Monthly Archives: November 2010

Summer Festival – Japanese

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Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English

Obon

Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom that is intended to honor ancestral spirits but has evolved into a family reunion holiday where families clean and honor their ancestor’s graves.  Obon takes place in the summer and the participants where yukatas, which are light cotton kimonos (typical Japanese garment).  The festival or celebration often includes a carnival, traditional Japanese food and dancing called Bon Odori.

When I was in elementary school my mom used to take me to the Obon festival every year.  It was always held during the first weekend in August at the Gardena Buddhist Church.  During the months of June and July I would go to Obon practice with my friends and their moms (all of whom were of Japanese descent).  At Obon practice, everyone would make a giant circle in the church’s parking lot and we would all move one direction in the circle practicing the traditional dances.  There were speakers in the center of the circle that would allow the instructor who stood in the middle with a microphone to teach everyone the dances.  The instructor would teach everyone each step and then we would put it all together and they would play traditional Japanese music so we could practice the entire dance.  There were also Taiko drums (traditional Japanese drums) set up and were sometimes played along with the music, usually by young men.  There were several different dances to learn.  Some of the dances used a Japanese fan, in other dances you used a towel, and there were some where you just used your hands.  I remember I liked going to the practices because I got to go off and play with my friends, although we did get in trouble by our mothers sometimes for not taking the dance practice seriously.  Then during the first weekend in August Obon was held at the Gardena Buddhist Church.  My family and I usually went Saturday afternoon and stayed until night.  My mom would dress me up in a kimono, but she didn’t make me wear my hair in a bun or do the traditional socks and slippers.  She let me wear my hair down and wear whatever sandals I wanted.  There was a neighborhood street next to the church that would be blocked off so everyone could dance in the the street.  Families would set up lawn chairs or picnic blankets and watch their children and other family members dance.  Usually the men would watch, or mothers with infants would watch, but that’s not to say men and boys did not participate in the bon odori because they did, but there were usually more female participants.  The environment was very fun and casual.  You didn’t have to do all the dances either.  You could stop and go back to your family and take a break and eat some food.  And if you forgot the dance steps you just tried your best and looked at other people around to help yourself remember the dances.  After the dancing was over there was a carnival set up in the church’s parking lot.  I remember there was Bingo, a moon bounce, and other various carnival games.  My favorite was the goldfish one.  There was a inflatable kiddie pool filled with water and small plastic fish bowls floating in the water.  You paid a ticket to get three ping pong balls and tried to throw the balls into one of the floating bowls.  If you got the ball into the floating bowl you won a goldfish.  The carnival also had traditional Japanese food such as yakitori, which was grilled teriyaki chicken or beef on a stick and musubis (rice balls).  As a kid I never understood what Obon was for or what it was about.  I just liked going because it was fun and it was something that I had been doing every summer for a long time.  I asked my mom why she took us to Obon and she said it was because she knew we (my brother and I) had fun and because our other friends and their families went.  Also my mother said she took us because my grandmother used to take her to the same Obon when she was a kid and she liked it.

Obon is a prominent Japanese festival that is documented in various works such as Paul Norbury’s guide to Japanese customs and etiquette entitled Culture Smart! Japan on page 54. Obon is a cultural festival that helps create a sense of cultural identity, and is a tradition that has been passed down in my family.  It gave me a sense of cultural identity yet at the same time I appreciate the fact that my mom didn’t force me to do all the traditional things like wear my hair in a tight bun and wear the traditional wooden slippers that were extremely uncomfortable.  Below is a picture of Obon.

Annotation: Norbury, Paul. Culture Smart! Japan. Great Britain: Kuperard: 2003.

Riddle/Game

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Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English

Around the World

Around the World is a game/riddle.  The object of the game is to figure out the trick to the game so that you can actually participate.  I learned this game from my friend Mikey while we were driving up to San Francisco for the SC/Cal football game.  Mikey said , “Alright, we’re going to go around the world and were going to start in Alaska.  Then we’ll go to Rome, but we can’t go to Greece.  After that we can’t go to California but we can go to Oregon.”  The game continues on this way and the people playing are supposed to figure out the game.  The trick is that the first letter of each place you go to has to spell out the phrase “Around the World”.  That’s why you can start in Alaska, or Annapolis, or Australia, or any place that starts with the letter A.  Then you can go to any place that starts with the letter R.  In addition the place you choose to go to can be anywhere.  It can be as broad or specific as you want; from a continent to a restaurant or even a particular person’s house.

Mikey is from Huntington Beach, CA and said he learned the game form a friend from home.  He says he played the game with us to help pass the time in the what we all knew was the beginning of very long car ride to San Francisco, especially because we got caught in the downtown LA rush hour traffic.  Mikey says that likes the game and remembers it because when he first played the game or had it taught to him he was able to figure out the trick to the game on his own and didn’t have to have someone else explain it to him.  I can understand why that makes the game more special or meaningful because I personally can never figure out these types of riddle games and always end up asking the person to tell me the trick to the game.  But I’m sure I’d remember one if I ever did figure it out on my own.

Proverb – Mexican

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Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“No dices que tu no vasa tomar el agua del rio porque de vasa a tomar el agua del mismo rio.”

“Don’t say that you won’t drink the water from the river because you will drink the water from the same river.”

“Never say never.”

My friend Derek told me this Mexican proverb.  The first line is the proverb in Spanish and below it is the direct English translation.  The rough translation of the proverb is the common expression “Never say never”.   He said that his mother used to tell him this proverb and still does to this day.  He said she used to tell him this proverb whenever he would say that he didn’t want to do something and would never do it.  Derek says that his mother tells him other Spanish proverbs but this is the only one he could remember at the time.  He said he understands the proverb now that he is older compared to when he was a young kid and his mom used to tell him the proverb.

According to Derek the proverb means that you don’t know what is going to happen in the future and you shouldn’t assume things or make drastic proclamations, such as saying never.    He says that the future is filled with uncertainty but the proverb is trying to tell people to embrace it and let it happen rather than trying to define during the present what the future will be.  Proverbs from various culture are interesting to look at because they tend to reveal much about a particular culture’s perspective and beliefs.

Game

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Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: March 19, 2008
Primary Language: English

Ten Fingers

My friend Jillian, who I played basketball with high school, taught me the game ten fingers as we were riding a school bus to one of our basketball games.  We played with some of our teammates who were sitting near us on the bus.  Jillian said that everyone has to first hold out both hands with their fingers spread.  Then you go around in a circle saying, “I never…..” and complete the sentence with something that you have never done before.  Everyone playing the game listens to what that particular person says that they have never done and then they if they have done it before they put down a finger.  Once you lose all you fingers you’re out of the game.  The object of the game is to be the last person with fingers in tact or to have the most fingers left.  The game is similar to truth or dare in the sense that it the idea behind it is for people to be truthful and reveal things that they might not ordinarily tell others.

This game seems to be a variation of another game I learned about from a friend called the spoon game.  The spoon game is also documented in this folklore collection.  Please refer to Item 11 of this folklore collection for further analysis.

Game

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 28, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

The Spoon Game

I went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with some friends to celebrate a another friend’s birthday.  The restaurant was pretty crowded that night, so we waited a while to put in our orders and after we finally did put in our orders we knew it would be a wait until we got our food so my friend Erin explained to everyone the spoon game so we could play it while we were waiting.  In the spoon you put an equal number of spoons on the table as there are people at the table.  Then everyone closes their eyes and someone says something that they have never done.  However if you have done whatever it is that particular person says that they have never done you take a spoon from the middle of the table and hide it in your lap.  Then everyone opens their eyes, and from the number of spoons left on the table everyone knows whether others have or have not done something, but they don’t know exactly who has done or not done something.

The game is similar to the popular game truth or dare in the sense that it allows its participants to reveal something, perhaps a secret about themselves or something they wouldn’t normally admit to, yet it also allows for the participants to keep an element of anonymity.

Erin said she learned this game from her friends in KCM who were playing.  KCM is a Korean Christian group/club on USC campus.  She said she played the game once and liked it which is why she remembered it and taught it to us at dinner.  In this instance, Erin went from being a passive bearer of folklore to an active bearer.  I think people enjoy playing these games because it allows people to somewhat reveal their secrets, but not completely.  The appeal must lie in the fact that sometimes it is really difficult to keep a secret.