Category Archives: Myths

Sacred narratives

FIN MACCOOL THROWS ROCKS AT A GIANT – Myth

Nationality: Irish
Age: 63
Occupation: Biomedical Research
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 2
Primary Language: English

Transcript – Informant speaking
Father: “Back to Finn MacCool, you remember visiting the Giant’s Causeway? So, so apparently, Finn McCool had a big argument with another giant in Scotland, called Benandonner, and they start hurling rocks at each other and that’s how the Giants Causeway was supposed to be formed and also the Isle of Man, which is an island in the middle of the Irish Sea between Scotland and Northern Ireland.”
Mother: “And wasn’t that where one of the Loughs came from them, was them pulling up the earth created Lough Neagh?-”
Father: “-Created Lough Neagh, yes.”

Background
One of the few Irish myths I was able to collect. This was during a conversation between me and my parents, who are both irish. Hence their collection to the folklore. However, I didn’t feel as though they were too attached to the lore, even though they found it engaging. As for where they heard it, I wouldn’t be surprised if my dad was just remembering the stuff he’d heard on the tour.

Context
My dad has a very thick Irish accent, which should be noted. Also, the opening line on “Back to Finn MacCool” was in response to two other stories they had told about this figure. My mom had taken a break to talk about the Children of Lir, but my dad wanted to go back. What’s interesting is how this story was told in the context of the memory of a trip we took. We once visited the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, which is what prompted my dad to start telling this story.

Thoughts
What’s interesting is how this story was told in the context of the memory of a trip we took. We once visited the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, which is what prompted my dad to start telling this story. Myths are usually very formative, and I feel like very few people ever bring them up in normal conversation. Even in conversations about folklore. In this case, it took a former location to prompt the story. This was mainly because the myth itself explained that place’s existence.

ST. PATRICK – Myth / Legend

Nationality: Irish
Age: 63
Occupation: Biomedical Research
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 2
Primary Language: English

Transcript – Informant speaking
Mother: “It was supposed to be that he, Saint Patrick’s the reason that there’s no snakes in Ireland, that he banished all the snakes from Ireland… There’s a lot of kind of, of the Irish stories that kind of have a mixture of kind of the old paganism and then the Christianity thing coming in.”
Me: “So is there anything like how he did it?”
Mother: “No, I’ve never. I never, ever (laughs) I never figured out how he was supposed to have done it, but basic- you might want to google that and see if you can get more information on that. But that was always what we heard, and right enough, I’ve never seen a snake in Ireland.”
Father: “Well… I actually read somewhere that there were never any snakes in Ireland. Because-”
Mother: “(laughs) which is probably the case-”
Father “-because its an island and they never got there.”

Background
This quote was given to me by my parents in a conversation about Irish folklore. They’re from Northern Ireland, hence the connection. And St. Patrick being a big irish figure, they obviously have a big connection to him, as he was brought up frequently in schooling and in church. But it should also be noted that (due to a lot of the trauma going on in Northern Ireland while growing up) my parents both hold a very shaky relationship with the religion they were brought up on.

Context
Obviously St. Patricks Day is a big thing in America, but not so much in Ireland. That being said, if you’re christian (which most of everyone in Northern Ireland is) then you’ve probably heard of St. Patrick. He was a big influence on the adoption of Christianity on the island. And… he’s also said to have banished the snakes from Ireland (snakes in christianity are associated with the devil, so this holds a lot of weight). However, as seen by my dad (who isn’t religious at all) this is also said to be a known fabrication. So while it can kind of be construed as a creation story for Ireland, it’s also heavily questioned. And either way, you get the sense that a lot of this knowledge here has been imposed by the religion.

Thoughts
The idea that Ireland needed to be fixed by a christian is something that I find interesting (and a little bit troubling). More so, the idea of a myth (a sacred story of creation for Ireland) to explain a situation that was likely a constant for Ireland, is something very unusual. More-so, it illustrates the clear transformation of Ireland from a Celtic to a Christian society, and the fact that the myth is upheld primarily by the Irish says it all.

Sufism: Qalander and the Tradition of Jhuley Lal

Nationality: Pakastani
Age: 64
Occupation: Federal Government
Residence: N/A
Performance Date: 2 May 2021
Primary Language: English

Context: Some research showed that other sources spell Qalander and Jhuley Lal differently than informant JL, a former federal senator from Pakistan, did. This may be because of translation to the romanized alphabet, but the different spellings are Qalandar and Jhulelal. Regardless, Qalander is a Sufi, likely referring to Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, who lived in the 12th century and was buried in Sindh, which JL notes is his former country. Below, JL relays his knowledge of Qalander and his annual tradition of dancing. 

Main Piece: Transcript:

JL: One of the Sufis, his past name is “Qalander”, who is a very popular sufi. He also has an annual event, and his event is also marked by dancing… Even though he is a Muslim Sufi, most of his followers are Hindus because they believe that this Sufi is a reincarnation of a Hindu god… called Jhuley Lal. The word Jhuley means in the local language “the rocking” like dancing… and Lal actually is the red color. He used to wear red dresses always and he always used to dance going around in circles. And that is why people go in his tradition, and they all dance and most of them also wear red clothes. So you have a Muslim Sufi who is a reincarnation of a Hindu god. And there were people in millions even coming from across the border who are Hindus, and of course you also have Muslims. It is also in my former country, it is in the province of Sindh… His shrine is in a city, where you have the annual event where people will go and dance…

JL: So what happens is when the region was locked by terrorists for a time, who were hardcore islamists, they wanted to put a stop to this dancing, as you can understand you have man and woman rocking together at the shrine. Maybe 10 to 15 years back, the terrorists had actually planted a bomb in the shrine… and the bomb exploded and about 150 people died. And they thought that by doing that they would put a stop to all these followers coming to the shrine… And the tradition was that every morning at 4am they would ring the bell. And right after that explosion which probably took place at night, on the dot at 4am the caretaker of the shrine rang the bell and people came back to the courtyards and started dancing and nobody was afraid, so the tradition continued. 

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I continued to ask JL about the strength of the belief in Sufism (for more, see Sufism: Festivals). He told me that, for the Sufist’s belief, so long as you were dancing and following the tradition of the Sufi, nothing bad would happen to you. The tradition of Jhuley Lal was so strong that not even a murderous bombing would stop the followers from dressing in red and dancing in the courtyard. 

Thoughts: Sufism is a firm belief system whose followers believe in devoutly in the hope that it will bring them good fortune. Even through death and tragedy, their devotion to Sufism did not waver, and I think that makes Sufism and its festivals powerful traditions. There’s certainly something to be said here about Sufis as role models for a population. The community of Sufists believe in these Sufis because of their positive qualities, and they practice traditions like dancing in red dresses so that they can imitate those positive qualities and find good fortune. 

Haunted Quarry

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: May 2nd, 2021
Primary Language: English

Background

The informant, Chase, is the brother of the interviewer. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois where he currently resides. 

Context

Chase tells the interviewer about a haunted quarry where he used to work.

Transcript 

“Every summer in high school I have worked at a kayaking company. In the center of town is this ancient quarry that they have filled with water so it looks like a small lake. I taught kayaking and paddle boarding lessons on the quarry. The company rented out these kayaks and paddle boards to anyone in town. So over the quarry is this big bridge that a lot of cars drive over. It is pretty busy. People at work always claimed that like sixty years ago this family was driving across the bridge, but the dad was drunk and speeding and accidentally drove their car off the bridge into the quarry. They say it was too deep to retrieve the car or people and if you were able to dive down deep enough you would still be able to see the car and their bodies. Sometimes, at night, you can see the ghosts of the family crying in the middle of the quarry. I personally have never seen any shit like that before, despite all my years working there. I do believe that someone could easily drive off the bridge, it kinda looks like an accident waiting to happen. But I don’t really believe that they didn’t retrieve the car or people’s bodies. It’s definitely a fun story to tell though.”

Thoughts

I too worked at the quarry throughout high school. I never had an encounter with the spirits like other people at worked described and I don’t really believe it either. I do agree that the story of someone driving off the bridge accidentally is probably true, but I can’t imagine the quarry is so deep they cannot retrieve the bodies. It is very interesting town lore though.

Worthless Men

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 04/25/2021
Primary Language: English

Context

The joke was collected when a friend came over for dinner and told the room about this family custom.

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Performance

The following is a joke told to me by the interviewee.

A joke that we always say in the family is that the men are worthless whenever they do something wrong. Cherokee legend that women were created because men were worthless and so my family will say, when the men in the house were being trash, that they are so horrible that women had to be created. So if my Dad did something wrong, my mom would joke that of course he did something wrong, because men are worthless and that women had to be created to solve all the problems.

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Analysis

This joke is one that is used to make fun of the men in the household. While very funny and can very much be used as a means to poke fun of the guys in jest, this joke actually holds historical meaning as well. Cherokee women, unlike many early women colonizers from the West, had a lot more power. They were independent, could own land, could leave or divorce their husband, etc. The Cherokee society was based on matrilineage, it was the women and the mothers that determined the family. And thus this joke holds true in how the Cherokee people were brought up.