Final Portfolio (Revised Assignments 1-3, and Introduction) Folklore

BOOK

Connect Part #1 to the three folklore texts you’ve presented and analyzed in Assignments #1, #2, and #3: an oral poem; a legend; and a folktale.

final versions of Assignments 1-3.

First, collect a traditional oral poem (or song). Record an interview to document one person's memories about that poem.

· Examples mentioned in lectures include... American songs like "Happy Birthday" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"; lullabies, children's songs and counting-out rhymes; soldiers' cadences; proverbs, etc. That tiny American mummers' rhyme, "trick-or-treat," can also work just fine. If you have an idea but aren't sure, discuss with your teacher or class.

· Sometime during the recorded conversation, ask them for permission to use the recording in your essay for this class. If you do not have permission, please find a different person to interview.

(Privacy will be protected. Only two other people will read your essay: your teacher and one student peer reviewer. It is illegal for us to download, copy or share outside this class, without the person's and your permission).

· See items 1-4 below, for details to discuss during your interview (text, texture, context, variants).

Here's an example of a fieldwork interview that I recorded online, while I prepared this Module's Lecture 9. Because of pandemic restrictions, I was not able to meet Ia Dübois in person. But you can also have a similar conversation face to face:

Ia Dübois Interview

Links to an external site.

Later I reviewed my "interview" (I prefer to call it a "conversation"), and followed up with more questions about this counting-out rhyme's text (and English translation), variants, texture and context. It was important, for example, to see "where," exactly, she performed the rhyme, and she told me her old address. With a few clicks of the mouse, I took a virtual trip to Stockholm and looked around in street view! Following up again, I learned she lived on the top floor, corner apartment seen here. The house used to be yellow, but the swing set in the yard is the same as back then... One question led to another, and I could visualize the context ever more precisely!

But enough about me and my fieldwork.

Let's return to directions for YOUR fieldwork assignment:

Write an ethnographic essay about the person and their traditional poem.

Henry Glassie's "four conversations" are like four model Field Assignments. In his descriptions, sketches, and analyses, people and their memories come alive for his readers. THAT is your mission: To write an essay that helps your reader meet an interesting person!

Essay length will vary for different topics, but will probably be around 3-5 pages (750-1250 words). Cover the following information:

1. Describe the person, and describe your conversation(s) with them (the interview context);

2. Transcribe the text. Describe its poetic texture: rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, or other features that set it apart from everyday conversation. Interpret meanings of words or references that your reader may not know. (If the text is in a language other than English, ask them to help translate and explain).

3. Describe variants. These might come from the person or others in their group (see item 4 below); or from books in the library, or somebody's website on the internet. For each variant, try to document a specific source (if it's online, whose for example, who posted it and where did they get the text?).

4. Describe the "natural context" where they sang or recited the text. Let the person speak for themselves, and quote their words exactly as they said them, adding your explanations as needed.

· In your conversation they might begin with generalizations like "We would always sing this...", but don't leave it at that. Take the conversation further. Help them recall memories about at least one very specific occasion where they sang or recited this text. Who, exactly, was there? Where, exactly, were they? When? (can they remember the approximate year for that specific occasion?)

· Describe the tradition - where, when, from whom (name?) did they learn this song? Do they know variants?

· Document their repertoire: Do they know more songs, poems, proverbs, etc.? You may not be able to document everything they know, but it is useful to know if other folklore connects to this text.

· Diagrams, sketches, and old photos, if available, can help recall details that they (or your readers) might otherwise miss

5. Consider possible functions of this folk poem in natural context:

· The four "classic" functions listed in our textbook (Education, Entertainment, Social Control, and Validation of Culture);

· other possible functions and meanings for that particular person and group.

“Happy Birthday”

I talked with Leila Doe about the song "happy birthday," and she was willing to recount her memories of the song. Leila claims the song reminds her of many birthdays while growing up and how her friends and family would sing to her. At some point, there was no party, but her parents and siblings made it memorable by singing for her. The song has rhythm as one keeps repeating the exact words of happy birthday as they sing. In addition, there is a frequency of alliterated words that emphasize the pace and rhythm of the song. Melody is another aspect of the piece that sets it apart from normal conversation created by the alliterated words, rhyme, and repetition.

"Happy birthday" has many variants generated throughout history for celebration in different cultures. An example is a variant produced by Robert H. Coleman in "harvest Hymns," and another example is found in "The Band Wagon," a musical done in 1931 (Jagannathan, 2019). Leila says they would always sing the song only with or without a cake during birthdays. The songs are passed down by society as one learns from the older generation at home or school. Like mumming, a Christmas Irish tradition, the happy birthday song is a tradition in almost all homesteads where people celebrate birthday parties. Mrs. Cultler mentions Christmas mummer as the season's high point (Glassie, H. (1983, p. 10). Leila also has various photos and videos documenting her journey and birthday parties where people sang happy birthday. The function of the song is for entertainment and validation of culture since many people prefer singing the song then cutting the cake.

References

Glassie, H. (1983). All silver and no brass: An Irish Christmas mumming. University of Pennsylvania Press.

1. Document a variant of a legend similar to the legends we encountered in class (urban legends, ghosts, witches, faires/other supernatural creatures, historical heroes).

· The assignment works best if you report your conversation with another person.

· (Optional expansion for an outstanding grade: record and transcribe an interview that you quote, word for word, in the annotation, Part #2).

· You may also write the story down from memory, or record yourself retelling it to a camera or audio recorded - but remember, you are studying somebody else's beliefs about a legend they told, not you and your own beliefs.

· Before annotating, write a short summary of the text, and how you documented it.

2. Annotate this variant (125-250 words):

· Text: Point out significant motif numbers from the Motif-Index of Folk Literature

· Links to an external site.

· ; note how a motif is adapted to include people, places and things in the performer’s context.

· Variants: Compare your text to variants encountered in class reading assignments, or in other chapters of our main "archive," the e-book, Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend

· Links to an external site.

· . Online variants can also be useful, but remember that you do not know anything about the actual beliefs and worldviews of anonymous online legend-tellers.

· Texture: Note traditional patterns; comment on performance style.

· Context: connect the text to its tradition (the storytelling that happened before or after your text), its performer & performer’s repertoire, and audience & their beliefs.

· You may include comparative notes, engaging examples from Module Three.

Legend Variant: “Black Death”

A standard variant of the Black Death legend is the case of the “Lonely survivor.” The tale is a story about a large group that fled to the mountain after the disease was discovered. However, they carried with them the plague, and in a short while, the community experienced massive deaths except for one girl. The girl was then re-domesticated and married into a good family. The girl was named Rype because she was discovered while she had wild behaviors and was the sole survivor of the mountain community. The type also inherited the land where her community had settled before their death. Her descendants are proud owners of the land, tracing their fortune to the events of the black death.

One motif in the legend variation is the presence of a child, which is also found in many other variations of the “Black Death.” For example, those who adopted Rype found her when she was a child in the wild. The different motif is the presence of a person who survived the plaque. In the variation, Rype is the sole survivor after the disease wipes out her entire community. The variant is similar to other variants of the “Black Death,” which wiped out a large population in Asia and Europe (Kvideland & Sehmsdorf, 1991, p.344). The variation also mentions the sole survivor of the plaque, similar to other variants and myths about the disease. The traditional pattern in the variant notes a young child who is the survivor of the disease from an entire community. The audience believes that the community from which the variant is from is mistaken, though, at the time, one can understand the community’s assumption about the disease.

Reference

Kvideland, R., & Sehmsdorf, H. K. (1991). Scandinavian folk belief and legend. University of Minnesota Press.

Learning to "do" folklore is like learning a language - if you speak it, you better understand other people who speak. If you can "tell" a folktale, you better understand oral performers like Jane Muncy or Zsuzsanna Palko. If you "write" or "illustrate" a folktale, you better understand the Brothers Grimm.

1. Create a variant of a folktale type that we encountered in class (stories from other sources should first be discussed with the instructor).

· You can record yourself telling it (this works best if you have somebody listening while you tell). Try to improvise, not memorize or read from a written text!

· You can also record another person telling it to you.

· Or you can skip oral performance and write a readable story, paint pictures, draw comics, create a video, sculpture, etc.

· Then, write the Annotation that you will submit on Canvas:

2. Write a short introduction/summary of what you did in #1, and what your reader should listen or look for in your performance, pictures, etc.).

· Insert any pictures or written story text here. (If you are sharing audio or video recording, type the link to the shared drive). Extra credit if you transcribe an oral, improvised performance!

3. Annotate your new variant (125-250 words):

· Text : Summarize the Type description. Point out significant motifs in your text.

· (You'll find type descriptions in the Canvas page: If your folktale is not in the list, write to [email protected] - mention the Type number if you know it, or summarize the plot of your folktale, and he'll send you the type description).

· Variants: Compare your text to at least one variant. What motifs does your text share or adapt, and how?

· Texture : Comment on performance style (tales can be “performed” orally, visually, in writing, etc.). Note traditional patterns (Olrik’s “laws”, Holbek’s “structure”).

· Context : connect the text to its tradition, its performer (and don't forget to describe the audience!)

· Interpret meaning and function, based on ideas from Module Four.

Alternate assignment 3, group project with classmates or friends: (Please discuss your plans with the instructor, at least a week before the due date). Create a variant of the mummers play described by Glassie. Post a shared video. Each student participant must submit their own annotation, including a link to the shared video (125-250 words):

· Text : Compare the performed text to texts assigned in class; Variants: Compare to variant(s) described by Boyle, Flanagan, or others in All Silver & No Brass. Texture : Comment on how the text was performed; Context : connect the text to its tradition, its performers and audience; Add comparative notes / interpretations based on ideas or examples from the course.

Folktale Variant

A long time ago, a farmer, his wife, and two children named Hansel and Gretel lived. The family had very little to feed, and their father would advise the woman to take the kids to the nearby forest and leave them there. The clever Hansel brought them back home twice, but luck was not on their side the third time, and the two children got lost in the forest. Finally, they came around an abandoned hut where an old witch stayed who welcomed them in with the motive of eating the children after feeding them well for several days, but the kids outsmarted her, killed her, and took her treasures back to their mother. The reader should look out for the meaning and variation of the story. The variant falls under things we believe in, as it mentions a witch with unnatural power. The text is a variant of Hansel and Gretel by the Grimm Brothers variant 327, and they share the motif of family, greed, and hardships.