Nigerian Masquerades

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: He's from Minnesota but he's going to school here in LA. His parents are from Nigeria but he was born here.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English

Description: “In Nigeria a masquerade is basically, so here we have masquerades but they’re lie people in suits to represent what the masquerade looks like. And So like there’s these spirits that embody this certain emotion or spiritual energy or whatever. When you look at the mask it’ll be a mask and a bunch of colored rafia and like pieces of wooden jewelry. Depending on the different mask they may carry a fan or a machete or something. But like in Nigeria all of your parents would tell us stories about masquerades but that were like legitimate spirits not like a dude in a suit but people who would be around the masquerade when it was coming through villages dancing were people who believe in the masquerade’s power like and culturally you could not get close to a masquerade you’re not allowed to but nobody really wants to unless you’re like following the masquerade. Cause that’s some scary shit. My mom told me about this one that she saw when she was a little girl. First of all, you’re only supposed to watch from a distance like you can’t get close or anything like that unless you’re like a man who’s authorized to be next to the masquerade or something like that. I wouldn’t say it’s like a priest. It’s just like men dancing and chanting. It’s just a patron of that spiritual culture. Somebody who’s like apart of it. But you have to be a man and you have to be old enough. You can’t just be like a teen boy or a woman. And so what she was telling me about this one and all these men were dancing around the masquerade you know like shouting and dancing or whatever. And the masquerade was like, it looked like it was a person under a white sheet. Just walking and dancing along, Doing these weird like movements. And then instantaneously it would fall flat like a sheet. And then continue moving. And then reform. And then fall flat. And this is the thing like this is rural Nigeria like it’s like a rural town in America so just like low tech. They don’t have the technology of special effects to make this construct like inflate and deflate. Exactly they just can’t do that. So, like the fact of the matter is – well I can’t even say fact because I haven’t seen it but it’s something that our parents do not mess around with. It’s like a serious thing. So when she saw this thing it like blew her mind because like oh my god this is real. You know? And like that’s Masquerades.  They’re not all like they’ll be one form and then they’ll lose form the next . Some are just like beast or whatever. But always there’s like a chant or a dance that’s like associated with each masquerade.”

2. This piece was very personal to my friend. He’s spoken several times about how his mom doesn’t joke around with this stuff. He said that his family talks about festivals like these all the time. That’s how he found out about it.

3. I went into his dorm room and asked him to tell me some Nigerian folklore. He got really excited and then told me this one. His eyes got really big and he started talking fast.

4. There’s so much content to digest with this one. First of all, he has the first hand account of his mother that’s really fascinating. Not only does he have a cultural idea that he can take with him everywhere he goes, but he has a first hand account from one of the  most trusted people in his life to believe in. This post give great insight into the Nigerian value and fear of spirits as well. They consider it a great honor to be able

Korean Cinderella

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He lives here in LA for school but is from South Korea.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Description: There’s uh Korean cinderella. There is konju patsi. Which is essentially Korean’s cinderella except with a darker ending. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it but if I remember correctly uh Cinderella kills her evil sisters and the mother and gets them killed in the end. For the most part it’s exactly the same as cinderella. It’s a children’s story so it doesn’t say where she came from. Also, it wasn’t a shoe it was something else. I can’t remember what no cause it’s been awhile since i’ve read it or heard it cause you don’t really hear it after you’re little. I have to look over it to remember the exact details. Yeah so essentially she is turned into a noble lady by the fairy godmother. It’s been like ten years. She goes to this festival as a noble and meets the other noble who in the western version is the prince. Usually not a lot of Korean stories involved the king or prince or whatever. It’s probably because there were a lot more nobles and so the stories were a lot more believable. This is just purely speculation but yeah. It wasn’t a glass slipper. It was… if it was a shoe it was a traditional Korean shoe that you wear with some… well Korean traditional clothes are called Hanbok. Yeah and so it’s probably the shoe which is called Chip Shin. The normal people just wear ones made out of straw but the rich ware ones made out of silk or something like that. So, yeah. I believe she leaves her shoe. The noble searches the entire village for her. She ends up killing her step sisters in revenge for being so cruel to her. But if you think about it the original European one’s pretty dark too so…. Cause in the original one if I remember correctly they cut off the step sister’s toe to make it fit. Or no there’s no fairy godmother there were just a bunch of animals. Yeah… and then oh wait never mind. Cinderella dies (he laughs). Her rival pushes her into a lake and then drowns her and then takes her clothes to make herself look like her. It’s like a relative on her mom’s side. Yeah….”

2. He mentioned that he hadn’t heard this since he was a child. It seems like it’s a story that is generally told orally but is also written up into colorful children’s books as well.

3. I walked into his room and asked him if he could tell me some Korean Folklore. He laughed right before he told me this one. It seems like he had a hard time remembering it since he hadn’t heard it in a while.

4. He mentioned repeatedly that it was different and similar to the western version and even went to the extent of mentioning that the western one was the original. It’s possible that it is, but his comment lends a light into his mindset of Western and Eastern thought. He’s almost viewing Western thought as superior to Eastern. This rendition of Cinderella doesn’t end up turning out with a happy ending. It contains some pessimistic ideas whereas other renditions of the story end with Cinderella marrying the prince, this one seems to contain a much more serious final tone.

It can also be found in recorded literature: Climo, Shirley, and Ruth Heller. The Korean Cinderella. New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1993. Print.

First Korea

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He lives here in LA but is from South Korea.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Description: The first king essentially. The first Korean kingdom’s king. Which would eventually as time passes get slit into a lot of different kingdoms which they slowly die off and the kingdom becomes Koreo. But yeah. Technically the first Korean King Dangun Wanggeom would be the Legend. Um The myth associated that he’s the son of a god and he is given the land by his father to rule over and he… crap… it’s kinda weird… but he chooses… now that I’m saying it it sounds really weird. He comes down and finds a bear and a tiger and tells them that if they can live in a cave for i think forty days… or something like that… on only onions and stuff then they’ll make them human. The tiger runs off all bitter eventually. The bear and the tiger try it. The tiger just runs off. And the bear turns into a woman. That prince, technically god’s son, marries the bear and founds the first Korean country with treasures from his dad. A sword a mirror and…. I can’t remember what the last thing was. He came down with a sword a mirror and something else. Yeah. Wait. Yeah. He’s technically the found of the first Korean country essentially. In old Korean times there were a lot of Korean gods. There’s the god of the mountain and the god of the earth so. One of the god’s son. It just says he’s the son of one of the chief gods essentially. There’s not a specific set of gods in tradition. At least traditionally.

2. This piece illustrates the ideas associated with the founding of Korea. This appears to be taught more by word of mouth than by actual school teaching, but it is possible that it would be used in a history class studying the legends of the area.

3. I went into his dorm room and asked him if he had any good Korean folklore for me and this was the first one that he told me. Apparently it is one of particular Renown.

4. This piece takes into account Korea’s belief in the humanity of animals. They, very much like the native americans seemed to believe that humans were not the only ones with souls. What’s fascinating about this particular story is that it highlights that every animal essentially wants to become a human. The bear will do anything to become human. The tiger on the other hand flakes out and doesn’t get this great honor. It also speaks a lot about Koreans view on determination and perseverance.

Korean Wedding

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He goes to school here in LA but is from South Korea.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Description: “This is based on what my parents did, cause they did partly western and partly eastern. The ceremony was held the normal way but the proposal was… the ceremony was held the western way… cause how long was it? It was like 1990 or something. So yeah. But the proposal was actually kind of traditional style in the sense that uh. So when you ask the daughter’s hand in marriage you don’t do it. Your friend does. As with most societies Korea was very patriarchal. So the son comes and then the father has to kinda sell his daughter essentially and the dad has to act like he needs to be paid a lot or something like that. And so there’s this back and forth going on between who is essentially the best man and the dad going like I’ll pay you this much and then the dad saying nah, nah. It just goes back and forth. And then.. Oh wait no… how much the… oh wait no… how much the husband’s family will by the daughter for. That was it. My bad. Like the father of the wife would go oh she’s worth this much. And the best man would go nah nah that’s waaaay too much. And then while that’s going on the to be husband is hiding back in the background watching. Well he’s not supposed to see but… you always kind of do that. Apparently that’s what my dad did. He kinda saw from the background. I heard this pretty recently too so I was pretty surprised. People don’t really do that anymore. They’re more western. And then eventually the son shows up with the mount and then they take the wife and they just get married. There’s a ceremony. I guess in Korean weddings they still dress up in traditional clothes and they sit together in like this mini altar kind of things. They just kind of eat and then take photos. But in the past it would be like that the entire time. There’d be celebration depending on how wealthy you are. If you’re rich it’d be pretty big, if you’re a commoner probably not as big. But, eh. The traditional clothing is hanbok. It’s like a dress for the most part. The guy also wears hanbok. It’s just traditional clothes. There’s normal ones and then there’s fancy ones. Although nowadays people only wear the fancy ones. Though, normal clothes make more sense. But it’s actually surprisingly comfortable it’s just a lot of layers. I’ve worn one as a kid before during special holidays. There’s winter ones and summer ones. The summer ones are very thin… like pretty thin. The winter ones are thicker and there are multiple layers.”

2. My friend got this story from listening to his parents proposal story. They experienced this tradition on a first hand account and then told him about the practice as he was growing up.

3. I walked into his dorm room and asked him if he could tell me some Korean folklore. He had so much and was able to dish it out really quickly.

4. There’s a lot of things you can take away from this. It’s easy to tell that these traditions find themselves in a more patriarchal system. In America, it would be considered outrageous if you had to pay for your bride. Still, on the other hand, many other cultures still do this as well. It’s a fairly common practice in other cultures. Still, there are specifics here that make this very Korean. First of all, the fact that you just find a friend to go barter for a wife for you is interesting. This gives insight into Korea’s belief system on trust. They obviously keep their friends close and give them power to influence their lives and their pocketbooks.

The Sparrow’s Gourd

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He goes to school here at USC in LA but is from South Korea.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Description: “There is the story of dobu hours… is that how you pronounce it? I forgot, crap. Crap I forgot what the other one was called. Oh, Dorobou Hour Bru. That was it. So Dorbu was, crap. Who was who? Well one of them is poor and one of them is rich and the poor works for the poor one except the rich one treats the poor one really baddy. And the poor one goes out to the woods to chop some wood with his copper axe and he… wait no… no that wasn’t it. No that’s a different story. Well it’s still about this poor man. So a sparrow hurts its wings and kinda lands near his house or something like that. So the poor man who is kind, treats the bird out of his kindness and says thank you and promises to give him something in return. A few days later he comes back with a gourd seed and he tells the poor man to plant it. And he’s like, the poor man is like, ok fine I’ll plant the seed. He plants it, he lets it grow and the gourd got MASSIVE. In the legend it’s as big as he is. And when it matured he cracked it open and there’s like jewels and treasures. But there’s only like three or four gourds there. They all had something very specific in them. I only remember one had money, like A LOT of money. And then so the rich one got jealous and so he intentionally broke a sparrow’s wing and the fixed it so that he could also get a gourd seed from it. Except because he intentionally broke the wing and then fixed it that’s not right. And that’s not nice. And since it’s a children’s folktale nice things don’t get you anywhere. And so the gourd side instead of having gold or jewels it has evil spirits. And then he runs out of the neighborhood screaming. Yeah.”

2. This story represents a clear ethical value held by the Chinese people. They value honesty and tell these tales to their children to impart that characteristic to the generations to come.

3. I walked into his dorm room and asked him if he could tell me some folklore. He very happily said sure and shared this story with me.

4. You can definitely see this story trending throughout other cultures as well. I’ve even heard them over here in the U.S. They impart a love for the broken and a sympathy for the lower class. At this point, it’s safe to conclude that it was the poor class that ended up spreading this tale the most. There would be no reason for the rich class to spread a tale that puts them in a bad light. Also, this variation of the tale tells us that the people spreading this story were heavily involved with gourds.