Author Archives: Allison Luo

Story of Diwali

Background: The informant (A) is the 20 year old daughter of two Indian immigrants. She has lived in the US her whole life but visits relatives India with her family often and celebrates many Indian holidays in the US with Indian friends and family in her area.

A: Basically Ram’s wife gets kidnapped by Ravan, and then Ram crosses an ocean to reach her in Lanka, and in Lanka he kills Ram and is able to take Sita back home. So that’s like… the day of Diwali. It’s in like October usually I think?

Me: What do you guys do on Diwali?

A: We light a lot of um… tea lights? These little lights called “diyas”. It’s technically 5 days long but on the actual like….main day we put on Indian clothes and have like…a big family dinner. And we worship the goddess Lakshmi.

Me: Why do you worship Lakshmi?

A: She’s the goddess of wealth….I don’t know really know why but we just worship her on Diwali because she just symbolizes wealth and prosperity. And also we clean the house and make it really spotless…Lakshmi’s supposed to come and bless your house once it’s clean. That’s why you light all the candles too, for her.

Context: This story was told to me over a recorded FaceTime call.

Analysis: The informant grew up in America rather than in India itself where Diwali is a national holiday that everybody celebrates and is involved in. So, I assume there are parts of this celebration that are changed when celebrating away from the mother country. She wasn’t entirely certain about specifics of the origin story, traditions, and parts of the religion, as she isn’t a particularly religious person. This story and her celebrations not only demonstrate the concept of Diwali in the context of India, but also the experience of a first generation immigrant. Aspects of the culture evolve to accommodate the fact that they no longer reside in a community where not everyone celebrates the same holidays and some items may not be available in their location. These myths and stories are not simply known by everyone around them, they are known and told by the immigrants themselves (in the informant’s case, her parents). This changes the significance and meaning as the informant grew up surrounded by others who did not know the same stories or have the same beliefs.

Chinese Wedding Rituals

Background: The informant is my mother, a Chinese immigrant who immigrated to the US after graduating college. She was born and raised on a small island off the coast of China.

A: On the day of the wedding the man knocks on the woman’s door, bringing gifts and money. The woman’s parents can…make demands. Their goal is to test his honesty…well, not honesty, maybe sincerity…they are testing his true love and his character. This can take a very long time, which also tests his patience. They ask to see if he’s willing to pay money….well, the money isn’t actually so important, but it represents that he can take care of her. He shares many candies with the children, symbolizing sweetness and feeling loved.

When the parents agree, I believe the groom carries the bride all the way to the car to express how much he truly loves her. Maybe Americans do something similar. It is a symbol for taking care of the bride in the future, like the gifts and money too.

At the wedding the bride and groom kneel in front of the bride’s parents, “磕头 (ke tou)” …this means their head must touch the ground, as an expression of gratitude.

On the third day of marriage, the woman must go home and make lots and lots of food to thank her parents. Because when the woman is married, she’s considered the man’s family and no longer a family member of her original family, so they must thank her family profusely. Traditionally she’s supposed to live with the man and his parents, but that’s different now…normally couples will live on their own.

The husband’s family makes a lot of food too, they will bring a basket of food to the wife’s house. Back in the old days, when they didn’t have cars, they would carry it all the way there on a long stick of bamboo on their shoulders and baskets are placed on either side. 

Me: Which if any of these traditions did you do when you got married?

A: We were married in America, so we didn’t do any of this. We just went back to China for a bit and took our wedding photos. Your dad visited my family for a while, and we invited everyone – friends, family – out to dinner. When my aunts and cousins would get married this is how the weddings were, but after I left home when I was 18 I didn’t keep with the traditions as much and people don’t do them as much anymore.

Context: This was told to me during a recorded phone call. Much of the transcription has been translated from Mandarin.

Chinese proverbs

Background: The informant is my father, a Chinese immigrant who lived in Beijing until he was 22. Since then, he has lived and worked in the US.

恭喜发财 (Gōngxǐ fācái) – Wishing you wealth and prosperity

Informant: Chinese people love money. Gong xi fa cai means…good luck, get rich. Every year at Chinese New Years they always give presents to..or just…pay homage to the god of money. 

Me: Who is the god of money?

Informant: He’s called…”Cáishén yé” (财神爷) – “cai” as in wealth, “shen” as in god, “ye” as in grandpa, or like old man. So, god of money. It’s a little funny, how everyone greets each other with this “gōngxǐ fācái” at New Years.

万般皆下品，惟有读书高 (Wànbān jiē xiàpǐn, wéiyǒu dúshū gāo) – Everything else is inferior compared to reading

Informant: We wanted you to study hard…Chinese people really value education. This means that all other things are less important than studying, or going to university. 

Me: Did your parents tell that to you growing up

Informant: Yes. My dad would always tell me that if i studied, I could have money, and if i had money, i could find a beautiful wife.

吃得苦中苦 方为人上人 (Chī dé kǔ zhōng kǔ fāng wéirén shàng rén) – Working hard allows one to be ahead of everyone else

Informant: If you want to be better than other people, you have to suffer more than them as well. Chinese people value hard work. And they’re very competitive. They want to be….better than everyone. It’s similar to the English saying “no pain no gain”.

Me: Why are they so competitive? 

Informant: Um…That’s just in their nature. They really compare themselves others. They really value hard work. They want to be better than everybody, they want to be richer than everybody.

Informant: Basically Chinese people really value education, hard work, and want to be on top – in wealth, and…just….want to be higher in their social status. They really admire people who have high positions in government. I think Chinese people are a little…vain. They value wealth and fame, they love celebrities too. Now I see some of these things as funny, like how Chinese people love money so much that they made so many sayings, but when i lived in China I didn’t necessarily find it funny. They were just what I grew up with.

Context: These were told to me over a recorded phone call. Some parts have been translated from mandarin. I have transcribed here excerpts from the recording.

Analysis:

塞翁失马，焉知非福 – Sai Weng lost his horse, how can I know it is not a blessing

Background: The informant is a Chinese immigrant who immigrated to the US in adulthood. She grew up on a small island off the coast of China.

Informant: “The old man in the story is named Sai Weng…”sai” means far away, far from the city, and “weng” means sort of..just old man. Sai Weng raised horses in the countryside. He had a great horse to help till his fields, but one day it ran away. His neighbor said to him, you must have spent so much money on this wonderful horse, you must be very upset. But the farmer was not sad, he said, “Who knows whether this is a good or bad thing?

But one night the horse returned and brought many female horses with him, who would now all belong to the farmer. Everyone congratulated the farmer, but he still said, “We don’t know if it’s good or bad.”

Sai Weng had a son who loved to ride horses, and he wanted to tame the wild horses. One day while trying to ride a wild horse he broke his leg. His neighbors offered their condolences to him, they said “Oh no, what a young healthy man but his leg is broken now. What a loss, I am very sorry.” The old man stayed quiet, and the neighbors asked why. “Good thing or bad thing, it’s hard to say,” the old man finally said. The neighbors did not understand him at all. His son was crippled, and he’s not even sad! One day, a war broke out in China. All the young men in the village were sent to the war, but when they came to Sai Weng’s house, they saw his son had a broken leg and did not make him go to war. That war was terrible…most of the young men who had been sent to fight died, and Sai Weng’s son was one of the only young men left in the village. Then, the neighbors perhaps understood.

Basically when bad things happen, you always stay positive.

This is… sort of…old people talk. An old man’s wisdom. The core main idea is that you must stay positive, even in the face of unlucky circumstances.

When good things happen, he remains cautious. He is prepared for the bad things. He stays strong. When anything bad happens, he won’t be devastated: he always stays positive. When good things happen, don’t be overly excited. The American saying “There’s no free lunch” is similar I believe…when something good happens you should still be weary. It’s the Chinese people’s philosophy, don’t be too happy but don’t be too sad. When good things happen stay cautious, and when bad things happen stay positive”

Me: “Where did you first hear this story?”

Informant: “I think I heard this story in my textbooks when I was in school, or maybe my dad told it to me.”

Context: This was told to me over a recorded phone call. The text is mostly translated from mandarin, though certain sentences and words were told to me in English.

Yuán Xiāo Jié (Chinese Lantern Festival)

Background: The informant is my mother, who was born and raised in China but immigrated to the US after receiving her undergraduate degree. She grew up on a small island off the coast of China.

A: yuán xiāo jié is for tuan yuan – which means that um…family gets together for this celebration

We make round rice cakes called yuán xiāo filled with sweet black sesame and we eat them, and different colorful cute animals or flower shaped lights using wood or bamboo or paper and drawings on them, sometimes we make characters even. The…government, or community…would hang these very big lanterns in the streets, for a lantern festival we go to where riddles are written and hang under the lantern, and when you solved the riddle you could keep the light. People could buy these lanterns or make it themselves, and they had a candle inside of them so they could be lit.

Me: When is yuán xiāo jié celebrated?

A: It’s on….I think it’s on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, it’s the day when the moon is the roundest. The shape of the yuánxiāo is modeled after the shape of the round white moon. 

Me: How did you learn about this festival?

A: No one needs to tell you about it exactly, everyone just knows. It was just something that everybody did since I was very young. All the kids had lights, and the kids always competed over who had the prettiest lantern. Once when I was young I got a lotus flower lantern and I thought it was so beautiful…I was very proud. I would happily walk around with the adults and look at the beautiful lights.

Me: What does it celebrate?

A: It’s about spending time and enjoying time with your family. Families walk around the streets with the lanterns and can all enjoy their time together as well as when they get together and eat the rice ball. We celebrate togetherness and the happiness of the family. It’s part of the new year traditions.

Context: This was told to me over a recorded call.