Tag Archives: legend

Oaxacan Legend

TEXT: “Una vez, en mi pueblo, había una niña bonita y joven. Tenia como dieciséis anos. Ella se enamoro de un hombre muy viejo. El hombre tenia como cincuenta y estaba todo gastado por la vida. Todos en el pueblo le dijeron que no salga con el pero ella deicidio vivir con el. Despise de un tiempo, la niña se empezó a very muy vieja. Le salieron arrugas y su pelo se hizo feo y seco. Empiezo a actuar amargada y cansada. A cambio, el hombre salía y cada día se veía mejor. Empiezo a caminar mas derecho, su piel resaltaba y su pelo se oscurezco. Tenia mas humor y actuaba mas joven.”

INFORMANT DESCRIPTION:

CONTEXT: Female, 42, Oaxacan

ANALYSIS: This woman is from a pueblo in Oaxaca. We were discussing a relationship between a woman and man with a very large age gap. She then told me this myth. I asked about the origin and validity and discovered it was a myth that is told to girls when they want to date older men. It is used to discourage inappropriate relationships but also to point out the psychological occurrence of chameleonizing within a relationship. She said her aunt told this to her when she was young and an older man was courting her in her village. It worked and she decided not to go out with him.

TRANSLATION: “Once, in my village, there was a pretty and young girl. She was about sixteen years old. She fell in love with a very old man. The man was about fifty and was all worn out by life. Everyone in town told her not to go out with him but she decided to live with him. After a while, the girl started to get very very old. She got wrinkles and her hair became ugly and dry. She start to act bitter and tired. In return, the man went out and looked better every day. He began to walk more straight, his skin stood out and his hair darkened. He had more humor and acted younger.”

THOUGHTS: I think this myth obviously very dated and I can see the tactics used to instill fear or a bias around taboo relationships. While I think we now live in a modern world where nothing is as rigid and there is room for experimentation I do understand the psychological aspect portrayed here and can see why its use would be employed.

Aztec Legend-Mexican Flag Origin

TEXT: “El pueblo Azteca recibió un mensaje de uno de sus dioses, Huitzilopochtli, que les dijo que se asentaran en las tierras donde encontraran una águila en un islote, sobre un nopal comiéndose una víbora.”

INFORMANT DESCRIPTION: Male, 58, Mexican

CONTEXT: This Aztec legend is incredibly integral to Mexican culture. The man told me this is something everyone knows. It is so important to the foundation of the Mexican people and state. He says it is the essence of what is Mexican even without the Aztec roots. He knew about this legend his whole life, but believes he learned it from his parents and then again in school growing up as a young boy. It is symbolic of Mexican heritage and it is what was incorporated into the creation of the Mexican flag. The flag depicts the exact setting. He says everything is symbolic, the cactus that everyone eats in Mexico, the eagle as a powerful bird and a symbol of strength, He says it is a very nationalistic emblem and it is as symbolic and important as the Queen of England he says. It is even on the coin.

TRANSLATION: The Aztec people received a message from one of their gods, Huitzilopochtli, telling them that they need to settle in the lands where they come across or find an eagle atop a small island, sitting on top of a cactus eating a snake. 

THOUGHTS: I also grew up and learned this legend as a child. I always recognized it on the flag and the story was ingrained in my mind. It is such a symbol of nationalism and is rooted in culture. 

You will leave the world empty-handed – Arabic Story

Nationality: Palestinian
Age: 78
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Long Beach
Performance Date: 5/2/2021
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English, French, Italian

Context:

He heard this story in the 1960s from a family member of the man who passed away (منكو, pronounced “Mango” despite the “k” sound). The burial took place in Amman, Jordan, and said that “people talked about it for two decades but still old people in my age remember the story and talk about it till these days.” According to him, “it was not usual at all that deceased people have their body parts hanging out of the coffin.” He said that it is like a warning: no matter how much you have, money does nothing for you when you die. A peaceful life is therefore better than a life spent chasing money.

Text:

“A very rich man, multi-millionaire, knew that he was going to die soon because he was very sick. When he wanted to do his will, he asked that when they put him in the coffin, to put his hand out of the coffin, open and empty. He wanted people to see that he took nothing with him. He left empty-handed.”

Thoughts:

This story is profound because it acknowledges the temporary nature of material goods. Because there are stereotypes about Arab parents wanting their children to be either engineers or doctors so that they can make a lot of money, this story feels like a counterbalance. Although it is not bad to make money, encouraged by the stereotype, the story warns people to not focus their life on getting money for the sake of being rich. If someone does not heed the story, they essentially wasted their life; what good will their riches do when they die? Additionally, because having body parts hanging outside the coffin was “not usual at all,” the man must have known this as well, and went against the norm in order to make his warning memorable. This story acknowledges the presence of greed in humanity, and encourages its listeners to value moderation.

Mud Hugs

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 04/26/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

What’s the story behind the tradition?

“I don’t know if this story is true, but every summer the oldest age group went on their long camping trip, overnight-thing. Then they would come back to camp, and for some reason, one year, the age group ended up …like… in an orange grove or some back area that was dusty, and then somehow water was involved and they accidentally got covered in mud, and then they ran into camp and started hugging everyone.”

What does the tradition look like now?

“It became a tradition, and now it’s very… everyone does it and gets completely covered in mud. There’s a dance, you make a dance and a chant, and you perform and then you go run and hug everyone and then you go shower. Once everyone is all nice and clean, we all put on while clothes and celebrate Shabbat [the Jewish Sabbath].”

Context:

My informant is my twin sister. She is Jewish, attended Los Angeles public school, and is currently a USC student. She went to a Jewish summer camp for multiple years. This information was collected during a family zoom call where we were checking in with each other. Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, is celebrated from Friday night to Saturday night every week.

Analysis:

I’m familiar with this tradition because I have participated in it, both as the person hugging and as the person receiving hugs. It’s the culmination of a week-long camping trip without showers, so getting covered in mud is a symbol of how dirty the participants feel. The layers of mud are so thick that the participants almost don’t look human. The dance and the chant give the participants a chance to celebrate themselves after a hard week. The hugs are a lot of fun because you get to cover a group of completely clean people in mud. After getting clean, all of the participants wear white to juxtapose how dirty they used to be. My mother attended this same summer camp in the 70s and she never observed this tradition. This means we can establish a terminus post quem and claim that this legend and tradition originated after the 70s.

La Mano Peluda

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 30
Occupation: Lead Associate of Operations
Residence: Laguna Niguel
Performance Date: April 19th, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

–Informant Info–
Nationality: United States of America
Age: 30
Occupation: Lead Associate of Operations, Chase Bank
Residence: Laguna Niguel, CA
Date of Performance/Collection: 4/19/2021
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): Spanish

Main Piece:

The following conversation is transcribed from a conversation between me (HS) and my co-worker/informant (MR).

MR: So La Mano Peluda translates to “hairy hand.” It’s basically an old legend that my parents used to scare me with when I did something that I wasn’t supposed to do, like not taking out the trash or doing chores. So I would literally crawl into a ball at night and make sure that my legs weren’t hanging out of the covers because I genuinely thought that this terrifying hand would come out from under my bed and drag me by my ankles out of my room to who knows where.

HR: Hahahaha. So how old were you when you heard this story?

MR: It went back to when I was probably like 5 or 6. Because I was in school already, and if I didn’t do my homework my mom would be like, “If you don’t do your homework La Mano Peluda is gonna come and get you!”

HR: And do you know where this legend came from?

MR: Well my mom got the tradition from her family in Mexico, but after you asked me about it I did a little googling. Apparently, it was a man’s hand that had survived from the Spanish Inquisition. He wanted to seek revenge on the people who had pillaged his home or something like that. But when I was little, I didn’t really care about the origin and just got freaked out when I thought about an old hand hiding under my bed.

Background:

My informant is my co-worker from my job. She is essentially my supervisor and she enjoys helping me to practice my Spanish and telling me a lot about her culture and heritage. She was raised in a Spanish-speaking household by two parents who both immigrated to the United States from Mexico. She used to be intimidated by the legend of La Mano Peluda as a young child but grew to see it as a funny way that her parents made her do her chores. 

Context: 

The legend of La Mano Peluda was brought up while having a general discussion with my co-worker about her culture and traditions. She had told me about the legend before but I asked her to go more in-depth for the sake of the collection project. We were sitting next to each other on the teller line at work and we would chat in-between customers. 

Thoughts:

The story of La Mano Peluda is a classic legend that is prominent across a wide range of Latin-American cultures. I would equate it to classic American campfire stories where the goal is to scare and entertain the audience. I have heard multiple recollections of this folk tale and they all seem to stem from having a fear of something hiding under one’s bed. For particularly young children, the legend of La Mano Peluda is used as a sort of scare tactic to get them to do their chores, while in older adolecents it is seen as an entertaining folk tale. What is interesting is that there is a pattern of “hairy hand” stories across the globe.

For another “hairy hand” story, see:

Mary Curtis Special to The Star. “Dartmoor Nights and Scary Tales Stir Imagination: SA2 Edition.” Toronto Star, Torstar Syndication Services, a Division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, 1990.