Bloody Mary

Nationality: American/Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 20th
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: “There is a scary story that I used to play when I was a young girl during sleepover parties with my friends called Bloody Mary. It’s basically when you go into a bathroom and you turn off all the lights. Then you say “Bloody Mary” three times and flush the toilet. Then you are suppose to see Queen Mary appear in the mirror and then she kills you and scratches out your eyes and your spirit is forever in the mirror and you can’t escape. I was actually never brave enough to play the game because I thought I was gonna die. Still to this day it freaks me out a little bit but it was a big part of sleepovers with girls.”

Background Information: The informant learned this story from her other friends who were girls when she was around age 7. The informant would play this game during every sleepover and the informant describes it almost like a social experience with her friends. The informant said the game had a deep impact when she was younger and still bothers her today even though she knows it is not true.

Context: In the informat’s dorm room

Thoughts: This story seems symbolic of womanhood. As Alan Dundes said/analyzed, this story can be seen almost like a transition of young girls to womanhood since there is blood involved (mesntration cycle). For young girls, this transition into womanhood is terrifying so this story may be symbolic of those emotions. The number three is also important as well, because three is a very common used number in American culture.

 

 

Opportunities is everything

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 19th
Primary Language: Chinese

Main Piece: 机不可失，时不再来 jī bù kě shī, shí bú zài lái – Opportunity knocks at the door only once

Background Information: The informant frequently heard this saying from his parents and grandparents when he lived in China. The informant also said that this proverb hung on his math teachers’ classroom door and he would notice it everytime he would walk in. To the informant, he has taken this proverb to heart and wants to work hard so he can repay his parents who have given him so much by sending him to University in the United States. The informant describes this proverb as a typical Chinese proverb that teaches kids to be the best of the best and seize any opportunity even if it may seem out of reach.

Context: In the streets of downtown Los Angeles

Thoughts: This proverb might play a role in the competitive learning nature in China. Chinese kids are taught at a very young age to seize a lot of opportunities, as the informant stated and that education is the way of doing this. But I wonder if this creates a negative atmosphere for young  children since there has been an increase of attention surrounding the academic environment in Asia/China and if it is healthy for kids. 

 

 

Dragon Boat

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 14th
Primary Language: Chinese

Main Piece: “Once upon a time, there was once a poet called Qu Yuan who lived in China. When the kingdom was about to be attacked, the king asked Qu for his advice. Qu gave some pretty honest, so the King didn’t like him and then banished him. When the poet returned, he found that the warring state had taken over his state. He drowned himself in the river on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar year because he was so depressed.The people who lived in the area there tried to stop the fishes from devouring his body by throwing rice into the river. Then they started sailing their boats to search for Qu.”

Background Information: The informant learned this story from his parents who were born and raised in Hong Kong, China. The informant describes this story as being a part of many Chinese festival’s, in particular the boat festival. The informant says that looking for Qu is marked by the Dragon Boat Festival a great Chinese festival, like the Chinese New Year.

Context: In a coffee shop in Los Angeles

Thoughts: After doing some research on a dragon boat, it is a slender, long wooden boat shaped like a dragon; with a dragon’s head in front and tail at the back. Also, teams cross the river in a race with dragon boats. It is interesting that these boats still have cultural significance despite its original use of finding Qu’s body. Even people throw parcels of sticky rice into the river and bang drums in commemoration of the hero poet during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Momotaru

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 13th
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: “So there was an old woman who would go to a riverside in Japan to wash clothes. One day she found a sweet peach and wanted to take one home for her husband so he would be happy. Then  the peach just magically appeared next to the woman and the woman took it to her house. When she tried to cut the peach in half, a human boy just came out out of nowhere. They called the boy Momotaro (which means the peach boy). Momotaro grew super fast and became huge like a man. He helped the old couple with house chores. But then there were some evil devils bothering the villagers and Momotaro decided to fight against the devils on the devils’ island to repay the old couple.  He told the old woman that if she made special dumplings for him he would beat the devils because he needed fuel. So, the woman made special dumplings that can give a human being something of like 100 times their power. When he got to the island he beat a huge devil. Momotaro then gave the treasure that the devils had secretly equally to all the villagers”

Background Information: The informant learned this story through her parents who grew up in Tokyo, Japan. The main message behind this story is to always give back and be humble (for example, the peach boy giving back to the villagers after his parents had given him dumplings). The informant says that this is a very common folk story in Japan which parents tell their children.

Context: Next to a grocery store in Los Angeles

Thoughts: Peaches are significant in Japanese culture as being “Kami”, or the Mother goddess which is a symbol of fertility and magic powers. Peaches are in many other different Japan mythology and are said to have magical powers. This story seems to have a symbolic importance with the peach as good luck and not just a morally important lesson.

 

Tengu

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 14th
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: “My mom use to tell me a story about a Japanese legend. Back in the day there lived an old woman in a village at the foot of Mount Takao in Japan. She would always cook up food like traditional Japanese food like rice and bamboo shoots for the Tengu, (which are magical looking creatures, to eat). One day, the old woman was super sick so her son became worried and went to get water from some hot spring far away. However, he was clumsy so he tripped just before reaching home and spilled all the water. He was pretty disappointed and thought his mom would get mad at him, but then he noticed water springing up from the ground so he gathered it for his mom. When the old woman bathed in this water, she became healthy again. Everyone in the village said it must have been the Tengu who caused water to spring up as a way of saying thank you to the woman for all the meals she cooked for them.”

Background Information: The informant describes Tengu as a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion and are also considered a type of Shinto god (kami) or yōkai ( supernatural beings). The tengu were  thought to take the forms of bird like creatures. The informat learned this story through his grandparents who live in Japan, and he says that this is one of the most classic and well known stories that involve supernatural beings. He also said this story made him less scared of ghosts when he was a kid because in the story the Tengu help heal the woman.

Context: At a restuarant in downtown LA

Thoughts: This story contains magical elements, will the special healing water which reminds me a little bit of the water of immortality. This story also demonstrates the importance of good deeds, and that you should treat others the way you would want them to treat you (the woman making food for the Tengu and the Tengu healing the woman). This story also contains important aspects of Japanese culture, like food (rice and bamboo shoots). After talking to the informant, he said that his grandmother makes rice and bamboo shoots for him when he is not feeling well.