2024-04-04 13:21:33
Writer and cultural activist Darya Hudayi spoke to the Voice of America about the story book for children called “Jirtdan’s Halloween – Jirtdanoween story for kids” that she recently published in the United States in English.
Darya Hudayi, who combined the Dwarf, one of Azerbaijan’s famous fairy tales, with the concept of Halloween, says, “I wanted to combine identities and make something beautiful out of it.”
He says that the fairy tale of Dwarf is a multicultural children’s tale.
“I wanted to combine identities and make something beautiful out of it. Because immigrant children from Azerbaijan [Respublikası] or they come here from Iran-Azerbaijan, I don’t want them to stay here among these identities. I want them to know that these identities are interconnected and that these are multicultural and multilingual children,” says the pharmacist from Tabriz who lives in Miami.
Hudayi Dwarf and Div noting the theme of fear in his tale, he adds, “the main idea came from that, just as the tale of the Dwarf has a theme of fear, Halloween also has fear. Therefore, I was able to link them together. In between, I placed some of our own fashions and some of the Western fashions, that is, in America and even in Europe, so that the children find it attractive.
According to him, matching folklore examples with new trends makes them more attractive for children:
“The tale of the dwarf itself is a very sweet tale. Almost everyone has a memory of him. In other words, everyone had a great grandmother who praised this tale. I find it very interesting that folklore is such an interesting thing that such a unified form of folklore lived among the nation at a time when there was no internet and no television. Because here it is that it is inculcated through the media. Disneyland, for example, creates a story and instills Mickey Mouse from the threshold into the nation. But the Dwarf comes out of the fairy-tale nation.”
Darya Hudayi adds, “I think that folklore is valuable from a historical point of view, so we should adjust this folklore a little with today’s world and trends so that we can promote it more so that other ethnic groups can buy it.”
Voice of America