Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

The Dean of Men’s Daughter

Nationality: American
Age: 68
Occupation: Senior Vice President
Residence: san diego
Performance Date: 4/23/15
Primary Language: English

“She was only the Dean of Men’s Daughter,

With an IQ of twenty-three,

But the things that we college boys taught her

Could’ve earned her some sort of degree.”

 

Where’d you get that song?

 

University of Maryland!

 

So you learned that in college.

 

Yeah. 1965.

 

Who’d you learn it from?

 

I don’t know, some college boys. Some graduate student. In engineering.

 

ANALYSIS:

This is a folksong that most kids at the University of Maryland presumably learn, from other, older students. It suggests school pride in being raunchy and sexually active, and there’s also a clear dynamic of gender roles embedded in the joke. The girl is either naive or provocative, but it’s the boys that show her the ropes and supposedly “corrupt” her. She is also obviously dumb, if she has such a low IQ. The fact that she’s the Dean’s daughter makes her a catch, because she’s highly unattainable and in a sense, off-limits, as well as perhaps easily corruptible because of her ‘stupidity’. Or maybe she’s dumb but attractive, so the boys don’t care. The fact that she’s the dean’s daughter makes her low intelligence funny. So this suggests the boys at U of Maryland can get away with things, and can persuade or manipulate even the most unattainable girls. They can have their fun and still stay out of trouble with the administration.

Bloody Mary

Nationality: Mexican American
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 27, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

EA is a student at USC majoring in Creative Writing. She is also a co-worker at the United University Church [UUC] working at the front desk. The story that she told me comes from her childhood.

 

 

Transcribed from Audio Recording:

 

 

..I’ve definitely heard the whole bloody mary when i was fourth grade maybe um they would always say you have to turn on the water and go in the bathroom turn on the eater and then like in front of the mirror repeat bloody mary bloody mary like three times and then she is supposed to appear…

 

So this was in 4th grade and the other kids told you…

 

Yeah, so I went to a daycare thing after school. That;s where i learned it.

 

Oh not at…

 

Not at actual school, at the daycare thing. but yeah. And I tried it. I was yeah right and I tried it. I was like…and then, then i heard that you need like watermelon seeds or something like that and that the reason you didn’t see her is because…I don’t know if it was watermelon seeds and you had to lit a candle or something and then turn on the water and then repeat it three times, I was like I ain’t got time for all this.

 

You didn’t try it again?

 

No, not after that. She didn’t come out. She didn’t want to see me/

 

You weren’t scared?

 

Um..I don’t know. ‘Cause I’m not really.. I guess I am superstitious if I believe that whole mouth thing I’m superstitious. Um I don’t know I don’t really believe in like..I don’t think we’re the only human beings or beings in the entire universe. I don’t know i give the benefit of a doubt. There’s probably aliens not the green headed things but there is something else alive but I don’t really believe in like, “Oh there’s a UFO” or like why would they let themselves be seen or like things like I don’t know you go under a ladder or open an umbrella inside the house. Like I don’t really believe in those kinds of things. But I guess what my grandma tells me…changes it. But i guess…

 

You grew up in the culture, so you believe it more.

 

Uhu.

 

Bloody Mary is a prominent figure in urban legends and the variety of tales told about her are numerous. However, the inclusion of seeds is something I had not heard before. i found it interesting and remembering a recent discussion in class, took it to mean that the watermelon seeds represent semen and the beginning of a new biological cycle for a girl into womanhood. Or perhaps they represent the ovule that are released on the onset of puberty, as Bloody Mary appears to represent.

London Cheese: Fergie Spoof

Nationality: Dutch, Lithuanian, Russian, English
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/30/15
Primary Language: English

My informant is a 19-year-old college student who grew up in Chicago, Illinois, then moved out to California where she now attends the University of Southern California. Both her parents are from a Jewish background and her ethnicity is Dutch, Russian, Lithuanian, and English.

This piece of folklore is a very common form of song variation for young children. They will take a popular song and interchange the lyrics with just about anything as long as it follows the same structure as the original song. For example:

Informant’s song:

When I come to the market step aside (oh shit),
All the dieters cant deny (oh shit),
Although it has fat, its just like that (oh shit),
But who the heck cares its cheese (oh shit).

How come every time I come around
My London cheese its gets all green and brown?

Original song by Fergie

When I come to the club, step aside (oh, shit)
Pop the seats, don’t be hating me in the line (oh, shit)
VIP ’cause you know I gotta shine (oh, shit)
I’m Fergie Ferg, and me love you long time (oh, shit)

How come every time you come around
My London, London bridge wanna go down?

Informant: “I just learned it from another one of the kids on the playground. When something like this is brought up at school, especially in elementary school, it catches on really quick. Once you hear it, it gets stuck in your head, next thing you know you are singing it around school and even back at home. In this way, the song gets spread everywhere. The lyrics are kind of ridiculous so it would be easy to see there being multiple variations of this song out there. Also the fact that the original song was such a huge hit really helps the song carry. When people here a widely popular tune, it is much easier to remember.”

I thought that this was piece was very interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, my informant is collecting folklore as well and when she brought this up, it reminded me of how many songs I knew from my childhood that I would sing like this and how many songs I have heard young children sing. Many of them I can still remember every word of. It made me realize how often we use songs for folklore as kids. It is also interesting that for the most part, as kids, we are replacing popular song lyrics, rather than creating our own new songs. I think this most definitely says something for American culture and how much influence popular culture has on children. Also, the amount of exposure children get to popular culture reflects the ways we make these songs.

Cup of Wine for Elijah

Nationality: Dutch, Lithuanian, English, Russian
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/30/15
Primary Language: English

My informant is a 19-year-old college student who grew up in Chicago, Illinois, then moved out to California where she now attends the University of Southern California. Both her parents are from a Jewish background and her ethnicity is Dutch, Russian, Lithuanian, and English.

My informant comes from a long lineage of Jewish ancestors, so I thought it was only appropriate to ask her about some of the Jewish traditions that are passed down to her from her family. The one she decided to share with me is a traditional or ritual that takes place during Passover.

Informant: “Passover represents a celebration of freedom from slavery for Israelis. I think there are a lot of different ways to celebrate Passover and it kind of depends on your family. I know there are a lot of families that have traditions that don’t even have anything to do with Judaism but they just continue to do them because they always have. One thing that my family does that isn’t written in the Torah, but we do it anyway, is leave a cup of wine on the table for Elijah. Supposedly you are supposed to leave the door open too, but we don’t do that. The cup is just an offering more or less so that Elijah, who is a prophet, will visit your house and bless it.”

Analysis: I thought it was interesting that, like many people, we have these rituals or traditions that we follow, although it is not explicitly written anywhere. Once a tradition seems to be followed by one person, they have the ability to hand this down through their lineage, and it continues on years and years later. I also thought it was interesting how my informant brought up that she knows of other families who have very odd traditions for Passover, even as odd as watching the same movie every year. These types of things also become tradition even though it does not state it any where in the religion, but the continuation of performing these rituals allow them to be carried on through generations.

Polish Christmas

Nationality: polish
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/30/15
Primary Language: English

My informant is a 20-year-old College Student. She has a predominantly Polish heritage.

I asked my informant if she had any Polish traditions, rituals, or festivals that she could tell me about. She decided to tell me about a Polish tradition that relates to Christmas time. It is normal for people who celebrate Christmas to open their presents Christmas morning, however, in Polish tradition, they skew from this norm and have created their own tradition.

Informant: “Growing up we never opened our Christmas presents on Christmas morning. We opened them Christmas Eve when the first star appeared in the sky because it is Polish tradition. I don’t know if there is any story behind it, I was never told one, but it is something that we do every year. I know that my relatives do the same thing and I have heard of a lot of other Polish people who do the same thing. My grandmother on my mom’s side had to run from Nazis and her whole family had to endure a lot of pain and struggles. I think this part of my family’s heritage is difficult for my mom to talk about. Because of this she does not know a lot of her own heritage but we do this for Christmas as more of an homage to my grandma”

Analysis: This piece is interesting because it gives a new take on a traditional religious custom. Religious customs seem like things that are concrete, but this is not true. There is nowhere in the Bible that states that presents must be opened or that Christmas is a holiday in general where people get presents. If we think of it in this sense, Christmas does allow for a lot of multiplicity and variation depending on where you come from. It is also interesting that although the custom is thought of as Polish, my informant’s family does not do it to celebrate their own Polish ethnicity, more than it is an homage to the a person who was Polish in their family. The tradition celebrates the person more than the ethnicity.