Since quilts have come up in discussion...

Sunday after church, a mother asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about.
The daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt."
Needless to say, the mother was perplexed.
Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the mother asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about.
He said, "'Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming.'"

Give me a sense of humor, Lord,
Give me the grace to see a joke,
To get some humor out of life,
And pass it on to other folk.

Bremen Town Musicians

My intention was to share this during our discussions of the Grimms stories, but I wasn't able to locate the photo until now. This is a picture my husband took in 2003 during a trip to Bremen, Germany. For those of you who may not be familiar with the story, it begins on page 136 of the HSBG. I believe there's a bronze statue as well. Cute story! (I wish my pets were as resourceful and clever...)

Food traditions

My family has many food traditions. The most important food tradition is the one we have during the fasting month of Ramadan. During Ramadan Muslims are not permitted to eat or drink anything from 4:00 a.m. to sunset. So that is why my family cooks a lot of good meals during this time. Everyone helps prepare the different things so it involves family unity. We first open the fast with a date because that is what our prophet is believed to have eaten so it is good luck to eat it. Then we eat a samosa, which is a potato and pea stuffed pastry and we usually drink something sweet because not eating all day makes a person weak. We drink rooh afsa which is a drink similar to grenerade. It is red and tastes like a Shirley Temple. We drink that because my family back in Pakistan always had a tradition of drinking it during Ramadan. We also eat fruit chat, which is a mix of all the different fruits with a special spicy powder. Then it is usually followed by rice, meat, bread, vegetables, and many other foods. One thing is notable that this food tradition has passed on from generations because ever since I was a kid we always had the same type of food and my father told me it is passed on from family to family. New foods are added but it always includes the typical food that people eat during Ramadan. Muslims from all around the world usually have the same food as our family too including Middle Eastern Countries, Asia, and many more. There is always some that they have in common. Food traditions are passed down from generation to generation.

folklife and folklore

Folklore is a oral form of story telling that is passed down from generation to generation. It includes a large variety of things including music, culture, traditions, fairytales, personal narratives, legends, and much more. It includes things from the past and ties people to their past and is always related to other individuals. People may have the same story told in a different way. Folk life is related to folklore and stretched form it a little. It includes architecture which involves a individual or a group of people working together to express their creativity and ideas.

Oyster Festival 2007 - Sasebo, Japan

Just thought I'd share a few photos from a festival I attended in Japan in 2007. It takes place twice a year at Kashimae Bay, which is part of the 99 Islands (about a kilometer from where I lived and where a portion of The Last Samurai was filmed). It was the first time I had ever eaten oysters (not too bad with Tobasco!). There were numerous vendors selling bags of oysters (for about 700 yen) and raw seafood that we cooked ourselves on the miniature grills that were set up. As you can see, there were dancers for entertainment...it was a great time!

Folk Architecture

What separates folk objects from any other functional or decorative objects is the tying of origin and purpose. Folk items lay out a narrative, they invoke a communal feeling, they strengthen a feeling among the members of a group. Their purpose for existing may have originally been purely functional but since has become absorbed into the respective culture. Other objects have not been steeped in culture this way. Perhaps they are designed to aesthetically resemble folk objects but their essence is surface level functionality with no underlying cultural implications. Architecture abides by this as well. The US is a fairly young culture and thus doesn't have as distinctive an architecture as Europe. Most countries, by seeing photographs of houses or public buildings, can be identified immediately. It is because of this embedding of folk within the structural spaces people exist within and among. In Europe, the countries have been around for hundreds of years more than the US. Styles and what can be defined as practical changes over such a period of time, and through that there is an evolution of what can be considered folk in a culture. A younger country doesn't have this same attribute, simply because of its age.

Folk life & architecture

Folklore is the umbrella term under which falls the study of folk life, or the study of traditional material culture. For example, studying the folk architecture of the Appalachians is part of the study of folk life and folklore, while studying Appalachian folk tales does not qualify as folk life, but is considered folklore.

The books says that folk architecture consists of "all traditional nonacademic building types". This seems to me to be an extremely wide category, but I suppose it makes sense, because most buildings clearly represent the values and the aesthetics of the culture which built them. In this way, even the ugly new apartment buildings that seem to spring up everywhere in Northern Virginia are examples of folk architecture, despite their newness, because they are produced to fulfill the needs of our culture and where they are placed and what they look like speaks volumes about our culture.

Folklore vs. Folk life

After reading the text, the primary difference between folklore and folk life is the way in which each is expressed. As folklore consists of the traditions and stories that are passed down orally, folk life includes all of the unpracticed actions that take place in one's life and are generally shared with others belonging to the same folk group.

Folk architecture is the creation of any building or structure by an inexperienced and untrained architect. Folk architecture in many ways can be viewed as a form of art as it represents individual expression and creativity.

Folklore and folklife

Whereas the term folklore seems to encompass many forms of story transmission, with a heavy focus on those that at least begin in an oral tradition; folklife is concerned with material objects. Folklife can also reference specific skills (related to material objects a. i. production) of a certain people.

The basic difference between folk architecture and traditional forms is the person who produces it. Like with crafts, if the producer lacks formal training, then it may be folk architecture. Also, folk architecture tends to be utilitarian in almost every case. Usually they avoid embellishments, as this would be a waste of resources. Structures in folk architecture can tell you something about the community through the shape and size, as well as arrangement with other structures.

Its all folk

The text states that there has to be a proper forms, types,materials and techniques that are specific to a group or region to classify it as folk architecture. The examples presented seem to be early building techniques. In this case would not a Mc Mansion be folk architecture in 300 years? The average U.S. carpenter uses techniques quite different than other countries and is usually taught non-institutionally and by example. Our Mc Mansions are very unique compared to other countries in style, material, and techniques of building.

It seems that in Europe folk life and folklore would be the same. Here in the U.S. the argument seems to stem from who is the most prominent folklorist and how they define the difference between folklore and folk life. But according to the book it would seem folk life is just what it states, folk and there tangible lives and all that encompasses it that is not elite or popular culture. Folklore seems to be more of the oral category of folk life.

Folk...life and architecture

The text appears to place “folklore” as the universal term, while “folklife” is more specific and points to the tangible components of folklore. Although material culture is one of the three modes, or genres, of folklore, I interpret “folklife” as merely the term that folklorists use in place of “material culture.” I’d say the use of “folklife” serves as a sort of separation from “folklore” to make it more distinct (such as me being an American but I’m also a Texan). To be honest, before attending this course, I always assumed folklore to be just legends and myths and never would have considered that crafts, costume, architecture, festival, etc., are grouped under folklore.

To be or not to be...folk architecture:
It seems as though, according to the text, my house here in Virginia should be considered folk architecture, but mainly because the form is colonial. The layout of the home is traditional and is a reproduction of the type of home used by European settlers (I refer to it as just boxes within a box, which is typical of colonials). My home in Florida, however, is a contemporary style with brick and hardie board and therefore has no true traditional identity. But I’m confused as to whether my Florida home would still be folk architecture because the style and materials used are consistent with that area. The text indicates that this term is applied to “that which is common or native in a given area” (524), so my understanding of “folk architecture” is that it refers to a regional consistency in form and usage.

Folk stuff

The basic difference I see between folklife and folklore is that of the living of a folk culture and that of its exports or results in the form of stories, songs, jokes and other types of folklore. I view it not as two areas where there is a sharing of terms and practices, but more as a cyclical sharing of effects. Meaning that folklife produces folklore and the people who share folklore create a folklife as they live its functions and meanings. Folk life products include folk art and folk craft and folklore includes legends and myths, personal narrative, music and song. They can not be separated completely one from the other for they influence each other and relate to one another in the way that a folk painting depicts the story of a folk myth.

Folk architecture is defined as a form of structure that has not been imagined and constructed by someone who has had formal training. It makes me think of the movie seven brides for seven brothers where there is a barn raising. This type of structure followed the design of other types of barns that were generally built at that time in that area but did not have an official blueprint.

Folklore and Folklife

After doing the readings the differences between the two seem to be fairly limited, and overlapping may occur. The best way I can describe the difference is that folklore is indicative of information being relayed or passed on for very specific purposes. Folklore serves 4 functions, as we've learned, and must fit into certain parameters to be considered folklore. Folklife on the other hand, is the way in which individuals participate in life. The purpose of folklife is none other than just living and enjoyment. There also seems to be much more of a material focus to folklife. Admittedly, however, it would seem that folklore is a part of folklife.

Folk architecture is a part of material culture. From my understanding of the reading, it is basically any structure that is not mass-made, and serves a purpose consistent with the values of the individuals using it. It must be a reflection of the individual who will be utilizing it.

Folklore/Folklife and Folk Architecture

The terms folklore and folklife are both used as all encompassing terms to identify all forms of folk expression. However, folklore is more commonly associated with oral stories, such as legends, myths, riddles, and jokes, and the term folklife places more emphasis on material objects, customs, and traditions.


Folk architecture includes structures that are built by people who are not professionally trained and who follow a traditional structural form that is common in the region where it is built. The fact that the people who built the structures were not formally trained, but were following a tradition that is passed down as to how a house, barn etc. should look is what distinguishes folk architecture from other forms of architecture.

Christine Watkinson

Folklife vs. Folklore and Folk Architecture

This chapter confused me more than anything else this semester. From the reading, I believe the two terms can be used interchangeably and if there is a distinction between them, it is very small and unclear to me. Perhaps the major difference is that folklife is a way of life where as folklore is the stories told about that way of life. This may also be that folklore covers a larger genre and folklife is more the material things involved. I’m unsure and look forward to discussion in class today to try to piece all this together.

Folk architecture tends to be typical to a specific area or time period. Something like the homes we live in today would not be considered folk architecture, but the homes built on the frontier in the old west might be. The best example I can think of would be Native American structures, teepees and iconic structures of that nature. These are things that immediately bring that culture and that type of lifestyle to mind, even if it is a stereotypical idea. It is often the form the building takes that is important and not the reasons it was built, that make it folk. The traditional structure is folk architecture.

Folklore vs. Folklife

The difference between folklore and folklife lies in the application of the term. Folklore refers to stories, myths, legends, and narratives relating to someone’s life, or why something is the way it is. Folklore usually relates to something that is happening or has happened. Folklife, on the other hand, is the way of life of someone. It deals with their living space (how furniture or the frame of the house is arranged) or a folk art/craft that they’re involved in.
Folk architecture differs from other forms of architecture because of its traditional form. A major example used in the chapter was log cabins. Cabins are considered folk architecture because of their basic traditional forms and how those forms evolved over time. Cabins (and barns, for that matter), were normally built in a traditional way. Modern buildings would not be considered “folk” because most of them have no tradition, and are not built in a folk or traditional way.

Folklore vs Folklife and some Architecture

So far I have to say that I agree with some earlier posters who have acknowledged that the difference between folklore and folklife is a thin line and it is difficult to distinguish. From the reading, I think that the main difference is that folklife is part of folklore - it falls under the umbrella of folklore. Folklore encompasses more than folklife does, I think...possibly?
From what I have read the main difference between architecture and folk architecture is that folk architecture includes non academic buildings and can be linked to a specific area. For example, the discussion of Farm Buildings in New England and the cabins in the Midwest, these are particular buildings with particular layouts that are prone to being in a specific area of the country. While I was trying to figure this out I did find a website that spells it out quite nicely, it is under the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, that site said that folk architecture also rarely has a trained architect involved.

Traditional & Non-Traditional Architecture

In the hit broadway musical, "Fiddler on the Roof", Tevya asks "How do we(the jewish community he belongs to)keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: Tradition!" Like any musical he bursts into song and dance right after, but he uses a very important word that becomes the theme of the overall show tradition. What we wil be using tradition for is to determine the difference between folk architecture and regular architecture. Folk archictecture as defined by the book "includes all traditional nonacademic building types which consist of cabins, and houses, barns, smokehouses, washhouses, summer kitchens, spring houses, etc. Regular architecture may use traditional norms such as logs but to build commerical like buildings such as ski lodges, motels, schools, etc. Nonfolk buildings usually consist of organizations that are usually known worldwide. Folk Architecture focuses on buildings that belong to a particular group such as a church for a specific religion. Folk builders too knew exactly what they were building, who they were building for, and what they wanted it to look like. Today, most nonfolk architecture tends to be made up as it goes along. For example when Indian made houses for themselves, they knew exactly what kind of house they wanted and how they were going to achieve it. Overall, folk architecture is rooted in deep tradition while non-folk architecture is not.

Folklife/Folklore and Folk architecture

The whole folklife vs folklore argument has been one of the most confusing aspects of this class so far this semester. The author of our textbook can't seem to make up his mind about what the differences are between folklife and folklore. So in my opinion the the two terms are interchangable as they've been explained in the book. Going by the sound of the terms alone, however, I would assume that folklore has to do with the knowledge of various folk stories, skills, and traditions, while folklife would have more to do with the actual practice and use of this knowledge. So for instance, folklore would be the knowledge an Amish person may have of how to build a barn, while folklife would be used to describe the actual building of a barn. This is really just speculation, but that's how I feel the two terms vary from one another.

With regards to folk archicture, I agree with Jessica who posted before that folk architecture is largely defined by its lack of having a set or standard way of being constructed. Over time I think what could be classified as folk architecture has changed. Technically I would think something like the pyramids of Gaza or Taj Mahal could be considered folk architecture, or even better examples might be some of the family castles you can find scattered over parts of Europe. In modern times I think folk architecture is a most more limited category of buildings and designs. With the exception of religious structures like chruches, mosques, and synagogues urban architecture appears mostly devoid of what could be considered folk architecture. Out in rural areas, however, where you can find examples of people still constructing their own houses, barns, sheds, etc; these are cases where I think the term folk architecture can still be applied in modern times.

Folklife and Folk Architecture

To my understanding, the difference between folklore and folklife is questionable. Some people consider them the same thing, others believe one encompasses the other. However, I think it is more widely understood to be that folklore focuses on oral traditions, whereas folklife consists of material culture. So for example, a legend or joke would be considered folklore, but a family quilt or a traditional dance would be considered folklife. 

The difference between everyday architecture and folk architecture was a little confusing to me. I was surprised to see that form, rather than function, was the major aspect in identifying folk architecture. But as I read the chapter, it became more clear that what makes architecture "folk" is whether or not it has a traditional form. So, a log cabin or a native american longhouse would be considered folk architecture because they are traditional archetypes for housing structures. A modern, oddly shaped stadium or museum for example, would not be considered folk architecture because its form and structure have no roots traditionally or culturally.

reading vs hearing 2

I think part of the draw of folklore is the reliance it has on being passed on orally through storytellers. Where we may enjoy a professionally written novel, short story, or poem, there is always a consistent doubt about whether or not we are interpreting the story in the right way as we read it. When we are told a story, the teller technically becomes the author and regardless of whom it may have been who truly created the story, it is the teller's rendition that holds the greatest significance. In effect being told a story, as opposed to reading it, erases a certain boundary that exists as we try to interpret the meaning of any given story.

Story hearing, story reading

We use different parts of our minds to read and to hear. Back to kindergarten, maybe even before, I can recall using songs to learn. The months of the year, phrases in spanish and the primary and secondary colors alike, I still have the melodies and words in my head if I wish to recall them. People seem to remember what they hear more distinctly and effortlessly than what they read.

Reading forces us to rely on our imaginations almost solely. Anything we experience reading happens within the confines of our own minds. When a story is read, though, it is not only aurally experienced but also becomes interactive. It is a relationship between the speaker and the listener. This certainly creates an energy and dynamic that cannot be replaced by text.

When told a story, the teller will often use different voices when narratating or portraying different characters. This aspect gives birth to a sort of movement or life within the story. The telller can make sound effects to accentuate the emotional effects of the stories. He can speak in a low, sinister tone or make "wooshing" wind noises to invoke fear in his listeners, or he can speak with a tone of relief and celebration if he wishes to accentuate a happy moment in the story.

Reading vs Hearing

When I read something, I often imagine the way a character looks (based on a description sometimes but usually my own version of that) and how they will speak. I even went as far to imagine that Hermione's name in Harry Potter was pronounced totally different than the proper way and that she her bookish mannerisms would be more exaggerated. The difference between these two Hermione's is personal interpretation. When sometimes presents a story or character orally, it is their version of that character and thus takes on the personality, mannerisms, voice that the person telling the tale imagines they would have. When I think of family stories told by my father when I was a child, I don't imagine the characters in my own context, but just as he made them and with the voices he used. Often, viewing a story is much more lively than reading it also. The people acting out the characters tend to be dramatic and full of spirit because they are trying to embody the character. When we read we may envision the scene and how things will look and act, but it is nothing in comparison to how it feels to sit and watch the story unfold in front of your eyes and ears. To me, this is the major difference between these two methods of story-telling, personal interpretations.

written vs. oral stories

When I was a kid my mom used to tell me tales orally because she does not know how to read or write. The way she told me was so interesting and she made me believe that everything was true. She used to tell me stories to scare me sometimes so that I would listen to her. One time I would not go to sleep and kept bothering her. She decided to tell me a tale so that I would stop being so hyper. She told me one about a little girl who was being bad and her mother locked her out of the house at night time. Then the girl was screaming that she saw something that had eyes that were lighting and started screaming. The mom didn’t believe her, and later she opened the door and discovered the girl was gone. The next day the girls clothes were found in a jungle and some beast had eaten her. I was so scared after hearing that story that I didn’t mumble a word after that. When someone tells you a story orally it is more believable. If she had read that to me then I would not have thought it was real because it would have been from a book. By telling it orally you can add emotion to the story and make it more dramatic. When a tale is being read then you have to give a lot of thought to it, and there is not that much action to it.

Grimm's Tales

First, I must say that I experience numerous “what the hell?” moments when reading these stories, primarily once I reach the endings. The issue is not necessarily the consistent disunity, but rather a question of “and what was the point?” At times I am not able to determine a moral to the stories, and I wonder if some vital point was lost in the translation. Perhaps it’s because the stories are condensed, or at least in comparison with the various oral renditions from my childhood. I definitely believe these are stories that are intended to be narrated versus read individually, mainly because they are short stories with fantasy and somewhat suspenseful elements, and commonly employ talking animals and/or various bizarre characters. Often these tales consists of rhymes, which would make the telling versus reading more enjoyable.

Documenting Fairy Tales

When your mom or dad reads you a fairy tale, it has a great impact on you as a child. Because they usually add their own dramatic elements such as funny voices for each of the characters within the tale or the way they narrate the story, being a told a fairy tale orally makes it much more entertaining and amusing. Reading a fairy tale, you still get what it accomplishes to do in ways of analyzing theme,morals, symbols, etc. but an entire piece to the fairy tale world seems missing. You don't get that feeling that it is a tale, but more like a short story. A tale for me is someone telling a story to you orally as in something they heard or something that was passed down from what their parents had told them. Documenting fairy tales lose some impact. Listening to them makes the story come to life a lot more than reading it. Why do so many people use audiotapes for books instead of actually buying the book itself. They want to hear someone tell it, adding voice and articulation increases one's imagination of the world and the characters that inhabit it. Plus oral storytelling is one of the oldest ways of hearing a story, because there was a time when no one knew how to write. If you wanted to stimulate your imagination, you sat by the fire in your house and listened to your mom and dad tell you a story about a world that may or may not be true. Most of the time you had to decide.

Telling Tales

Many of the stories I read in the The Brothers Grimm are familiar to me. I suppose that is because I have a very strong Anglo-Saxon background on both sides of my family for at least 2 centuries. Some of the more obscure tales I am not as familiar with, but they remind me in some ways of Aesop's Fables, which were familiar to me as a child as well because we had a book titled just that. The difference between the two would be the implicit (Grimm) versus the stated (Aesop) moral of the story.

My mom did an excellent job of reading to us as children, even before there was a big media push to do so. It is because of this that I believe I am such a voracious reader. The interesting thing is that when she would read, she would give different voices to the characters, such as a deeper voice for a male, a higher pitched voice for a child and a growling voice for a wolf or a bear. I delighted in these tellings as these variations made the story more real. As I have read books to my nieces and nephews and tried to do the same thing, they don't like it and tell me to read it "normal" because they are not used to any variations. For me, however, a little bit of inflection and moderation of the voice goes a long way.

When I worked at the daycare center, I would also read books to the children there and I found that after reading the same books over and over again I began to memorize them and would then use the book with its pictures as a prop but I would take liberties with the telling of the story and it became more action oriented. The kids delighted in these story times as it was more engaging and involving. I would even have them tell part of the story as they became familiar with it. Having such tales and folklore written down is wonderful because it preserves them for future generations, but it loses some of its savor in the process.

Written vs. Oral

I have an example that plays right into this.

Just a few days ago I was at the Border's bookstore. I often go to browse through the bargain shelves and usually find something good. On this occasion I found a collections of scary stories appropriately called "Scary Stories Treasury." Something was familiar about this book, and the subheading caught my attention. It read "Three books to chill your bones. Collected from folklore and retold by Alvin Schwartz."

Then I recalled why I remembered it. I had these books as a kid and I remember being incredibly frightened by some of the stories. So I picked it up. When I anxiously opened it that night I was somewhat confused. Some of the stories were creepy, but I wasn't nearly as terrified as I was years ago. I soon understood why. At the end of some of the more awkwardly plotted, but briskly paced, stories there was bracketed text on the bottom. They were suggested actions or sounds. For example, at the end of one of the stories reads, "Now SCREAM." The story, as I read it, did not put me in that position to be scared that I expected. But, I wasn't reading them all those years ago. When the same story was being read to me the puzzling plot and fast pace probably would cause me to lean in, engaged, only to be shocked by the screaming reader.

The effects of these tales are completely different depending on how you receive them. I can't wait to pull these out on some unsuspecting little rugrats!!

Crazy Riaz

I have a cousin named Riaz who lives in Pakistan. He is completely crazy so he has to be tied up sometimes. Otherwise he gets abusive and does crazy things. One time he took a bus to a city that was 4 hours away from his home. He was gone for a whole month as his family frantically looked for him. Someone saw him and brought him home.
Another time he went over to my friends home because he goes to everyone’s house without even asking. He started to touch himself inappropriately in front of my friend and kept laughing loudly. He kept staring at my friend like a pervert as he was doing this and told her to sit with him. My friend didn’t find his behavior unusual because the lunatic did this all the time. Then he touched his privates as he was laying down on a chair outside. My friend got pissed off at him and started cursing at him and told him to go home. He picked up an ax and started chasing her with it. The girl started screaming and ran for her life. Lucky for her she ran inside the house, and locked the door. Her father came to her rescue and my cousin is scared of the father so he ran away. He was tied up again when he got home.

The Family Myth

(Sorry, I missed this one last night. Playing catch-up.)

I had given this one some thought? Why call these stories family myths and not family narrative, folklore, or even legends? I can only speak to folklore that I have been exposed to here in the United States, as I have not been anywhere else (not for the lack of trying). There is something about a family story for many Americans that is different than family stories in other places. Essentially, this is because an American family story doesn't go back very far, thus there is less to draw from.

Where I am going with this is concentrating on the word "myth." For many cultures, myths are those "In the beginning" fantastic tales that serve to explain and define a culture. America has very little of that in its youthful status. Therefore, it relies on the stories of its lifeblood: the unique and diverse population. The mythology of America is not the trials of Heracles or the fall of Rolland, but the trials my great grandfather Engvald Engleburt faced immediately after getting off the boat at Ellis Island or the story about how my other great grandfather Archibald Haley Hawkins (I have some winning names in my family) decided at the very last moment not to serve as the butcher on the grand ocean liner, Titanic.

These stories are referred to as myths not because they are supposed to be perceived as untrue, but because they are some of the most sacred stories that Americans have to pass down to future generations. It provides a sense of belonging that the Aeneid did for Romans.

For Americans, they ARE our origin story.

We learn in sociology classes that an individual's family is the key social group in a person's life. The person is scripted with social or moral values and learns the basics of acceptable behavior. The family relationships are core to the other relationships a person may develop, to their identity. Family myths are different than other sacred folklore in that the sacredness is more personal. They may not even be described or perceived in "sacred" terms. Their key relevance is in emphasizing the family's greater purpose as a support system for the benefit of the individuals within it. Other mythology has a broader focus and is therefore less personal and may not be as impacting or idiosyncratic as family mythology.

In terms of function, conventional sacred narrative may have the function of entertainment or creating a fictitious origin to a specific thing in order to deliver a moral message or infer socially acceptable behavior. Family myths, though they may share some of these functions, the key to them is the relationships through which they are passed, between speaker and listener. What gives them their real value is the kind of relationship that exists before the story is even told and will continue to exist long after it is finished.

Jail Bait

Due to a recent death in the family, I traveled to a very small town called Palatka, Florida where the majority of my mother's relatives continue to work and live. I hadn't seen this extended side of the family in over 5 years and was pleasantly surprised when almost all of my uncles, aunts, and cousins came to the service. After the burial, we returned to my grandmother's home and began telling stories about all of the crazy things that had happened several years back. My great-uncle, who just turned 59 and is still a loose cannon to put it nicely, began telling my brothers and I about all of the crazy adventures him and my cousin Steve managed to stumble upon when they were teenagers. He began explaining that although the town of Palatka lacks any ounce of fun nowadays, about 30 years back it was booming with bars, dance halls, and jail houses. To begin the story, my Uncle Otis and Cousin Steve decided to sneak into one of the most popular bars/dance halls which happened to be known for its selection of attractive women. After a few drinks, both guys spotted two young women who were "attractive enough" and asked them to dance. Several hours of dancing and drinking had passed when one of the women suddenly looked at her watch and stated that they had to go. My uncle and cousin immediately asked them why they were leaving so early, as it was only 10:30. The ladies were silent for a few moments and then finally decided to speak up. They proceeded to tell my uncle that they were currently prisoners of the county jail and had to be back for their 11:00 p.m. curfew. At first they clearly assumed that the women were joking as they hardly looked like criminals. They began walking the ladies outside and saw the "Palatka Prison" van anxiously awaiting its pickup. My cousin and uncle quickly said their goodbyes and never returned to that dance hall again.

Druncle Joe

Prior to yesterday's class, I had never heard the term “druncle.” My husband’s alcoholic uncle, Joe, came immediately to mind, and I recalled one of the many stories of his stupid escapades.

When my husband, Jim, was a teenager, he spent one summer hanging out with Druncle Joe and Joe’s son, David. Joe is a man who is NEVER without a drink in his hand. Come to think of it, I’m not certain whether I’ve ever seen him actually eat anything (he more than likely was the one who had first coined the term “liquid lunch”). Well, not too long before that summer, Jim’s great-aunt Frieda passed away. Her estate was quickly settled and her horses were relocated, but there remained the task of the final clean-out of her house. Druncle Joe volunteered and, for some reason that I can’t fathom, he was granted permission by the family (he could be quite convincing at times). So, Joe, David, and Jim went to work taking inventory and boxing up her belongings. Well, while Druncle Joe was cleaning out one of the rooms, he found an unlabeled bottle of large pills. Now, Joe is not one to be discriminatory when it comes to ingesting anything of a “medicinal” nature, whether legal or illegal. So, without pause, he downed one of the large pills. Soon after, David and my husband found him passed out and assumed it was just one of his drunken stupors. But Joe didn’t wake up that evening, or the next morning, or even the next day. For the first 24 hours, the boys just checked on him periodically to make sure he was still breathing, but after the second day of him not waking up, they began to panic. Finally, on the third day, Druncle Joe finally woke up (seems as though he probably could have detoxed during the time he was out). Come to find out, the pill he had taken was a horse tranquilizer!

Brothers Grimm: Oral vs. Written

Reading the tales makes for an interesting experience because you are entirely dependent upon the author's descriptions for your understanding of the characters and the places. By this I mean that there are none of the elements which connect the stories to the reader–like hearing someone create voices and facial expressions for the characters–and as a result, the characters tend to fall flat, especially because of the blank dialogue and stiff narrative which conveys the bare minimum of the characters' emotions and thoughts. So, I think the aspect that would most benefit from being oral recounted is the portrayal of characters. Even this book gives readers a bit of a boost beyond the narrative because of the intricate illustrations that accompany most of the tales: they give readers images of the characters, and even something so limited as an image can create a much stronger connection for the reader to the stories than would otherwise exist.

Family & the World

The main difference between a family myth and a sacred narrative is that the family myth focuses on why family members act the way that they do or why the family is in whatever situation they are in at the time. They are truly myths because they give an understanding of how a family came to be like they are or defines what kind of a family that they actually are. Like for example, the history of my great uncle's temper that lives on from my father's boyhood to mine only furthers the characterization behind why the family is the way that it is. It gives the family a unique look on life. Distinguishes them from other family's. It's very easy to see that not all families are quite the same. A family myth give emphasizes both the joys and the flaws that it posssesses and most of the time tries to make light out of whatever situation the family is in whether it be good or bad. Overall, the family myth is important to folklore because unlike a regular myth it emphasizes the personal narrative and is willing to give a more emotional response from the one who is being told the tale.

family myth discussion

1.A family myth is going to have the most profound meaning to someone who actually belongs to the family possessing the myth, and these myths are going to affect that person to a greater degree than other sacred narratives. In other words, family myths seem to have be much more personally directed, and as a result may be considered more important in defining the members of a specific family group.

2.Going by a typical folklorist definition of myths, it would seem appropriate that family myths be considered "true myths." They offer explanation for why a family is the way it is; and those within the family may or may not perceive these myths to be true. Sacred myths tend to have more fantastical elements, and generally apply to a broader group of people than a single family, but at the root definition of a "myth" family myths seem to fit in by my opinion.

3. Family myths create an idea of family by creating an afflicted or affected group of people. For instance, if my family had a myth that little gnomes sabatoged our optic nerves at birth and because of this we all had bad eyesight, then I would relate to those who I shared this story with (my family) and through that relation would come strong familial bonds.

family story

Every time I complain to my father about life being unfair he gets really upset. He calls me ungrateful because I have things so easily. He is from Kashmir and around age 65, so he is a old timer. During his times people lived in mud houses, had no electricity, no TV., not too many clothes, nor enough to fill their mouths. It is a small village that does not provide much for the people. He had 6 brothers and sisters and his father died when he was very young. He had to quit school in the forth grade because his mother couldn’t afford it. He did laborious work like bring groceries for people who lived in a mountainous area. Every day he would walk bare foot and do hard labor like fetch water from a water hole 45 minutes away. He had to take a large pail and carry it all the way to his masters house. He got his first pair of shoes at age 12 which was made out of plastic. On top of that he only had one pair of clothes. He later worked as a servant at a restaurant in Pakistan, and someone sponsored him to go to Japan. There he was a servant to the prime minister. He got lucky and ended up in U.S.A. Here he worked as a baby sitter with his limited English skills, and later on he was a caretaker for an old man. He went to school and cleaned houses on the side. He finally learned some English, and started working at a restaurant in the kitchen as a dish washer. He worked his way up to a waiter. Later he opened his own restaurant and now he has about three. That made me rethink of how easy I have it in life compared to him, and that I am ungrateful because God has given me a lot. He passes his values on to his children and encourages us to work hard too.

The Musical Exception

Growing up my Great Aunts always said that I was the musical exception in our family but I never really understood why. When I was young I would often be coaxed into performing for my family or their friends, esp when my Grandmother and Great Aunts were around. I never really gave this thought beyond the fact that my family seemed to enjoy it so I liked doing it. Earlier this year I finally asked my Aunt Gale why people in the family had always said this to me and she told me a short story about my Grandmother and my two Great Aunts. The Gale sisters had been part of a drum and bugle corp. when they were growing up and would go around performing. Aunt Mabel carried the US flag, Aunt Florence was the drum major, and my Grandmother played the bugel. All of the women in the family were musically talented which passed down to my mother and my Aunt Gale as well. Everyone played an instrument. I apparently am the only one who sings, plays the instruments at the same time, and dances all alone. I never understood until she explained this to me. This is now part of our family history that I am carrying on.

The encounter with the escalator

Many years ago I remember an occasion with my father that has since become a family story and legend. It goes that after a few too many drinks one evening, my father decided to try a Dennis the Menace routine, and at one of the longest Washington D.C Metro escalators he tried to sit on the moving hand rail and slide down it. Well being a little tipsy, he lost his balance and fell off the escalator into the polished metal slide that ran parallel to the escalator. Unfortunately the slide is covered with numerous rows of cylindrical bumps--that are meant to prevent people from sliding down them-- and needless to say, my father's ass was quite sore and bruised by the time he made it to the bottom of the slide and flew off the end. A few days after the event my father decided to pull down his pants and take a picture of his butt, in the picture however his butt was so bruised it looked like a black censor panel was placed over it. Somehow this picture was made into a Christmas ornament, and for several years it appeared prominently as a decoration on our Christmas tree.

History Lessons with Grandpa

From a very young age I hav always been told by my grandpa how fortunate I am and how lucky I have it.  I rememeber from a very young age the stories my grandfather would tell me and my cousins of how he escaped from the russians and walked on FOOT for five months to escape the terrible reality of World War II.  He was filled with stories; each time we would see him we would learn something new of his struggle to America or the good times he had growing up in his culture.  It gave me and my family a sense of identity that we come from a long line of determined people who never gave up.  One story inparticular I remember my grandpa  or Vanessa we call him in Estonian.  He would tell us of his five month walk away from his home and everything he knew in order to get away from the way and the horrors of the russian army.  On their way they were attacked by Russians and his brother was taken to join the Russian army.  His brother did so in order not to be killed.  SOMEHOW they were able to come in contact (now this is a miracle and you can really appreciate this because this was long before texting and cell phones and he internet!) and his mother mailed or sent him some civilian clothes so he could put them on and escape without notice!  Later on after a couple months went by his brother (who had escaped) met up with some people and told of how he hasnt seen his family in months and has no idea of whether or not they are alive.  The people he talked to had seen my grandpa before and told him that they may be in town! Well sure enough they were and they finally found eachother!  It was a very heartwarming story.

Family Story/Definition

Strong, Resilient Family

My Great Great Grandfather Samuel Watkinson was severely burned after a twin-engine bomber hit the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in New York in heavy fog and set it on fire on July 28, 1945. He was on the 82nd floor and thought he was experiencing an earthquake. He looked out of the window and saw the fiery bomber hanging on the side of the building. Then he felt the intense heat wave. The flames and dense smoke reached upward and obscured the top of the Empire State Building. He ran into an inside room and crouched down on the floor, covering his face with his hands. Firefighters found him in shock, and he was diagnosed with 3rd degree burns of both hands, 2nd degree burns of the face, and a burned larynx. He was in the hospital for three months and was discharged on October 13, 1945 to go home and continue his recovery. He went through a long period of skin grafts and compression dressings, with two full thickness grafts on his left hand to cover exposed tendons. He had to go through therapy to help with the motion of his fingers, which never became fully flexible.
Great Great Grandfather Samuel had exemplary human spirit and a positive attitude, and he was testament that a person can find the strength to get through hard times with a combination of hope, faith, resilience, patience, and the support of a strong, cooperative family. The family pulled together and remained strong and resilient to deal with this prolonged suffering. Great Great Grandfather Samuel Watkinson died on April 26, 1953 at 76 years of age, but his courageous spirit is still here to remind his descendants that our problems in life are not insurmountable, and his ordeal is a reminder of the importance of a strong, functional, supportive family.
Christine Watkinson

Family Dinners

From the time I can remember and all the way through high school, my family always had sit-down dinners together. It was not just on a Wednesday night, or a Sunday night like a lot of families, we had it EVERY night. Until I was in high school I do not remember missing a single dinner. Once in high school the only excuse from dinner you could have was work or academic activities. This was our story-telling/story-making venue.

This was not a tradition passed down through either my mother or my father's family, but one they created together. Both of my parents come from divorced families. Their parents divorced in the 1960s, when divorce was still looked upon as shameful and deviant. It clearly affected both of my parent's outlook on parenting and marriage, so they created this tradition of always being together for dinner.

When I was little, I loved having dinner together with the family, it was a great time, and we all enjoyed each others company. As we aged however, it became such a burden to make sure I had absolutely NO PLANS from 5:30-6:30pm everyday. Dinner would consist of either my mother, me, or my sisters preparing dinner. One of us setting the table, one of us clearing the table, and one of us doing dishes afterwards. We were on a rotation. I remember when I was in middle school my dad even made a calendar with lists of whose turn it was each night. When we became older and would have to miss dinner, we would have to make sure that someone else was willing to cover our duties for the night. My sisters and I would generally barter for either clothing, future duties, or keeping secrets. It was a great system.

As I look back on it now, I see it as an exercise in consideration for others. My mom and dad wanted us to see how important it is to take time with your family and the people you love, even if it is inconvenient or tasking. We don't often get together for family dinners anymore, and although each of us conduct thoroughly busy lives, we take time to talk on the phone, almost everyday, just to see how everyone is doing.

Family Definitions: Singers and Geniuses

There are many definitions families can use to distinguish themselves. Many members of a family can possess qualities of creativity. Other families might lean towards academics and intelligence. My family has a little bit of both. There are a long line of singers on my mother’s side of the family. My grandmother was in a all girl singing group when she was young. Before she passed away, my aunt was vocally gifted and recorded some music. Even my mother sung in the choir when she was a teenager. All my siblings and myself can sing. My younger brother, Quentin, makes up songs about family member on atop of his head. It’s actually quite funny to think how so many people in a family can share one talent. Many people in my family are very smart. One of my uncles took classes at Columbia University when he was still in high school. I have another uncle who received perfect scores on exams when he was in the Navy. Also, I have cousins who are extremely intelligent and had the option of shipping a few grade levels. These qualities definitely stand out in my family. They are very strong qualities and I wouldn’t be surprised that I passed those characteristics to my future children.

Family Definition - Stubbornness

One characteristic that persists in my family, on both sides, is stubbornness. My husband can even attest to this, as he claims I am the most stubborn person he has ever met (we’ve been together for almost 20 years). This quality seems to be more evident with the females of the family, however, as the men tend to be more “laid back.”

One story that I’ve always enjoyed hearing, as told by my paternal grandmother, is regarding one of my aunts when she was in high school. Like with most schools, the students were subject to a dress code. For girls, the hem of their skirt must be long enough so that if they were to get down on their knees, the hem would touch the floor. One day my aunt was called to the office because her skirt was believed to be about an inch too short. The principal proceeded to tell her to kneel on the floor so that he may determine whether or not she was in violation of the dress code. She tried to assure him that she was in compliance and did not see the necessity of getting down on her knees. He was insistent, however, and quickly became agitated. My aunt continued to refuse, and the principal threatened to call her parents. She replied with “you’re welcome to call my parents, but I’ll tell you one thing: I only kneel before God and you sure don’t look like the Lord Jesus Christ to me!” When my grandparents arrived at the school, the principal informed them of what had transpired, and to this day it makes my grandmother laugh. Knowing my aunt, I can definitely feel sympathy for the principal (as well as for my father, who has two other sisters equally as obstinate).

Family Story

As a few bloggers have mentioned before me, my family was never big on passing down stories of our family history from one generation to the next. As I sit here typing this, not one story about my family history or ancestry comes to my head. There are, however, a few stories my parents have told me from when they were growing up. One in particular sticks out:
My dad likes to tell this story from his childhood. I'm not sure how old he was at the time, but I do know that he was very young. My dad has 2 brothers (one older and one younger), and a younger sister. One day, my grandpa (my dad's dad) took the kids on a trip to the convinience store to pick up some things. Upon getting close to the entrance of the store, they saw a man run inside and promptly hold-up the cashier, threatening him with a gun. My dad and his family froze. My dad's older brother (the oldest of the kids), my Uncle Tony, lost his head and began running down the street, screaming for the cops. Letting him go, my grandpa said he was going to go inside and try to alleviate the situation. My dad, keeping his own head, took his younger brother and sister into the car, where they stayed until the situation was under control. Everyone came out okay, though I cannot remember if the robber was aprehended. In the end, they still had to go looking for my Uncle Tony, who ran down the street and out of sight.
The moral my dad likes to point out in this story is that you should always keep a level head in situations that put you under pressure. When they arrived at the store, instead of freaking out (like my Uncle) my dad did as he was told by his father, and kept calm and watch over his younger siblings.
Long before I heard this story, I knew I had this trait. I almost never lose my head over something. I take a deep breath, and take whatever situation ahead of me by the horns. Even so, this story and its moral of level-headedness stick with me to this day, and will continue to do so.

Family Definition-Tenacity

I have always loved hearing my grandmother tell stories about our family. It has always fascinated me, hearing about the people who were gone before I was born but helped to shape who I am. One of my favorites to hear about was my grandfather, my mom's dad. He passed on when I was 3 1/2 and I actually have 2 very visual memories of him, he was a stone mason from Ireland and I always remember the size of his hands. I also remeber the story my grandmother would tell about the broom. My mother, my grandmother and I (aged 0-2) would go shopping, it was our outing - usually purely window shopping but it was girls' day out-my dad was in school or watching baseball with my grandfather. One day my grandfather decided to come with us, he needed a broom. He wanted a specific broom, and apparently as a result we went to about 15 different stores to look for the broom. The ladies did not get to pick single store, as we had to get the broom. In fact, 30 years later, my grandmother still would say, remember the time we had to get the broom? Interestingly enough, the broom is part of the family, my mother gets it into her head that she needs something, it is always something specific and we always have to search for it. And it is NEVER a simple search, it becomes a quest similar to the broom, we call these trips - searching for the broom, still to this day. In another bizarre twist, I have noticed that I am doing the same thing.

Family Definition - Determination

My mom has always been a good cook. So good, in fact, she learned how to cook all the southern dishes she could from her mother-in-law and can prepare a good southern meal just as if she had grown up in North Carolina instead of Utah. My dad liked her cooking too, but he always preferred stew to just plain soup. One evening mom had a meeting to go to and left a large pot of soup simmering on the stove with meat, potatoes, carrots, barley, onion and corn in it for dinner. My dad knew enough about cooking to know how to thicken up a soup using rue and turning up the heat on the stove. So dad took out some flour and made the rue and added it to the soup but it just wouldn't thicken up. He repeated it as he knew this is how you made stew from soup. Finally, it was past time to eat so he just served his "stew". He served out the bowls to all of us and told us to begin eating. We each of us took one bite and wouldn't eat any more. Dad got mad because none of us were eating after all of mom's and his efforts to feed us. He told us to eat and stood over us until he made sure we got a few spoonfuls in. He then served himself a bowl and put one spoonful in his mouth and spit it out. Turns out instead of using flour to make the rue, he had used powdered sugar and ruined the whole pot of soup by sweetening it up. He then made a few boxes of mac and cheese for dinner.

I was prenatally subject to this headstrong nature as well. The story goes that my mom was 9 months pregnant and I was in the breech position. The doctor put one hand inside my mother and one outside and tried to manually turn me around but I wouldn't budge and all it did was cause my mom pain. The doctors were concerned but decided to wait until the time came more near for the birth. Two weeks later, just two weeks before my due date, mom said she felt this fluttering motion in her belly and when she went to the doctor's office two days later, I had turned into the right position. Mom said I have always been like that. I do what I need to, but always on my own timeline.

These are two examples of the determination that runs in our family. There are 8 children in our family and we all are headstrong and have our own distinct ways of thinking. It means fireworks when we get together but luckily we all also are gifted at getting over altercations quickly. I remember another instance when we were playing the boardgame "Life" and someone tried to take out a loan. We had lost the instructions and so couldn't remember the right way of paying it back. We spent over half an hour debating about the "right" way to do it, wasting the time we could be playing the game and enjoying ourselves because we each had our own thoughts about the execution of returning a loan in a game. Though it creates difficulties at time, we all have found success in employing our determination (what some might call stubbornness) to our advantage as most of us live good, productive lives, though we all have taken different routes to get to the place we want to be. Once our minds are set upon something, we don't rest until we accomplish it.

Family Stories

It's kind of hard for me to think of any family stories - for some reason my family wasn't big on passing down tales from previous generations. I certainly don't have a wealth of stories like that of the author of Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins. However, I do remember my mother telling me every so often about her mother, Jean. My grandmother died of breast cancer when my mom was only 27, before I was born. Though I never knew my grandmother, the aged, black and white photographs that my mother kept served as the template for who I thought of as my grandmother Jean. Whenever I think of her, this one image comes to mind: a striking woman - not necessarily "gorgeous", but certainly attractive in her own right - with a "stylish" 60's hair-do, horn-rimmed glasses, and most noticeably, eyes that contained wisdom and knowledge of which I never had the opportunity to appreciate. 

My mother always made a point when raising me to expose me to many different cultures and ways of thinking. I've learned that that was a trait she got from her mother, and she told me many times. My grandmother was a nutritionist who headed the cafeteria at the elementary school where my mother and aunt went (as a working woman in the earlier 20th century, I always admired my grandmother's independence; breaking the norm of the typical housewife). This cafeteria connection afforded my mom many delicious, unpaid-for treats in the lunch line - the cafeteria workers were eager to make their boss's daughters happy. 

My grandfather Murray was in the navy, and while he was on a tour in Japan, Jean and a friend had traveled to various destinations across the world, including a stop in Japan to meet up with my grandfather. In addition to many collectibles and artifacts (a knitted wool sweater from Portugal and a sake cup set come to mind), Jean also procured a fondness for foreign foods. At home, Jean would make exotic dishes for the family, like General Tso's chicken or curried lamb, far from the bland meals of meat and potatoes that normally graced the dining room tables of South Carolina suburbia. Often at dinner parties, her guests would eye the colorful, exotic smelling dishes with scrutiny and hesitance before their under-stimulated taste buds were shocked back to life.

It was stories like this one that my mother told me that formed the grandmother I think of today. I never knew her, and only know her face from old photographs, but I do know that she was an independent woman who not only had the gusto to work her way up to the head of a business, but also travel around the world with a girlfriend, and surprise her neighbors with "risque" dinners from abroad - all accomplishments that women rarely claimed at the time. Her modernity and independence influenced my mother, and has certainly influenced me.