This is the tale, the three saints of Zurich. Zurich, Switzerland has three patron saints because every town has a patron saint, and the ones in Zurich are particularly interesting because basically, I think it was 500, or 600, when they wanted to convert the city to Christianity, and basically there was this really evil king or whatever who wanted to execute them for trying to convert the city because he thought it was dangerous, so he like, I forget all the tortures he did, but I know he like boiled them in oil, in like bubbling oil and the burned, or whatever and eventually he did some other tortures, but he eventually just cut off their heads, all three of them and the legend goes that he buried them, but their head were decapitated, and the legend goes that at night or whatever that they rose from their graves, holding their heads they walked up the hill to the top of the mountain that was overlooking Zurich, and they carried their heads with them to the top of the mountain and buried themselves on top of the mountain.

Jack thought that this legend was proof of the area’s religious leanings and that this was the miracle that the saints performed in order to be considered saints. The idea he said was that God had to give them a special ability and that in this case it was rising from the dead and walking up the hill and reburying themselves. Jack also thought that this might be a popular legend among religious people because the saints end up closer to Heaven and God because they reburied themselves at the top of a mountain.

I think this legend is again popular with people of the town. It can be used to give the town an identity that separates if from other towns in the surrounding area. I believe that the legend is spread when you visit Zurich. Jack knows about the legend because of relatives that have visited Zurich, and come back and told him about the legend.

Another important thing is that the legend has three saints rather than any other number, I think this may have to do with three being a special number in Western religions. I also think the reburial of the saints at the top of a mountain is also suppose to show that if you were to follow in these saints beliefs that when you die, you will end up being closer to Heaven and God.

Annotation:

Hoffmann, Edith. Nineteenth-Century Pictures from Vienna, at Zurich. Vol. 108, No. 757 London: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.: 1966

Urban Legend

“If you flash your high beam four times when approaching an intersection, the light will change to green.”

Alison Ma told me this urban legend when we were driving around Irvine at 10 o’clock at night.  I was slowing down due to a red light and up ahead of us, we saw a few police cars with their lights on, parked on the side of the road because they just pulled someone over.  She said she heard that flashing the high beams to change the light to green when approaching an intersection was true from one of her friends.  The belief is that police use this trick.  Alison has not tried flashing her high beam four times to change the light.  She had also heard this urban legend from her dad, who heard it from a friend who supposedly heard this from a police officer.  Alledgely, the blinking of the high beam four times at a traffic light to turn it green is used by police cars, ambulances, etc. for emergencies.

Throughout history and in today’s society, people believe that they are some certain special people who are above the law.  Some of these special people are the wealthy, the celebrities, the politician and any other people that work with the law, such as policemen.  By assigning special powers to policeman, this urban legend fuels the belief that there are people in our society who are above the law.

The manner in which Alison learned about this urban legend is the classic way a legend is passed and spreads into a large one.  What the police officer told Alison’s dad’s friend could have been different from what Alison heard from her dad.  This is the reason why there could be several different urban legends surrounding policemen and their ability to control the traffic light.  For example, I have heard that instead of flashing the high beam four times to change the traffic light to green, flashing the high beam three times will change the traffic light.  It is curious that Alison told me that it requires four blinks of the head beam when the number three is the most popular number in Western and American cultures.  In most stories and folklore genres, there is a pattern of repeating things three times; therefore, it is interesting that the number four is used instead of three.  Possibly, if it is true that flashing the high beam a certain number of times can change the traffic light green, then most people would guess and try it using three flashes; therefore, to make it so the common people will not use this trick, policeman require four flashes, one more flash than what most people would do.

Urban Legend

“In the seatback pockets on an airplane, it explains the safety-brace position (put your hands on the seat in front of you and rest your forehead on the seat in front you and lock your body).  Airlines tell you to use this position so your neck will be broken instantly and you will die because it is cheaper for the airline carrier to pay a once-off compensation fee to the deceased person’s family rather than having to provide care for injured survivors, like the permanently injured survivors.”

Ruchira heard this piece of folklore from his physics teacher in 2005.  He also heard this from a friend who watched it on myth-buster.  Ruchira believes that this urban legend is the result of people’s natural skepticism.

I believe that his urban legend is a reflection of today’s popular culture.  In today’s society, people have a tendency to be suspicious of big corporations; therefore, people try to tear them down by portraying them in a negative light.  People believe that big corporations are taking advantage of the common man.  Big corporations are characterized as being untrustworthy and their sole purpose is for monetary gains; they are often thought to be heartless.  The common man feels powerless in comparison to the big companies.  The American culture has a very skeptical nature.  This urban legend paints the public as a helpless victim of the ruthlessness of corporations.  It makes it seem as if the airline companies have no compassion for their customers.  This urban legend continues to fuel the public’s doubt about the trustworthiness of airline carriers.

Legend – La Llorona

“Es que dicen que andaba una llorona que llebaba a sus ninos y luego los perdio. Entonces ella aparecia cada vez que pasaba por un rio y que ella diario pasaba y pasaba llorando pos andaba buscando sus hijos y dicia ‘Hay mis hijos ando buscando mis hijos’ y pos no nunca los encontraba cada rato pasaba llorando y nunca los encontro.”

“Its because they say that there was a Llorona that had her kids and then lost them. Next she appeared every time that would by a river and that she always would pass and would pass crying well was looking for her kids and would say “Oh my kids I’m searching my kids” and well no never found them every while would pass crying and never found them.”

“Well, they say that there was a Llorona that was with her kids and then lost them. She would appear every time that she passed by a river and would be crying since she was looking for her kids. She would proclaim ‘Oh my kids I’m searching for my kids’ and she never found them. Occasionally she would pass by the river crying to no avail.”

Agueda says that she first heard the story in Mexico. He grandmother would tell her the tale in order to try to keep her and her siblings from playing near the river while dark. She says she never really believed in the Llorona but the thought that it could be true would scare her and in fact keep her away from the river. Not only would the story be used to keep them from the river, but also to keep the kids close to their parents whenever they went out somewhere or when the kids were playing around the house without supervision. She says that supposedly if they left the side of the parents, that the Llorona would take them in the place of her own kids.

There’s definitely a difference between this version of the Llorona and other versions. In other versions of the tale, she kills or drowns her children in the river, not lose them. Maybe what’s going on here is that her grandmother altered the story in order to impose some fear into the mind of the kids. She wanted be able to keep the kids close to the house because they lived in a house with a huge farm. In order to keep the kids from wandering off anywhere, this would be able keep the kids in line.

See:

Sylvia Ross (2006, January). The Zen of La Llorona.  News from Native California, 20(2), 9-10.  Retrieved May 1, 2008, from Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW) database. (Document ID: 1213348701).

Legend – La Llorona

Some lady like drowned her kids or some shit and now she cries around the streets, calling their names and shit.

Jimmie says that his mother told him the story when he was about 6. He thinks it’s just a made up story that his parents and other grownups tell to their children in order to keep them inside the house.

There’s definitely a variation between this version of the Llorona and other versions. Jimmie states that she goes around the streets crying. In other stories she roams around near a river or some body of water. It is clear that his parents did want to scare him and keep him inside. Many Mexican parents like to scare their children so that they behave and do what the parents say. It reminds me of the fictional monster ‘El Cucuy’ that parents tell their children when they go to bed. If they get out of bed, the Cucuy will get them. The same concept applies to this Llorona: if children go outside at night the Llorona will get them.

Also, Jimmie’s adds vulgarity to the legend. The constant use of the word ‘shit’ depicts how people talk in Inglewood. Shit and many other curse words are used so commonly in everyday language that they’ve really lost their meaning, which allows them to be constantly repeated without offending almost anybody. In the first instance that it is used, shit replaces the words thing. In the second instance it replaces the word stuff. The word shit has become almost like a chameleon, in the sense that it can replace many words and people will still understand what the person is trying to say.

See:

Sylvia Ross (2006, January). The Zen of La Llorona.  News from Native California, 20(2), 9-10.  Retrieved May 1, 2008, from Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW) database. (Document ID: 1213348701).