Monthly Archives: November 2020

Japanese Proverb: Saru mo ki kara ochiru

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Proverb

Japanese: 猿も木から落ちる

Japanese Romaji: saru mo ki kara ochiru    

Translates as: even monkeys fall from trees

English: Even if you’re good at something you can still fail

 

MK

Zoom

11/28/2020

 

Informant Data: The informant is from Chiba Japan and has lived there her whole life. She is 21 years old and works part-time at a “gyuniku” (lit. cow-meat) restaurant, which is a Japanese style restaurant in which customers cook raw slices of meat on grills built into the tables. She also enjoys going to the beach and shopping.

Contextual Data: While I do not personally know the informant, I know her through my close friend I met in high school who lives in Japan now, and she has been friends with the informant since elementary school.

Social Context: MK heard this phrase a lot when learning to play basketball because she kept hitting the ball in her foot while dribbling. Even though dribbling is very easy in basketball, she kept messing it up and her coaches would tell her this phrase. The idea behind it is that just like climbing trees comes very naturally to monkeys, and just like basketball players can dribble a basketball seemingly effortlessly, everyone makes mistakes and the best course of action after a mistake is to brush it off and keep going. 

Cultural Context: This proverb is primarily used in contexts where someone fails and gets discouraged but needs encouragement to keep going by reassuring them that everyone fails eventually. This represents the Japanese ideal of working hard and overcoming the odds. In Japanese culture achieving one’s goal is something that is very important, so this quote helps people understand that even though it is human to make mistakes what matters is how much you can keep going after mistakes, for example, even monkeys fall off trees. 

Snack: Queso De Bola

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, belief, superstition
  • Language: Tagalog
  • Country of Origin: Philippines
  • Informant: R.P.
  • Date Collected: November 26, 2020

 Informant Data:      

  •  R.P. was born in 1975 in the Philippines, where she grew up in a region north of the capital Manila called Pangasinan. She was raised in the Philippines all her life, and went to a private Catholic school in Manila for college. She then married and settled in Manila, where her parents also moved, and ran a small convenience store for the local neighborhood. She later immigrated to the United States with her family in 2008, staying in a Southern California suburb named Norwalk.

Contextual Data:    

  • Cultural Context:  In the Philippines, processed foods before the mid 1980s were scarce in rural areas as most people lived in the countryside provinces. Therefore, Queso de Bola was not as accessible until the nation was more modernized. Queso de Bola nowadays is given by companies to its workers as Christmas gifts and is sold by groceries during the Christmas season.  Christmas can be seen as a mega holiday for Filipinos, depending on their wealth. Because many Filipinos work in the cities, they come back only at Christmas time to their families in provinces, which is why Christmas is celebrated to not only be thankful for others, but also to look forward to the next year or the future (as they would not be able to come back for New Year’s). The dish is red and round, and in the Philippines, round things represent fortune and good luck. The red also means luck due to Chinese influence but is simultaneously significant as a Christmas color.
  • Social Context:  The Queso de Bola is not an entrée, but rather a snack eaten during Christmas. By giving a piece to everyone, they will then have good luck and fortune for the days to come. Christmas is a time for getting together with loved ones, so it also has significance in spreading happiness and good fortune. 

Item:

  • The item is a dish called Queso De Bola, which is a ball of Edam cheese, covered in red wax. It is usually bought from an outside source instead of being home made, but, during Christmas eve, it is cut into smaller pieces to be eaten either by itself or with Filipino bread rolls called pandesal.

Translation of Interview Clip:

X.D. (collector): Hi, can you introduce yourself and a backstory of your life.

R.P. (informant): Hello, my name is RP, and I am originally from Pangasinan, but I later moved to Manila. I went to college there too, in an all females Catholic school. While I had my family in Manila, my parents also ran a Sari-Sari (Filipino convenience) store, until we moved here in 2008.

X.D.: Thank you. Now can you please talk about your Filipino Christmas dish. What it is, how it’s made, what the traditions behind it are. 

R.P.: The Christmas food is Queso de Bola, which is a round piece of cheese in red wax. I don’t know how to make it, but it’s usually given by a company or bought in the grocery store. I didn’t eat it growing up because it wasn’t common to get branded foods like that. But it’s on display during Christmas because it signifies good luck and fortune. You eat it will pandesal (bread) and ham, for merienda (snack time).

X.D.: Why is it eaten at Christmas when good luck is usually a New Year’s thing?

R.P.: Christmas is like a combination of New Year’s too, well for some people in the Philippines. A lot of people go back for Christmas to the provinces, but return by New Year’s, so they can’t really celebrate New Year’s with their families. So Christmas in a way also celebrates New Year’s. Round things display luck, which is why things like ham or Queso de Bola are eaten. The red also kind of signifies that, like in Chinese New Year’s, but I think they make it red for the Christmas season. Eating a piece of that ball means you will be prosperous, so that’s why you share it with family and friends.

X.D.: Thank you!

Collector’s Comments:

  • Queso de Bola is always bought and never made at home. Here in the United States, it is not easy to find. It is sold by Filipino grocery stores during Christmas time, and not every town has a Filipino grocery store, which is why Filipino Americans rarely eat this.

Collector: Xenia Dela Cueva

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Entrée: Lechon

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family traditions
  • Language: Tagalog and English
  • Country of Origin: Philippines
  • Informant: B.B.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:      

  • B.B. was born in 2000 in the Philippines, where she grew up in the Northern region called Ilocos-Sur. She studied from pre- school to high school in Ilocos-Sur, in a private Catholic school named St. Paul, and she was raised by her grandmother and distant relatives as her parents worked in the United States. She later moved to Los Angeles in 2016, where she is currently studying at a local college. 

Contextual Data:    

  • Cultural Context:  The Philippines is historically a poor country, and meat is rare to eat, let alone a whole pig. So during Christmas, it is shared with others, as the Filipino culture is family and community oriented, and Christmas is a time to bring people together. The reason to share abundance with the community is because Christmas is an important holiday for Filipinos to celebrate, especially since most of the country is Catholic.
  • Social Context:   Lechon is served during Nochebuena, or Christmas Eve Dinner. It is the main entree of the dinner, and the dinner consists of family members and neighbors as well as friends that are not regularly seen. Sharing this dish reflects the intimacy between the community, and therefore the spirit of Christmas, as the holiday is meant to be celebrated with loved ones.

Item:

  • The item is a dish called Lechon, which is a whole pig. It is gutted and then stuffed with aromatics native to the Philippines and the region like lemongrass. It is then roasted on a bed of charcoal, constantly rotated and glazed. This process is about 6-8 hours long, which leaves the skin to be crispy and golden. It is served on top of banana leaves and is placed as the center dish on the table for Christmas dinners. 

Transcript of Interview Clip:

X.D. (collector): Can you please introduce yourself and where you are from in the Philippines and a little backstory of your life.

B.B. (informant): Uh, my name is BB, I’m from Santa Ilocos-Sur. I’m 20 years old, and I moved here in the United States around 4 years ago. I went to school at St. Paul (Catholic School in Vigan, Ilocos-Sur), while mom and dad were here. I lived with Grandma and my two other cousins before moving here. 

X.D.: Ok thank you. So what Filipino Christmas dish will you be talking about?

B.B. : So I will be talking about Lechon, which is a roasted whole pig. Usually in the Philippines, a group of men will degut the pig in the morning of Christmas Eve, and they’ll stuff it with aromatics like lemongrass and bay leaves, whatever Filipinos had. And they’ll roast it on a big bed of charcoal with other pigs until and gets really crispy and delicious.

X.D.: Do you know how long it takes?

B.B. : Uhh, a long long time. Like I’d say more than 6 hours, at least. That’s why it’s eaten for dinner, because it’s not yet ready by lunchtime. 

X.D.: Can you explain why Filipinos eat lechon during Christmas and can you explain its cultural context a bit?

B.B. : Lechon is really a special occasion dish. No one is going to eat lechon on a weekly basis, everyone is too poor for that. It is eaten with the whole community: friends, family, neighbors because Christmas is the excuse to get together and celebrate. As Filipinos, Christmas is like our number one holiday. Because of Catholicism, we really become festive for Christmas time and we celebrate it with who we love and the people in our lives. So lechon is a way to share that love and bond, because it’s a special to share something so rare to eat with people.

Informant’s Comments:

  • The sheer abundance of the pig means there are plenty of leftovers after Christmas. So, those leftovers are split with the people and their own families and made into a new dish called Lechon Paksiw, which is a pork stew with vinegar. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • Lechon is not really eaten by my family in the United States because in the Philippines, Nochebuena dinners have much more people (usually 20+). When I do go to the Philippines, Lechon is served for Christmas. Instead, the substitute that many Filipino Americans use as their main entrée for Christmas is ham. 

Collector: Xenia Dela Cueva

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Entrée: Hot Pot

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General Information:

  • Genre: Material Lore – Christmas dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: E.S.
  • Date Collected: November 8, 2020

Informant Data:

  • E.S. is a ’22 at Dartmouth College, raised in San Jose, California. She currently studies Economics, French and Psychology. Her parents are from China, but she has been in the US her whole life.

Contextual Data:

Social Context

  • She first participated in this Hot-Pot-eating tradition at Christmas during 2004. Her sister, father, and mother were also at the event. Every time they eat Hot Pot, they would eat thinly sliced lamb, fried tofu curd, spinach cabbage, fish balls, stuffed fish balls, and a personal dipping sauce. At the end of the meal, they would wrap it up with glass noodles.
  • To her, Hot Pot always gave her a cozy, sheltered and safe feeling because the Hot Pot would always steam up the windows. E.S. said that she could not imagine feeling the same with other foods during Christmas.
  • E.S.’s parents don’t place much significance on Christmas, so for them, it is not a serious holiday. However, for the family as a whole, it is definitely a nice opportunity to spend time together. Even though they don’t follow the gift-giving tradition, they make sure that they spend quality time as a family. Because Hot Pot requires the eaters to cook the food themselves, the long cooking time provides E.S. and her family with more time together.
  • As a second-generation Chinese American, it was interesting for her to see the food that her parents ate in China growing up. She appreciated participating in their culture and also views this tradition as a tribute to her parents and ancestors.

Cultural Context

  • Because Hot Pot is a Chinese dish, it is important to understand the background behind the dish. Hot Pot is a simple, no-frills dish that is simply a variety of ingredients put into a soup. Historically, many people could only afford simple ingredients for Hot Pot.
  • Not all people who celebrate Christmas are religious, or believe in Jesus. Hot Pot might surprise people because it has no religious significance. Nevertheless, it is a very important family custom for E.S.

Item

  • Hot pot consists of a broth cooked in a large pot at the center of the dinner table. The pot is shared by all members, and people can just reach into it as they please. Traditionally, different meats (thinly sliced beef and lamb, fish balls, seafood, etc.), vegetables (bok choy, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms), and noodles (ramen, udon, pasta) are cooked in the broth.

Transcript for Interview Clip

Y.H. (collector): Alright so let’s get started. My first question is how you would describe yourself, maybe in one to two sentences.

E.S. (informant): Ok so I’m a ’22. I live in San Jose, as you know. I’m studying Economics, French and Psychology at Dartmouth. Both my parents are from China but I was born in the US.

Y.H.: Great. So this project is about collecting traditional foods eaten during Christmas. Does your family have one?

E.S.: Yes we do.

Y.H.: Can you tell me a bit more? what is the food you eat and when was your first time eating eat.

E.S.: So the food we eat is Hot Pot, which is like a broth where we throw random things in, cook it, and then everyone eats from the same pot. We usually eat it with thinly sliced lamb, fried tofu curd, spinach cabbage, fish balls, stuffed fish balls and a personal dipping sauce. And when was the first time I had it? Hmm. I got to think about this one. I think it was in 2004? I’m not really sure because I have been eating it for a long time.

Y.H.: Did eating Hot Pot make you feel a certain way? Or what was significant about it to you?

E.S.: I also feel cozy, sheltered and safe feeling because the Hot Pot would always steam up the windows. I could not imagine feeling the same with other foods during Christmas. My parents don’t really celebrate Christmas in the traditional way so for them, it is not a serious holiday. However, to the family as a whole, it is definitely a time to spend together. Even though we don’t have a traditional gift-giving, we make sure that they spend quality time together. Because Hot Pot requires the eaters’ to cook it themselves, it gave us a lot of time. However, for me personally, it was interesting to eat the food that my parents ate when they were in China. I really appreciate participating in this culture and also see this tradition as a tribute to my parents and ancestors.

Y.H.: Great. And overall, do you think that there is any cultural or background knowledge that someone would have to have to appreciate Hot Pot the same way you do?

E.S.: I mean, Hot Pot is a Chinese dish so you probably would need to know Chinese culture. It represents the only types of food that most people could afford in Chinese history. Also, I think that we eat Hot Pot instead of other foods because we still celebrate “Christmas” without eating “Christmas” dishes, so probably someone who isn’t Christian yet still celebrates Christmas would understand.

Collector’s comments:

  • Hot Pot is also a big tradition in my family. However, for us, we usually eat Hot Pot during New Years and not Christmas. Nevertheless, I understand the significance of coming together around the dinner table and catching up on each other’s lives. We also take the opportunity to tell each other short sayings such as wishing each other good fortune or good education.

Collector’s Name:

Yilin Huo

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Entrée: Menudo

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, quick fix
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: Mexico
  • Informant: I.P.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

  • I.P. is a ~55 year old man living in New Jersey. He was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico and has spent over 20 years in the United States, where he lives with two of his siblings and, up until they started university, his two nephews and niece. In the US, his family usually celebrates Christmas by inviting over more family members, preparing food, and partaking in some traditions with respect to his religion.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Unlike the American culture of viewing soup as an appetizer, the Mexican culture views it as a full meal, leading to the creation of many soups such as “Caldo de Res”, “Caldo de Pollo,” “Pozole,” and “Menudo.” Menudo was created due to not wanting to waste any parts of an animal. That is why the honeycomb cow tripe is frequently used for this dish.
  • Social Context: Menudo can be eaten at any time, but due to its status as a hangover cure, it is very common during celebratory events. Due to this, it is often seen as a breakfast or lunch meal during Christmas Day, as a quick fix to all the relatives who drank a little too much.

Item:

  • The traditional procedure involves obtaining dried chili peppers including: 1lb of guajillo, 2-3 chipotle peppers, 3 costeno peppers, then cutting their tail, removing the seeds, and boiling them to soften them up. Afterwards, you blend them all together with a handful of cilantro, some onion, some epazote, salt, and 1-2 garlic cloves. While doing this, blanch the honeycomb tripe, and then boil it once more with epazote. Once the meat softens, add the salsa. It is typically eaten with some lime, chopped cilantro and onions.

Translation of Interview Clip:

C.Y. (collector): So you mentioned it is seen as a sort of cure to hangovers, have you ever had it for that purpose?

I.P. (informant): Well, I mean, yea haha, I can’t say I haven’t tried it. That is, back when I used to drink heavily. It’s been a long time since then, and I’m a new man hahaha. But I have to say it is quite effective, it helps sweat out the ailment.

C.Y.: Aaah, I see I see, did you notice it having any other sort of health benefits?

I.P.: Personally, not really haha. When we ate, we ate a lot. So we’d start feeling tired after eating so much, so it’s pretty hard to know. Just a great meal during any time of the day.

Collector’s Comments:

  • My family doesn’t only eat menudo during celebrations since it is one of my favorite meals. Typically it’s also whenever I can persuade my family we should make it. My family also ties homeopathic magic to certain meals; one of these includes menudo as it is eaten very hot, and very spicy, so as to kind of wake you up and sweat out the ailment.

Collector’s Name: Carlos Yepes

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Forget About It

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Success Architect Senior Director: Professional Joke                                                                   PJ          Forget About It                                                                                           Nashua, New Hampshire                                                                                                                                              October 29, 2020

Informant Data:

PJ was born in Vadodara, Gujarat on June 10, 1973. He completed his undergraduate education at M.S. University, and went to S.P. Jain Institute of Management, where he completed his MBA. He got married in India and just after his wife gave birth to their daughter, they moved to the States when their daughter turned one. Now, PJ has a sixteen-year-old son and twenty one-year-old daughter. He has now been working at Salesforce, a cloud computing company, for 6 years. He was recently promoted to Success Architect Senior Director. He was working remotely for Salesforce, even before the COVID crisis.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Salesforce is a cloud computing company based in San Francisco. However, it has employees all over the world, many of whom are working remotely. It prioritizes customer and client satisfaction, and it is also rated as being one of the top 10 best companies to work for with extremely high employee satisfaction. Salesforce is also known for considering the physical and mental wellbeing of its employees as well, ensuring that they are not too overworked. Although PJ’s job is not programming, it is still very much related to the software and cloud platform that is specific to Salesforce.

Social Context: People in this company tend to say this joke when they are trying to tell somebody to forget about something or remove it out of their memories forever, especially if something bad happened to that person.

Item:

“Just Control-Alt-Delete!”

Collector’s Notes:

This is a very common computer function, often known by many who have worked with a computer. When you press these keys in that order on the computer, it terminates any function or ends an application or program on the computer. Saying this in daily life would be like telling somebody to let go of something and never think about it again.

Khevna Joshi

Dartmouth College

RUSS 13

Fall 2020

Entrée: Steamed Whole Fish

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – food, Customary Lore – celebration, superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: US
  • Informant: M.W.
  • Date Collected: November 13, 2020

Informant Data:

  • M.W. was born in New York in 2001. He grew up in Long Island with his parents and older brother. Currently, he attends University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he studies microbiology. He is fully Chinese as his parents are both from Fuzhou, China. He would celebrate Chinese New Year each year with his family. However, regarding the family feast, his family would typically go to a restaurant for the meal rather than prepare the food themselves. 

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Fish is a commonly eaten food in Chinese culture as the fishing industry in China is among the largest in the world. There is a large emphasis on sharing food in Chinese culture as meals are often eaten “family style.” While fish can be prepared in many ways, a whole fish serves as a great family style dish as its large size allows all members of the meal to have some.
  • Social Context: While Chinese New Year feasts are typically prepared and enjoyed at home, it is also common for families that celebrate to have a meal at a Chinese restaurant, instead.

Item:

  • A whole fish is a very common dish in a Chinese New Year dinner. This whole fish, which includes the skin, bones, head and tail, is usually steamed with ginger, scallions, soy sauce and other herbs. As for the type of fish, there’s no specific fish that must be used. The reason why all parts of the fish are included in the dish is because the whole fish represents the whole family being together to enjoy a big feast for the new year. It symbolizes unity, connectedness and the strength of familial bonds, which are all important features of Chinese culture.

Audio Clip:

 

Transcript:

C.C. (collector): What’s one dish that you and your family typically eat for Chinese New Year?

M.W. (informant): What we eat for Chinese New Year is a whole fish. This fish is prepared by steaming it with gingers scallions, soy sauce and other assorted herbs. The reason we eat the whole fish, including the head and tail is because it represents the whole family being together on new years. by having the whole fish it shows how it brings the whole family together to enjoy a big feast.

Informant Comments:

  • This is his favorite way fish can be prepared because of how simple the ingredients are and how clean the dish tastes.

Collector Comments:

  • A steamed whole fish is a part of my family’s Chinese New Year meal as well, and since it is one of the main dishes of the meal, we have a certain tradition with it. The younger members of the family must serve pieces of the fish to the adults first before eating themselves, and this demonstrates the idea of respecting elders in Chinese culture.

Collector’s Name: Chris Chao

Tags/Keywords:

  • Chinese New Year
  • Material Lore
  • Customary Lore
  • Food
  • Entrée

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Salad: Ensalada de Noche Buena

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: Mexico
  • Informant: G.P.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

  • G.P. is a ~60 year old woman living in New Jersey. She was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico and has spent over 20 years in the United States, where she lives with two of her siblings and her two nephews and niece, up until they started university. In the US, her family usually celebrates Christmas by inviting over more family members, preparing food, and partaking in some religious traditions.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Salads in general are popular in Mexico since most of the population cannot afford certain items on a daily basis. This leads to many families depending on their crops and fruit trees for both food and supplemental income. Luckily, since it doesn’t get cold, crops can be grown year round.
  • Social Context: Many families eat this dish during the midnight dinner on Christmas Eve into Christmas day, and, while the orange makes it a bit more tedious to prepare, a sufficient amount is always made. It is mainly eaten after the main dish, almost as a dessert, but with the main purpose to balance the spicy main meal with something cool and sweet.

Item:

  • The “Christmas Eve Salad”, as it would be known in English, is a sweet fruit salad typically composed of beets, bananas, lettuce, and oranges. It is mainly served at Christmas time due to its festive, flashy, purple color, as well as its cool refreshing taste since it is typically served chilled and with peanuts. The most common procedure involves peeling and boiling beets in about a liter and a half of water, then cutting it into cubes and placing back into the water it was boiled in. While it is boiling, you cut bananas in slices, cut lettuce, and peel oranges so only the juice sacs cut into cubes remain. Once the beets are ready, you wait until its room temperature and then add honey and sugar, cool it, then add the rest of the ingredients. It is typically served in clear glass to complement the colors, as well as with optional peanuts.

Translation of Interview Clip:

C.Y.(collector): Do you make this salad every Christmas?

G.P.(informant): Yea when a lot of family comes over. Due to Covid though, I don’t think I’ll be making it this year. It’s only going to be my close family and I, so I think we’ll probably stick to something simpler and smaller.

C.Y.: What about making a smaller portion?

G.P.: Come on, you should know this. We don’t scale things down. Not in this house. If we do it, we go big. So unless you want to drive a two hour round trip to drop some off to your cousins…?

C.Y.: Haha, I’ll err, get back to you on that.

Collector’s Comments:

  • My family tends to eat this both during the holiday and outside the holiday during the warm months. We typically don’t tie much traditional value to it, aside from the light homeopathic magic belief that something cool will also help cool the stomach down to prevent stomachaches and indigestion since, once accustomed to it, its quite easy to go overboard on spicy foods.

Collector’s Name: Carlos Yepes

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Russian Proverb: Любишь кататься люби и саночки возить

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General Information About Item:

  • Verbal Folklore, Proverb
  • Language: Russian
  • Country of Origin: Russia
  • Informant: AG
  • Date Collected: 11/3/20

Informant Data:

AG was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1977, but immigrated to the United States in 1999 because of his current wife. In 1999, Anton was visiting friends in Los Angeles where he was introduced to his wife by a mutual friend. They began dating, and eventually, AG permanently relocated to Los Angeles. The majority of AG’s family still lives in Moscow, Russia. AG earned an undergraduate degree in accounting at Pepperdine University. AG is fairly traditional and has stuck to his Russian roots. To this day, AG and his wife are still happily married, residing in Los Angeles, with their two beautiful kids

Contextual Data: 

Growing up, AG was an extremely active kid who loved to have fun. He was also a little bit on the lazier side and hated doing things for himself. He enjoyed soaking up all the fun and adrenaline and hated actually doing the work to get to the point where you can have fun. Specifically, he enjoyed skateboarding down big hills and mountains but hated going back up the hill or mountain (which is very similar to the proverb). He enjoyed having others do that for him, especially his mother. At around the age of 11, his mother realized she could no longer treat him like a little child, and she had to teach her son the importance of working hard before being able to play and have fun. That was when the first time AG remembers hearing the quote because his mother loved to use proverbs and metaphors to describe everyday life, so she used this proverb because it emphasizes the importance of enjoying both the hard work and the reward.

Social Context:

Russia is known for its below-freezing winters and heavy snow, which quickly led to the growth and popularity of sledding in Russia, especially with younger children, causing a very instructive thought to be formed. A sled is essentially a winter carriage on skids, but instead a much smaller size, and it is intended to bring pleasure and adrenaline when sledding down. In order to have the chance to sled in the first place, you have to pull the rope or push the sled from behind to get to the top of the mountain. This can be a strenuous and tedious activity, but the reward is going down the mountain on your sled, enjoying the speed and rush. In order to ease the tedious and strenuous activity, you must instead embrace it and also enjoy it because it’s the part that comes before having fun. You must enjoy all activities whether they are hard or fun because nothing in life comes for free.

Cultural Context:

Like most people, Russians look forward to their leisure time, especially after working hard, which is why this proverb applies to all spheres of life and is still so commonly used. Most Russian adults have found the balance between work and fun due to Russians teaching their kids from an early age the importance of working hard in order to be able to have fun. No doubt, sliding down the slope on a sled is a fun activity, but for that to happen, you must first drag your sled up the hill, which can be lengthy and difficult. There will be both pleasant and unpleasant moments in anything you do, but to get the best possible results, you need to learn how to embrace and enjoy both. Without embracing hard work, you will not achieve anything and be extremely unhappy, which applies to children and adults. The proverb depicts the relationship between rest and work by reminding us that work is an integral part of recreation and entertainment. There is no such thing as fun without work, nothing in life comes for free, and you must embrace the hard work that comes before the fun.

Item:

Orally transmitted proverb: Любишь кататься люби и саночки возить

Pronunciation: Lyubish’ katat’sya lyubi i sanochki vozit’

Literal Translation: If you like to ride – love and carry sleds.

Translation: If you like sledding, you should like to carry the sled.

Informant’s Comments:

“This is one of my favorite proverbs because it was the first time I realized my behavior was unacceptable, and instead, I had to accept the fact that nothing in life comes for free. I used to enjoy things like skateboarding and snowboarding, but I absolutely hated the times I would be off the board, either trying to climb the mountain or treating an injury. I was extremely immature, but my mother’s proverb opened my eyes to the reality that life is hard, and I have to work hard in order to be able to provide myself with those fun times I enjoy. Work hard, play hard.”

Collector’s Comments:

I agree with the informant because the first time I heard this proverb, I realized I was no longer a child, meaning I would have to learn how to be independent and endure those unpleasant, hard times myself rather than have a family member do it for me, or even worse, just not endure the activity and give up. As little children and even now, we love when someone else does something helpful for us because it means less work, but the reality is that will rarely happen, and you will always have to work to achieve your reward. This proverb has helped me a lot during times when I didn’t want to work out or practice because I was too tired or lazy. It had reminded me that if I push myself now, it will pay off in the end, which led me to begin embracing the hard work and even enjoying it. The proverb’s structure is fairly typical to that of a traditional Russian proverb due to the phonetic devices and repetition, which give the proverb a catchy, smooth flow.

Collector’s Name: Jennifer Gadalov

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013 Fall 2020

Tags/Keywords:

  • Russian
  • Proverb
  • Hard work
  • Sled
  • Uphill

Russian Proverb: Без труда не вытащишь рыбку из пруда

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General Information About Item:

  • Verbal Folklore, Proverb
  • Language: Russian
  • Country of Origin: Russia
  • Informant: NG
  • Date Collected: 11/6/20

Informant Data:

NG was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1976, but immigrated to the United States in 1998. The previous year, NG’s aunt moved to Los Angeles in search of a better life. Shortly after, NG and her family moved to Los Angeles as it was important for their families to stay together. NG earned an undergraduate and graduate degree in accounting at the California State University, Northridge. NG is fairly traditional and has stuck to her Russian roots. She is happily married with two beautiful kids.

Contextual Data:

Growing up, NG was a competitive cross-country skier in Moscow, Russia. It was an extremely popular sport for Russian people, but at times NG really struggled to enjoy the sport, especially with all the pain, sacrifice, and tears that came with it. But every time she wanted to quit and give up, her mother would repeat this proverb to her to remind her that nothing, not skiing, not studying, not cooking, etc. came easily to anyone and only the people who didn’t give up, in the end, would achieve success, greatness, and happiness. Every time NG’s mother repeated this quote to her, NG knew she had to keep pushing through all of the lows because, in the end, it will pay off.

Social Context:

Fishers are regarded as extremely patient people because if they do not sit every day waiting for hours with their fishing rods to simply even catch one fish, then they will have no fish since the fish are not going to come on their own merit. Any and all activities/businesses require effort, but no effort can be done without effort. If you want to get anywhere in life or achieve success, you must have perseverance and give your full effort, or you won’t get anywhere if you are not willing to put in the necessary work. This proverb is often heard when someone complains about having to work hard.

Cultural Context:

Although Russian people are sometimes viewed as cold and harsh people on the surface level, deep down, they hide their love for laughter and cleverness. The Russian humor and wit can be difficult to follow and understand due to how tightly bound to the language’s subtleties, resulting in difficulty in translating. But with a little explanation, it is possible to see the clever remarks, humor, and wit Russians include in their everyday language, just like in this proverb. Russian people are extremely respected, wise, and well-aimed people. They expect a lot from themselves, which is how these figurative phrases and proverbs came to be because their goal is to emphasize the expectations and hopes of the people. Their wit and cleverness also stem from their desire to rid their oppressors, such as greed, lying, etc, and instead promote hard work, fairness, and commitment.

Item:

Orally transmitted proverb: Без труда не вытащишь рыбку из пруда

Pronunciation: Bez truda ne vytashchish’ rybku iz pruda

Literal Translation: You can’t get a fish out of a pond without difficulty.

Translation: You won’t achieve your goals if you don’t work hard and put in the necessary effort.

English Equivalent to “No pain, no gain”

Informant’s Comments:

“This is one of my favorite Russian proverbs as I believe it applies to every part of life. You truly cannot achieve success in life unless you put in the work, no matter how hard the work is. You have to give it your all, and you cannot be lazy. As a former athlete myself (cross country skier), this proverb reminded me that I shouldn’t and couldn’t give up even when times got tough or wanted to quit. It helped me realize that I wouldn’t achieve anything in skiing without hard work, even if, in the moment, I believed it was too hard for me. I also really enjoy this metaphor because I have vivid memories of watching my grandfather go out to the pond and sit there for hours trying to catch just one fish, but never losing hope.”

Collector’s Comments:

This is also one of my favorite proverbs; as NG mentioned, it applies heavily in life, especially to sports. Being a competitive tennis player since the age of 5, there have been one too many times where I wanted to quit, give up, and move on because the work was getting too hard and the reward seemed too far away, but this quote is a reminder that nothing in life comes easy especially success. The proverb’s repetitional rhyming is also extremely catchy making the proverb hard to forget; the two proportional rhyming parts are how Russian proverbs are traditionally structured. On top of the rhyming, there are phonetic devices combined with the A then B structure, making this proverb extremely memorable for all.

Collector’s Name: Jennifer Gadalov

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013 Fall 2020

Tags/Keywords:

  • Russian
  • Proverb
  • Hard work
  • Fish
  • Pond