Ever since I can remember, my mom has been telling my entire family to never whistle at night. She claims that whistling will call the ghosts forth. Whistling allows ghosts and bad spirits to follow the whistler. Anytime she hears someone whistling in the house, she’ll immediately urge the person to stop.
When I asked my mom where and when she learned the item, she said that it’s a Chinese superstition that she learned from her parents when she was young. She spent her childhood in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. As a child, my mom read about many ghost stories and became very superstitious. There are many ghost stories in Taiwan with unexplained occurrences. My mom has become a big believer in ghosts and thinks that ghosts do exist, so the fact that whistling may bring forth ghosts worries her. She definitely believes in this superstition because of her belief in ghosts. Since she believes that ghosts do exist, whistling at night can definitely have an impact with calling ghosts.
With this superstition, I’m not quite sure if I actually do believe in it or not. Because living with my mom influences some of my beliefs, I have started to believe that ghosts exist. Real life stories that my mom has heard from other people have made me aware that there are spirits on earth. The fact that whistling at night can beckon ghosts is probable. If ghosts exist, I think maybe whistling at night can call ghosts, but I don’t see why they would respond to whistling. Also, I think that ghosts would appear and follow people associated with their unresolved problems.
Monthly Archives: May 2012
The Legend of Jirayr Zorthian’s House
“Jirayr Zorthian was an artist who lived on a ranch in Altadena, California in the 1940’s until the time of his death. Apparently, he moved there to protect his kids. He built his house in a way so that no cars could get within a certain radius of his kids outside his house. One day, Zorthian backed out and ran over one of his kids. Now, his ranch has become a popular spot for teens that are looking for adventure. It’s a creepy place to go to at night because it’s deserted and there are cults. A lot of beware of kids signs are located around the property.”
My informant heard this story from his friend Taylor a couple years ago. Since he lives near Altadena, he knows teenagers who drive up to the ranch in search of encountering the supernatural. Going to the Zorthian ranch as a midnight adventure is most likely a local fascination.
He actually does not know much about it. He only knows what Taylor told him. This may explain why people believe that the ranch is haunted. The fact that the ranch is deserted and ancient-looking may be reason enough to spread that the property is haunted. He doesn’t think about what may have happened with Zorthian’s car accident because he isn’t interested in ghost stories. He thinks that the incident could be true, but he doesn’t think that it necessarily mean that the ranch is haunted.
I have been to the Zorthian ranch before because I was a teenager looking for adventure on one uneventful summer night. I had heard that the ranch was a creepy place to go to at night, but I had never heard of the story behind it. When I arrived at the ranch, I noticed many warning signs on the fences surrounding the property. I looked out the car window and saw an extremely narrow driveway, and I couldn’t tell where it led up to because of the darkness. My friends didn’t want to drive through the driveway, so we ended up leaving. Later that night, I looked up the history of the ranch online. All I could find was that Jirayr Zorthian was an artist that once lived there. There were no speculations about the ranch being haunted. I think that the rumor that the ranch was haunted was just created by a bored teenager who was scared of the deserted ranch.
SourceURL:file://localhost/Volumes/HP%20V125W/SP%2007%20FL&PC%20COLLECTS/Tsai/Zorthian%20(Joey).doc
“Jirayr Zorthian was an artist who lived on a ranch in Altadena, California in the 1940’s until the time of his death. Apparently, he moved there to protect his kids. He built his house in a way so that no cars could get within a certain radius of his kids outside his house. One day, Zorthian backed out and ran over one of his kids. Now, his ranch has become a popular spot for teens that are looking for adventure. It’s a creepy place to go to at night because it’s deserted and there are cults. A lot of beware of kids signs are located around the property.”
My informant heard this story from his friend Taylor a couple years ago. Since Joey lives near Altadena, he knows teenagers who drive up to the ranch in search of encountering the supernatural. Going to the Zorthian ranch as a midnight adventure is most likely a local fascination.
Joey actually does not know much about it. He only knows what Taylor told him. This may explain why people believe that the ranch is haunted. The fact that the ranch is deserted and ancient-looking may be reason enough to spread that the property is haunted. Joey doesn’t think about what may have happened with Zorthian’s car accident because he isn’t interested in ghost stories. He thinks that the incident could be true, but he doesn’t think that it necessarily mean that the ranch is haunted.
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I have been to the Zorthian ranch before because I was a teenager looking for adventure on one uneventful summer night. I had heard that the ranch was a creepy place to go to at night, but I had never heard of the story behind it. When I arrived at the ranch, I noticed many warning signs on the fences surrounding the property. I looked out the car window and saw an extremely narrow driveway, and I couldn’t tell where it led up to because of the darkness. My friends didn’t want to drive through the driveway, so we ended up leaving. Later that night, I looked up the history of the ranch online. All I could find was that Jirayr Zorthian was an artist that once lived there. There were no speculations about the ranch being haunted. I think that the rumor that the ranch was haunted was just created by a bored teenager who was scared of the deserted
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ranch.
“It’s 11:11, make a wish.”
The informant first heard this phrase at the end of his 8th grade year in school, year 2000, from his female cousin. It was 11:11 A.M., although this phrase can be said at either 11:11 A.M. or 11:11 P.M., and his cousin told him that if you spontaneously look at the clock and it is 11:11 A.M. or P.M., then you can make a wish inside your mind and then it will come true. “It’s 11:11,” she said, “make a wish.” The informant remembers it clearly because he remembered thinking, “What is this? I’ve never heard it before.” It remained in his mind and he likes to use it whenever he sees 11:11 on the clock because it helps to lighten the mood and he believes deep down that everyone like to make wishes, even though they might not believe that 2 times a day a person can close their eyes and make two wishes that will necessarily come true.
Though being Vietnamese does not really have much to do with the 11:11 saying, the theme of making a wish does seem transcend different cultures. Similarly, it does show that everyone has a child within them. Though hardly anyone would admit to believing that making a wish at 11:11 would actually result in the wish coming true, many people still say “make a wish” and silently make a wish themselves, for fun or sometimes just for the sake of seeing whether or not it will come true. Also, typically this type of saying is between a boy and a girl, though it is not restricted. Generally, however, girls are more likely to say it to their own sex than are boys. As in the informant’s case, family relation has nothing to do with the saying, though in some cases this saying can be used flirtatiously between boys and girls, when they can wish that the boy or girl that they like will like them back and maybe ask them out or something similar.
Lemonade
CONTEXT
My informant shared this piece of folklore during a JEP folklore lesson, after my partner and I asked the first- and second-grade class whether they knew any games. My informant said later that the game can be played at school during recess or lunch, or at home. She told me that she had learned the game from her mother, who learned it from a friend when she (i.e., my informant’s mother) was in high school. The version she performed was an alternate version of what my informant had learned: that “real” version had other words in place of this version’s “iced tea,” but my informant could not remember that version. When I asked her why she likes the game, she said, “It’s fun.”
MATERIAL
Lemonade is a game with two players, who clap their hands together and chant. Each player slaps her right hand against the other’s upturned left and vice versa, and then pushes both palms against the other’s palms (a la “patty-cake”), and then claps her hands together three times. These actions are repeated. Meanwhile the players chant, “Lemonade, iced tea, Coca Cola, Pepsi,” to the rhythm of the claps and slaps: “Lemon” (slap) “ade” (push), (clap clap clap), “iced” (slap) “tea” (push), (clap clap clap), et cetera. This clapping/slapping and chanting pattern is repeated one time, without the three-clap punctuations, and then each player says (and mimes): “Turn around, touch the ground, kick your boyfriend outta town, freeze!”
Here is a video example of “Lemonade,” performed by my informant and her friend:
ANALYSIS
This piece shows how thoroughly corporate messages permeate children’s culture. The chant places brands like “Coca Cola” and “Pepsi” alongside generic beverages like “iced tea” and “lemonade,” thereby breaking down the barrier between institutional and colloquial forms. We see that corporate messages have invaded children’s folklore, but in turn, children are remixing corporate symbols for playful purposes. As my informant explained, “It’s fun.”
The chant also suggests a romantic norm, by assuming that the female players have a “boyfriend,” implying a monogamous heterosexual relationship. But in its specific advice about how to navigate that relationship—to take a hardline approach; to “kick [her] boyfriend outta town”—the chant is more unconventional, suggesting an opposition between the sexes, with females having more power. “Lemonade” empowers girls.