made the king really nice to his subjects, um everyone like took a boat, and like paddled out to the middle of the river and threw like, these like rice… like… they’re called like glutinous rice wraps? We call them like zòng zi (粽子). They threw them into the river so that the fish would eat that instead of his body, and his body would rest in peace. Yeah. And so like, that’s like the origin story of the dragon boat festival, way back in China. And like, to this day people still have like, festivals every year, during the summer, to like, remember that tradition.”

Thoughts: I enjoyed hearing this story, especially because when I asked Sabrina where she had heard it, she told me that it was a story that many people simply knew about, or just came to learn as they grew up. As we have learned about folklore, it is knowledge that is widely known within a folk group, but that is not institutionalized or ‘official’.

Hawaiian Folklore: The Menehunes

Nationality: American
Age: 46
Occupation: Graphic Designer
Residence: Marin County, CA
Primary Language: English

Type: Legendary Creature(s)

  1. “There are the Menehune’s of Hawaii. Their thing is mischief, but they were also said to have built the fish ponds for the king a really long time ago. They built the fish ponds to make fishing easier for the king, so he didn’t have to go all the way down to the ocean to fish. The King would fish in the ponds where the fish would be constantly reproducing and. The Menehunes are kinda like leprechauns but there were a lot of them, and they are known to just cause trouble. They’re short, just like leprechauns, they don’t fly or do anything special, they’re just there and no one sees them. If your fishing nets suddenly had holes in them, it’s the Menehunes causing trouble. They aren’t invisible, but no one ever sees them. They come out at night and do mischief, no one ever sees them.”
  2. I obtained this piece of folklore from a family member, Jeff. Jeff is in his late 40’s, and he spent eleven years of his life in Hawaii, where he was born and raised. Jeff and his friends spent most of their childhoods exploring the island. By doing so, Jeff and his friends came across the plentiful fish ponds throughout the island, and the folklore behind them passed around their friend group, as well as other children and parents on the island.
  3. All the islands are full of fish ponds, and across all islands the Menehune folklore exists. This is passed down from generation to generation, and it is also passed around friend groups and family members.
  4. I love the concept of the Menehunes and I want to believe in them. It is interesting how similar they are to leprechauns, yet the Hawaiian islands were quite isolated from the rest of the world for a long period of time. I wonder how the similarities exists and how possibly they might be connected.

For more on the Hawaiian Menehunes, go to http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/menhune-hawaii-ancient-race-or-fictional-fairytale-001741

Baseball Legend: Wade Boggs

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Residence: San Francisco/Bay Area, CA
Primary Language: English

Type: Legend

  1. “So the baseball player Wade Boggs, apparently drank 70 or 150 beers, something ridiculous, on a way to a game, and then he played either that day or the next day. I think he hit a home run too.”
  2. I obtained this piece of folklore from my older brother, Noah. Noah is three years older than me, and he is incredibly passionate about sports. He follows baseball, basketball, and football—and so do all his friends. He said that he heard this legend from a friend of his who is from the East Coast. According to his friend, the legend also appears in the hit T.V show, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and as a result of this the legend has been made widespread.
  3. The legend is told spread throughout group of individuals who have an interest in baseball, among multiple generations. Wade Boggs, the baseball player, during his career, was an important and well known athlete. He played for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, making his major league baseball career last a total of 18 years—although, he primarily spent his career with the Red Sox. The legend about him is quite dramatic, and also very shocking. This alone makes the legend worth spreading among baseball fans, as it is almost hard to believe.
  4. I personally don’t care for baseball or baseball players so I do not really find this legend interesting or cool. I do however, find it incredibly hard to believe, and if it were true I would be extraordinarily shocked and honestly extremely confused. I think because of the fact that I do not follow baseball, I do not want to believe this legend either. If I heard a similar legend about a sport that I do care about, I would find myself believing it more easily.

Dybbuk Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 86
Occupation: Retired Psychiatrist
Residence: San Francisco/Bay Area
Primary Language: English

Type: Legend

  1. “The ‘dybbuk’ is a part of Jewish folklore, that appears in the Talmud and the Old Testament. The dybbuk was also the subject of a recent theatrical play. It was very common in older generations, like my parents and their parents. The dybbuk is an evil spirit. It enters living people and takes their soul. He talks for them, acts for them, and assumes their identity. The dybbuk is detailed in all kinds of Jewish literature and folklore. It appears all over the place. I don’t believe it in of course!”
  2. I obtained this piece of folklore from my grandfather Don. Don was born in 1932, and his whole life has been very active in the Jewish community. Don has also been actively Jewish his whole life, and cares deeply about his faith. He heard this piece of folklore from both his parents and different Jewish texts that he came across in his lifetime. To him, it does not mean much, but he is interested in its reoccurrence throughout Jewish literature. The dybbuk is never featured in the bible, but starting in the 16th century, the legend started to appear in texts of Rabbi’s.
  3. In the bible/Torah, there is a notable amount of mythical creatures. However, the legends behind these creatures rarely have left the Torah. According to my grandfather, the dybbuk was popular among older generations (during the late 1800’s, early 1900’s), and circled around the European Jewish communities. My grandfather’s parents were from Poland, and I have no doubt the legend was popular in other European countries.
  4. I have never heard of this legend. From my understanding, the writings about the evil spirit originated in Europe and I do not think it spread to other countries, or maybe it did but it took a different form. I am also a bit surprised that this type of legend exists within Jewish communities, as Hell is not believed in the Jewish faith, or the devil.

 

For more about the dybbuk, go to http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/dibbuk-dybbuk