When Hawaii was still being established, each individual island had a king. King Kamehameha had a large army and decided to unify all the islands.  Legend has it that he cornered people on the Pali mountain ridge until they eventually fell off the cliff.  Therefore, nobody on the island dares to upset King Kamehameha or else they know that they will suffer great consequences.

Along with many superstitions, there is always a legend behind it.  Jillian remembered this legend after telling the superstition of never bringing pork over the Pali.  She says that the Hawaiians never want to upset the gods, and King Kamehameha is the King of all the islands.  He helped the Hawaiians unite together as one island rather than many small islands.  The Pali ridge is a dangerous place that people drive over to reach the other side of the island.  King Kamehameha veered people off the cliff with ease when he was angry at them.  Because of his great power over the island, the Hawaiians always obey his commands and never question the curses that are believed.

Although the Hawaiians have several gods that they believe in, this story is a legend because King Kamehameha actually did exist, but this story is not necessarily true.  A legend is a narrative set in real time that make it realistic.  It is possible for him to actually force people off the cliff, and the Hawaiians believe it as a true story.  The islands are also very tempestuous in that any kind of weather can happen if their ancestors are angry.  Thus, making the King happy is a vital part of their everyday lives.  The Hawaiians also seem to value unity, so much that keeping the islands together is a reason for them to praise King Kamehameha.  In addition, their superstitious attitudes towards keeping him happy are widely accepted.  The people simply follow the rules, do not question them, and do not stray away from them, hoping that they will not upset the King.

The Chinese zodiac originated from an old story about the Jade Emperor.  The legend states that all the animals were given an assignment so that they could decide who could be at the beginning of the zodiac.  In this race, the animals had to cross to the other side of the river.  The ox worked hard to get across the river, but did not notice the rat on his back who cheated to get to the front.  There was also a cat who raced, but did not make it to the top twelve, keeping it away from any place in the calendar.  The final order of the zodiac is as follows: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and finally pig.

Mrs. Chang has known this story from when she was young because it basically tells how the calendar was made.  She says that the Chinese count the years by the animal and recognize each other’s births through the zodiac year that they were born rather than the actual numerical year.  She says that this story is how the Chinese explain their way of categorizing each animal in the zodiac sign, but does not know where the story originated.  It is an ancient legend that is spread throughout China and Taiwan that brings much spirit into the culture.  The various zodiac signs symbolize the character of the people born in that year.  For example, the rat is the first animal and the people are considered leaders with great charm and intelligence.  The ox, however, is dependable and calm.  These attributes relate to the story and how the animal acts to get what he wants.

One more animal that is vital to Chinese culture is the dragon, who is considered as a sign of good luck and harmony.  The Chinese often want to have children born in certain years for good luck.  Therefore, there are more babies born in the Dragon years than in any other zodiac year.  This is because the parents wish for good luck for their children, which show that they are very watchful of their children’s futures.  There are significant birth fluctuations among the Chinese population because of these varying zodiac signs (Goodkind).  The selection of a good year for the Chinese is vital to having a successful life and ensuring that their children will be healthy.  The Chinese culture also focuses on passing down their heritage from one generation to another, looking strictly after their children to ensure that they are fulfilling their role to reproduce effectively.  They are also focused on these zodiac signs to look for luck for them and their descendants.

Annotation: This legend was found on Daniel Goodkind’s “Chinese Lunar Birth Timing in Singapore: New Concerns for Child Quality amidst Multicultural Modernity,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol, 58, No. 3.  (Aug., 1996), pp. 784-795, Retrieved from Jstor.

In my family, all of the children are told the story of La Llorona (Lah-yoh-roh-nah) from a young age to make sure the kids listen to their parents. La Llorona lives in a remote village in the mountains with her husband and her two kids. One day she went crazy because her husband cheated on her and killed her kids. So she killed her husband and roams the country for her kids. And she would come to get you if you didn’t listen to your parents.

Notes:

The subject told me that La Llorona is a popular legend for Mexican children between the ages of 2 and 11. She said that it was often used to keep the kids in line. Her mother told her of the lady who roamed the country for her kids, saying that if she did not behave, La Llorona would come to take her away. The subject said this frightened her greatly, and she was terrified of La Llorona for most of her childhood.

I had heard the tale of La Llorona before, although the version I heard was a little different. First of all La Llorona was also known as the weeping woman because she, not her husband, was said to have drowned her children after her husband left her for another woman, and unlike the subject’s version she did not kill her husband. However the gist of the story was the same, with La Llorona spending the rest of her life as a ghost that searches the country for her children.

What I found interesting about this version was that it was used as a means of keeping children in line and behaved. Most times I have heard of this legend before it was recited as a scary story at campsites or in festivals to talk about the woman that could be heard weeping near the lake. However the subject’s parents used the scary story to frighten the children into staying well-behaved so they would not be taken away by La Llorona.  Since they were taught about La Llorona and how she goes after young children at such a young age, it was definitely engrained into their heads to behave.

This story is very common in Mexican and New Mexican culture, and because of this there are many variants, as there was a difference between the story I heard and the one she told me. However when I looked up La Llorona, there were an abundance of sites dedicated to La Llorona. One of then offers a few different versions where she is either considered a bruja (witch), sirena (siren), ramera (harlet), or a virgen (virgin). Each story is a little different with different reasons as to why she had to kill her kids. There is also a timeline of events that chronicles the first mention of La Llorona. The first mention of crying out to children occurs in 1502 in Tenochtitlan, where the goddess Cihuacoatl takes a woman form and cries out in the night, “Oh hijos mios… yaha llegado vuestra destruccion. Donde os llevare?” (Oh my children… your destruction has arrived. Where can I take you?) They believe she was talking about the future conquest of Mexico. (www.lallorona.com). The woman believed to be La Llorona is known as La Malinche, and her husband Cortes does not want to come back home because he is conquering more terrorities, so they send a beautiful woman to entice him. When Cortes returns, he intends to leave her behind, and La Malinche prays to the gods, they respond telling her that if she lets her children go with him “one of them will return and kill your people.” She then taks her babies to the lake bordering Mexico City and stabs her babies in the hearts crying out, “Oh hijos mios!”  In 1530 she dies, and is given the name La Llorona (the weeping woman).

The website also has a list of poems, songs, and artwork dedicated to La Llorona as well as a list of people’s encounters and sightings.

www.lallorona.com  Apr 24 2007.

“Ilya Muromets is a huge legend in Russia. When he was young, he was sick and was unable to walk until his 30s, when he two pilgrims healed him. Then, a dying knight gave him super-human strength, and he traveled to free the city of Kiev and to serve Prince Vladimir.  He killed the monster Nightingale the Robber, a Russian mythological creature, who murdered travelers with his whistle in the Bryansk forest.  In Kiev, Ilya was made chief bogatyr (knight) by Prince Vladimir, and he defended Rus many enemies.  It is said that Ilya had a very bad temper and once went on a rampage and destroyed all the church steeples in Kiev after Prince Vladimir didn’t to invite him to a party.”

My informant learned of this legend in school around the age of nine.  They were reading epic poems in her class, and several of the poems told of Ilya Muromets, the Russian hero.  When one of her classmates asked if Ilya Muromets was real, the teacher said that no one knows for sure, but it is said that he is buried in Kiev Pecherski Monastery.  Throughout school, my informant heard stories Ilya Muromets several different times in poems that they were required to read for class.

My informant says that most Russians know the legend of Ilya Muromets and that he is very similar to the English legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  However, Ilya Muromets is known for fighting Nightingale the Robber, a mythical creature while King Arthur mostly fought human people.  Ilya Muromets is very widespread in Russia and can be found in art, movies, cartoons, and statues.