Tag Archives: Narrative

El Cucuy-The monster: Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/23/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Text: 

Me: “Within your Mexican culture, did you grow up hearing any scary stories?”

EC: “um yeah, it’s pretty crazy how affected we were by it actually. My parents always used to tell us about El Cucuy. My parents used to use it to scare me and my siblings from going to unsupervised places. It’s supposed to be a monster that scares kids”.

Me: “Ok, so was it like a generalized monster? Like did it have a name?”

EC: “yeah, it’s super generalized, El Cucuy literally translates to monster so it didn’t have a name. My parents would just say “don’t go over there! The Cucuy will get you!”

Translation: “The monster”

Context (informant’s relationship to the piece, where they heard it, how they interpret it):

-EC’s relationship to this piece stems from her Mexican culture within her childhood home considering this legend is said primarily in Mexico, Spain, and other Latin American countries. EC would hear this legend at home, at family gatherings, from her aunts, or from a random person that was attempting to warn her from going anywhere she wasn’t supposed to. EC interprets this legend as a scaring tactic that parents use to control the ways in which their kids behave. Not to mention, EC interprets this legend as a light-hearted joke that tells kids to ultimately listen to their parents. 

Analysis (what kind of personal, cultural, or historical values might be expressed) YOUR interpretation:

-The overall cultural value within this legend stems from the various origin stories that can be told considering it is a popular phenomenon among Mexico, Spain, and other Latin American households. Not to mention, the cultural value can be seen within how these Latin American cultures raise their kids within their similar lifestyle values. Not to mention, the personal values that can be expressed within this legend is the way parents raise their kids regarding their own personal beliefs and customs. I see this legend as an overall motive to control bad behavior in children and to scare them into following the commands of their parents. I interpret this legend as an idea of obedience as scary methods can be made considering this legend showcases a parent’s overall motive to scare their children from going anywhere alone. Considering that I have heard about this legend myself and grew up with it, I ultimately interpret El Cucuy as an embedded concept that is directed towards children in order for them to be scared of the unknown. Given the fact that this entity is nameless, leads me to think that this scary tactic allows children to interpret this monster in any way they choose which can determine how scary they make it seem in their own perceptual minds. One similar legend that has similar qualities to El Cucuy is the legend of La Chupacabra considering that they are creatures that are intended for behavioral motives. However, the main difference between El Cucuy and La Chupacabra is that there have been actual sighting reports on La Chupacabra while there hasn’t for El Cucuy. This leads El Cucuy to be represented as an imaginative creature in kids minds. The overall idea of El Cucuy can fall under the concept of an ostension considering actual kidnappers can be placed as the given ‘monster’ that can take you if you go wander around places unattended.

Lebanon Local Town Hyenas: legend

Nationality: Lebanese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/21/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Arabic

Text: 

Me: “Did you grow up with any legends in your hometown?”

AH: “In Lebanon it’s all mountains, my house will overlook the mountains from a balcony, some noises that no one seems to know of can be heard every night, they sound just like hyenas, like the laughing noise that hyenas make”.

Me: “Oh- have you personally seen hyenas on the mountain?”

AH: “No, no one has ever seen hyenas there. People in my village simply believe that the noises come from a hyena-like person, almost like a werewolf. People in the village try to determine who is a true hyena-like person and they try to find out who could it be. People are determined to find out who it is so they can get them to stop laughing in order to let us sleep at night. However, my parents would always say don’t go to the woods or mountains…they would tell us to avoid it at all costs. So yeah, I always grew up hearing those laughing noises at night”.

Context (informant’s relationship to the piece, where they heard it, how they interpret it):

– AH’s relationship to this piece stems from his Lebanon hometown which allowed him to have various experiences as he would first-hand hear the hyena-like noises constantly in his childhood village. AH would hear this legend be talked about by his parents and from the people in his community. The hyena-like person concept was an idea that was constantly heard about all around town considering many wanted to find the person who kept them up at night. AH interprets this legend as a light-hearted concept within his town considering that not much attention has come about when it comes to doing something about the noises. Given that the village people are not adamant about calling animal control or the city police to investigate, AH interprets this legend as a fun idea that unites his entire community. 

Analysis (what kind of personal, cultural, or historical values might be expressed) YOUR interpretation:

– The overall cultural value within this legend stems from Lebanese culture considering the hyena-like creature is completely precise and embedded in AH’s Lebanon village within their overall lifestyle. Not to mention, the personal values that can be expressed within this legend is that it allows the individual to create different theories surrounding the noise because they have various personal experiences when it comes to hearing the noises from their homes; thus exemplifying their spiritual values. I see this legend as an overall concept of protection or nurture when it comes to the parent’s emphasis on not allowing their children to enter the woods/mountains. Whether the legend is true or not, I think parents use this idea as a tactic to keep their children safe and at home. Considering that I have never experienced any situation similar to this, I interpret this legend to be a nonchalant way for the village people to avoid the sounds in order to save them the trouble of getting to the bottom of what actually keeps them up at night. Not to mention, I interpret this legend as a uniting cultural phenomenon among many generations within their town. Despite the fact that I have never experienced anything similar to this legend, I have heard about similar legends regarding my Mexican culture. I grew up hearing about the legend of La Llorona which had similar motives of making children behave and to stay in at night in order to avoid danger. The legend of La Llorona can be seen as a different oikotype when it comes to the concept of behavioral legends. However, one distinctive difference from AH’s legend compared to La Llorona, was that I grew up knowing that kids in my school would participate in legend quests as they would go hiking in attempt to see if La Llorona was real or not instead of simply being scared and staying at home like the influence of AH’s legend.

Ghost Story – Personal Experience

Nationality: Asian-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student

Context: 

This story was told by one of my fellow folklore classmates (CM). She shared with me a personal ghost story that she experienced while camping with her family

Text: 

Me: “Okay you can tell your story”

CM: “Alright, so this was a long time ago so it might be a little patchy but I want to say probably 10 years ago maybe 12 years ago my family and I went camping. My brother and I were very young and after we went camping, on our way back home we visited this ghost town. It was pretty cute; the ghost town had rides or these tours or you could just walk through it yourself, so that’s what we did. My family and I walked through the town and my brother, who’s younger than me, probably about 5 or 6 at this time, was a very giddy fun little cute kid you know just playing around and looking at all the cowboy stuff. As we’re walking we pass by this bar, this old saloon-type bar, and his demeanor suddenly changes like a complete 180. He points at the bar and he goes this is where my father died. Me being a little kid I was like what are you talking about your dad is right here like he’s right next to us walking with us, but he keeps this character, this demeanor. He keeps walking through the town pointing at different buildings and going this is where the Indians shot him and this is where he fought with so and so. He kept this demeanor throughout the entire strip of the town until we finally exited, and then he snapped back into his old self again. It was really weird because it was such a stark difference and my mom was very convinced that he was possessed in the ghost town.”

Analysis: 

Ghost stories are often a way for people with similar beliefs to share their experiences. It can create a sense of community. They are also fun experiences to share. The audience also can choose to believe the story or not, which adds an entertainment level to these stories. In this case, I think the setting of a ghost town adds to this supernatural environment. Also, the fact that the informant’s family was affected adds to the ghost’s credibility since most people know their family’s personality well.

Tale – Shimchong: The Blind Man’s Daughter

Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student

Text: 

This is the story about this kind daughter who lives with a blind dad then she hears this announcement that to whoever volunteers to be the live sacrifice to the ocean or the people who have to sail um they will 100 bags of rice to that family because they were too poor and the daughter wanted her dad to be able to survive have food to eat she volunteers to be the live sacrifice so they sail out and at the point where theres a tornado in the ocean the girl dives in to be the live sacrifice and the dad finds out later because suddenly he is gifted with 100 bags of rice but at that point she had already sailed off and jumped into the ocean but the girl jumped in and she sank down into the ocean kingdom the ocean king heard the story and he thought she was very nice for she was a very good daughter and her love for her dad like he thought it was big like he considered it big like he valued her doing so so he decided to send her back up so they put her into this giant lotus and sent her off to up to the surface where she was fund by other fisherman who brought her back to the land back to one of the nobles parties that day the dad was also at the party because in Korea when the nobles throw a party they often open up their front yard and all the food for the people in the village too so it was like a whole party like feast going on and her dad was invited to when the girl entered and when the dad heard her voice he recognized her and when he turned toward her voice he was suddenly able to see again so that’s a happy reunion and this girl falls in love with either the nobles son or something like that the point is they values her actions and sent her back up

Context: 

This was told by one of my friends who is from South Korea. She explained that this is a well-known fairy tale that everyone has known of from a young age. She liked this story when she was young because the book was “tiny [and] it was easy to carry around.” Looking back she says that it appears to be a “very brutal story for the girl” which she did not notice as a kid. 

Analysis: 

This story is a common fairy tale in Korea. It teaches kids from a young age the values of Korean culture. The overall message this story shows is that one should love their parents and make sacrifices for them. This is because even though it seems like a sacrifice at the time it will eventually work in favor of both parties. It also shows that people reward those who are considered good children. The ocean king rewarded the girl for her actions and allowed her to go back to her family.

Myth – Hindu Cosmology

Nationality: Indian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student

Text: 

“One of the biggest beliefs in Hinduism is the belief of reincarnation and that kind of stems from how the universe started. For Hindus, the universe was created by Lord Brahma who was the creator who made the universe out of himself. There are different beliefs on how he created the universe. One of the beliefs was that after he created the universe, the power of Lord Vishnu, which is part of the power that the universe carried, turned into a kind of you could say the responsibility of life and death and the cycle. It’s more specifically described as karma; the more good you do the better your next life will be until you achieve a kind of enlightenment stage. The third part is Lord Shiva who is responsible for the destruction of the universe; we believe that at some point that’s going to happen. As for how the universe came into origin specifically, one of the theories was that Lord Brahma divided himself into two parts one man and one female to start life. Another theory is that after he created the universe, Lord Vishnu grew a lotus flower and that flower was divided into three parts: the sky, the earth, and the heavens, which brought life.”

Context:

This story was told by my roommate who is from India. Her religion is Hinduism so she hears this creation story from a young age. She always remembered this story as it is a part of her religion as well as a part of her identity. When she explains this story to people it is not just a belief that’s written somewhere, it is her belief as well.

Analysis: 

I think for each religion there are differing beliefs in the creation of the universe. In Hinduism, there are three main gods with powers that are divided between the three; one represents destruction, one represents destiny, and the other represents the cycle of life and death. Even though the three gods are separated all three are needed in the creation of the universe symbolizing this idea of completion and divinity. Also, the god that represents the cycle of life emphasizes karma; the better you do in this life your destiny for the next life will be better.