Monthly Archives: May 2012

How to find lost items

Nationality: Polish Jew
Age: 23
Occupation: scuba diver and student
Residence: Los Angeles (from FL)
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

“It goes back a few generations, I know my grandmother does it still, because I walk into her apartment and I see the shot glasses still on the counter. The tradition is that if you’ve lost something and you can’t find it, and you’ve looked in all the unusual places, all the places you like don’t think of, and everything, that you finally get out a shot-glass, and you pour a shot of vodka, and you just leave it on the counter, just out. Let it evaporate and everything as it goes, and then what you’re looking for will turn up after you’ve done this at some point. I’ve definitely done it many, many times, I know that my mother does it, cuz I’ve walked into the house and seen shot glasses of vodka on the counter, and I know my grandmother does it too, so it’s kind of a funny thing, obviously, because we’re leaving out vodka in a way to find something. But I learned it from my mother, and I’m pretty sure she learned it from her mother, and I would assume the same happened with my grandmother. And the second half of the tradition is that once you find the thing, you have to, basically, as close to immediately, drink whatever’s left of the shot in the shot glass. If it’s been a long time and it’s evaporated and everything it’s fine, you don’t need to drink anything, you just wash out the shot glass and put it away, like normal. But if you find it like 10 minutes after you take it out, you have to drink the shot. But it works, I believe it, I’ve found stuff before, like I couldn’t find it, and then like it’ll turn up, and I’ll be like, ‘ya, I don’t know how I could have ever found this before.’”

 

My informant has practiced this folk-belief for as long as he can remember, and has consistently used it every time he loses and object and can’t find it after looking around for it, because he believes that the shot works to help him find whatever he lost. He also continues to practice this practice because it’s a sort of family tradition that’s been passed through the generations, thus tying him to his family and his heritage. Also, the informant’s background is Polish Jewish, both his grandmother and mother are from New York City, and his great grandmother came over from Poland, so it makes sense that the practice involves vodka, which is one of the most common forms of liquor consumed in Poland.

 

The shot of vodka serves two purposes: when the shot is first poured, the performer’s belief in the guarantee that the item will show up allows them to relax and stop fixating over the possible locations of the lost item, so they stop panicking and are more susceptible to subconsciously remembering where the put the item; the second purpose of the shot is a means of celebration or self-congratulations after having found the missing object, though it could also be consumed as a way to keep the object from disappearing again. In either way, this fun folk-belief is an example of both a magic and a conversion superstition. It is a magic superstition in that the performer undertakes the action of pouring the shot of vodka to cause the lost item to reappear, and a conversion superstition in that pouring the shot also undoes the bad thing of the item getting lost in the first place, and hypothetically keeps it from happening again.

Thanksgiving song

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student/Journalist
Residence: Los Angeles (from Palos Verdes, CA)
Performance Date: April 25, 2012
Primary Language: English

So my extended family on my mom’s side, the Russian Jew side always gets together every thanksgiving, either in TX or Ca, depending on who’s turn it is to host. And I don’t remember this at all, but apparently when I was a little kid, about 4 years old, I have 5 cousins, and all of them are older than me, and we’re all adults now, but when I was 4 years old, my cousins goaded me into putting on this little musical for the family. And so I was acting as a Turkey, and my cousins would sing, ‘What you want for dinner?’ and I’d go, ‘Turkey!’ ‘Specially in November!’ ‘Turkey!’ and every year since then, my cousins ask me, ‘Hey, Misha, what you want for dinner?’ And if I’m in a good mood, I’ll say, ‘Turkey!’

Though the song is no longer practiced, the memory of the song has become folklore in its own right, making the song a family legend of sorts in the performance of the story about the song, though not the song itself. A bit of folklore that ties the family together in a unique way that other families can’t. a way to reflect upon the past and bring family together over past traditions and heritage. This call and response-type of interaction is their own way to celebrate thanksgiving in a unique, memorable way.

Don’t mess with Grandma

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 22
Occupation: student (Fine Arts Major)
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese

“My grandma’s spirit has magical powers. Like she died, and strange things have happened with her children. They get a lot of dreams with her, signifying her doing this, and like guilting, if they don’t do something then the next day her son or daughter will just like get these nightmares, like ‘hey I’m watching you.’ And one time I experienced it was when we were putting her plaque in the family’s Buddhist temple, even though we’re Catholic. We were doing the ceremony and putting her in, and all these Buddhist people brought their instruments and they were banging on them, and there were like 20 of us and we just sat in this room, and halfway in, the thing where you put the incense in started to flame up, like it’s obviously nobody could set it on fire, and it’s all stone and outside, the entire thing just looked like a ball of fire. And right when the ceremony ended, it stopped, like it was perfect timing. Also, my uncle’s wife was always really mean to my grandma when she was still alive, and she would never sit with her, and would give her mean looks, would never take care of her, and would be a complete bitch. And our family thinks our grandma always knew that, so when she died, you’re supposed to go to the temple certain times of the year to commemorate her, on death days, you go to the temple and you give her things like fruits and flowers, and one time my aunt was like, I don’t want to go, I have other things to do and the next day, she had a stroke. and these things that just like happen, I don’t think they’re coincidences. And I think my dad and mom were the best to her, always took care of her and gave her things, and so my aunts and uncles think that she took care of our family the most, because we took care of her and always remembered her, and had incense at home with her plaque. And like they were really poor before, and now they’re living very comfortably without any hardships, and they think it’s because of her. So be good to your elders. I think I would still take care of her, because I did it as a kid, but I don’t know if my next generation would do it. But I think I believe in her spirit, I’m not sure.”

 

My informant, who is first-generation American (her mother is from Malaysia and her father is from Macao) still participates in many traditional Chinese practices with her family, including ancestor worship. Though her family considers itself Catholic (she and her brother are non-religious), they still adhere to many traditional Buddhist practices, especially when it comes to the rites and customs surrounding death and familial spirits.  My informant said that she thought she believed in her grandmother’s spirit from what she had experienced first-hand and how her family talks about it, but that she wasn’t sure, though she definitely did not deny the spirit’s existence. This is not uncommon in many supernatural beliefs, especially when it seems hard to find physical proof of one way or the other. Instead, it’s the performer’s personal opinions that count for the acceptance of the supernatural belief.

In many cultures, and still very much alive in many Asian cultures, family honor and ancestor worship plays an integral role in the well-being of the family on a whole. As my informant said, there are specific ceremonies and Death days during which one has to go to their family’s altar in the Buddhist temple and pay their respects to their departed ancestors to keep their spirit alive and healthy within the community. If they treat the spirits right then they are rewarded with prosperity and health, but if they don’t take care of their elders’ spirits, then bad things happen to them due to their lack of respect for their dead family members. This practice of commemorating and remembering passed family members is a way for the departed to remain an active part of the family, even past death, showing that regardless of if one is alive or dead, they will not be forgotten and will continue to be a participant who holds sway in the community.

Now, whether or not you believe in the power of my informant’s grandmother’s spirit is a matter of personal opinion, and is a tricky thing to address. Personally, I believe my informant when she talks of her grandmother’s spirit playing an active role in the family politics, because not only does it help explain the mysterious burning incense receptacle during the commemoration ceremony, but also because the family sees the aunt having a stroke as in accordance with her lack of respect for her mother-in-law, both in life and death; and since she treated her elder poorly, she got treated poorly by her elder’s spirit in return. If you don’t believe in spirits or ghosts or anything of the supernatural persuasion, the grandmother’s spirit can also represent the family’s adopted moral compass, punishing the bad and rewarding the good. Further, the grandmother coming to family members in dreams could signify that they regard her as a very important and powerful member of the family, so it makes sense that she would enter their subconscious as a sort of enforcer of rules. But, regardless of whether you believe in the grandmother’s spirit as an actual thing or simply as a metaphor, she shows the importance of respecting one’s elders and keeping their spirit and name alive even after death.

 

 

Haft Sin in Persian New Year

Nationality: Mixed
Age: 22
Occupation: Screenwriter
Residence: Los Angeles (from AZ)
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Persian

‘My family’s religion is called the Bahai faith, and most persians celebrate what is called Nowruz, which is the Persian New Year, and that’s in the beginning of March. And what you do, it’s a big tradition where you set up these seven plates on a table to celebrate the new year, and it’s called Haft Sin. And the seven items you put on the dishes are sabzeh, which is wheat or barley or lentil, samanu, which is sweet pudding, senjed, dried fruit, sir, garlic, sib, apple slices, somaq, berries, and serkeh, which is vinegar and you put that in a cup. But with the sabzeh, what you do is, they’re usually lentils, and you put them on a dish, and then you put a damp towel over the dish, and then over a series of ten days the sprouts will grow, and it’s this fun thing that you can see every morning as they grow. And Haft is seven, and sin is the letter ‘s’, so it’s called the seven S’s.

Haft Sin is an integral part of Nowruz, the Persian New Year holiday that is celebrated on the vernal equinox. The celebration represents the new life that awaits them in the year to come, as well as the rejuvenation of nature around them. Each of the seven items laid out for Haft Sin has it’s own particular symbolic meaning. Sabzeh, the plate of grains that sprout represents purity, opulence, and good fortune, as well as rejuvenation and growth; samanu, which is sweet and a favorite of kids, represents fertility and bearing many children; senjed represents love; sir, the garlic, is the medicine for recovering from evil; the apple slices, or sib represent health and natural beauty; the color of the berries  of the somaq symbolizes the sun at sunrise, awaiting a new day; and serkeh symbolizes age and patience, and wards off the bitterness that comes with old age. These seven items are very important because not only is seven a very mystical number in Iran, there is one item for every day of the week, and one item that represents every stage in the human life cycle.

 

Citation:

http://www.iranchamber.com/culture/articles/norooz_haftseen_never_told.php

Austrian Money Proverb

Nationality: Austrian
Age: 25
Occupation: Works in Communications
Residence: From Austria, currently traveling around North America
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: German
Language: English

über geld spricht man nicht das hat man es

About money do not talk that has it

You don’t talk about money, you have money

My informant said that this proverb reflects the modesty surrounding talking about one’s wages in Austria.

This saying isn’t only reflective of the modesty of Austria, but is also emblematic of the whole of Europe’s being modest about one’s earnings and not talking about one’s wealth. Unlike in America, where the first thing out of someone’s lips when you tell them you have a job is, ‘how much do you make?,’ in Europe and many other countries in the world, it is incredibly uncouth and impolite to talk about what one earns, because that is a private matter, and should have no bearing on your relationship with that person. In fact, it’s normal for people to be friends without even knowing exactly what kind of work they do. So, this proverb works to show the culture’s separation between work and play, which doesn’t exist in America.