The Hmongs

       The members of the Hmong tribe participate in many different rituals.  During the last few classes we have learned about the traditions of Native American tribes, and their way of life.  The Hmong’s are very particular about the process and the rituals that are preformed during the birth of a child.  “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman is an informative novel that is a form of folklore.  Since these traditions are taught to be truth and are passed down from generation to generation it is known to be a sacred legend.  The women in the Hmong tribe are very independent and strong.  During childbirth they birth the child, nurse the child and nurse them selves without the help of anyone.    Even though the women in the Hmong tribe are independent and strong they are inferior to the males in the community.  Its starts at birth when the burial of the placenta takes place. If the child is a girl her placenta is buried in a less important part of the house like under her parents bed, opposed to if the child was a boy and his placenta would be buried by the post of the house which keeps the house standing for he will one day be the foundation and the head of his house.  Immigrating to the United States drastically changed their traditions of childbirth. The mother was unable to give birth to the child by herself, she was taken to a local hospital.  She was also unable to burry the placenta or wash the baby herself.  This story relieved the difference if importance between the Hmong tribe and Americans.  No one in the Hmong tribe knew how old they were.  The mother didn’t even know how many months she had been pregnant.  These facts are important to Americans.  The Hmong’s first child to be born in the United States was their daughter Lia.  Throughout her young age Lia became very ill. The Hmong’s believed that because they were unable to complete some of their traditions than that was the cause of her illness.  They were unable to burry her placenta, the mother was unable to give birth by herself, and she was unable to eat all the traditional foods.   The unfortunate illness of their daughter led them to have stronger faith in there religion and scared teachings.  As an American we don’t believe in their traditions so we interpret Lia’s sickness to be caused by her mothers health conditions.  

"Its a Bird No its a Plane No its a UFO"

        “It’s a bird it’s a plane. No it’s a UFO” The Supernatural stories of UFOS and anomalous lights are considered to be a form of folklore.  The first thought of these experiences did not register in my mind as being categories of folklore.  After reading the article it started to make since.  The sights of UFOs and anomalous lights are somewhat like the sights of demons and holy spirits. Unlike many other countries The United States is very versatile every one does not believe the same things.  The religious culture may believe in the sights of demons and angels, and it is written in the Bible. Also many families teach these teachings to there children, who pass it down to their children.  All of these characteristics exemplify a form of folklore.  Some people perceive UFO’s in the same nature.  Many people believe in UFOs based on person experiences and stories told by others.  There is no real scientific evidence that reveal if UFOs are indeed real or simply an allusion of the imagination.  Many people argue this fact just like they argue the happenings in the Bible. 

            Many cultures believe in UFOs. I believe that people in other countries are more open to believe things quicker than Americans, because The United States is a very technical country we like to prove things before we believe them. The fact that UFOs stories have been told for many years makes it a legend.   These stories can also be considered as schemas. Schemas are indistinct stories that are told among a group of similar people.

            I personally do not believe in UFOs because I was never taught to believe in them and I have never experienced them.   Unlike other forms of folklore, the legends of UFOs and anomalous lights don’t belong to just one culture.  People across the world believe in such happenings.  Opposed to the tails of coyotes and spider woman, that where only told in native American cultures.  

"The Bloody Chamber" v.s. "The Blue Beard"

        “The Bloody Chamber” and “The Blue Bread” are two similar folktales that share many difference but also many similarities.  From reading both pieces of folklore I noticed that “The Blue Bread” had a more magical unrealistic theme to it. “The Bloody Chamber” was more mature and was written for a more mature audience. In the “The Blue Beard” the forbidden room was said to be a magical blue closet that has to be opened with a magical key, opposed to the dingy old dark room described in “The Blood Chamber” 

            Gender Roles were very different between the two stories. Both of the young girls were portrayed to be very naïve.  The husband was given the role of an evil manipulative beast. This character has been introduced in many folktales including “Little Red Riding Hood”. In the end of the stories the young girl is saved from the guillotine preformed by her husband.  In “The Bloody Chamber” Carter has made the mother of the bride the heroine of the story, erasing the stereotype of weak women.  She is described as a strong horsewoman on a mission to save her daughter.  In the “Blue Beard” The heroes are the two bothers of the naïve helpless girl.

                 Alice Carter did not follow the stereotype of ignorant women. Even though the character of the young girl was naive she was still smart. She was aware that something was not right and she handled the situation with thoughtfulness unlike the female character in “The Blue Beard”. Carter used seduction and sharp-wittedness to defeat the wrath of the evil husband.  She also portrayed the strength of a woman’s intuition, the mother of the bride knew by the tone of her daughter’s voice that things we were not right so he took it upon herself to be strong and courageous and rescue her daughter. Carter also introduced the character of a young blind boy who played the role of a comforter, which is mostly played by a female. 

Variations of "Little Red Riding Hood"

“Oh Granny what big teeth you have”, “The better to eat you with my child” Almost every child in America has heard a variation of this quote by little red riding hood and the big bad wolf. “Little Red Riding Hood” is a common childhood folktale often told to children by their parents, teachers, and baby sitters.  This story has many variations and interpretations such as the “Little Red Cap” and “The Grandmother”.  All of these stories share many similarities and differences.

       These folktales posses many similarities such as location, gender roles, binary oppositions, and morals.  All of these variations take place in a small village near the woods. The detail of location allows the reader to grasp a sense of era. We can make the observation that this story did not take place in modern times, which might have supplied Little Red Riding Hood with more protection.  The roles of the characters and their genders reveal how our American society expects males to be the manipulators and the females to be innocent.  “Little Red Cap” introduces another character to the story. A young masculine huntsman played the role of a concerned hero. Unlike the other two variations ,“Little Red Riding Hood” and “grandmother”,  Little Red cap and her grandmother were retrieved from the wolf's stomach and the wolf dies.

The binary oppositions in these folktales are very obvious, “good” vs. “evil”, “naïve” vs. “sharp-witted” and “male” vs. “female”.  The Wolf is evil conniving and manipulative.  He takes advantage of young naive red riding hood, persuading her to tell him where she is going.  In the story of “Little Red Cap” the wolf takes initiative to pose as temptation by directing her to be distracted by the flowers in the forest making his task easier to accomplish. These stories provide assumption that women are easier to manipulate and be distracted by temptation than men. 

          The underlying moral of this folktale is to avoid strangers and obey your parents.  In both “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Grandmother” the consequences of Little Red Riding hood talking to strangers and disobeying her mother results in her and her grandmother getting devoured by the wolf. In “Little Red Cap” it gives a different interpretation it reveals to children that there is a chance that someone will save you from danger and the consequences will not be so drastic.

     The teller of this folktale has many option of how they may decide to tell it.  As long as they correctly disclose the proper events in the proper order and the same moral is revealed then the folktale remains consistently sacred.