SLFK 211, Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Review &endash; interpreting legend clusters
I did pet stories, as in Brunvand
Connection between animals and babies, small children
And connection of these legends to a period of excessive concern with babies
Their work should be similar
Looking as college scary stories as stories of initiation
Like Haney stories about going off to a scary place and meeting something potential destructive (Baba Iaga)
Like tales, legends are multifunctional
Don't have one meaning, but many
Can have one meaning to one person and another meaning to another
One meaning at one time and another meaning at a later time
Looked at cat and salmon as not only story about pet/child
But a story about greed punished
Finally, legends change over time
Content
Meaning
Issues reflected
Looked at sex &endash; what was taboo at one time, and then a later time and then now
What is scary &endash; same sort of evolution
Parallels issues in society as a whole
The nude stories which are some of my favorites
What makes sense from one perspective ends up being totally ridiculous from another
These have special appeal to me because I am an ethnic
What makes sense from my Ukrainian point of view turns out to be ridiculous in an American context and vice versa &endash; American stuff is silly there
Speaking of Slavic perspective,
Look at more Russian material
Imported doll, imported curtains, imported hat
Message of above &endash; do not be too attracted to imported stuff
Not the cheapness point in the American material
Rather &endash; don't go for the nice stuff
American stories are of the dreadful contaminations kind
More Russian anti-ownership of nice things stories
And don't be too attracted to the pre-Soviet stuff either
Lots of icons, silver, other valuables hidden during Soviet era taken out now
Warnings NOT to buy it if it is not from your family
It will carry the CURSE of the family that is trying to get rid of it
The portrait of the beautiful lady (sometimes with red eyes)
In one story the portrait is destroyed; woman in portrait can't get back in and arrested
Man digs up a gold statue on the dacha - was there from some past time
Makes mistake of putting wedding ring on it (explain system of rings)
Statue insists on marriage and kills man and/or wife
Please note that anti-materialism messages are like
The no accumulate a treasure in Sten'ka Razin
And no trust the dragon with beautiful foreign goods in the cartoon
Flowering fern on Ivan Kupalo &endash; leads to treasure, but a what price
Think about introducing market economy to that part of the world
Americans assume that capitalist thinking is the natural human condition and the all you need to do is leave people alone to follow their natural materialistic impulses
Not so
Fear of foreign things in general
Russian dreadful contaminations in food
Bushovye nozhki
At least the first has anti-imported (and seemingly more luxurious) goods message
Lessia on chewing gum from US
Even in birthing video &endash; don't buy imported pacifiers; they may look pretty and come in colors, but bad jaw formation
Trafficking in women, children and use for body parts
Was first told as hospitals set up in Russia, Ukraine
Have coma-type storage area to keep humans for parts
Later women, children taken to US
Effect on adoptions
Parallel to M+M's stories, Pop Rocks stories
Recall "truth" of legends
What Lessia said about body parts stories and the hospital in Lviv
The church group arriving in Kyiv airport with big boxes
Kids' scary stories of red spot (out of which comes the mother's hand)
Red hand coming down the street to get you &endash; announced on the radio
Like American teen scaries of babysitter and killer upstairs
Killer in the back seat at shopping mall, Achilles tendon slasher
Here note ubiquitousness of evil
Mother as source of evil &endash; a veiled statement of can't trust Mother Russia anymore?
Kid's story of the blue or red bus:
Boy told not to get on it &endash; when boy does out of frustration because no other buses come by and he is very cold, it takes him to an underground place where people are killed for parts
Sometimes police get on to investigate multiple disappearances
Before, public transportation was wonderful
Safe, reliable, always on time
Legends telling about public transit being a path to danger
Talks about all aspect of formerly Soviet society breaking down, becoming dangerous
Red cookies, contaminated pirozhki
Warning not to sit in a certain place in the movies
Also dangers of mothers who work and don't take care of family, as in the past
Sexual freedom of mothers
Mothers don't cook
Parental neglect is symbol for state neglect, which is indeed keenly felt
Lots of stories about the return of the dead, especially those who died young
Usually appear in a dream, make a request and tell where to deliver the requested item; dead person there
Woman who wants low-heeled shoes
Ambiguous attitude toward the return of a mother who dies in childbirth and returns to feed infant &endash; good and bad
Story outcome is usually tragic
Dead daughter appears in dream and tells mother to meet her at a certain time and place. Killed by a truck just at that time and place. Attested because cab driver takes her there and is told story in the car. Also, printed in newspaper accounts
Doctor called to a man's apartment
Turns out to be by the man's dead mother
The couple in Velykyi Khutir
Reason for tragedy not clear
Wedding of the dead?
Putting photo in coffin?
Setting candles in Kyiv
Many, many more
Many traditional topics persist
The domovoi stories, old and new
Cooks man in a Russian stove for bathing there rather than in bathhouse
Takes a liking to a woman who is an old maid and won't let her get married
Climbs on you at night to foretell good or ill
Will help women with fiber arts
Help men with farm animals, or hurt animals he does not like
Modern urban one &endash; mean domovoi in Moscow
Critters of virtually every place
House, barn, bath house
Field, stream, forest
If you do something bad, they will get you
Assya on the leshii who lead the city dwellers out to pick mushrooms astray
Stories of witches, sorcerers
Will start with those next semester
In the meantime, looking forward to what they collect.