Author Archives: Edan Millstein

Coin Rubbing / Cao Gio

Main Piece: Coin Rubbing / Cao Gio

“It is a piece of traditional Asian medicine and the prospect of it is, you take a coin, usually a bigger coin such as a quarter or silver dollar, and you use some type of oil or liquid that you can apply like vaporub, take that and you apply it to your skin, not to the coin, and it is performed on somebody’s back when they are feeling sick or cold. You put the coin on the persons back and you kind of scrape. There are a few variations, but for my family it has been that you go along the spine and outwards on both sides of the back. It leaves streaks on your back and the more red the streaks are after doing it continuously, that is the level of sickness that you have. The purpose of it is to get the bad blood to rise to the surface which is supposed to heal the sickness.”

Background Information:

The informant learned this performance from his parents. Both the informant and his parents are Vietnamese and this is a traditional Vietnamese ritual for healing those who are sick.

Context of the Performance:

This is performed on a person who is sick or is cold. It is a traditional medicine, so this would not be performed on somebody who is not sick.

My Thoughts:

I think that this is a very interesting folk medicine and I am very curious to find out whether it works or not. There are many different folk medicines, some of which work and some do not. If a folk medicine is proven to work consistently, it is taken into the field practicing professional medicine. This folk medicine reminds me of bleeding a person to get rid of the bad blood inside of them, but that was proven to not be an effective way of curing somebody from a sickness. Both are aimed at getting rid of the bad blood inside of a person, although bleeding a person literally rids the body of blood whereas this folk medicine only brings blood to the surface of the body, but it still remains underneath the skin.

Annotation:

For more information and versions of traditional Vietnamese coin rubbing, please see below.

Yeatman GW, Dang VV. Cao Gío (coin rubbing). Vietnamese attitudes toward health care. JAMA. 1980 Dec 19;244(24):2748-9. doi: 10.1001/jama.244.24.2748. PMID: 7441861.

Spring

Main Piece:

“The geese are honking and the cranes are in the meadow”

Background Information:

The informant heard this from her parents when he was a child and it means that spring is here.

Context of the performance:

This is performed in the beginning of spring or during the transition from winter to spring. This is because in the open country or outside of the city where geese and cranes exist, spring is the time when the geese are honking and the cranes emerge and gather in the meadow.

My thoughts:

I think this piece definitely evokes imagery of what spring looks and sounds like. Everything is fresh and all of the animals are emerging from the winter and getting back to the normal way of things. That is why the geese are honking and the cranes are in the meadow. This is similar to having the groundhog signify the start of spring or decide that the winter will continue. There are many signifiers to the start of spring because winter is a very harsh time of year in many parts of the world because of the cold and the weather. That is why there are many rituals, traditions, sayings, and signals that define and celebrate the transition from winter to spring.

Shooting Star

Main Piece: Shooting Star

“If you see a shooting star you should immediately think of a wish, but keep it to yourself! If you tell somebody else the wish will not come true.

Background Information:

A shooting star is a symbol of luck because it is generally not something that is seen every night. Because of this, there is a belief that making a wish when you see the shooting star will make that wish come true. The informant first heard of this during her childhood over the summer.

Context of the Performance:

This is done when you see a shooting star at night. This holds true regardless if you are not the only one that happens to see the shooting star. 

My Thoughts:

I have heard this folk belief more times than I can remember and I have participated in it even though I knew that making a wish when you see a shooting star will have no effect on whether or not the wish will actually come true. I think that this is a fun folk belief that causes no harm to be done and it also inspires some imagination as well as creativity.

Step over twice

Main Piece:

“As far as I know, there is a Russian superstition that states that if you step over another person, you have to step back over them after or else they will have bad luck for seven years.”

Background Information:

The informant heard this from one of her Russian friends who learned it when she was living in Russia. The informant does not believe this to be true and neither does her friend. However, the informant has heard of other superstitions that can bring about seven years of bad luck.

Context of the performance:

The context of this performance is whenever somebody has to step over somebody else. This can be because of various reasons that the superstition does not specify.

My Thoughts:

I have heard of other superstitions that involve seven years in terms of luck. For example, I have heard that not making eye contact during a toast with drinks will bring seven years of bad luck. Additionally, I have heard that walking under a ladder will also give you seven years of bad luck. Seven years is usually tied to bad luck. while good luck does not come in increments of seven, but instead one or three.