Author Archives: lee703@usc.edu

Funeral

Interview:

“We go to the temple for funerals.  Everyone eats lunch or dinner together like a family reunion.  It’s like a funeral but also an opportunity to catch up with each other. I went to those funerals, but I don’t really think of them quite as funerals.  “

What usually happens in these events?

“We go to the house of the person who died.  The priests come there.  Usually the day is spent making food and preparing the house, then making an alter and decorations.  Service where they have chanting, and at one point they take a string, and wrap it around the attendants around the hands of the attendants.  Same thing happens for blessing the house.

After the service is over, before noon, then the priests can eat, but if it’s after that, then no.  Then after that they party and eat.”

 

Background:

The subject describes the traditional events of a Sri Lankan funeral of which he has participated in a few times.  He also stated that it emphasized family in a way, bringing people together who may have been unable to communicate for long periods of time.   Similar to stories I have heard from Louisiana, rather than mourning the death, they celebrate a person’s life.

 

Analysis:

I found that the idea that death could be viewed as a celebration to a person’s life rather than mourning was incredibly positive.  It seemed like a means to help people move on after death and in this case, rekindle the family bonds that may have slowly drifted away.

Vesak

Interview:

“And we are technically supposed to celebrate the buddha’s death and birthday.  Like go to the temple.  It’s in August I think? It’s called V-E-S-A-K.”

What do you do at the temples?

“You worship the priest and do meditation.  Then usually you eat snacks.  Probably not anymore because I think only the kids get snacks.”

What is your take on this tradition?

“I haven’t celebrated this for years.”

“I think there’s a tradition where you light lanterns.”

 

Background:

While my informant has forgotten his views on the holiday, he did note he enjoyed partaking in the traditions of his family.  The holiday Vesak is known as the holiday that celebrates the three stages of the Buddha’s life, death, birth and reaching of enlightenment.  Often this celebration involves lighting lanterns at the temples.  Some of the places releasing the paper lanterns into the air.  The three methods of celebrating Vesek were to first bring happiness to others, then praying to the Buddha and celebrating days of observance.

 

Analysis:

I noticed that the paper lantern celebration with sending them off to the sky was similar to the paper lanterns sent up as wishes in Taiwan.  It is also interesting to see the religion celebrating a festival to offer charity to those less fortunate.

Christmas

Interview:

What type of holidays do you celebrate?

“We do Christian and Buddhist things at the same time, we go to church on Christmas, then do New Year Sri Lankan stuff.”

What do you usually do for Christmas?

“Stay for the service.  Then go home.”

Do you do anything else?

“We usually have dinner on Christmas.  Usually with family.

Sometimes we go for midnight mass.”

From whom did you get this tradition from?

“Found out from parents.  It’s a way of learning about my grandparents on my mom’s side of the family.  I think my mom isn’t really Christian either.  I think my mom is agnostic too, but she just takes the traditions as well.”

 

Background:

The informant himself being agnostic, still celebrates holidays as a means to get closer to his parents.   He also stated that he is most likely going to inherit the traditions similar to how his mom has from her parents.

 

Analysis:

While the particular practice of celebrating Christmas was not particularly different from most other families, what stood out to me was the common way in which traditions get passed down.  Rather than it being necessary because of the religion, it becomes a means is a means to have connections to parents and family members.  I found similarities in his story as what happens in my family, where my family goes to temples in Taiwan to pray for good luck to accompany relatives.

 

 

Hoco

Interview:

“I’m from Turkey, there are people called Hoco, who are religious leaders, people go to them as a way to heal their medical problem, problems can be physical problems or like psychological problems, like mental health issues, they would usually go to these people before doctors or after they try doctors and get no results.”

So kinda like a faith healer?

“They believe that these people have mystical powers that allow them to heal people.  They have certain stories that they believe they have djinn inside them.  They bring kids to hoco to remove spirits from the bodies. He uses medical herbs and medicine from nature.”

 

Background:

When asking about any particular things from his culture, the subject described a type of shaman like healer who is held at a great reverence in the country from where he’s from.  According to the subject, this type of faith healer is very prominent in Turkey, and often are the go-to for any type of ailment.

 

Analysis:

I couldn’t help but notice the similarities that tie these hoco to traditional practices of medicine.  While the healing with the power of the djinn might be merely a placebo effect, the use of these herbs reminds me much of traditional Chinese herbal medicine.  While many of these practices seem to be outlandish and impractical to foreigners, many of these remedies are from decades of trial and error.  The magic of these shamans are upheld by the religious and wives that keep these legends alive demonstrating an example of old folk traditions.    It was interesting to discover a country that also still practiced it’s ancient forms of healing through herbal medicine.

 

 

Mid-Autumn Festival

Interview:

Is there anything you retained through the years?

 

“In Taiwan?”

 

Anywhere, here, Taiwan, anything you retained through the years.

“During the Mid-autumn festival, we ate moon cakes, in Taiwan and also still here.  And we sit out and enjoy the moon.  And eat pomelos and turn the peel into a hat to put on the kids heads to wear. “

Is there anything else that happened?

“In Taiwan it was a day off. “

Background:

After doing some research, the Mid-autumn festival is a harvest festival that is celebrated by many of the southeastern countries of Asia.  It was often to give thanks for the harvest and gathering of family.  Often also a day seen for praying for longevity and a good future.  Searching up the curious event of fruit hats, it seems that pomelo hats were always mentioned alongside the terms “moon festival” or “Mid-Autumn festival” and even has spread amongst foreigners who know about that tradition.  My father who grew up in Taiwan recounted how this festival was a tradition that he celebrated with his family growing up, and now continued to pass on after he moved to the United States.

Analysis: 

Hearing this from my father filled me with an odd bit of nostalgia.  When I was a child, I recount moments I picked at the white pith of a pomelo peel that found itself onto my head.  Aside from being outfitted with fruit peels, the most vivid memories were seeing mooncakes on the counter and eating with relatives that come in from out of state to celebrate with my grandparents.  It stands as one of the symbolic holidays that represents the importance of family in Tawianese tradition.