Tokolosh

Nationality: South Africa
Age: 52
Occupation: Pharmacist
Residence: Granite Bay, California
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Afrikaans

Subject:

Protection from the Tokolosh

Informant:

Graham Giles grew up in Zimbabwe, and immigrated to South Africa at the age of Sixteen, where he lived for most his life, until immigrating again to the United States in 2012.

Original Script:

“Okay, so they put bricks under their bed, because they believe that the Tokolosh – the Tokolosh is like this evil little spirit right? He’s like this evil little um… you know like the Irish believe in the Leprechaun, he’s like this evil little spirit and that and he… and um obviously he’s under the bed and, and so what you do is you put the bed up on bricks so he can’t reach up and get you, you know what I mean? And that’s why the guys are also from.. you know they come up to the bed and, I don’t want to say they jump onto bed from a bit of a distance but you know what I’m saying to you? So they’re all raised, so you’ll find even well educated people put a couple of bricks under their bed, under the foot of the bed you know what I mean? Just to raise it up off the ground so the Tokolosh can’t grab you. So the idea is that the Tokolosh is this little bad… evil spirit. He’s a little evil guy: causes problems, causes whatever, and he’s evil. So obviously you walk into your bedroom, under your bed is this little dark space – that’s where you’re going to find a tokolosh, you know?”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

When asked where he learned the story, Graham just said that he can’t recall any one single person telling him about the Tokolosh, just that it was widespread, common knowledge in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and that many people fully believe in this Tokolosh, and raise up their beds for safety.

Thoughts About the Piece:

The Tokolosh seems akin to the Boogey Man, who lives under children’s beds and comes out to get them in the dark. However, while the Boogey Man is typically associated with childish fears of the dark, the Tokolosh represents a threat that even adults take seriously. From my own knowledge, I know that the Tokolosh is blamed for a whole host of problems: if something goes missing and the owner is certain that they did not lose it, he might say that it was the Tokolosh sewing trouble.

New Shoes

Nationality: South Africa
Age: 50
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Granite Bay, South Africa
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: German, Afrikaans

Subject:

Superstition regarding new shoes.

Informant:

Anouchka Giles was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She moved to Durban, South Africa, in her twenties and lived there until immigrating to the United States in 2012. Lee (mentioned in the script) is a close friend of Anouchka’s from her time living in South Africa.

Original Script:

“So you buy a box of shoes, the worst thing you can do is put them on the table: that’s really bad luck.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

When asked where she learned about this superstition and why she followed it, Anouchka replied “okay, and then, well I dunno this was Lee’s thing. She told me about it and until she told me about it I was okay with putting shoes on the table, now I’m not. I don’t know, I don’t know where Lee’s got these things from.” The informant did not seem to know of any reason or logic for the superstition, but trusted her friend and followed the rule (of keeping new shoes off the table) just in case there was something to it.

Thoughts About the Piece:

I understand why putting shoes on the table might be considered a bad thing to do, but if anything I would imagine that this would be more the case for used shoes, which might be dirty, as opposed to new shoes.

Sadza Recipe

Nationality: South African
Age: 50
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Granite Bay, California
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: German, Afrikaans

Subject:

Recipe for sadza

Informant:

Anouchka Giles was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She moved to Durban, South Africa, in her twenties and lived there until immigrating to the United States in 2012.

Original Script:

“okay so um, basically you got to use, well, we call it mealie meal they call it cornmeal here but it’s better if you use the fine ground one, you don’t want one that’s too course. And then basically you put water in a pot and then you add sadza – uhh mealie meal to it with a bit of salt, and then you take a wooden spoon and you stir it till it starts to bubble and get thick, and then you let it cook.. for… I would say that if you want to get rid of the bitter taste you have to let it cook for about an hour, slowly, or at least 40 minutes and then you put a stick of butter right at the end and so it becomes like a stiff kind of creamy texture to it.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

According to the informant, this recipe is traditionally from Zimbabwe. Originally, she had made phutu, a variant of this recipe that is more common in South Africa. She started making sadza when she learned the recipe from her mother in law, who had lived most of her life in Zimbabwe. According to her, sadza has a much smoother consistency which she prefers, and which her husband and his side of the family was more used to.

Thoughts about the piece:

I grew up eating sadza, and I’ve always enjoyed it. From my own experience I know that corn and cornmeal are staple food products in many regions of southern Africa, and sadza is a recipe that was developed as a means of consuming those products. Of course, this version of the recipe has been refitted: the butter is purely for taste and in poorer areas adding a stick of it would be considered a luxury. Also, these same people would often not have adjustable stoves but would instead heat their pot over an open flame. In these conditions it is easy to burn the sadza, and so it would be a better decision to cook the sadza for a shorter time, which would leave a more bitter taste.

Katyusha

Nationality: Russian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/25/2017
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English

Subject:

Russian War Song

Informant:

Vadim Korolik was born in Los Angeles but grew up speaking Russian until he was five. His parents spent most of their lives in Russia, and much of Vadim’s family still lives there. Vadim is currently a student at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

Расцветали яблони и груши,

 

Поплыли туманы над рекой.

 

Выходила на берег Катюша,

 

На высокий берег на крутой.

 

 

Выходила, песню заводила

 

Про степного, сизого орла,

 

Про того, которого любила,

 

Про того, чьи письма берегла.

 

 

Ах ты, песня, песенка девичья,

 

Ты лети за ясным солнцем вслед.

 

И бойцу на дальнем пограничье

 

От Катюши передай привет.

 

 

Пусть он вспомнит девушку простую,

 

Пусть услышит, как она поет,

 

Пусть он землю бережет родную,

 

А любовь Катюша сбережет.

 

Пусть он землю бережет родную,

 

А любовь Катюша сбережет.

 

Translation:

 

Apple and pear trees were a-blooming,

 

Mist (was) creeping on the river.

 

Katyusha set out on the banks,

 

On the steep and lofty bank.

 

 

 

She was walking, singing a song

 

About a grey steppe eagle,

 

About her true love,

 

Whose letters she was keeping.

 

 

 

Oh you song! Little song of a maiden,

 

Head for the bright sun.

 

And reach for the soldier on the far-away border

 

Along with greetings from Katyusha.

 

 

 

Let him remember an ordinary girl,

 

And hear how she sings,

 

Let him preserve the Motherland,

 

Same as Katyusha preserves their love.

 

Let him preserve the Motherland,

 

Same as Katyusha preserves their love.

 

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Vadim first learned this song from his grandmother, but claims to have heard it subsequently in Russian war movies. He doesn’t know much about the origins of the song.

Thoughts About the Piece:

While a war song, the story focuses mainly on the girl that the soldier left behind. Perhaps it was made to boost the morale of soldiers, who wanted to think of their lives back home, and wanted to believe that while they preserved the motherland, things back home would stay the same, and they would be able to return to the ones they loved.

Naming Children

Nationality: Gabon
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/25/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandinka

Subject:

West African Rituals Regarding Newborn Children

Informant:

Saran Kaba grew up in Gabon. Her family is mostly from Gabon and Guinea, and strongly identify with Mandingo culture which is prevalent throughout the region. Saran immigrated to the United States in 2014, where she now lives and studies at the University of Southern California.

Original Script:

“Whenever a child is born, we always wait um seven days to name the child and to… yeah to name the child. And um, we shave, like, the complete hair of the child after seven days. Just because, like, we want to remove any kind of, like, bad energy because like, babies are born with hair, so like it’s kind of impurity for us, it’s… a sign of impurity so like by shaving their hair we just remove like any kind of impurity and yeah to make like the child kind of… pure. Umm, and if the born child is like a female, we sacrifice one sheep, and if the child born is a male, we sacrifice two sheeps. I guess just because guys are… more wealthy than girls I don’t know. So that’s something that, like, my mom taught me.”

Informant’s Background Knowledge and Relationship with this Piece:

Saran learned of these rituals from her mom, and also knows that waiting seven days to name the child is based on a Muslim tradition, which she says is prevalent in in her culture. She doesn’t know any more details than that.

Thoughts About the Piece:

This is similar to some European traditions I have heard of, which involve waiting to name a child in case it does not survive early infancy. However, the head shaving is interesting: I know that many mothers I’ve encountered prize their baby’s hair, and I also know that in Jewish tradition, you are not supposed to cut a child’s hair until after their third birthday. Regarding the sacrifices, it seems like the birth of a baby boy is celebrated much more than that of a baby girl, although I don’t know enough about Mandingo culture to say whether that is an artifact of underlying sexism or if there is some other reasoning.