Cicada 3301

Nationality: American
Age: 33
Occupation: Photographer
Residence: Los Angeles, California.
Performance Date: 04/17/16
Primary Language: English

Informant:

 Zack was born in Boston Massachusetts and grew up in a house in rural Norwell Massachusetts in a secular family. His father is a musician and his mother a homemaker. Zack is a photographer who works with musicians and has traveled extensively both in his childhood following his father on tour and in his current occupation.

Original Script: “I learned about it on a web form from being posted to a form I was on. When they post a puzzle they basically come out and say solve this puzzle it will lead to the next riddle and so on and so forth. A lot of highly skilled cryptographers would sort of docu-blog on there progress as they were trying to figure out. The more they progress the more serious it began to seem, people where literarily flying places to solve clues, it was very Dan Brown. Most people who get close to solving disappear. Some people think they have succeeded and ended up requited into an intelligence organization. While it could be a hoax the difficulty of the challenges is genuine. It’s a total Mr. Robot”

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: Cicada 3301 is an Internet puzzles that appear mysteriously on various online chat forms annually. That focus on data security cryptography and steganography.

Context of the Performance: Annual online puzzle.

Thoughts about the piece: It seems to me that the Cicada 3301 is similar to the newer folkloric tales and myths that develop and are spread on the Internet. At the heart of this is the mistrust for the Internet and the mystery that comes with the anonymity one can find on the Internet. The informant is a member of multiple conspiracy theory forms that analyze myths, stories and other mysterious happenings so he is connected to forms that share stories like Cicada 3301.

Mashallah

Nationality: Saudi
Age: 51
Occupation: Professor
Residence: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Performance Date: 04/18/16
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English

Informant :

Haifa grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to a progressive family. She is a Professor at the King Saud University in Riyadh and considers herself a religious person, but does not believe in a lot of the superstition behind some of the stories. She grew up, and works, around all different kinds of people that shared with her different traditions and folklore of which she has shared some of her favorite.

Original script:                                                                                                                 

ما شاء الله

Phonetic (Roman) script: Mahsallah

Transliteration: Mashallah

Full translation: As god wills.

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: Mashshallah is said to ward off any bad or evil eye from things. When you say something is nice like “you have nice hair” you have to say mashallah after it of you may unintentionally give someone the evil eye. My mother still yells at me if I don’t say mashallah after I say something nice and will even tell strangers to say mashallah if they are complementary or her kids.

Context of the Performance: Said to ward off the evil eye from a person, home or object and used throughout the Arabic speaking world.

Thoughts about the piece: Like a lot of traditional Arabic saying and myths this blends superstition with religion (Islam). While the saying involved the belief that only god can make something happen, it still is used to ward off evil created by humans.

 

Evil eye

Nationality: Saudi
Age: 51
Occupation: Professor
Residence: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Performance Date: 04/18/16
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English

Subject: Evil eye inoculation

Informant:

 Haifa grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to a progressive family. She is a Professor at the King Saud University in Riyadh and conceders herself a religious person, but does not believe in a lot of the superstition behind some of the stories. She grew up, and works, around all different kinds of people that shared with her different traditions and folklore of which she has shared some of her favorite.

Original script: “a lot of Saudi superstition is based around the evil eye. One really prevalent practice is the ingestion of another persons spit…it sounds disgusting but this is how it works. If you have a guest and fear that they may have eye eyed your house or family you take either the water they have drank or you wash the cup they have been drinking coffee or tea from, wash it and drink from the water you wash it with. It is believed that if you do so, you take a trace of that persons essence and therefor inoculate yourself against any evil or malice that comes from them.”

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: Most of Arabic myth and superstition surrounds the evil eye and it’s affects on people and how to protect ones self from its negative affects.

Thoughts about the piece: Saudi’s often employ what would seem to be superstitious practices probably left over from a time before Islam. However, like all good folklore, the myths, practices and superstitions have evolved with the spread of Islam to involve Islamic themes such as using prayer and the name of god to proceed the ritual.

Arabic Proverb 2

Nationality: Saudi
Age: 51
Occupation: Professor
Residence: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Performance Date: 04/18/16
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English

Subject: Arabic Proverb

Informant:

Haifa Saud (51): Haifa grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to a progressive family. She is a Professor at the King Saud University in Riyadh and conceders herself a religious person, but does not believe in a lot of the superstition behind some of the stories. She grew up, and works, around all different kinds of people that shared with her different traditions and folklore of which she has shared some of her favorite.

Original script:

مثل إللى يبيع سمك بالبحر.

Phonetic (Roman) script: Mithl illy yibee’e samak bil bahar.

Transliteration: Mithl illy yibee’e samak bil bahar.

Full translation: It’s like selling fish in the sea.

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: Like a lot of Arabic proverbs, this is used by people all over the Middle East to and used to express the uselessness of some act. It is much like the saying “selling sand to an Arab.”

Thoughts about the piece: A lot of Arabic proverbs use humor to get the point across and are used in place of jokes in everyday interactions. This piece, I believe, exhibits the humor in the proverbs that are often centered around comparisons between people and animals.

Arabic Proverb

Nationality: Saudi
Age: 51
Occupation: Professor
Residence: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Performance Date: 04/18/16
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English

Subject: Arabic proverb.

Informant:

 Haifa grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to a progressive family. She is a Professor at the King Saud University in Riyadh and conceders herself a religious person, but does not believe in a lot of the superstition behind some of the stories. She grew up, and works, around all different kinds of people that shared with her different traditions and folklore of which she has shared some of her favorite.

Origional Script:

ابن البط عوام.

 

Phonetic (Roman) script: Ibn al bat awam

Transliteration: Ibn al bat awam.

Full translation: The son of a duck is a floater.

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: Much like the English saying “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”