Author Archives: Jennifer Chen

Dragon Boat Festival

MATERIAL

 

每年的五月初五是“端午节”，这一天的主要活动是吃粽子，赛龙舟，挂菖蒲，喝雄黄酒等。吃粽子和赛龙舟源于纪念古代爱国诗人屈原。屈原因为愤恨当时腐败的政府而投江自尽，人民爱戴他，不想看到他真的死去，所有大家划龙舟去追赶他；又把粽子投到江中，希望水里的鱼吃粽子而不去吃他。挂菖蒲和喝雄黄酒是为了辟邪。

 

On the fifth day of the lunar calendar, there is the Dragon Boat Festival. The main activities of this day include eating zongzi (a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice and filled with different fillings such as eggs and meat), dragon boat racing, hanging a special plant, and drinking special wine. Eating zongzi and dragon boat racing is to celebrate the memory of the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan resented the corrupt Chinese government and so jumped into the river to commit suicide. However, the people really loved him and did not want to see him die, so they raced boats out onto the river to try to rescue him. They threw zongzi into the river in hopes that the fish would eat them instead of the body of Qu Yuan. Hanging the special plant and drinking the special wine is to ward off evil spirits.

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant did a great job in explaining the symbolism of the different aspects of the Dragon Boat Festival in her retelling of the tradition to me. She grew up in America, but her family still makes zongzi during the Spring Festival to pay homage to the tradition. Although she had visited China once and observed the dragon boat racing tradition, she was very young and barely remembers it. She would like to go back to see it again. However, growing up, her mom had always told her the story of Qu Yuan, so eating zongzi always reminds her of his story and of the reason why zongzi and dragon boat racing is so important to the Spring Festival holiday season.

Lantern Festival

MATERIAL

 

农历正月十五是“元宵节”，又称“花灯节”，很多地方会举办“灯会”，各种各样的灯笼，里面点上蜡烛或电灯，聚集在一起，很是漂亮；大家要吃“元宵”，又称“汤团”来表示生活的美满。过完元宵节，春节就算是过完了，大家又要开始正常的生活。

 

15 days after the Lunar New Year, there is New Year Festival known as the Lantern Festival. Traditionally, everyone would make a variety of red lanterns, candles, and lamps. Everyone would hold them and play and congregate in the streets. Now, there are usually parades in the streets that have floats decorated in red and with lanterns all over them. The Lantern Festival symbolizes the end of the Spring Festival, and signifies to everyone to resume normal life again.

 

ANALYSIS

 

The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the biggest and most celebrated traditional Chinese holiday. 15 days after the first day of the lunar calendar, there is another festival known as the Lantern Festival. These lanterns are usually red, which is the most important color in Chinese culture. It symbolizes prosperity, good luck, wealth, and happiness. It is used in almost every big holiday or tradition. In older days, everyone would make the lanterns and candles and come together in the streets to interact with each other. It was a time for all the children to have a free play day and a time for the adults to have some time to talk amongst one another. It symbolizes the end of the Spring Festival. The light from lanterns and candles is supposed to light up the sky, to let the heavens know the festival is over but that China is still as one, praying for the Gods to bless the New Year. It is a last hurrah for the two weeks that the Spring Festival lasts. It lets everyone know that it is time to resume normal life. Firecrackers are sometimes set off as well, to alert the Gods and ancestors that everyone will be returning to school and work, but asking them to keep blessing everyone on Earth with the good luck of the New Year. My informant remembers visiting China once for the duration of the Spring Festival when she was very young and she thought it was a magical time.

Red Envelopes for Travelers

MATERIAL

 

如果家里有人出远门时，长辈们常常会送一个红包，里边除了有钱之外，还要包进去一些松柏叶、红花瓣等。松柏叶代表着“常青”，表示永远存在；红花瓣代表红火，表示运气好。这代表着长辈们对远行的家人的一种美好祝愿。

 

Before a family member takes a trip, the elders in the family will often give the traveler a red envelope. Inside, in addition to money, the package will also contain pine needles and red flower petals. This wishes the traveler safety and success.

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant’s extended family lives in China and she remembers this tradition from when she would return to China with her immediate family to visit. Her family that lives in China would always give her and her younger sister each a red envelope with money, pine needles, and red flower petals inside. The red envelope symbolizes a wish of success, prosperity, and happiness on the trip. The pine needles are symbolic because evergreens are said to live forever, so the needles represent a blessing of a safe, accident-free trip. The red flower petals involve, again, the color red. The whole package represents basically a good luck wish for the trip. The informant remembers her parents telling her and her sister that they must keep the red envelope with them throughout the duration of the trip so keep them safe. It always made my informant feel safer having it because she really believed it would keep her from harm.

Birthday Noodles

MATERIAL

 

每年生日时，要吃“长寿面”，一般是一碗面条上加两个不打散的鸡蛋，长长的面条表示长寿，圆圆的鸡蛋表示圆满幸福。

 

Every year on your birthday, you eat a bowl of noodles roughly translated to “longevity noodles”. This is a bowl of noodle soup with two poached eggs on top. The long noodles symbolize living a long life and the round eggs are a play on words in Chinese. Roundness is also taken to mean full, so the eggs symbolize a full and happy life.

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant grew up in California and has lived her all of her life. However, her grandma, who grew up in China, lives with her family and has imposed some Chinese traditions. One tradition my informant vividly remembers and celebrates to this day is eating noodles on her birthday. The noodles, long like spaghetti, represent living a long, healthy life and the round eggs, in the Chinese language, symbolize living a full and happy life. It is basically a wish of well being for the future and the new age.

Chinese Marriage Traditions

MATERIAL

 

女孩儿长大出嫁时，要穿红衣服戴红花，表示将来的生活会红红火火；要在箱子里放上很多硬币，称为“压箱底”钱，表示娘家给女儿带去很多钱财，并预祝她将来生活富裕。还要在新娘的床上放很多红枣桂圆瓜子，表示早（枣）生贵（桂圆）子（瓜子）。

 

When a girl gets married, she has to wear a red dress with a red flower. Before the wedding ceremony, there is a tradition of the bride being sent to the groom’s house by all of her friends and family, symbolizing the transition of her single life to her married life. She brings her suitcases with all of her clothes but at the bottom, she puts a lot of coins so that the suitcase is very heavy. The bed that the bride and groom will sleep on for their first married night is called the “happiness bed”, and there will be dates, lychees, and watermelon seeds scattered all over the bed.

 

ANALYSIS

 

The Chinese marriage ceremony is all very symbolic. The color red in China has many connotations. It is a symbol of success, good luck, and prosperity, hence the reason why the bride wears a red dress with a red flower in her hair the morning of the wedding. In olden days in China, when a daughter is married off, she leaves her family’s home to go with her groom’s family. Nowadays, usually the couple lives in their own home after marriage, but the tradition of sending the bride from her family’s home to the groom’s house (or their new shared house) still exists. When the bride would be sent to the groom’s family’s house, she would pack all of her suitcases and if they were heavy, it would symbolize the wealth and social status of her family. If they were wealthier and high up on the social scale, the groom’s family would be less inclined to ever cause trouble with them. Thus, nowadays, brides will put many coins at the bottom of the suitcase to symbolize making it heavier. Once at the groom’s house, the bride will put her suitcases in the bedroom and look at the bed they will spend their first married night in. This bed is called the “happiness bed” and on it, the groom’s friends and family will have scattered dates (a Chinese wordplay to symbolize having children soon), lychees (a wordplay to symbolize prosperity and wealth), and watermelon seeds (a metaphor for being fertile).