New York Folklore Society's Voices

In Voices we present in words and images the traditions practiced by the people and communities of New York State. We want to hear from you! Send us family stories, interviews, recipes, reminiscences, anecdotes, songs, how-to columns, and more. We are also looking for photographs and sketches of people, places, objects, and community events to publish.

NOTE: The New York Folklore Society Newsletter and New York Folklore Journal were replaced by Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore which debuted December, 2000.

New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org

Winter/Spring 1998

Rolling Syrian Grape Leaves Mary Jweid Bates and Sharon Bates Home for the Christmas holiday last December, Sharon Bates made a tape-recorded interview with her mother Mary Jweid Bates while helping her roll grape leaves. . . .
Solomon and the Djinn Interview with Mohammed Ishmael by Ilana Harlow Corona, Queens, is home to Italian, Dominican, and Mexican communities as well as to a mosque which serves a diverse Muslim population including Pakistanis, Indians, Saudi Arabians, Egyptians, and African-Americans. Clustered around the Masjid Alfalah House of Worship are several halal stores providing ritually slaughtered meat, as well as groceries, clothing and books. . . .
Safeguarding Tradition: Reggie Jones, Jones Beach Lifeguard Interview with Reggie Jones by Nancy Solomon I started in 1944 when the war was on. I got 44 cents an hour. What inspired me was my dad had a gas station in Baldwin, and some of the young lifeguards would come by, and I looked at them. Sometimes the guards would take me to the beach. They looked like gods to me! . . .
Remembering Anna McKee Peter Voorheis In the early days of World War I, Tartar cavalrymen forced their way into the home of Mrs. Wasiowicz, who lived in a small village in the Carpathian mountain section of Austria-Hungary, not far from the border of the Russian Empire. . . .
Lindy Hopping at the Savoy: The Man Who Invented the Aerial Two important things happened in 1927—Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic and a man named Shorty Snowdon invented a dance called the Lindy Hop. Folks still do the Lindy, even today. But nobody—nobody—did it and does it like Frankie Manning. Manning invented one of the Lindy Hop’s signature moves. It happened in 1935, at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Manning grabbed his partner, flipped her over his back, and in the process created a step called the Aerial. Here’s how Frankie Manning recalls the moment.

From Our Readers

Yesterday your issue of the Folklore Newsletter arrived with an article about Finnish traditions and the recipe for pulla. It was like an answer to a prayer! I'd decided to make breads for Christmas presents for our relatives this year and wanted to make pulla. I’m not Finnish, but 30 years ago I was given The Finnish Cookbook and tried the pulla. recipe and loved it. Then we moved, I mislaid the recipe and the book, and I sort of forgot about it.

When I decided to make pulla again, I looked in our local library—but no Finnish Cookbook. Then your newsletter came! I also liked the comments about cardamom and how they prepare it, because I had the chance to buy powdered cardamom or the whole pods and got the pods. I was glad to see other people preferred to use them too. (And I’ve also had the reaction that inedequately pounded cardamom seeds look just like mouse droppings.)

My daughter is helping me with the breads today—if they come out well I’ll include a Polaroid..
Appreciatively,
Sue Grant

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