Author Archives: Jeff Hsu

Ghost in School

Informant EL went to the same high school as me and now currently goes to UC Berkeley. However, because he is interning in LA, he is taking classes at USC this semester to satisfy credits. While we were out eating dinner we began reminiscing about high school when I realized that our school had a lot of traditions and myths, so I asked him to tell me in his own words some of the stories of our school.

EL: “Okay I remember when we were in middle school there was this painting of this Japanese devil samurai thing holding a sword, it was in front of the IT department remember? Remember how there was a rumor going on that at night at 8 a ghost would walk out of the painting and if it sees you it will kill you? I remember Jesse and Calvin (friends from high school) said they saw it.”

Oh yea I remember that

EL: “Yea I remember in middle school on fridays we would stay around school and wait till it was the right time and then hang out at the stairs and wait to see if the ghost ever appeared.We never saw it but people from other grades have claimed that they have seen a ghost walk out of the painting before.”

Thoughts: I remember this very clearly because it was one of those things I would never forget from middle school. We literally would wait around school until 8pm and then hide at a staircase to catch the ghost. This rumor went around our whole middle school and a lot of people have claimed to have seen it, but I’m pretty sure they were lying as we never see it. I think it was just one of those things someone made up to kept us entertained when we didn’t want to go home.

Fasting

Informant GP is my grandfather who has been a Muslim is whole life. My father’s side of the family has been Muslim for many generations. My grandpa is a devout Muslim who follows the Quran and all the practices described within it. Unfortunately my grandpa’s generation is the last generation in my dad’s side of the family to practice Islam. My father and my aunt and uncles do not practice it, so even though I know many of the things they believe and practice, I don’t know the reason behind it.

Okay so I guess you guys not eating pork kind of make sense, but why fast? What’s the health benefit in fasting?

GP: “hahaha, fasting is not for our health, it is for our spirit! Fasting is a way for us to learn self control because we are unable to eat and drink. It helps discipline us because if we can control our food, we can then use that to control our greed and lust. Also, fasting helps us know what it is like to live without food. It shows us what it is like to be the less fortunate, which teaches us how to be grateful. it also gives us an awareness and empathy to those who are unable to eat 3 regular meals every day.”

Thoughts: I used to think that fasting was ridiculous because you have to starve yourself for a whole month. I guess the reason I didn’t understand it was because I didn’t understand the motivation behind why people did it. Now that my grandpa explained it to me, it seems like it makes total sense and I have a whole new respect for the Muslims that do it. It is another way the Quran helps Muslims remember that they are human and to be humble and grateful for what they have.

Evil Eye (Islam)

Informant GP is my grandfather who has been a Muslim is whole life. My father’s side of the family has been Muslim for many generations. My grandpa is a devout Muslim who follows the Quran and all the practices described within it. Unfortunately my grandpa’s generation is the last generation in my dad’s side of the family to practice Islam. My father and my aunt and uncles do not practice it, so even though I know many of the things they believe and practice, I don’t know the reason behind it.

So my class was talking about this thing called the evil eye that is believed by many religions and cultures, is there something like that for Islam?

GP: “There is actually! I don’t know what it is like in other religions but for Islam, the evil eye is an eye that everyone can get. The evil eye appears when someone gets greedy. What I mean is like… when someone sees something they like but it belongs to someone else, they envy them right? This envy shows in their eye, theres a certain look people give when they are envious of someone else. This jealous way of looking at someone is the evil eye and when you look at someone with that gaze, you are casting the evil eye on them. Once you cast the evil eye on them, it will affect the other person in a bad way, for example they might get bad luck or something.”

Is there any protection against the evil eye then, because I know in class we talked about this 

GP: “Yes there is. When the evil eye is cast upon you and someone notices, they will ask you to take a bath to wash away the evil eye and its bad influence.”

Thoughts: The Islamic version of the evil eye is very similar to the ones that we have discussed in class. They’re all variation of basically the same thing. I think after listening to my grandpa tell me about the evil eye, I believe their version is rooted in teaching people not to feel jealous of others and to be grateful for what you have, because if you do get jealous of other people bad things will happen.

Bread Riddle

Informant CS is a student at USC who is currently studying physical therapy. He is Japanese, born and raised in Japan, and went to school at an international school in Japan.

CS: “This is a really well known Japanese riddle that I don’t know if it counts as folklore but it’s more of a joke. [says something in Japanese].”

*later I found the original in Japanese: パンはパンでも食べられないパンは、なぁに？

Dude how do I even know what you’re saying

CS: “You can find it online for sure. Anyways, in english it translates to ‘bread is bread, but what bread is inedible?’. The answer is: ‘a frying pan’. Obviously that makes no sense in english, BUT, in Japanese, the word for “bread” is also “pan”, so, if you take that, it is a play on words and the riddle is actually ‘Pan is pan but what pan is inedible?’.”

…..

Thoughts: I mean… that was amongst one of the lamest jokes I’ve ever heard in my life but I guess its a joke riddle so it makes sense. I know in Chinese there are a lot of riddles like that where the answer to the riddle is a play on the original riddle’s word. But when my friend he would tell me a riddle I was expecting something better than this…

Sumo Wrestling

Informant CS is a student at USC who is currently studying physical therapy. He is Japanese, born and raised in Japan, and went to school at an international school in Japan.

What about sumo wrestling, tell me something about that since its a huge part of Japanese culture

CS: “Ok well, Japanese people have been doing sumo wrestling for forever. Probably for like… thousands of years. I learned in high school that a long time ago people would do sumo wrestling to pray for good crop and good weather. And then I think it became super popular and the Emperors loved it so they hosted tournaments and stuff. Since sumo wrestling became so popular, matches were created to raise money for temples and shrines and other government related things, and because of that a sumo wrestling league was created.”

Okay but whats the significance of it or is it just a sport?

CS: “Well, sumo wrestling matches happen on important days of the years, and there are always matches during festivals and stuff. I think sumo wrestling is just a way to show strength and people in Japan really love watching it.”

Thoughts: I always thought sumo wrestling was really interesting because it is a huge sport in Japan but is not seen anywhere else. Of course there are other forms of wrestling around the world, but none exactly like sumo wrestling, where the competitors are huge and wear only a towel. It’s really cool that something like sumo wrestling originated from farming, because neither one has anything to do with the other.