Title: Count Your Blessings

General Information About Item:

Verbal Folklore Language: English

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Informant:  A.R.

Date Collected: 10-23-21

Informant Data: 

A.R. is a fourth-year student at Dartmouth. She is from the East Coast. She is very involved in political and arts groups on campus. She lives with both of her parents and her little brother who has just finished high school. Her family really enjoys bonding and enjoying holidays like Christmas all together in their home.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: 
Christmas is A.R.’s favorite holiday so this was a very fitting lullaby for her family. Her family really enjoys watching this holiday classic and even still watch this movie occasionally during the holidays and are reminded of the song as her lullaby when they re-watch the film.

Cultural Context: 

This lullaby is based on the song from the popular holiday film entitled “White Christmas.” This song was written by Irving Berlin in 1954. In the film, this song is performed by Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby as a way to remind the audiences to think of all the blessings they have in their life.

Associated file: 

Informant Comments: 
“White Christmas is one of my favorite Christmas movies and I still like listening to this song at times so I think my parents did a pretty good job of picking a lullaby for me as a kid.”

Collector Comments: 
I LOVE this movie so I thought this was the sweetest lullaby. I remember this song from the movie and how the lyrics were so warm and beautiful.

Collectors Name: Reem Atallah

Tags: Dartmouth, English, female, student, verbal folklore

Title: Hug

General Information About Item:

Verbal Folklore Language: English

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Informant:  E.M.

Date Collected: 10-20-21

Informant Data: 

E.M. is a junior at Dartmouth. He lives a few hours away from campus and used to visit a lot as a kid. He is in a fraternity on campus and involved with DREAM. He has an older sister who just graduated college. E.M. mentioned that this lullaby was one of many lullabies that his mom and dad would sing to him either before bed or just for fun when he was outside playing or with his puppy.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: 
“Hug” was the first lullaby that came to mind for my informant. He said that he loved monkeys as a young child and that this was a story about monkeys that he liked to have read to him so much that his mother made it into a lullaby. She would sing this lullaby to him as a playful bedtime lullaby so that he would be content enough to fall asleep.

Cultural Context: 

This lullaby is based on the children’s book entitled “Hug” by Jez Alborough. This book was published in 2009 by a United States publishing house. This children’s book only contains one word “Hug” because of the emphasis on the illustrations in the book for young kids to look at. It is an endearing story of a cartoon monkey who implores every character he meets for a hug but cannot get one until he finds his mother.

Item:
Hug, Hug, Hug

Hug, Hug, Hug

Hug Mama, Hug Papa, Hug Puppy

Hug, Hug, Hug

Hug Mama, Hug Papa, Hug Puppy

Associated file: 

Informant Comments: 
“I thought it was very sweet of my mother to read this to me as a kid. She would hug me after she would say “Hug Mama” and whenever my dog was near I would hug him after the hug puppy part.”

Collector Comments: 
I thought this was a very adorable poem and also very unique because of the fact that his mother came up with reading this lullaby to him after she read the “Hug” children’s book.

Collectors Name: Reem Atallah

Tags: Dartmouth, English, Male, student, verbal folklore

Title: Los Pollitos Dicen

General Information About Item:

Verbal Folklore Language: Spanish

Language: Spanish

Country of Origin: Chile

Informant:  C.A.

Date Collected: 10-9-21

Informant Data: 

C.A. is a third-year student at Dartmouth. He is originally from Texas and is half Mexican. He is very proud of his culture and speaks Spanish proficiently. Los Pollitos Dicen is a lullaby that was sung to him as a child. He recalls the memory of this lullaby being sung to him fondly.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: 
Los Pollitos Dicen was one of the only lullabies C.A. really remembers having sung to him as a child. He remembered it because it was pretty common in the Spanish-speaking world to have this lullaby sang to you. He said that this would help him fall asleep or calm him down after nightmares when he was very young and that a great number of Hispanic mothers are familiar with this lullaby.

Cultural Context: 

This lullaby, Los Pollitos Dicen (“Little Chickens”), is a very famous Spanish Nursery Rhyme, and is classified under the Nana or Cancion de cuna category. Several Spanish speaking countries have said that this lullaby originates from their region: for example, Ecuador and Spain, but its author is actually a Chilean musician named Ismael Parraguez.

Item:
Los pollitos dicen
Pío pío pío
Cuando tienen hambre
Y cuando tienen frio
La gallina busca
El maíz y el trigo
Les da la comida
Y les presta abrigo
Bajos sus dos alas
Acurrucaditos
Duermen los pollitos

The chicks say
Peep peep peep peep
When they are hungry
And when they’re cold
The hen looks for
The corn and wheat
Gives them food
And gives them shelter
Under her two wings
Snuggled up
The chicks sleep

Associated file: 

Informant Comments: 
“It was nice to remember this part of my childhood. I think this lullaby being in Spanish really set me apart from a lot of my friends growing up in a predominantly white area.”

Collector Comments: 
I really loved hearing lullabies from different parts of the world. I think it is exciting to not just learn about the lullabies in different languages but to hear it spoken in that language as well and hear how soothing the sound is.

Collectors Name: Reem Atallah

Tags: Dartmouth, Spanish, Male, student, verbal folklore

Arabic Lullaby

General Information About Item: Short Lullaby in Arabic originating from Egypt.

Verbal Folklore
Language: Arabic
Country of Origin: Egypt
Informant:  E.S.
Date Collected: 10-24-21

Informant Data: 
My informant (E.S.) was born on February 27, 2001, in New York, NY. His mother and father are from Cairo, Egypt. He has one younger brother. He enjoys playing golf and basketball. His family was pretty conservative growing up. He mentioned that his mother would primarily recite lullabies in Arabic and rarely ever in English.

Contextual Data

Social Context: 
Arso Baba y Mama was one of many lullabies that E.S.’s mother sang to him growing up. She would sing this lullaby to him and repeat it over until he fell asleep. She also sang this to him while patting his head as a way to comfort him. She would sing this to him in a very careful and gentle way which reflects her personality as she has always been quite a gentle person.

Cultural Context: 
This lullaby does not really have a date or location origin as it was spread throughout families in Arab/Arabic speaking countries for years. Each Arab country has a slightly different version but it is primarily sung with these same lyrics. This lullaby has been in E.S.’s family for a long time and has been passed down from his grandparents down to him.

Item: 
Arso baba
Arso mama
bil alwan bil alwan
Hatta y jiranna
doma miyo
h’tah fil nom

I draw my dad
I draw my mom
With all the colors, with all the colors
I keep the picture
they are always with me
even when I sleep

Associated file: 

Informant Comments: “I think it is a nice memory to reflect on my mother singing to me. It reminds me of having a very peaceful childhood”

Collector Comments: Although I am North African, I had never heard this lullaby. Though, my mother also did sing very short lullabies to me so that it could be easily repeated.

Collectors Name: Reem Atallah

Tags: Dartmouth, student, male, Arabic, verbal, family, childhood