Tag Archives: festival

The Shakespeare Festival

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ashland, Oregon
Performance Date: 4/23/18
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Context & Analysis

The subject is a theater major at USC and is very proud of her hometown of Ashland for hosting one of the most highly regarded theater festivals in the country. She described to me a lot of the inside details of the festival and elaborated on the different theaters and plays that have been featured. It’s clear from her narrative that she is extremely passionate and knowledgeable about the subject and the town itself, and it was interesting to hear the information from someone who is so involved in both aspects of the festival.

Main Piece

“Ok, so the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional theater company—one of the most highly regarded theater companies on the west coast and in the US—like really spectacular—and it runs usually from February to November—it has three theaters. They do usually 12 plays between the three [theaters]. The one that has usually the most plays in it per season is usually the Angus Bomer Theater and they do all sorts of plays in there. They’ve done musicals, they do Shakespeare, they do new works in there, it’s just, um, whatever fits the space best…and then there’s the Elizabethan which is, like, the oldest theater there and that is their outdoor theater and they usually do between, like, three to four plays in there. Usually Shakespeare and a musical. I know this season it’s Oklahoma [the play]. But I’ve seen Richard III in there, Hamlet in there, it’s really nice but also it gets really cold. And then there’s the Thomas Theater which is, like, their new kind of ‘black box’ style theater where they can switch up the seating however they want to do it. They’ve done some Shakespeares in there—like last season they did Henry IV part one and part two. It’s just meant for smaller audiences. It brings tourists from like all around the world, sustains the economy of our town and is a really really good place for diversity. They’re really big on, like, being inclusive and diverse. In fact, their production of Oklahoma this year has same-sex couples and it should be really good! They’re very big on not only producing works by authors of color but also making sure people of color are cast and are on all of their teams.”

Visiting Spirits and Dead Babies

Nationality: American
Age: 61
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Southern California
Performance Date: March 24, 2018
Primary Language: English

After college, my mom lived in Japan 7 years. She taught English to get by and apprenticed as a potter to gain experience. Growing up, she told me tons and tons of stories from her time there. She’d speak fondly of their unusual ceremonies and traditions, and how, by the end of it, her host families said she was so in tune with the culture, that if they closed their eyes, they couldn’t tell she was a foreigner.

Driving home from lunch one sunny afternoon, I ask her and my dad if they have any stories about the inexplicable that I could use for my folklore project. My mom starts:

“In Japan, it’s a uh … a worshipping of dead ancestors day in August, Oh-Bon. They put out the dead people’s – the dead grandpa, the dead grandma, they put out their favorite food, and they put out chopsticks, and they will, you know, burn their favorite incense and they do all this so the dead can come and visit. They do this in their home. Every year, in August. It’s always in August. So it’s like Halloween, except it’s got a religious significance. It’s when the dead come back. They have festivals in town too, Oh-Bon-Matsi.

“It was a festival for dead children. And there was a river running through the town. Not dead babies but dead children. And, they… But. You know lanterns with lights in them? They’d float these lanterns with lights in them down the river and it was just gorgeous. Each lantern represented a dead child and they had this beautiful eerie music, just vocalizations for the occasion. Traditional Japanese instruments too. And incense burning. It was a very volcanic, sort of lunarscape in the far north. I can’t remember the name of the… the far north of Honshu. So you can look up ‘dead baby festival Honshu’ and figure it out.”

This is a very comforting view of the afterlife. It’s as if death is not the end, but merely a move to a different city. Growing up, she imparted this same sense of the dead on me. She’d always tell me not to fear death or the presence of ghosts, but to welcome them, as they were once in our shoes and only wanted to visit. The dead baby festival further illustrates their benevolent view of death. In America, when a child dies, we mourn and often times never speak of it. In Japan, it is tragic, however they still take time to celebrate their lives. No matter if that life was only for an instant.

 

Holi, India

Nationality: Indian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/24/18
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English

This story was collected from a friend, who was born and raised in New Delhi, India and is 20 years old. She told me about a family tradition surrounding Holi, the festival of colors celebrated in India.

 

The festival is usually celebrated it in the beginning of march. The night before the big day of Holi, there is a smaller festival called Holika Dahan. There was a kind in Hindu mythology character, Hiranyakashyap, who was so arrogant and self-centered that he wanted to be the only one worshiped by his kingdom, but his son, Prahlad, continued to worship lord Vishnu (one of the 3 gods in Hindu triumvirate) who is believed to be responsible for the upkeep of the universe. To teach the son a lesson, the king’s sister, Holika, tricks him into sitting on a pyre with her. Holika wore a fire resistant dress and hoped that Prahlad would die while she survived but as fate had it, the opposite happened. So for this festival, all the neighbors go to the common temple and they have and get a piece of the bonfire to put in their temples at home to commemorate the victory of evil over good no matter what the odds are.

 

She always looked forward to this because her mother, grandmother, grandfather, little brother and her would always go to the temple together to bring this piece of burning wood and she would get to pick it out of the fire. As a kid, that was really a rush, and it became one of her favorite family traditions.

 

I had heard about Holi before, and even been to Holi-themed events, but I had never heard about the story behind it or the temple ritual my friend described. I think it is a very nice way to bring families together and remind them of their religious backgrounds.

Winchester Rubber Duckie Festival

Nationality: Venezuelan American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: usc
Performance Date: april 17, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

What is being performed?
TA: I’m from Winchester, Massachusetts which is like 30 minutes from Boston and every year
we have a Rubber Duckie Festival that the whole town comes to.
AA: What’s the rubber duckie festival?
TA: I don’t even really know. But I’ve been going my whole life. Basically, though, it happens
every summer and every kid brings a rubber duckie and a crane drops all the rubber duckies
into the river and they race. The duckie that makes it to the end gets a cash prize but it’s really
hard and completely dependent on luck.
AA: What are you celebrating?
TA: It’s about summer. I’m not exactly sure if other places do this but the rubber duckies are
supposed to just be symbols of happiness.

Why do they know or like this piece? where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to
them?
AA: When did you first discover this festival?
TA: When I was a little kid my parents took me. And then I kept coming back because my dance
class would always perform.
AA: Do you like the festival?
TA: When I was a kid it was super fun because I would want my duck to win but now it’s just a
time for me to catch up with my friends and do something for Winchester. For my incredibly
small town, it means the world.
Context of the performance- where do you perform it? History?
The Winchester Rubber Duckie Festival happens annually in June. It brings the entire
community out, features youth performers, and has live music. It is a way for Winchester to be
united for a day.

Reflection
I have never heard of this festival before but think it’s cool and wish my town did something like
that. Having the racing of the rubber duckies is a fun way to get even the littlest children
involved. I think this is something that only works super well in small towns like Winchester but
is a good idea in theory for all towns.

The Governors Ball Music Festival

Nationality: Polish American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: NYC, USA
Performance Date: 4/6/18
Primary Language: English

‘My friend Rachel first told me about this music festival. She told me about how her sister had been to several festivals and told her to go experience a music festival. Music festivals our way to bond with friends and having experience of listening to so many musicians over the course of 1 to 5 days and even longer. These festivals in food live music of all sorts, however their specialties amongst different festivals. Every festival has food and beverage lineups, musical lineup, special festival vendors such as flower crowns and sponsored booths by big companies. I have found it so fun To experience festivals with my friends because we all enjoy the same music and get to experience it live with thousands of other people. There are so many different elements to a festival including learning music before (if you want to). Our first music festival was the Governor’s Ball music festival in New York City, our hometown. We wanted to go to a festival that was close to home in case anything were to happen and also because we love the musicians playing. We realized upon arriving that it was a festival where pictures were being taken left and right, and we got to experience the festival life. Festival life usually entails consuming illegal substances and reminiscing about the Woodstock days. While there are many more regulations at festivals nowadays, it still was done by most festival goers. There festivals all over the world that pertain to many different events, such as Oktoberfest in Germany and the flying lantern Festival is in Asia. In America there is a huge interest in music festival is because of the experience link to it. While the Governors Ball is one of the most popular festivals to attend, There are so many other festivals to experience in the future.

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