Cats vs. Dogs, Armenian tale

Nationality: Armenian-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: English

Context: This tale was performed in the apartment of the informant to an audience of 3 people.

Background: This tale was told to the informant by her father, who is Armenian.

“So this is the story of why cats and dogs don’t like each other. Back in the day cats were seen as tailors, and the dogs were seen as I guess common people. So dogs would bring wool to cats for them to make hats and stuff with the wool. The dog asked the cat to make a hat for him, and the cat says, “OK OK OK.” The dog comes back next week and says “Is my hat ready?” the cat says, “Next week it will be ready.” The dog comes back the following week and asks “Is my hat ready?” The cat again says, “Next week.” The dog comes for a third week and asks, “Is my hat ready?” and the cat again says “No.” This goes on, and explains why cats and dogs do not like each other today. Because the cat never finished the hat for the dog. ”

This myth seems to indicate that Armenians may favor dogs over cats, as the dog is painted as the victim in this story.

Shaka Hand Sign — Hawaiian Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Denver, CA
Performance Date: 3-17-19
Primary Language: English

Text

The following piece was collected during a conversation with a girl who had recently visited Hawaii. We had been discussing the varying uses of the shaka, commonly referred to as the “hang loose” gesture. The girl will hereafter be referred to as the “Informant” and I, the “Collector”.

Informant: “So, I was talking to my cousins who live there and we were talking about how to properly do the shaka sign. I told them that I felt slightly phony trying to pull it off because I don’t surf, but they told me that it’s not only for surfers. They said it was their way of saying ‘hello’. They told me that apparently, the reason why it was thumb and pinky out, all other fingers closed, was because there was a Hawaiian man once who lost his fingers, they don’t know how, but that he lost his fingers and that was just how he waved.”

Collector: “Was it because of a surfing accident? Is that why it’s a surfer sign here?”

Informant: “They don’t know why, they think it’s because of a shark or surfing accident.”

Context

            The Informant learned this belief when she was visiting her cousins in Hawaii. The Informant believed her cousins and thought the origin of the shaka, according to the cousins, seemed like a reasonable beginning of the very popular hand sign. The Informant believes there must be some truth to this, mainly because it originated somehow, it’s very possible this is the reason why.

Interpretation

On the other hand, I believe that it is very possible that people who use the sign very regularly will not think much of its origin, but when told the story of a surfing or shark accident, will accept it as truth. When I first heard it, I remember nodding to myself and thinking “that makes sense”. I believe that people revel in coming up with explanations for things they normally would not be able to explain. I read other beliefs on this gesture, and some say it is a very popular sign whose meaning has become misconstrued. The idea behind the shaka, in many of these accounts, was simply a gesture that would encompass the meaning of “aloha”.

Santa Mouse

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: JAG Military Lawyer
Residence: Arlington VA
Performance Date: 3/16/19
Primary Language: English

Abstract:

This piece is about a holiday legend of Santa Mouse who rides with Santa in his sleigh on Christmas Eve and leaves little presents in the tree if you believe in him.

Main Piece:

“So when I was a little girl we had a story my mom use to tell us at Christmas that there was a little mouse that would ride in the sleigh with Santa and he was called Santa Mouse. And Santa Mouse would leave you a little present at the top of the tree if you believed in him. And the way he would find out if you believed in him is if you put a white light at the top of the tree, so when we put all the lights on our tree every year, we had to make sure there was a white light at the top to alert Santa Mouse to leave his presents. On Christmas Eve he would climb up to the tree, with his little mouse body climbing up the tree, to leave presents for us – little tiny presents at the top of the Christmas tree.”

Context:

This subject learned this story as a child from her mother. She is from Buffalo New York and her mother’s side was German and her father’s side was Irish. She remembers this story because it was a tradition she and her family would follow every year. She passed it along to her children and there is even an authored story these days that she reads to her family now as part of the tradition now.

Interpretation:

I think this is a similar tradition to Elf on the Shelf. It seems to have started in a cute way to bring more celebration to the holiday season, though it is not certain when this tradition started. Today, like Elf on the Shelf, it seems to be commercialized with books and other products to be sold along with the tradition. The white light part of the tradition is interesting, because other people who participate in this tradition don’t always do that particular aspect of the story. In other versions, people must leave out crumbs of cookies for Santa Mouse, like leaving out carrots for the reindeer.

Citation for Santa Mouse Book:

Brown, Michael, and Elfrieda DeWitt. Santa Mouse. Sandy Creek, 2008.

Tomb Sweeping Festival

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/22/2019
Primary Language: English

Background:

This piece is a cultural tradition that the subject was introduced to through her family, and that she has done since her childhood.

Piece:

AQ: So… once a month—I mean not once a month, I think it’s once a year… um, I think a lot of Chinese families, what they do is they go to the cemetery.  I think that it’s called Tomb Sweeping Festival, and what happens is you go there and then um you kinda like bring food for your ancestors or whoever has passed away.  You bring incense sticks and you put them in the ground and then you also, um, lay out food for them to eat in their afterlife.  And there’s also like a huge trash can that we have, alright, and what we do is we usually burn a lot of money.  And then, ok it sounds very, like, Satanic but it’s not. But yeah, so you burn money, and it’s supposed to—I think they called it hell money, but I don’t really know—and then it’s supposed to also be for them in the afterlife, and then sometimes you also burn clothing, watches, cellphones, and whatever for them to use.

JM: So all this stuff you’re burning is for them to use?

AQ: Yeah, like, later on—wherever they are now.

JM: And you’ve done this?

AQ: Yeah, I do—like I, well I haven’t done it the past two years because of college, but I’ve done it every year.

Context:

This conversation was recorded during an in-person conversation with the subject, where I asked them if there were any special traditions or customs that their family followed.

Analysis:

The subject seems to have an interesting relationship with the piece of folklore that they are describing—it is evidently something that they are not completely confident about their knowledge of, yet it is still something that they participate in.  As a side note, what is called the ‘Tomb Sweeping Festival’ here seems to be most commonly referred to in English as ‘Tomb Sweeping Day’.  This folk custom does not seem to have any heavy spiritual associations for the subject, though it may have taken on new meanings as a yearly tradition that connects families to their cultural past, both literally through their ancestors and through the traditional practice of ancestor veneration..

For another version of this piece, see:

Song, Li. The Tomb-Sweeping Day. Paths International Ltd., 2015: Pg 138.

Lunar New Year

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Manhattan Beach, California
Performance Date: 4/21/19
Primary Language: English

Abstract:

This piece is about a festival tradition at the lunar new year and the process of “wishing” something to your family members.

Main Piece:

“Every lunar new year, we go to my uncle’s house and then the entire side of my mom’s family comes. Like my grandparents, all her siblings, all their kids, their spouses. And we all have this big party, so you show up and then, um, well we usually bring food. Like a potluck situation, we’re all close. You’re in charge of this, you’re in charge of that… You bring this, you bring that… So we usually have egg rolls, this dish that has flour patties and shrimp sprinkled on it. And then we have like spring rolls and beef… We have noodles and papaya salad, like shredded young papaya that’s still green. We have a sauce with it and fish sauce with everything else. So we eat all the food and then afterwards, we cut up fruit. Fruit is a really big Asian thing for desert. Whatever is in season. Afterwards, the tradition is that it’s oldest to youngest. So all of the kids of my grandparents have to go to them and wish them something for the new year. So it’s either like good health, um, like, lots of money. Usually the grandparents will wish back lots of money or something. So we wish them good health or happiness or wisdom or whatever. So my mom has four siblings, so she is the oldest of the five, so her and my dad will go first. And the same follows for the next generation. Like then the grandkids will go and it’s the oldest there too.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old student who is Half-Vietnamese and Half-Polish. The tradition stems from her mother’s side. She was born in Anaheim, California, but now lives in Manhattan Beach, California. She participates in this event every year with her family.

Analysis:

The very specific foods that are eaten at the celebration reminds me of the very specific German foods that are eaten at celebrations in my own family. I think food and celebration are often correlated in every culture and it is interesting to examine the differences of cuisine as well. One aspect of this festival celebration is the aspect about different ages and the importance of order of birth. It seems like this culture values birth order due to the custom in this culture that oldest needs to go first.