Monthly Archives: May 2017

Chinese New Year

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Boston
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English

“So for Chinese New Year, the date changes every year because of the calendar, but some of the things we do, because the culture’s really superstitious, is we take three oranges and put them on a plate in a triangle, and then you take a third orange and put it on top of the three to make something like a pyramid.  You make a few of these orange sculptures and put one in each major room of your house, like the living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, you know.  So on actual Chinese New Year when my family goes out to dinner, we leave every single light on in the house because it’s supposed to let the light wash out all the spirits from last year and leave the house open to new ones and what’s ahead.  I don’t remember exactly why we do the oranges, but the lights wash out the spirits, so at least I know that.”

ANALYSIS:

This annual ritual is really interesting to me because I was never familiar with the customs surrounding Chinese New Year, so I found this really enlightening.  It’s super fascinating to see what parts of the customs the informant knows the meaning behind and what parts have just become arbitrary to the informant.  The idea of washing away the old spirits and leaving room for the new ones is something I find really interesting and poetic, and now I just wish I knew why the oranges are a part of the custom, but because the informant didn’t know, everyone the informant tells, including me, won’t know either.

The Haunted City of Pleasanton, California

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English

“I’m one of the believers that my hometown of Pleasanton, California is haunted by ghosts.  There are certain buildings around the city that are rumored to be haunted by ghosts, and most people that live in Pleasanton know exactly which buildings I’m talking about, regardless of if they believe in the ghosts or not.  So whenever you enter one of these buildings you have to not freak out or anything, because that’ll make the ghost want to haunt you.  If you just stay calm and act normal, the ghost will be friendly with you, and you’ll be okay.”

ANALYSIS:

I find it interesting that in this ghost story, whether the ghost is amicable or not to you is completely up to the person interacting with the ghost.  This results in a ghost story that directly opposes the traditional ghost story narrative of the evil ghost trying to haunt everyone it comes across.  Additionally, I found it very interesting that there was such a clear divide between who believes in the ghost stories and who doesn’t, because the way the informant described it made it seem like the believers and non-believers were in direct opposition to each other.

Christmas Eve Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Luxembourg
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English

“So every Christmas Eve, back when my entire family and extended family lived in Seattle, we’d all meet up at the market downtown and then split up into groups so we’d be all over the entire market.  Each group would buy separate ingredients together that make one meal, and then after the market we’d go back to our house and each group would prepare their meal together, so once we all finished cooking we’d have a ton of different meals with our entire family and it’s always delicious and different every time. It’s something we did for twelve years, and now that our family doesn’t live so close together we can’t do it anymore”

ANALYSIS:

What I like about this tradition is that it’s completely unique to this specific family but still rooted in the broader tradition of family coming together over the Christmas holiday.  It’s also really sad that geography had to tear the family apart and bring an end to the tradition.  It makes me wonder if the tradition will live on when the informant has his own family, or how the tradition might evolve within this family now that geography is at play.

Tom and Jerry

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English

“When me and my brother were younger, and even still to this day, my grandfather compares us to Tom & Jerry.  Like the cartoon, Tom & Jerry.  But it’s not just for me and my brother, he believes every pair of siblings follows that dynamic.  Like the younger one being like Jerry and always fooling around and bothering the older one, Tom, who’s just trying to ignore the younger sibling.  It’s probably because that’s the way he was with his younger brother and he likes to think everyone’s the same as him.”

ANALYSIS:

It’s interesting that this folk belief is based around someone’s experiences with watching a cartoon.  Because of the informant’s grandfather noticing a parallel between his own life and the lives of his grandchildren and two characters in a cartoon show, the grandfather made an assumption about the entire human population, which I find really funny, and honestly not entirely inaccurate; I definitely understand where the grandfather is coming from, as I do believe that me and my own older brother follow this dynamic as well.  I wonder in the creators of Tom & Jerry based the cartoon off of a prominent sibling dynamic they noticed, or just thought Tom & Jerry were funny characters and that’s all.

A Superstitious Fear of Crowds

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Luxembourg
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English

“Whenever me and my family go places, we always avoid big crowds because we have this superstition that only bad things can come from crowds.  I don’t really know why we ever started avoiding crowds so vigilantly, but now we make it a point to never be around a big crowd, especially in places we aren’t familiar with.  It’s a family superstition we take very seriously.  So, when I was in Nice, there were a lot of big crowds and I didn’t feel comfortable, and I didn’t feel safe, so I told my girlfriend that we should leave, so we did.  As we were walking away we started to see people running behind us, and then someone told us to run, and then we heard shooting.  That was the day of the Nice terror attack.  And if we hadn’t left because of our fear of crowds, we would’ve been right in the middle of the attack.  Then, a year later, we were visiting London, but because it was right in the middle of tourist season we were always around crowds, so we left early.  Two days after we left, there was a terrorist attack.  And if we had stayed in London for our entire planned trip, we would have been there for it.  Now I think it’s a good thing we have our superstition, it’s saved us a few times.”

ANALYSIS:

This is a really interesting case of a superstition being validated by random events that seem to have meaning.  What I find really fascinating about superstitions is that, no matter a person’s background, upbringing, or beliefs, they are probably superstitious about one thing or another.  Everyone is susceptible to believing in a superstition simply because sometimes certain events happen in a person’s life that are seemingly undeniable, and that’s probably the source of their superstition.