Category Archives: Narrative

Adam’s first wife.

Main Text:
Myth: Lilith Adam’s first Wife

Background on Informant:
My informant is my younger brother he is 26 and is a college graduate from UC Davis who is currently working as a longshoreman. He has a close friend who is Jewish, and his friend told my brother about the Kabbalah, a book about Jewish folklore and mysticism. He told him that Adam had a wife before Eve, my brother then shared that story with me. I found it especially interesting because it presents a slightly different version of events than the traditional Christian narrative.

Text:
Interviewer: Tell me the story of Adam’s first wife

Informant: Yeah, Lilith. She’s supposed to be Adam’s first wife before Eve. So God made Adam out of dust, right, like from the dust you are born and to the dust you shall return
Interviewer: yeah

Informant: ok well we were always taught that Eve was created from Adam’s rib, right? Not from the same dust that Adam was created from, have you ever wondered why?
Interviewer: Why?

Informant: Because, God made Adam’s first wife from the same dust as Adam and so she saw herself as equal to Adam, like she refused to be subservient, this is made obvious to Adam when they were having sex, she was on top of him and he said, “what are you doing on top of me get below me” and she said with disdain, “I will never be below you”. Adam said to God that he did not like Lilith and he did not want her near him anymore, so then God is like bros before hoes and Lilith is kicked out from the Garden of Eden.

Interviewer: for clarification, God didn’t say bros before hoes, right, because I have to record what you say.

Informant: haha, No, he just like told her to leave the garden and she does then becomes a powerful demon. Meanwhile God makes Adam a new wife from his rib so she would be like him and love him more and be subservient.

Interviewer: How does she become a demon?

Informant: I don’t know, I don’t think it says how? but some say if you live a life too corrupt you become a demon and serve the evil that damned you in the after life.

Interviewer: What where did you hear that.

Informant: online.

Interviewer: so unrelated to this story ok, So what do you think this story is trying to say?

Informant: Honestly, I think it’s a control tactic. Like, its always been male dominated world and if you have a story like this in the very beginning you know, Lilith didn’t want to be beneath Adam, she wanted equality and that caused the whole problem. It kind of shows how her way of thinking, like feminism, autonomy and whatever is being portrayed as like divergent or problematic and it makes sense if you’re trying to manipulate and control people. Its all about who controls the narrative.

Interviewer: So you don’t think it actually happened?

Informant: Are you serious right now? No, I don’t but it is pretty interesting.

Analysis:
This myth deals with religious beliefs and ideologies from Christianity, Islam and Judaism but with a twist. The story of Lilith tells a different story about women, offering a more subjective explanation for gender roles. It reinforces the idea belief is social, and not fixed, since some people believe these stories, while others see them as symbolic representations of the expectations from man . The story also shows how folklore is passed between different groups, since the story is primarily Jewish tradition but is being shared through conversation. This story shows how myths can reflect cultural values like the desire for subservient women within Christianity Judaism and Islam, challenge existing beliefs by offering an alternative story or a prequel, and continue to spread through informal transmission such as word of mouth.


Headless Mule Legend

Text: Below is the performance describing the Brazilian Headless Mule legend.

Interviewer: Do you have any stories of legendary figures?

Interviewee: Yeah, so in Brazil we have, uh, I used to be really, like deathly scared of this one mythological creature, in Portuguese the name is Mula sem Cabeca. In English, it, uh, the Headless Mule, and it’s basically a mule, headless mule, but in the place of its head, it’s, uh, it’s like a bunch of flames. So, uh, when I used to, when someone read to me that story and showed me, like, a picture, I was like always scared of, like, going to my Grandmother’s farm, where there were like horses and stuff, so I was just, like, very scared of horses, but, uh, it’s like a cool little Folklore. I don’t know the story behind it, but I think there is, like, an origin story.

Context:

The interviewee is a 22 year-old college student who grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. At first he could not recall any legends from his childhood, and then he remembered the figure above. He learned about the legend from a family member reading him a story about the figure from a children’s book.

Analysis:

This mythical creature exemplifies how folklore interacts with published media. The widespread Brazilian folkloric legend of the Headless Mule was incorporated by a children’s book publisher as a folklorism, which helped further disseminate the story. The interviewee’s own life experience affected how he interacted with the legend, as growing up around a farm made him worry that this legendary animal might attack him around his grandmother’s farm animals. The legend of the Headless Mule is a clear example of the frightening effect of the uncanny. The familiar sight of farm animals was made scary by its alteration. This folkloric belief is similar to that of the evil headless horseman, but this time, it is the evil farm animal that is headless, not its rider, showcasing how across cultures, headless entities are folk figures of horror.

Bigfoot

Text: Below is a student’s performance of the Bigfoot legend.

Interviewer: When did you first hear about Bigfoot?

Interviewee: Well, first I heard about Bigfoot probably in second or third grade because I had to do a group project for elementary school, and it was very intriguing to me at first because, you know, at that age. I was very fascinated by animals, especially large animals, you know, that’s why I chose Bigfoot. I could have chosen between Loch Ness monster and other conspiracies. But, so that’s when I first heard about Bigfoot.

Interviewer: Did you believe it? What did you think about it?

Interviewee: Well, honestly, I did believe in that moment, because I researched a bit and saw, you know, many people had seen it, but no one had ever photographed it, and because of that, I did believe it, but slowly as I grew up, I began not to believe it much, and viewed it as a tale. I mean, it’s like, there’s animals we haven’t seen, but something like that, with actual human characteristics, is difficult.

Context:

This interview arose from a conversation with another Forms of Folklore student, reflecting on childhood beliefs. I shared my memory and history of belief of the Bermuda Triangle, and after that, he recalled learning about Bigfoot. He first learned about Bigfoot in elementary school, when given a project to chose to study different legendary creatures.

Analysis:

This example showcases a unique mode of dissemination for folklore. The top-down institute, this interviewee’s school, facilitated children exploring and researching different “conspiracy theories”. This method is unusual as typically folkloric legends are pictured as not credible by official institutes, while certain folk groups hold the legends to hold some chance of credibility. My belief is that the assignment to explore different conspiracies was created expressly because conspiracy theories are typically not discussed in classrooms, and thus the students are more excited about learning about them than more official topics. The interviewee also said something interesting, in how he views Bigfoot to be less plausible, because, compared to other folk creatures, Bigfoot is more human. This assertion illustrates how people view humanity to be more unique, compared to other animals in the animal kingdom.

Drake Curse Legend

Text: The interview below captures a student folk performance of the Drake Curse legend.

Interviewer: Do you have any MMA or fighting beliefs?

Interviewee: So, for, like, the UFC, I don’t know if it spans across other promotions, but, for the UFC specifically, there’s a betting system. You can see who bets what on which fighter, uh, and there’s basically this thing called the Drake Curse, wherein whichever fighter Drake, the rapper, singer, uh, puts his money on, that fighter will lose, and that has uh, only a few fighters have broken the Drake Curse, but most of the fighters who he’s bet on have lost their fights.

Context:

This interview was collected from a college student, raised in São Paulo, who is captain of the school’s MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) club after a practice. The interviewee heard about the legend from UFC fight commentary and social media

Analysis:

MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) fights inherently have a lot of randomness. One stray punch, or one awkward position can lead to an upset, so betting on fights contains a lot of risk. Because of this uncertainty, folklore is used to explain and deal with that unpredictability. Now, the winner of the fight is determined by one factor: whether Drake put his money on him. The staying power of this folk speech is evident, as even when Drake does win some of his bets, the reputation of the Drake Curse still endures. The belief is able to permeate multiple folk groups, because Drake bets on a lot of different sports. The interviewed bearer of the legend heard about it both from official fight commentary, and from social media posts. This origin showcases the fight commentator engaging in folklorism, as they take the humorous legend from the digital folk environment, where it originates, and repeat it on the official commentary broadcast.

Royal Family Legend

Text: The excerpt captured below is a folk performance of a student’s legend about their family being of royal lineage.

Interviewer: Do you have any family legends?

Interviewee: Yeah, I think, it’s more, like, of a thing if we believe it or not, but essentially my dad tells us we are actually descendants from, like, a royal family, and I think it is true because I think my dad’s mom’s dad’s mom was a princess of, like, this area and they were really well off, and, yeah, it’s just a legend that we are like kinda descendants from, like, a pre-royal family. We, as kids, can’t really confirm.

Context:

This interview arose from conversation with a fellow Forms of Folklore student, when discussing family legends and folk beliefs. I asked him if there were any family stories he recalled and he responded with the excerpt above. When asked about the details of this royal family lineage, the conversation went as written below:

Interviewer: Do you have any idea where this family is from and what they did?

Interviewee: Yeah, it’s in India. These are like my, kind of ancestors, and they’re located South of India. It’s like a city, that they ruled, used to rule— not like a city, like a town. They used to have like a huge house, kind of palace, type of stuff. Yeah, there were kind of just royalty. It’s like a legend though, because I don’t know if it’s true. I wasn’t there.

Analysis:

This story showcases the shifting power structure prevalent throughout India over the last century, under British rule. Under these chaotic conditions, it is plausible that the interviewee’s family was in power over a town or small district, but changing political currents displaced them from their position, and resulted in an emigration to America. This narrative also follows the format of old family legends, describing the family either coming from rags to riches or riches to rags. The story also showcases the exaggeration that can take place as legends spread over time. The legend of being from a royal Indian family is very different from the possibility of being a ruler of a small Indian town.