Author Archives: saqib

Dragon Boat Festival

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JK: Dragon Boat Festival, an Asian festival, you can see it in Taiwan, in China, in a lot of different places. I’m not exactly sure, but it’s the 5th day of the 5th month in the Chinese calendar, so around June for us. It’s about this guy called Qu Yuan who was the Prime Minister and known for his wisdom but there’s a story where he was correct about something he told the king, but his enemies convinced the king to kill him. So the king did not believe him and the kingdom fell to ruin. Qu Yuan committed suicide by falling into a river. The villagers were so upset, they wanted to make sure his body wasn’t eaten by fish. So they dropped wrapped “zongzi” into the river so the fish would eat that instead. So now the Dragon Boat Festival exists because there are a lot of Dragon Boats and races across the river. So we eat the zongzi as a way of remembering Qu Yuan and thanking him for his wisdom and his service.

It’s near the summer equinox and you can also balance eggs on the floor. 

Context:

JK’s family is from Taiwan, he grew up celebrating this festival every year. He has participated in eating zongzi and balancing eggs for the Dragon Boat Festival. 

Analysis:

Festivals surrounding other folklore are fairly common. In this case, the festival is surrounding the legend of Qu Yuan. Similarly to other festivals around the world, the Dragon Boat Festival honors a historical event through ritualistic storytelling. It also involved communal activities designed to foster a sense of community and cultural identity through the use of culturally significant objects like zongzi and dragon boats. Its practice of honoring historical events and culture bears similarities to the Japanese Obon Festival, a vibrant festival celebrating deceased ancestors similar to the Day of the Dead in Latin America. Another example is the Korean Dano Festival that involves cultural foods similar to zongzi in the form of rice cakes.

Korean Doljanchi

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JK: In Korea there is a particular celebration for 1-year olds. Korean “doljanchi” is the first birthday celebration. Technically Koreans view birthdays in different times than Western cultures but the first year birthday is very important. The 1-year old is dressed in very traditional clothing and so are the guests, they wear hanboks. There is a lot of fruit everywhere and rice cakes. One of the most important things is the baby choosing an item. There are a lot of things laid out in front of the baby, money, paintbrush, stethoscope, gavel, that sort of thing. Then whatever the baby grabs or touches is meant to influence their future in Korea. For example if they grab a pencil, they’re gonna be a scholar, if they grab money they are going to be rich.

Context:

JK’s family is Korean as well and he participated in this culture as a baby. He grabbed the pencil and money. He doesn’t know if it influenced his future, but he is here pursuing higher education and “hopefully the money will come in soon.”

Analysis:

Other cultures have similar coming of age rituals that are conducted on a child’s birthday. These rituals are meant to determine a child’s future and celebration of their first milestone. Most cultures have a birthday celebration meant to recognize when a child becomes an adult, such as a quinceanera or a bar mitzvah. This specific divination ritual is practiced in other cultures as well, notably in China. Other Asian cultures have varying rituals for the first birthday. In India, the child’s head is shaved to purify them of any evil committed in a past life. This ritual is heavily influenced by the large presence of Hinduism in India.

Fur Rondy

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PH: Anchorage, Alaska has this huge festival in late-February to early March called Fur Rondy. It’s a big winter festival with outhouse races, which are like buildings of massive outhouses and then they make a toilet seat and someone has to sit in it and then the team needs to carry them across snow. When I worked in Alaska, the dispensary I worked for won the award for the most realistic outhouse. There are also other attractions, like massive snow sculptures and a race where people wear costumes and start running down a field then after a little while they release reindeer to run through the crowd. There is also a tradition every year where they sell yearly “Fur Rondy” pins and if you go downtown to the parade without wearing a pin (from any year) you are sent to “jail”, a little cage they carry along in the parade. 

Context:

This is an Anchorage staple, it happens every year since before the state gained statehood in the United States. PH lived in Alaska for 18 years, and participated in Fur Rondy every year. If you go to Alaska during this time it’s like the event of the year. 

Analysis:

While seemingly random and wild, Fur Rondy represents ritualistic traditions that are truly by and for the common people. It is proof that anything can be considered a festival or celebration with significance, though an outhouse race isn’t what most people may think of when they imagine a celebration. Fur Rondy is a unique example of a known individual, Vern Johnson, purposely starting a festival to foster a sense of community. The original event was founded in 1936, and was a 3-day sports tournament. Today, the festival is 12 days long, and since the 1950s has included Alaskan Native celebrations and tribal dances, for which the participants need to be flown into Anchorage from other parts of the massive state. 

Iditarod

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PH: The Iditarod sled-dog races started in Alaska in 1973 and annually celebrates sled-dog teams that made it through blizzards to bring life-saving medicine to Nome in 1925. So the sled-dog races have happened every year since they started in 1973 to celebrate. It’s definitely one of the most prominent rituals in Alaska, everyone shows up for it. Kids are commonly told the story of Balto, a half wolf half husky dog that led the original dog sled in 1925. There’s like movies and events surrounding it, it’s a huge part of modern Alaskan culture. 

Context:

PH: I have been going to the Fur Rondy festivities and Iditarod since I was a child and into adulthood. As times have changed, downtown Anchorage now holds the Ceremonial Start for the Iditarod but the official start has moved to Big Lake, roughly two hours north, where there is more snow and less people.

Analysis:

The Iditarod is a nationally famous celebration, children throughout the country are told about the story of Balto and the dog-sledding in Alaska. This event is similar to the Dragon Boat Festival, in that it honors a historical event with an annual ritual designed to recreate a difficult situation that was overcome in some manner.

Memorial Day Jump

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TT: Every year since 2003 the arctic airborne 2nd battalion 377th parachute field artillery regiment has a Memorial Day jump honoring 7 men who died in combat from the unit. On this day 7 lucky service members of the unit are selected to wear that fallen paratrooper’s name tape instead of their own and jump from the standard C-130. 

Context:

TT: On Memorial Day 2021, I was given the honor of jumping with a PFC’s name tape in honor of his sacrifice to his country. Afterwards, family members of the fallen would talk with us and share stories and it’s just a really beautiful way to honor them and keep their legacy alive – especially since in the airborne community a big saying is “Paratroopers never die, they simply Slip away” (we call the limited steering capability of our parachute a “slip”)

TT served in the military in the Airborne 2nd battalion for five years before retiring in 2024. 

Analysis:

Some rituals have deeply personal significance, TT offers a Memorial Day story used to honor the fallen. This ritual was specific to their battalion, but funeral rituals or celebrations for the dead are common in many cultures for many different events. The United States has created an annual festival commemorating veterans through Memorial Day, but the parade is still an example of a funeral or “death day” celebration. Other examples of the celebration of loved ones who have passed are El Dia de los Muertos in Latin America and the Qing Ming Festival in China. Both events are culturally significant festivals designed to honor passed family members.