Wish Bone

Background:

The informant is one of my close friends who I remembered telling me about this tradition around 10 years ago when we were kids. He practiced this tradition every thanksgiving with his family after carving their thanksgiving turkey. I reached out to the informant to get some more insight and background on the tradition and hear from him about the significance it holds to him and his family.

Main Piece:

The tradition involves removing the ‘wish bone’ of the thanksgiving turkey after carving it on thanksgiving. They then set the wishbone out to dry for a few days. The bone is in sort of a Y shape. After the bone dries, two people wish for something they want to happen and then stand across from one another. The bone is then grabbed on each handle of the Y shape by those who made their wish. The two participants then pull the bone apart, and whoever ends up with the longer end of the wishbone is said to have their wish come true.

Context:

The informant learned this tradition from his parents and would practice it every thanksgiving with his older brother. It was one of the most meaningful and exciting parts of Thanksgiving for the informant and something he looked forward to every year. He is a Caucasian male of protestant faith and stated that his parents had taught him the tradition and learned it from their parents. He stated that his parents had both been practicing it with their respective families every year since they were children.

Interpretation:

This tradition immediately made me think of a trope that goes “How did I end up with the short end of the stick”. In this trope, the person who got the short end of the stick had something unfortunate happen to them or had to do something unpleasant. This saying implies that the person who did not end up with “the short end of the stick” must have been lucky or fortunate. In this wishbone tradition surrounding thanksgiving, it takes this trope to a literal level in which two people literally break apart a bone and one person ends up with a long end, and a short end. Similar to the “Short end of the stick” trope, this tradition involves the person ending up with the long end of the bone and getting their wish granted, while the other would be left with a short end of a bone.

Eat Your Crusts

Main Piece:

Collector: “So tell me about this food-related hair on your chest belief?”

Informant: “So my grandfather would always tell me stories about certain foods and why I should eat them. One, in particular, was the crusts on my bread. I never particularly cared for them, but he insisted that I eat all of them so that I could grow up big and strong. My grandpa would always tell ‘Eat your crusts, it will put hair on your chest!’. When I got a little older, I asked him about this and he told me that he had learned this from his grandfather when he was little, or my great-great-grandfather. He believed that eating bread crusts was a way to grow strong and manly, so he insisted that I eat all of them every time I was at my grandparents’ house.”

Background:

The informant learned this tradition from his grandfather and is something he grew up believing until he was in his twenties. His grandparents were born in France and immigrated to Montreal Canada when they were kids. They later moved to the United States in Vermont near the Canadian border. The informant explained that this was a widely held belief among all of his extended family on his mother’s side of his family and the main memory of tradition among his grandparents.

Interpretation:

This one is unique. In the present day, it does not make much sense for someone to think that eating crusts of bread would make someone grow hair on their chest. However, I feel like this may have roots in an older time of society. As a passive bearer of this lore, it makes me think about a time when masculinity was at the forefront of our society, and therefore being more masculine was something that everyone sought. So, from a behavioral perspective, it makes sense that lore from long ago would be used to influence a child to do certain things so that they could achieve the ‘positive’ outcome of being more masculine. As it relates to the bread crusts in this folklore, I feel like maybe it has roots in a time when food was scarcer and it was a way for families to not waste food by ensuring that their children ate all of their meals.

The Good Samaritan

JW:This is a story of the good Samaritan. So it goes, a Jewish man was riding to another town on a horse when a robber beat and robbed him. Two different men rode by him and did not help him and left him there to die. But, a Samaritan rode by him and helped. Jews and Samaritans do not get along but the Samaritan still helped the Jewish man. And that is the story of the good Samaritan.

Background:The informant is a 19 year-old Catholic woman who has been attending Catholic since she was five years old for eleven years. The informant appreciates this peace because it gives her a more positive outlook on life and inspired to continue to be a good person everyday. The informant learned it from her Catholic school teacher when she was a young child, approximately six years of age; to this day she continues to remember and share this story from her childhood. 

Context:The informant verbally performed the story to me at the The Ronald Tutor Center on the main USC campus. The context of the piece is the informants Catholic school performed by the informants teachers throughout the years. The informant provided this performance as the first piece of folklore that came to their mind when we began our conversation. 

My Reflection: This is a biblical myth as it relays lessons/creation stories and has sacred truth to the person that is introducing the story. stories from this genre act usually as a way to teach a lesson, fundamental truths or major themes of the religion through the biblical figures that are sometimes repeated throughout other biblical folklore. This example does align with the genre’s purpose as the story’s plot leaves the reader with a lesson of equality and kindness exemplified by the action of the Samaritan who despite the societal differences and conflict betweens the Jews and the Samaritans acted in compassion and humanity. The informant identifies as Catholic and is also African American and Japanese. The performance chosen and shared conveys their identity by highlighting how biblical lessons and stories stayed significant to them years after originally being told the story. It also shows how they apply these fundamental truths to their own life and what they value. The story also communicated the shared values and  viewpoints of the folklore group as a whole, although others in the group may apply the lesson to different aspects of their life the main message remains consistent. For those who may have attended Catholic school and no longer identify with the religion and/or had negative experiences with the religion the story may not reflect the more positive lesson of the plot but may highlight the hypocrisy that tends to come with religious rhetoric. Although the lesson in the story is rooted in religion I think that one of the reasons that the story continues to be passed down aside from shared religious beliefs is the universality of the lesson as most will agree that kindness, compassion and equality should be taught and valued.

With laughter and tears come horns

NR:My parents would always tell me that if you laugh after your cry you would grow horns on your butt. So, growing up this motivated me to try and not cry and be sad because I had a fear of growing horns.

Me: interesting I’ve never heard this story do you know where they heard it from?

NR: They heard it from their parents back home in Korea when they were kids.

  1. Background: The informant talked about how it’s comedic because as a child you really believe it’s possible because you believe anything your parents tell you. Now grown up you remember being told that and all you can do is laugh. The informant also said they first heard it from their parents when they were four and reminded of it throughout their childhood. It’s something the informant will always remember because it did make them scared of growing horns but it’s funny now that it’s something they would joke about with future children. 
  2. Context: The informant verbally performed the story to me at Leavey Library.

The informant was told this story by their Korean parents as a child. The informant was specifically told it when they cried. 

  1. This performance is a folk belief/superstition which acts as a way to teach a lesson or sway the audience’s behavior. This particular example is trying to promote not crying and in a sense not being sad by presenting a scary outcome of growing horns out of your body as the folklore belief and story. The informant is a part of the folk group of Korean children who tend to hear this story (Another person who is Korean was present during the performance and also remembered the story from childhood). This performance being remembered and now passed forward reflects the informant’s identity by highlighting the unique Korean folklore that came from their parents, which came from their parents and so on. Also, the lessons taught in the text reflects the cultural beliefs and values surrounding emotion as well as storytelling which exemplifies the informants identity in how they were raised and how they continue to remember what was taught to them. I think other people in the same folk group could have interpreted this text in different ways. For example this informant found it scary growing up but now looks back at it with a sense of comedy but someone else may have never believed it and so never felt fearful when originally told it. I think the meaning of the folklore is impacted by the age of the audience and who the informant is for example I did not feel fearful of the story when I first heard it likely because of my age but would see how if the informant were my parent and I was a child it could cause genuine fear and belief in the lesson being taught. 

The rats and nails

CK: When I was younger my uncle would tell me a story that if rats ate your toenails or fingernails they would then transform into human clones of me.

Me: Wow, that’s really interesting. Do you know the meaning behind it or the message?

CK: It means no matter how insignificant the part of your body is you should take care of it, every part of your body matters.

  1. Background: The informant always thought it was a scary story so it stuck with them. They learned it from their uncle at a young age and continuously heard it throughout their childhood. It reminds the informant to take care of themselves and value their body.
  2. Context: Informants performed the folktale at the Ronald Tutor Center at the USC main campus. Korean folktale told by the informant’s uncle in their childhood while in Korea. 
  3. The performance is an example of a folk fable as it is a short story that teaches a lesson involving animals possessing human characteristics in the plot. The teller is a part of the Korean folk group as well as their personal family folk group which is reflected in this story as it was told while growing up in Korea by the informant’s uncle. I think because of the context of the story being usually told to children by adult figures in their life in order to teach a lesson of cleanliness and the care of one’s body that its impact and meaning both within the folk group and outside of the folk group would remain fairly consistent. The main message is conveyed clearly and concisely through the short description and also does so by employing some scare tactics with the use of rodents becoming your clone. It’s interesting to me that the use of a scary fable was used to teach a lesson of self care and I can see how this would be impactful to especially children folk groups who are told this at a young age. The performance highlights cultural values as well such as the way we present ourselves to society especially in physical appearance.