Category Archives: Material

Red Ribbon on a Horse’s Tail

Text:

A red ribbon tied around a horse’s tail means that they’re “a kicker”

Context:

C is a current USC student who grew up in Bellevue, Washington and previously worked in a barn there training rescue horses. As indicated in the text, C explained that tying a red ribbon around a horse’s tail meant they were prone to kicking and that other horses and riders should give them extra space. After I asked if this practice was specific to their barn, they explained that the red tail ribbon is a widely-known sign in the horseriding world and has become an important safety practice, especially in competition settings. C then stated that they were introduced to the red tail ribbon early on by people in their barn and that people would assume a rider was a “newbie” if they didn’t know the sign. C also mentioned that jokes were often shared amongst riders about the red tail ribbon – for example, a rider may joke that they’re going to tie a red ribbon around their non-aggressive horse’s tail to get people to “back off.”

Analysis:

As C mentioned, this folk object seems to me to have primarily risen out of a need to quickly and effectively communicate important safety information. A horse’s kick can cause severe injury to a person, and while small groups of people can be verbally warned of a kicking horse, that information seems like it would become much more difficult in a large horse arena or during a fast-paced competition. The use of a visual signal or folk object to communicate danger creates a constant visual differentiator for the kick-prone horse and allows the message to be spread and received much more quickly. Additionally, like much of occupational folklore, knowing the use of the red tail ribbon becomes a marker of insider status and experience in the horse rider world. Joking about the red tail ribbon in turn conveys a sense of familiarity with the sign and further demonstrates the presence of insider knowledge.

Writing on public spaces

Text: Writing the word “Compton” on public spaces such as bathrooms, buses, street signs, houses, city buildings, gas stations, or sidewalks in Compton, California.

Context: This informant was born and raised in Compton, California from the 1970s to the 1990s. Everywhere he went in that city, he would see “Compton” graffitied. It was just a known thing that people would write this, so he got this idea from visibly seeing it and growing up doing it with friends. When I asked him “what does it mean?”, his response was “it meant that you are from Compton”.

Analysis: I see this as a way to “mark territory” or to show a sense of community. The city of Compton has a reputation of being dangerous or “ghetto” which I think has some sort of connection to this. I would never see this happening in the city where I am from—Chino Hills, California. I feel like other cities with a similar reputation also do something like this.

Korean saying: Green Bean Seeds, Red Bean Seeds

Nationality: Korean
Primary Language: Korean
Age: 50
Occupation: Country Branch Manager
Residence: Seoul, South Korea
Performance Date: 16 February 2024

Tags: green beans, red beans, seeds, agriculture, South Korea, proverb, saying, result

Text:

“콩심은데 콩나고, 팥심은데 팥난다.”

Literal: “You get green beans where you plant green bean seeds and you get red beans where you plan red bean seeds.”

Meaning: ‘Every result has its own reason.’

Context:

R is a born and raised South Korean. This is one of the sayings R taught me when growing up in Korea, along with a plethora of other proverbs and lessons. Apparently he had heard it from his father before him and so on, and it’s a pretty common Korean saying. R once said this to me when I forgot to bring my coat out one chilly winter afternoon and came down with a cold a few days later.

Analysis:

The English saying “You reap what you sow” might be a variant of this saying, as both are about agriculture and acquiring the direct result of your actions. Perhaps the cultural differences influence the way the saying is said (with Koreans using beans in many dishes and Western cultures liking simple, easy-to-say proverbs), while the meaning behind the sayings are shared worldwide.

Taiwanese saying: Pigs for the Slaughter

Nationality: Taiwanese
Primary Language: Mandarin
Age: 50
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: Taipei, Taiwan
Performance Date: 16 February 2024

Tags: Taiwanese, pigs, slaughter, rich, fame, price

Text:

“人怕出名豬怕肥“

Literal: “People fear fame like pigs fear slaughter.”

Meaning: ‘Fame has a price.’

Context:

T is a born and raised Taiwanese local, and this is one of the sayings she grew up with. She actually didn’t teach me this until recently, after she had seen an article on Facebook about a celebrity committing suicide due to scandals and such.

Analysis:

Pork is an important part of Taiwanese cuisine, to the point where there have even been controversies and multiple news headlines about the quality and transportation of pork within Taiwan’s international trading scene. The saying itself reminds me of our class/discussion where we talked about the differences in how people view fame and wealth in Ethiopia versus America, in which Ethiopia has sayings that denote skepticism and warnings towards wealth while America praises wealth and fortune as something people have to work hard for.

Hu Lu – Folk Object

Text: 

“So my dad got me two hulu because it’s like a lucky charm, and they’re like very round. I’m not really sure why they’re lucky, but I know there’s a show called Hu Lu Wa, and like there’s little guys who come out of the hulu and beat evil people up. Yeah, so my dad was like these two things are very, like, brings you luck and safety, security, whatever… good stuff.”

Context:

The teller is a first-generation Chinese American raised in the Bay Area of Northern California. She received the two hulu, or calabash gourds, as a gift from her father, who purchased the items while visiting a riverside ancient city area in China. The teller’s family is from Shanghai, but she notes that the hulu is a common symbol found throughout the country. 

Analysis: 

Within Chinese culture, the calabash is a common charm for luck, fertility, and protection, charms associated with it due to its shape and also historic use as containers for items like medicine. It is interesting to note that while the teller confesses she doesn’t truly understand the meaning behind the calabash, she is able to find personal meaning through the association of the gourds with the show Hu Lu Wa, or Calabash Brothers. Hu Lu Wa is a popular Chinese animated cartoon in which seven brothers born from a set of rainbow calabash gourds must protect their home from two demons, and it remains a common cultural experience for many in the Chinese diaspora of the current generation*. The teller’s association of this folk object with the show  points to how popular culture and media in the modern age influences how folklore is passed on and communicated, particularly to members of a diaspora and those who have a certain degree of separation from the culture and may not organically learn of specific meanings otherwise. 
*Note from the collector: I as a Chinese person raised in the US have bonded with many First-Generation Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants over knowledge of Hu Lu Wa and other Chinese animations like it. Based on personal observation, I think it is common for Chinese parents born in the 70s to show these to their children as a way to connect our childhood to their own, which explains the popularity of the show amongst Chinese people of my generation in spite of the chronological distance between the 80s and the 2000s. Hu Lu Wa and other shows made by Shanghai Animation Film Studios occupy a similar role in Chinese pop culture that classic Disney movies have in American pop culture.