Golem

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Artist
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/24/16
Primary Language: English

So this is a piece of Jewish Folklore that I learned while living in Prague.  Rabbi Loew is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Prague, which I have visited many times, and I have a statue of the Golem which I purchased at a stall outside of the cemetery.  The Old-New Synagogue, built in the 13th century, still has services for the jewish community remaining in Prague.  The Golem story has appeared often in literature and film, including Michael Chabon’s novel written in 2000 called “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.”

A “Golem” is a being formed on inanimate matter, magically animated into a living being.  Many examples of Golems exist in Jewish folklore, including the Golem of Chelm, but the most famous is the Golem of Prague.  In the 16th century, Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bazalei  created a Golem to protect the Jews of Prague from antisemitism.  He fashioned the creature from clay taken from the banks of the Vltava river, and animated him using rituals and incantations, and by placing a “shem,” or name written on a piece of paper into the Golem’s mouth.  As long as Rabbi Loew removed the “shem” on Shabbat, putting it back at the end, the Golem would protect the Jews of Prague.  Finally, the Golem became violent, and went on a rampage – there are a lot of stories as to why this happened, one being that the Golem fell in love and was rejected.  However, the accepted version is that Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the “shem” on Shabbat.  He was eventually able to remove the “shem,” and the Golem turned to clay.  The legend goes that the Golem was placed into the attic of the Old New Synagogue, which was then locked, and there he remains.  The attic is still locked, and no one is allowed up there, where the Golem rests until he is needed again.
ANALYSIS:
Coming form Jewish faith myself, I had never heard this piece of folklore before and have actually come to really appreciate it. It kind of reminds me of a piece of Indian God folklore that I once heard while traveling in India. I really enjoy folklore that has to do with magic, I think it is almost childish,  but still thrilling.

Danish Viking Reenactment

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/20/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is a fellow peer, who has ancestors from Denmark that were Vikings and who’s grandfather participated in a reenactment in 1949.

So my grandfather, Palle Gregard, was chosen to be a part of a viking reenactment in 1949. The Vikings were chosen by the queen of Denmark for the journey to reenact the viking trip from Copenhagen to London England. The best athletes and rowers in the country were chosen and it was a big deal at the time. The guys became instant celebrities . I believe the trip it took two weeks, and they landed at Broadstairs, England in July of 1949. The boat was an authentic replica of a Viking ship, built with no nails. And when they landed at Broadstairs, thousands of people were waiting to greet them cheering, and tons of newspaper articles were written about the landing there like in The Daily Graphic and Chicago Tribune.

My mom has snippets of these news articles and a pamphlet of the journey and a bunch of pictures of the ship and the Vikings and one of my grandfather. I remember visiting the Vikingeskibs Museet (Viking Museum) in Denmark about a year and a half ago, when I was traveling with my family. I was able to see the actual ship that my grandfather sailed in. Being at the museum and seeing and learning about the vikings and Denmark’s past made me feel very connected to grandfather, and I felt as though what I was learning in the museum was my past as well.

If I had the chance, I think I would participate in a reenactment like this one. Below are newspaper clippings from reports on the voyage, and photos of of my grandfather on the ship. I really love having this physical evidence of my ancestry and am very prideful of it.

\Daily Graphic Article 1949Viking Ship Palle Gregard

Norwegian Apple Peel

Nationality: USA
Age: 59
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: Hawaii
Performance Date: 4/3/16
Primary Language: English
Language: a little German, a little French

Something I learned from my Norwegian grandmother. She made lots of apple desserts, especially apple dumplings, which required whole peeled apples. We used paring knives to peel the apples, and she would tell us that if we were successful in cutting away the peel in one continuous spiral, and threw it over our left shoulder, the peel would form the first letter of the first name of our future husband. I remember doing this in her kitchen at about age seven (after many unsuccessful tries, it is harder than it sounds to peel an apple in one unbroken spiral). The peel formed a “J” which, as you know, turned out to be correct.

I’ve only tried this a few times. I remember the first one because my grandmother was there and shared the story with me. It was Thanksgiving and we were making apple dumplings together. I loved baking with my Grandma – she is the one who taught me how to cook – and this memory takes me right back to her kitchen. Just FYI, it is not easy to have the perfect peel – it takes concentration and time. Usually when I am baking, I’m in a bit of a hurry and none of the peels come off in one piece. Even when concentrating, only about one in four apples will peel whole. Plus, the peel must be quite thin – if it is too thick, it will break on hitting the floor – a null answer. I remember getting a “J” more than once, which is funny because I’ve been married twice and both times the first name began with “J”. Anyway, only single women do this (otherwise the magic would be negative – as if one did not want to be married) so my last time was more than 28 years ago. At the last Thanksgiving, I shared this tradition with Caroline, my daughter. (And no, I will not disclose her answer!)

I’m a little connected to my Norwegian heritage, mostly through cooking and a few traditions, like real candles on the Christmas tree, opening presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day, certain songs, and most definitely all the fairy tales and stories (trolls and dwarves and mountains turning into people or vice versa). I have my great grandfather’s hand carved snuff box – woodworking is a big Norwegian tradition. I’d always wanted to visit Norway and last summer, I went for the first time. I stopped in Bergen for a few days – my grandfather emigrated from that city when he was 3 years old. It is a colorful, gorgeous, fishing town. A wonderful country, felt very much like home.
ANALYSIS:
I think a part of many cultures is the yearning to know who you will spend your life with and marry. I know that as a kid I played games and participated in activities that were supposed to signify who I would marry. For example, as a child I used to play a game with my friends where we would twist the stem of an apple and each full turn around that the apple did would stand for a letter in the alphabet. When the stem finally broke off (usually didnt take too long) whatever letter you were on would be the first letter of the name of your future husband or wife.

Turtle Man in Turtle Bay

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Illinois
Performance Date: 4/2/16
Primary Language: English
The informant is a 2o year old classmate and friend of mine who was excited to share about her camp’s urban legend.
I went to a camp called Lake of the Woods Camp for girls, I was a camper for 8 years, and went for 8 weeks every summer since I was 7.
So its just kind of a camp legend that we’ve always had. theres this story about Turtle man- the legend of turtle man, and theres this place called turtle bay at camp and its part of our lake at camp and its filled with sulfur and so it smells really really bad. So the urban legend goes that there was a counselor who was really mean to all the campers- he worked at Greenwood’s Camp for Boys, and so um the counselor was really mean, just not a nice person- beat the campers, was awful to them. He would smoke cigarettes in the cabin, and he was just so rude to them and he told them if you tell your parents who i am I’m going to kill you all or something like that because he was an ex military person. And he um one day the boys decided to pull a prank of him because they hated him so much- it was fourth of july and they decide to pull a prank on him. This was back when you could receive a bunch of packages and have packages with fireworks and they were just going to blow them up and the counselor found them and he said he would confiscate them. So he put them under his bed. Since it was fourth of july, all the counselors like to get drunk and so he came home that night and he was really drunk and was smoking a cigarette and he fell asleep with the cigarette in his hand and the fireworks went off and the counselor ran into turtle bay and he was never seen again- and the myth is that he comes back every fourth of july to haunt the campers.
I first heard it my first year at camp from older girl campers, and now even though they don’t allow ghost stories everyone still knows about it.
ANALYSIS:
I like this piece specifically because it really shows how strong a piece of folklore can be. As the informant mentioned, the camp banned ghost stories, presumably because the age range of kids in the camp is quite large. Even so, the informant mentioned that everyone knows the story anyways and it will continue to be passed down.

Dartmouth Night

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/15/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is a 20 year old student who is currently studying at Dartmouth. He recounts his experience with this initiation tradition and how it made him already feel a part of something.

  • So during homecoming weekend at Dartmouth, there is a Dartmouth tradition that tons of alumni come back to campus and are welcomed back into the frats- and each class builds its own bonfire structure, so my class, being a freshman would be 19, and the number of the year you graduate is placed on the top of the structure ( the structure is made out of wood and it is 50 feet high) I didn’t personally participate in making it but my class did. Then on the night of the bonfire, the entire freshman class starts at one dorm and moves through the campus picking up other freshman from each dorm building and eventually making their way to the green, which is where the bonfire getting ready to be lit. Then the freshman are welcomed into an inner circle around which all the other classes and alumni are standing and chanting. The bonfire is lit by select freshman, those who built it, and the freshman class begins to run around the bonfire the number of laps of their graduating year- meanwhile, all the surrounding upper-classmen heckle the freshman to run across the inner circle and touch the fire (which is completely guarded by Hanover police and security because its technically considered trespassing). Eventually, someone finally breaks free of the lap running and tries to touch the fire instigating others to do the same. Literally the police tackle people. This has been a tradition for a really long time, President William Jewett Tucker introduced the ceremony of Dartmouth Night in 1895
  • me: so what is the significance of touching the fire?
  • If you are caught then you are brought to the police station and the understanding is that an alumni will bail you out of jail, but if you’re not caught, you are seen as a legend from your fellow classmates and the older kids.
  • I first heard about this tradition from a sophomore, who touched the fire himself, and was clearly still prideful of that, it was within the first couple of weeks of school.
  • I actually did an interview about this in the school paper, but touching the fire for me provided the best welcome possible into dartmouth and solidified the fact that this is a good place for me.

ANALYSIS:

I think that initiations can be really important for anyone in-group. In my opinion they immediately create a sense of community and a feeling of belonging which is so important for a group to stay strong and connected.