Author Archives: connorye

Spicy Food in Indonesia

My informant SH told me this when we were eating spicy Indonesian noodles. He asked me if I could handle the spice, and when I asked “how about you?” he told me he was training himself to handle more spice. When I asked him why, he responded with this:

“In Indonesia, if you are a guy who can’t eat spicy, people assume that you’re gay!”

“Who told you that?”

“I think my parents or grandma told me this. As a kid because I didn’t like spicy food, they told me this to try to get me to eat more spicy food. I asked around afterwards and apparently it’s a real thing. Even when I went back to Indonesia recently and I was eating with my relatives, they legit thought I was gay when I wouldn’t eat the spicy food!”

Since a lot of Indonesian food is spicy, it is probably assumed that most “true Indonesians” can handle spicy food. Based off this assumption, eating spicy food would be the norm, and if you deviated from the norm, then you would likely be associated with other deviations from the norm in Indonesia, such as being homosexual.

Ugly Names to Avoid Ancestors

GD is from Orange County. She is a first generation Vietnamese American. Her parents are Vietnamese refugees. GD is a student as USC majoring in global health on the pre-medicine track. She wishes to return to Vietnam to serve the rural populations through maternal and child health care.

“My aunt told me that people don’t like to name their kids beautiful names –like things in nature like flowers – because they’re afraid the ancestors will think they are beautiful and take them away so they name their kids after pots and pans and “ugly” things so the ancestors would leave their kids alone.”

“Haha. So does your name mean pot or pan in Vietnamese or something?”

“Yo my parents aren’t afraid of the ancestors! But my mom does know a family of pot, pan, and lid.”

From an outsider’s perspective, this tradition of naming children “ugly” names seems rather strange. In Chinese culture we see the opposite, where parents name their children according to what they hope their children will become. A few examples of names such as this would be translated to “wise and prosperous,” or “brave and successful.” This Vietnamese belief also shows the cultural fear (and maybe respect) of the ancestors, and acknowledges that dead spirits can cross over to the living realm and steal living children.

Breaking a Water Buffalo’s Horn

GD is from Orange County. She is a first generation Vietnamese American. Her parents are Vietnamese refugees. GD is a student as USC majoring in global health on the pre-medicine track. She wishes to return to Vietnam to serve the rural populations through maternal and child health care.

“When Vietnamese girls turn 16, they’re considered strong enough to break a water buffalo’s horn. No joke.”

“Where did you hear this from?”

“My grandpa told me this on my 16th birthday. I actually have no idea how real it is. I just heard it from my grandpa…he told me it’s symbolic of strength specifically for women.”

“Does this mean that women are supposed to be stronger than men?”

“The idea is that girls at 16 are stronger than boys at 16 because they mature faster and earlier, which is why a girl of 16 can break a water buffalo horn and a boy of 16 cannot.

This traditional Vietnamese belief is very interesting and unlike any I have heard before. I know that in many cultures there is a similar rite of passage that marks the liminal period for boys, often around the age of 13. However, this folk belief appears to stem from a less paternalistic society, where women are viewed as strong (literally) and independent, even surpassing the strength of boys at age 16.

Bending a Blade with Bare Hands

JK is a first generation Korean American from Durham, North Carolina. He is a spring-admit freshman at USC who is currently undecided.

“This is a story passed down in my family. My grandfather came from a wealthy landowning background in Korea. His family at one point were the lords of a small town in the mountains. One year there was a series of bandit raids and the leader of that group came to my great-great-something grandfather. He asked for his land and said if he didn’t give it to him, the bandit would seize the village by force. At the meeting my great-great-something grandfather mentioned the bandit had a nice sword and asked to see it. The bandit agreed and allowed him to hold it. My great-great-something grandfather then, while admiring the blade, bent it in half with his bare hands. The bandits then left and never came back.”

I thought this piece was pretty unique because it is a story specifically passed down within a family, as opposed to one that has circulated within a larger community. The story highlights the qualities such as bravery and strength of the “great-great-something grandfather” and seems to be a revered one to have passed down so many generations. In some sense it also suggests that these qualities also run in the family and can inspire younger generations.

Attracting Ghosts at Night

AL is a first generation Taiwanese American who lives in Diamond Bar, California. He is currently majoring in Accounting in the Marshall School of Business at USC.

“In Taiwan you’re not supposed to whistle at night because it attracts ghosts.”

“Why?”

“Back then there were spirit callers and when they wanted to speak to the dead they would use flutes.”

“Also you don’t hang your clothes outside at night because they look like ghosts floating in the wind so ghosts are attracted to what looks like them”

This superstition clearly highlights the Taiwanese cultural belief in ghosts and the supernatural. It also shows that there is intentional communication between the living and the dead, but primarily through means of ritual (as can be seen by the flutes and spirit callers). We can also see that ghosts seem to carry a negative connotation in this culture (they don’t seem to be “friendly” ghosts), because people are warned against attracting ghosts.