El Caballo Dorado

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 22
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-22-2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background: Informant is a 22 year old first generation Mexican American.

Main Piece:

Interviewer: Are there any popular traditions your family has for parties?

Informant: Well for almost every party, they play this song called El Payaso del Rodeo by El Caballo Dorado. It is a song where the same dance moves are repeated, you start by stomping your foot, and when the music starts you dance to the left, then dance backwards, then forward and back again, you essentially turn after the last time you dance backwards to face different directions. This song is a staple at most parties, but especially at quinceneras.

Context: Interview with a family friend, asking about any family traditions.

Thoughts: I have heard of el caballo dorado, but I was not aware that it was not the name of the song. I always called the song and the dance el caballo dorado. It is interesting to know that some people know the actual facts of the song. Meanwhile others, like myself only know what we always been told. The caballo dorado is a fun dance, and really gets people on the dance floor.

El bolo

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 22
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-22-2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background: Informant is a 22 year old first generation Mexican American

Main Piece:

Interviewer: Does your family have any traditions for family gatherings?

Informant: When we have a baptism, we usually have two piñatas. One is regular and filled with candy. But the second one is called el bolo. The second piñata is filled with money. Usually it is coins, but if the parents and godparents are nice it would be dollar bills. I think it is rare when its dollar bills though. Kids love running around trying to catch the coins, even when they get hit in the head they are determined to continue catching money. It is always fun.

Context: Interview with a family friend about family traditions.

Thoughts: I think the idea of one piñata is already fun. So I can only imagine having another one filled with money. I think I have heard of something similar to el bolo, but instead of money or candy, it is filled with toys. I think its interesting to see the creative ways people try to entertain their kids at parties.

Dia del Niño

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 22
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-22-2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background: Informant is a 22 year old first generation Mexican American.

Main Piece:

Interviewer: Are there any special holidays or traditions that you celebrate with your family?

Informant: There is a holiday called Dia del niño which is celebrated on April 30th in Mexico. We don’t live in Mexico but we still celebrate in on April 30th. The day is to celebrate kids. Parents shower their kids with gifts on this day, sometimes they are small or sometimes they are big, but either way they try to make the day special somehow. My parents usually make us a special dinner.

Context: Interview with a family friend about special holiday traditions.

Thoughts: I always heard of Dia del Niño, but only as being celebrated in Mexico. I didn’t know people celebrated it here in the United States. I know it is a big celebration in Mexico, they have parades and festivals so I guess it makes senes that it is a more calmer celebration here.

Slide

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Residence: California
Performance Date: 3-27-2020
Primary Language: English

Background: Informant is a 22 year old male who has lived in California his whole life.

Main Piece:

Interviewer: Did you play any hand games that were not based off of a musical riddle?

Informant: Yes, I remember playing a hand game called Slide. Well at least thats what we called it in school.

Interviewer: How do you play slide?

Informant: Slide is a game where you slide hands with whoever your playing with and then you clap, then clap your left hand to their right and and then your right hand to their left hand. You then clap again and then using your backsides of your hands clap against the backsides of their hands. You also count when you clap, so if you are at 2 then you clap each hand twice before clapping the backsides. You also clap the backsides the same amount of times as the number you’ve counted up to. It seems really easy but when you go at a fast pace it gets really hard.

Interviewer: How do you win?

Informant: Whoever messes up first loses.

Context: Interview with a family member, asking him about any childhood games he played with friends or family.

Thoughts: It is interesting to see how clapping can be such a fun game for kids. It is funny that it is also competitive. I think the game Slide has a proper name. I find it fascinating that the game requires you to multi-task, counting and clapping. Kids get really creative with games.

Legend of Slender Man

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: School
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/30/2020
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

Main piece: 

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant and interviewer. 

Informant: A guy who supposedly lives in the woods and he goes…  umm for young teenagers and kids. And it has it that he gets these kids to basically collect their faces since he doesn’t have one. And lets see… umm… where was I at? 

Interviewer: You said that he collects their faces since he doest have one.

Informant: Oh ok and he does it because he believes that he’ll get a face but he doesn’t. 

Interviewer: And does he get boys only or girls only? Or how does it work? Who does he kill? 

Informant: Well we don’t know. He just makes them go missing. They disappear but it’s random. 

Interviewer: Anything else about him? 

Informant: Well he’s known to have a black suit and a white face and octopus-like tentacles… you know like the arms I’m talking about. 

Background: My sister was born in LA and she goes to school in Downey. She knows this story from a couple years ago when she was talking to a friend about scary stories. She also watched the Slender Man film that came out in 2019. 

Context: We were in my room and I asked her if she can tell me any scary stories like myths and legends and gave her La llorona as an example. She proceeded with the legend of Slender Man. 

Thoughts: I’ve heard the story of Slender Man. I know there’s a mobile game about him and a film that came out. I’m personally into scary stuff so I know the legend. As to whether it is true or not, I believe it’s not true. It doesn’t make too much sense to me. I don’t find it plausible but it’s a figure I know relatively well, or at least I can tell his story, and can be frightening with the right setting. 

Citation: For more information about Slender Man, check out the following source

White, Sylvain “Slender Man” film (Fall 2018).