Title: Duerme Negrito

General Information about Item:

• Verbal lore
• Language: Spanish 
• Country of Origin: Mexico
• Informant: Ricky Juan-Ramos
• Date Collected: 5/9/2020

Informant Data:

• Ricky Juan-Ramos was born February 1, 2001 in Salinas, California.  He grew up in a Mexicna-Philipino-American family.  Ricky’s father identifies predominantly as Philipino but is also of Japanese and Chinese descent, while his mother is Mexican of European descent.  Both his parents speak Spanish but Ricky’s father also speaks Japanese.  As a result, Ricky grew up speaking English, Japanese, and Spanish.  Additionally, Ricky attended schools that were predominantly of Spanish-speaking and Asian populations and was exposed to various facets of Hispanic and Asian culture.  Ricky is a current Dartmouth student in the class of 2023.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: Ricky learned about parts of the nursery rhyme from multiple sources when he was visiting his brothers in Cancún.  Some friends from different regions of Mexico and of Caribbean descent told him some of the lyrics in the rhyme.  However, Ricky’s aunts sang  and explained the entire nursery rhyme.  The nursery rhyme is used to put babies to sleep and, like other lullabies, includes elements that are meant to incite fear.
• Cultural Context: Originating in the Coastal Caribbean, this nursery rhyme is influenced by the history of racial segregation in Mexico, as indicated by the usage of the word “negrito,” which has racial implications. 

Item:

Audio file:

Original Text:

Duerme duerme negrito

Que tu mamá esta en el campo negrito

Te va traer codornices para ti

Te va traer rica fruta 

Te va traer carne de cerdo para ti

Te va traer muchas cosas ricas para ti

Y si negro no duerme 

Viene el diablo blanco 

Viene el diablo blanco 

Viene el diablo blanco 

Y paz

le lleva la patita 

Chacabumba chacabumba chacabumba

Duerme duerme negrito

Que tu mamá está en el campo

Trabajando sí

Trabajando duramente 

Trabajando sí

Trabando y no le pagan

Trabajando sí

Trabajando y va de luto

Trabajando

Trabajando negritito

Trabajando sí

Trabajando

Trabajando

Word-for-word translation:

Sleep sleep little black one

That your mother is in the field little black one

To you will to bring quails for you 

To you will to bring rich fruit 

To you will to bring meat of pig for you

To you will to bring many things rich for you

And if black one no sleep

Come the devil white

Come the devil white

Come the devil white

And zap

It takes the leg

Chacabumba chacabumba chacabumba

Sleep sleep little black one

That your mother is in the field little black one

Working yes

Working hard

Working yes

Working and no to he/she they pay

Working yes

Working and goes of mourning

Working

Working little little black one

Working yes

Working 

Working

Free translation:

Sleep sleep little black one

Your mother is in the field little black one

She’ll bring quails for you

She’ll bring you rich fruits

She’ll bring you pork

She’ll bring you many riches 

And if you don’t sleep black one

The white devil will come

The white devil will come

The white devil will come

And zap

He’ll take your little leg

Chacabumba chacabumba chacabumba

Sleep sleep little black one

Your mother is in the field

Working yes

Working hard

Working yes 

Working and not getting paid

Working yes

Working and mourning

Working

Working little black one

Working yes

Working

Working

Informant’s Comments:

• Ricky speculated that the nursery rhyme has roots from the colonial period, during which locals worked in the fields as slaves.  The nursery rhyme mentions a “white devil,” alluding to the European explorers who relied upon slave labor and used their power to subjugate the native population.

Collector’s Comments:

• Adding on to Ricky’s analysis, this nursery rhyme also depicts other specific aspects of daily life during this time period.  For instance, the lyrics warn young slave children to behave for fear of their mothers losing their jobs as well as mothers sneaking goods back from the field for their children.  Both of these actions reflect the conditions under which Mexicans once lived and is essential in accurately portraying the folk of the time.

Collector’s Name: Jasmine Li

Tags/Keywords:

• Language
• Nursery rhyme
• Lullaby
• Verbal lore

Title: Cowboys Folklore

General information about item:
Folklore
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Informant: Brendan Harmon
Date Collected: 5-20-20
Informant Data:
Brendan Harmon is a close friend who was in my graduating class of 2018 at my high school. He has grown up in Dallas his whole life. He is currently playing football at Abilene Christian University. For all of his life he has been a die hard cowboys fan. He regularly watches the games every Sunday. He plans to hopefully play in the NFL one day.

Contextual Data:
The context behind being a cowboys fan is super fascinating. For Brendan’s generation the cowboys have not been that good of a team. I am talking about the stretch from 1997 to 2020. During this time the Cowboys have not made it to the Conference Championship and let alone the superbowl. The generation before had the upper hand because during the early 90’s the cowboys won 3 superbowls in 4 years.
Item
Cowboys fans traditions and rites of passage. There is a tradition that I found extremely interesting that is held by most if not all cowboy fans and that is every year the football season comes around that will say that it is their year to win the superbowl. The rite of passage comes when you ask someone if they are a die-hard cowboys fan. If they say yes, you ask them if it is their year to win the superbowl if the fan says yes then they have passed the rite of passage and are a die hard cowboys fan.
Collectors Name: John Paul Flores
Tags and Keywords
Cowboys
Rituals

General information about item:
Ritual
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Informant: Robbie Mangas
Date Collected: 5-21-20
Informant Data:
Robbie Mangas is a Sophomore at Dartmouth College. He is due to graduate in the year 2022. Robbie is also a starting member of Dartmouth’s Football team. He has played the past two years at the Tight End position. He loves playing football and lifting weights. Robbie plans to play football in the NFL someday.
Contextual Data:
The context behind the pregame rituals is a sort of a mixed bag. There are some things that people hold dear and believe will help them win the game. There are other superstitions that many players have about whether they put on one sock first or how they do their hair. For the most part every player has their little thing that they do in order to get themselves ready for the game mentally and physically.
Item:
Pregame football rituals the people that I talked really fell into two categories either a pre game ritual that involved some sort of spirituality or a ritual that they did before every game. For spirituality the people would often read a passage of the bible before the warm-up, the other aspect was when the players ran onto the field they would run to the opposite end zone and kneel and pray. Other people’s pregame rituals involved listening to the same song or putting on eye black the same way.
Collectors Name: John Paul Flores
Tags and Keywords
Ritual
Dartmouth Football

DartmouthSportsTraditions

Southern Superstition

“Hang an upturned horseshoe over your doorway to bring good luck”

Ramsey Walker

Fredonia, KY

May 20, 2020

Informant Data:

Ramsey Walker is my brother. He was born in Fredonia, Kentucky in 1990. He was raised in a family of small farmers who had been farming the land for generations. He grew up assisting in the work on the farm and was surrounded by rural family members and friends for the majority of his formative years.

Contextual Data:

I collected this folklore by asking Ramsey for examples of southern superstitions he could remember from our family. He has heard this piece of folklore from his mother and grandmother. He also explained after the fact that he planned to put an upturned horseshoe above the doorway of his own home.

Item:

Hang an upturned horseshoe over your doorway to bring good luck.

Transcript:

I heard from my grandmother that a horseshoe over the doorway will bring you good luck but only if you keep the horseshoe rightside up because otherwise the luck will just run out the end. No idea why but it’s good luck so.

Jack Walker

314 JD Bugg rd

Fredonia, KY 42411

RUSS 13 20S

Southern Superstition

“If your nose itches, you’ll have company”

Ramsey Walker

Fredonia, KY

May 20, 2020

Informant Data:

Ramsey Walker is my brother. He was born in Fredonia, Kentucky in 1990. He was raised in a family of small farmers who had been farming the land for generations. He grew up assisting in the work on the farm and was surrounded by rural family members and friends for the majority of his formative years.

Contextual Data:

I collected this folklore by asking Ramsey for examples of southern superstitions he could remember from our family. He stated that he heard this piece of folklore first from our great-grandmother, whom I never met. He could not understand the reasoning behind the superstition, only that this is what he had been taught by his elders and thought about every time his nose itched.

Item:

If your nose itches, you’ll soon have company.

Transcript:

I heard from my great-grandmother that if your nose itches, you’re gonna have company. I (pause) don’t know the connection between those two, but it’s been in our family for a hundred years.

Jack Walker

314 JD Bugg rd

Fredonia, KY 42411

RUSS 13 20S