Taiwanese Funerals
S.S is one of my suitemates. We were also friends in high school. She was born in the states but moved to Taiwan for school. Her family is Taiwanese. As an individual, she is really interested in sports, and recently, while in college, she has also become really interested in Christianity. While participating in these many things, she has experienced many traditions that are expressed as folklore.

This tradition is about visiting the relatives who passed away and respecting them. S.S told me that each year, when they were in Taiwan; they would go to the graveyard of her grandmother. To visit their grandmother, S.S and her parents would go to a tradition Chinese market, and buy fruits, rice, and chicken (just any food in general). They then went to the graveyard site, lay out plates and put the food they bought on it. The foods would usually be laid out  neatly. The family would then take incense and put it into a pot and would do a “bai bai,” a form of silent prayers to communicate with them. Then after, they would clean up everything.

S.S experienced this right after she moved to Taiwan from the states. She started doing it in 3rd grade, and her parents were the ones that told her to do this tradition with them.  She thought that this tradition was interesting because she gets to connect with her ancestors. In addition she can see how much her mom cared about her mother. Her mother would always buy the best quality food, despite the cost, and they would do it every year.

Food and incense is a big part of communicating with the ancestors. Incense is also a big part of Chinese cultural. People would light of incense whether praying or during the Chinese New Year. Foods were also used as a way to connect with the ancestors by giving them something to eat during the afterlife. In a way, it’s like a gift for them even though he ancestors are dead.

I think the Chinese culture is more influenced by the respect of the dead because Chinese culture is more respectful to family. Even if they’re dead, one cannot forget about the relatives as they still need to take care of them when they die. This may be different from western culture because they haven’t been taught by the value of family. Of course family is still very important in the western culture, but the Chinese culture has significant figures like Confucius who values filial piety; respecting your elder.

Chinese Wedding Hong Bao

S.S is one of my suitemates. We were also friends in high school. She was born in the states but moved to Taiwan for school. Her family is Taiwanese. As an individual, she is really interested in sports, and recently, while in college, she has also become really interested in Christianity. While participating in these many things, she has experienced many traditions that are expressed as folklore.

One other folklore she told me about is a tradition people usually do in the Chinese culture. She explained to me that the guests of a wedding would have to give money the bride and groom. Her parents once gave about 500$ to the bride and groom. S.S was with her parents when this occurrence happened, but she was young, so she didn’t know exactly was going on. It was at a wedding with the bride being S.S’s mother’s childhood friend. She remembered that the wedding was at a restaurant, one at time, near the end of the wedding, each guests would walk up to where the bride and groom were sitting and they would give them the money. The money would have to be in a “hong bao” or a red envelope.  This tradition would need to be done in every wedding, or else it would be an awkward situation for the guest, as they might be the only one without the money.

S.S chose this particular folklore/tradition because she thought that this was an interesting way giving gifts to the bride and groom. She said that this was actually an easy way of giving gifts because if it wasn’t money, then each guests would need to think about what gifts they would need to buy for the couple.  And quoted form S.S, she said that “Money may not be the most meaningful gift, but it is the most useful gift.”

The context of this tradition is the money in the red envelope. This would be the symbolism of sharing the acknowledgment of congratulation someone.  This would also be a polite gesture for the bride and groom. This isn’t just one sided, the parents who give the money to the couple would expect the couple to give money to the parent’s children when they get married. So the money and gift would be reciprocated.

I think that this tradition is a way to acknowledge that the guests are also part of the family. Giving money to the couple could essentially mean that they got the couple back financially, so it’s a way that they can help them if the couple happens to be in trouble. This tradition would also be more prominent in an Asian cultural because I would assume Chinese culture is more prominent in family respect.

Haunted Temple in Taiwan

S.S is one of my suitemates. We were also friends in high school. She was born in the states but moved to Taiwan for school. Her family is Taiwanese. As an individual, she is really interested in sports, and recently, while in college, she has also become really interested in Christianity. While participating in these many things, she has experienced many traditions that are expressed as folklore.

S.S told me an event that when she was back in Taiwan, she would always hike. She used to live in the mountains so hiking is very convenient for her. On her hiking trail, there would be a shortcut when coming back home, but her dad would prohibit going through the shortcut. There would be a temple someone can come across to if they go through the shortcut, and inside the temple, S.S’s dad would mentioned that there were dead people in there and that they worship evil god or “not very positive spirts.” S.S heard about this from her dad while her dad heard this from the neighbors, and thus, S.S would have never gone through the shortcut.

Because of this “myth,” S.S started to become more cautious about temples. Since she was young when she first heard about this, for her, this myth would just be something to be afraid of.

In this myth of the haunted temple, the temple seems to be the main focus, as well as the dead people worshiping the evil gods inside. There is also the significance of the shortcut, as the bad place happens to only be around the shortcut but the just out there in plain site along the normal route or street.

My thoughts on this myth was that I considered this to be a scare tactic most of all. There actually could be dead people inside the temple, but personally, I don’t think ghosts exists (which I’m assuming the dead people are).Apparently no one called the dead people as ghosts, they were just known as the “dead people.” Overall, I also think that this myth falls into the beliefs that bad things happen when someone takes a shortcut. Usually, in stories, if someone doesn’t go along their usual route and ends up going through a shortcut, they would encounter something bad.

Cross-Country Bonding

S.S is one of my suitemates. We were also friends in high school. She was born in the states but moved to Taiwan for school. Her family is Taiwanese. As an individual, she is really interested in sports, and recently, while in college, she has also become really interested in Christianity. While participating in these many things, she has experienced many traditions that are expressed as folklore.

One of the traditions she has experienced is a Cross-Country one that is known and conducted by her high school’s cross-country team. S.S explained to me that every year, a sleepover would be held at the cross-country coaches’ house. The seniors of the team would have the freshmen dress up in a costume that the coach would have. Some of the costumes would be like an attire of a farmer, clown, or even a witch. The freshman would then participate in a scavenger hunt. They would need to collect things from the neighbors at night, for example a paper or an egg. Pot luck would also be included, and all the member of the team would need to wake up at 5am the next morning to drink a “disgusting” protein shake, and after, they would run for about two hours.

S.S particularly enjoyed this tradition because this it would help the teammates bond. In her personal experience, when S.S did it when she was a freshman, the confusion and the new environment actually made it fun for her. For the scavenger hunt part of the tradition, the point of it was team work and it was like team goal that they needed to accomplish.

In this tradition, there are of lot of events, from dressing up to running really early in the morning. And with all that’s happening in this particular tradition, I would assume the main focus is bonding, like what S.S said. This tradition is done yearly to let the teammates become closure, and in a sense, having the seniors accepting the freshmen as part of the team.

Personally, I also think that the main focus of this tradition is bonding within the team. This tradition brings in an aspect that’s missing from the sport itself, cross-country, into the tradition. I may be wrong, but in my opinion, cross-country doesn’t really rely on teamwork, but going through this tradition, they would learn more about teamwork and be closure as a team. In addition, I would think that this tradition would be a liminal point for the freshman, as the seniors are now officially acknowledging the freshmen as part of the team.

Japanese Turtle Fountain

Stephen S. is my friend in high school, and he is from Wisconsin. He was born and raised there, but moved to Taiwan for high school. He’s now back in Wisconsin for college.

He told me of a tradition and a legend that he has experienced yearly when he was still in high school. He would always go to Japan every year for s skiing trip, and every time they would stay in the same place; at a hotel near the skiing resort. In the hotel there was a well with turtles sprouting water like a water fountain. Every time before they ski, Stephen and his family would rub or pet the turtles’ shell then throw a coin in the well to wish that their skiing trip would be safe. Stephen told me that because of doing this, no one in their family has ever been into a skiing accident.

Stephen remembers this tradition because of how it is tradition that was done out of his own country. He said that he and his family has their “own little thing” that they do outside of Taiwan, and he thought that was really special. He also said that he may not necessity believed that rubbing the turtles and tossing the coin in was the sole reason that all of their trips were safe, but it’s fun knowing that something like may happen and be real. His father was the first one who taught him about the turtle fountain, and Stephen told that his father found out about doing this because he saw another family doing the same thing in the same exact wishing well.

The turtle fountain was the focus of the legend in that the family believed it could be used as a wishing well. Even though the wishing well may not be real, the existence of it was enough to make the family believe that something like this can happen.

I believe that this is a folk-tradition since they do this every year, but the tradition has also been done someone from outside the family. It could be a family tradition or the tradition of the hotel and people in the hotel knows the secret of the Turtle Fountain. This would also be considered a folk-legend because many people believe that fact the Turtle Fountain can grant wishes, but many others would believe it to be a regular fountain. It could be real or not, there’s not really a way to be absolutely sure.