Monthly Archives: May 2016

Wasting Time Shortens Potential

Nationality: Taiwanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Roscoe, Illinois
Performance Date: April 26, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Taiwanese, French

Main piece:

Wasting time shortens potential.

 

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

It was like a motivational thing that my dad would tell me a lot. Not just school, but in sports too. In sports it was huge for me. I learned it from my dad, from a very young age. I would say like six or seven. He would say it to me after hockey games. It was the idea that practice is allocated time and it doesn’t go to waste. It’s a motivational, positive thing. Learn from your mistakes and don’t waste your time feeling sad about it. It’s a very future oriented saying. It’s about moving on, really.

 

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

Mostly after major events, like milestones. Also sometimes little events, every hockey event or every track meet. It’s mostly a negative thing. It’s said during negative time for positive reinforcement. Positive connotation used in a negative context. I still hear it to this day. Six years old to nineteen. My dad will say it over the phone. And again, it’s not just academic. Sometimes it’ll relate to relationships, like girls, or activities.

 

Personal Analysis:

This piece is rather interesting, because it is a positive statement used in negative situations. It took a relatively long time for me to actually understand what the informant meant when he explained the implications. In reality, I’m not quite sure if he could have explained it to me in a way that I would have completely understood, but maybe that’s one of the intricacies of folklore. I understand this piece in a way that may be different that the informant simply because I am not of his culture.

Rice Pimples

Nationality: Taiwanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Roscoe, Illinois
Performance Date: April 26, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Taiwanese, French

Main piece:

Every grain of rice you don’t eat will become a pimple the next day.

 

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

I was reminded every day until I was like eight or nine and then it continued to today, but not as often. Maybe once every four or five meals. I learned it from my dad. It goes back in terms of tradition for not wasting food. Its really pointed at younger people who are obviously more conscious about their appearance.

 

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

Dinner. Not lunch, only dinner. I guess I never had rice for lunch. But, I suppose any meal with rice would apply. Especially family meal times. Even if I just went with my dad to dinner- it’s mostly at home.

 

Personal Analysis:

This piece is almost exclusively directed at children and molding their behavior. In American culture, a similar saying would be, “Eat your food, there are starving children in Africa who aren’t as fortunate to have a good meal.” The informant mentions that the saying is directed at adolescents because they care more about their appearance, but I think the underlying reason is because that age range is generally more prone to acne than any other. Also, that age range tends to be more moody and retaliatory than any other. They might need an extra incentive –say, a clear face– to listen to their parents and finish their dinners.  

Whistling at Night in Taiwan

Nationality: Taiwanese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Roscoe, Illinois
Performance Date: April 26, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Taiwanese, French

Main piece:

Whistling at night summons the ghosts.

 

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

I was always musically inclined, so I would always whistle at night, and I would always get the reminder from my grandma. They use it in a lot of Asian movies. So every time I guess I watch some of those movies, I would be reminded of my grandma or vice versa. I’m now very self conscious of whistling at night, even today.

 

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

I remember when I was in Taiwan once, I was whistling in an elevator at night, and two elderly women who I didn’t even know told me. It’s kind of a universal thing, everyone knows it. It tends to be among older people though.

 

Personal Analysis:

This warning seems like an attempt to soothe the rambunctious behavior of younger children. Easily swayed by the threat of a ghost, kids may stop their unwelcome behavior of whistling late at night. The informant mentioned that members of older generations are more likely to bring up this proverb. They may have been a child when Taiwan was a more dangerous place, and police may not have existed in small villages. Not only is it rather loud and obnoxious, whistling may also call attention to a child and increase the chances of a kidnapping to occur.

Green Hats in Chinese Culture

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Spanish

Main piece:

Green hats in Chinese culture means that your spouse is cheating on you. Chinese people avoid green hats.

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

My parents, my mom and my dad. I was at the Nordstrom Rack with my mother one day and I came across a green hat, and I wanted to buy it but my mom wouldn’t let me. She said it was bad luck. I was eight or nine at the time. She was just like- it’s a bad thing. If you wear a green hat, it’s just bad, like why would you do that, you know? If I see someone wearing a green hat, I’ll think about it and laugh about it to myself. I would not buy a green hat.

 

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

I wouldn’t talk to people about it. If I see someone wearing a green hat, and I’m close enough with them and already talking to them, then I might be comfortable enought to share that little tidbit of my mind. Like I wouldn’t go up to a stranger and be like “Did you know?!?!” It’s not something I tell people, I have to be comfortable enough with them to talk about it.

Personal Analysis:

The forbiddance of certain colors has always been fascinating to me as an American- our culture has very few colors that explicitly mean one thing when coupled with an article of clothing or an item. Wedding dresses are white as a symbol of purity; we wear black at funerals to express mourning or loss. However, there is nothing as explicit as “This color and this article of clothing means someone is cheating on you.” It is interesting to see, in a culture already dominated by tradition and custom, how far these beliefs will extend into society. It also hints at the unwillingness to be direct, whether verbally or in action.

 

Annotation

Here is another version of the green hat warning, though it explicitly refers to a woman cheating on a man.

“In China ‘wearing a green hat’ (戴绿帽子 or dài lǜ mào zǐ) is an expression that Chinese use when a woman cheats on her husband or boyfriend because the phrase sounds similar to the word for cuckold. This apparently dates back to the Yuan dynasty when the relatives of prostitutes were forced to wear green hats.”

“Green Hat a No-No.” Randomwire. N.p., 03 Dec. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Peach Boy

Nationality: Korean, Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 13, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main piece:

There’s this really old couple, they’ve been married for years and years, and they haven’t been able to have a baby. And so, they’ve been praying to the gods, whatever japanese gods there are, and finally one day, as the woman goes to the river to do her laundry, she finds a giant peach floating in the river. She was like, “wow! It’s not the season for peaches! This will be great to take to my husband!” So she takes the peach home and brings it home to her husband for dinner. It’s like, keep in mind, it’s a giant peach. The husband, the old japanese husband, goes to cut the peach, and all of the sudden, the peach breaks in half, and there’s a child in the peach, and he goes, “Stop! I am the child you’ve been praying for! Sent by the gods!!!” And at first the old couple were in shock. And then realized they were blessed, and raised the child as if it were their own son.

The son grew up to be a very strong and handsome young man, and he turned out to be a great warrior. All of the sudden, the town criar, or the emperor’s messenger, came and announced that the princesses and their maidens had been captured and now they’re on an evil island. So peach kid goes to his mom and dad and is like, “Hey! I can do that! Will you let me go on this journey to rescue the princesses and their maidens? It would bring great honor to our family.” The mom doesn’t really want to let her son go, but… So she says “Son, I’ll sleep on it.” So the son wakes up in the morning and finds a travelling pack filled with rice cakes and other supplies and a note from his mother allowing him to go but telling him to find some friends along the way.

So, in sequential order, and the abridged version of this, he befriends a dog, a monkey, and a sparrow by giving them rice cakes! And they all are brave animals and want to help him in this noble quest. They like… for some reason got a boat, and sailed to the island where there’s a giant castle guarded by demons. With the sparrow’s quick wit, because he was able to fly around the top of the castle, and the monkeys intelligence, and the dogs strength, they were able to get into the caste and rescue the princesses! And before they killed the king demon, they held a sword to his throat and forced him to tell them where he kept all his treasures. So after they found the treasures, they killed the king demon, put his head on a stick, and sailed away with the head of the king demon, the princesses, and all the treasures. They came back and presented to the emperor his returned princesses, um gold, and the head of the king demon. The emperor let the boy take the gold home for his family, and the parents were very grateful. They were really poor, by the way. They lived in a hut. And so they never had to go one day hungry ever again. All from a peach, you know? You never know. So the son and the parents and all the animals lived together happily ever after with all their money.

 

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

I heard it from my grandmother and she lived in Korea during the time that Japan was in control of Korea. In her culture, there were a lot of both Korean and Japanese influences, so she used to tell all these weird fantasy fairy tales to me as a kid. It’s symbolic to me because it ties me to my grandmother and the memory of her.

 

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

It’s a kids tale. It’s like found in japanese fairy-tale books. My grandma told me when she was babysitting me. I was really sick and had nothing better to do but she didn’t want me watching any more tv.

 

Personal Analysis:

Despite having attended an immersion school with both Spanish and Japanese programs, I have never heard this story before. It incorporates the importance of honor and valiance in many Asian cultures. The most interesting component of this retelling was that the informant said it was a traditional Japanese folktale, though her heritage is Korean and Chinese. This statement leads me to believe that although it may be associated with Japanese culture, the tale may have been dispersed throughout Asian culture as a whole. Despite how isolated the country of Japan was until the twentieth century, the informant’s Korean grandmother knew the tale and could recount it with confidence. However, it was never claimed as Korean by the informant- the credit was given to Japan. It makes me wonder why, as Asian cultures are known for taking pride in their country’s heritage, this tale wasn’t immediately accredited to the grandmother’s country of origin.

 

Annotation: This story is a retelling of the classic Japanese fairy tale, Momotaro. The story can be accessed through classic Japanese folktale storybooks, or individual published retellings. Below is a link to the “Peach Boy” folktale.

http://www.candlelightstories.com/2011/03/13/peach-boy-a-folktale-from-japan/