Author Archives: ccoulson

Dumplings for New Years

Nationality: Korean
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA, California
Performance Date: 3/20/2024

Context:

My informant, DH, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Los Angeles, California. I talked with DH one night in second semester freshman year about our families and our relationships with them. I knew his brother and asked him about their relationship, nothing too personal, just random talk. That was until he mentioned a party that he and his family threw during new years which got crazy and fun. I asked him to elaborate and he said that at this new years party, which is similar to Chinese new years parties, his family made dumplings and they all had a feast with it, along with a party.

Text:

“Ok, well my family does this thing where we get together, eat dumplings and just gossip together for new years. It’s like Chinese new years but not the same for us because we don’t celebrate it for the same reasons, because, you know, we’re Korean. But we don’t even really celebrate Korean new years either. But yeah, that’s what we do. Though I wouldn’t really say it’s a family tradition, more of like a uh, a festival. Like yeah we do this every year but we do it as a way of celebrating our family’s connection, that’s why we essentially just yap the whole time with each other, the party is kinda like, symbolic of how close we all are with each other.”

Analysis:

I did some of my own research on this topic and found out that yes Korean Lunar New Year is a thing and it is, well, in Korea, usually seen as the biggest holiday of the year, and it is a day when the entire family gathers in hanbok, traditional Korean clothes, to do saebae, which is the most important tradition. However, DH’s family seemingly acknowledges this cultural tradition and twists it into their own family festival where it represents how far they have come as a family. I’ve never seen this sort of festival or idea get explored before within Korean cultures when doing my own research but I still find it interesting how DH’s family still ties this Korean Lunar New Year idea and tradition into their own personal family festival instead of something tied just to cultural identity and nationality.

Silky Black Skinned Chicken Soup

Nationality: Chinese/Vietnamese
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): Mandarin, Cheo Chow (Chinese Dialect)
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA, California
Performance Date: 3/12/2024

Context:

My informant, AC, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Los Angeles, California. I talked with her about food one day in second semester freshman year after getting some soup for myself while out at lunch. On that topic of food, we touched on soup, as this is what I was planning to eat. As we discussed soup at this point, all different types of it, she mentioned that at home, she would have this chicken soup with the skin of the cooked chicken still in it, but the skin was burnt black. I questioned her further about this and she said it was a natural homemade remedy and all around good soup that was apparently, as discussed with her parents, supposed to cure her asthma and other illnesses, as a sort of magic.

Text:

“So basically, this soup would help me feel better whenever I was sick or whenever I had asthma attacks or problems. I could never figure it out, but whenever I had it, my sicknesses would just seemingly disappear the next day. And with asthma, if I ever had wheezed or anything worse, I would have this soup and then my breathing issues would just dissipate. But, I don’t know how it works, though I know it does. Again, it’s pretty strange, magical almost.”

Analysis:

Well I did a bunch of research on this topic and ended up finding out that black skin chicken soup, also known as Black Bone Soup, is a popular Chinese dish which is said to have exceptional medicinal properties. Based on my research, apparently, dark meat of black chicken breeds like the Kadaknath or cooked black skin chicken provides a rich source of carnosine, which is a protein-building compound that has antioxidant properties. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, this black chicken soup recipe tonifies (balances, stabilizes, or unblocks) qi (chi)/energy in the body. It is also believed to strengthen the liver and kidneys, nourish the blood, and improve immunity and overall energy. So, in turn black chicken soup can indeed somewhat help stabilize breathing issues due to asthma and act as an aid to sickness symptoms. Apparently, black chicken has been known since the 7th century, and it is believed that eating these chickens, known in China as gu chi, ‘chicken with black bones,’ has a beneficial effect on human health. This has been a recurring theme in Chinese culture for centuries, and based on multiple human health articles I’ve read so far, its benefits are seemingly scientifically accurate. It’s extremely interesting for me to see this form of folk medicine and near magic to be used and be historically proven to work as well. I’ve dealt with my fair share of folk medicine personally, but this one, not only have I never heard of it, it blows my mind to see how beneficial it is in the field of science when dealing with its positive effects on the human immune system.

Rice For The After-Life

Nationality: Chinese/Vietnamese
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): Mandarin, Cheo Chow (Chinese Dialect)
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA, California
Performance Date: 3/24/2024

Context:

My informant, AC, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Los Angeles, California. I talked with her about her parents one day whilst we took a break from working on a project together. I recalled a moment where she got mad about not finishing a plate full of just rice, and she told me a story about her mother’s rants about rice in her past. She mentioned that her mom would scold her for not finishing her rice at home and she said that her mother gave a rather spiritual reason than the reason I originally thought. So I questioned her about it further and this is what she told me:

Text:

“My mom used to tell me that for every grain of rice I didn’t finish, it would come back to haunt me in the afterlife. She explained to me as a child that the grains of rice I didn’t finish would turn into worms I would be forced to eat once I died and went into the afterlife. She used to tell me this: ‘Carry your weight of grain or be crushed by the burden of consumed destiny.’ I didn’t really know what to think of it, I mean even now it alarms me yeah, but it’s not something I would personally just blindly believe. Spooky though.”

Analysis:

In my research of this topic, I at first didn’t really find anything. I had to really dig, as AC didn’t give much more information about the topic she described because she claims she couldn’t really remember much else. So, because of her ethnic background and cultural history, I decided to ask around to other friends with similar backgrounds and cultures and with the help of them and the internet once I knew what I was searching for, I found this: Apparently, there is a cultural belief related to rice in some Southeast Asian and East Asian cultures, particularly in the Philippines, Indonesia, and parts of China and Japan, known as “Bangaan” or “Bunao.” This belief revolves around the idea that rice grains should not be wasted, as doing so can result in punishment in the afterlife. According to this belief, when rice grains are wasted or thrown away, they turn into worms or insects that represent the spirit of the rice. These worms are believed to haunt the person who wasted the rice, and in the afterlife, the person may have to eat these worms as a form of punishment or purification. The concept itself reflects the cultural value placed on rice as a staple food and the importance of not wasting resources. It is also tied to traditional agricultural practices, where rice was seen as a sacred crop and wasting it was considered disrespectful to the deities or spirits associated with rice cultivation. I am amazed by this concept and especially that metaphor, I mean wow, it has such meaning behind its spookiness. I personally have never heard of this and when doing further research on this I ended up learning that this concept and belief has been native to South-East Asian communities for centuries. This belief even ties into the idea of polytheism, that being that gods of rice existed and were worshiped in certain cultures like in the Philippines and certain areas of China. I found this information to be very intriguing, especially how these types of stories and cultural and religious beliefs continue to spread to this day.

Churches and Ghosts

Nationality: Chinese/Vietnamese
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): Mandarin, Cheo Chow (Chinese Dialect)
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA, California
Performance Date: 3/16/2024

Context:

My informant, AC, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Los Angeles, California. I talked with her one day about crazy stories that any of us might have from our childhoods after talking about injuries and so on. After the injury stories I remembered a crazy ghost story of mine and told her about it. She then offered to reciprocate and told me about one of her ghost stories. It was pretty crazy and also interestingly not tied to her own culture, past, or beliefs. Here is what she said:

Text:

“So I had this catholic friend who believed in all kinds of spirits and stuff from his catholic school, and while with him and a few other friends, most of whom believed in ghosts and spiritual stuff except me and another friend, because we were skeptics, experience the craziest and scariest thing we’ve dealt with in our lives. I’m a skeptic yes but in my culture, we don’t really have spooky scary ghosts, we have native spirits and more conceptual stuff so I didn’t think any of my friend’s’ ghost ideals were actually real. But all that skepticism kinda went away when my catholic friend jokingly asked us if we wanted to explore the church basement of his catholic school as a way to make us believe ghosts were real, as he’d claimed before that he’s seen and experienced ghost activity around that building. All of us were bored, (we were children at this point, maybe around 12 or 13), so we said yes and we went up there midday to check out this basement and well, stuff went down. We all went in, the basement was extremely dark, not even a phone flashlight, which we were using, could shine far enough to see ahead of us, only slightly though, plus, the basement was huge, like a large cellar, a sort of maze. As soon as we got in, the door slammed behind us and one of my friends sprinted over to open it and it seemingly locked itself shut. We then started hearing footsteps in the distant darkness coming from far away but seemingly getting closer. We all start to freak out, huddling next to the door, most of us trying to open it as fast as we can to escape but to no avail. Then suddenly we hear whispering noises and faint wind blowing all around us which is strange because there was and was no breeze in or outside previously. As this is happening, one of my skeptical friends said they saw something, like a silhouette in the distance and it’s they said that it was just standing there in the darkness staring at us. At this point I was probably crying out of fear and everyone was freaking out equally, which just made everything worse, until finally the door cracked open, seemingly without any of us touching it, and we all sprinted and fell out of the basement and onto the grass outside. The moment we got outside, the door slammed shut once again and we all ran home and never really spoke of that moment again.”

Analysis:

Wow, I mean, personally I’ve experienced some interesting seemingly ghostly tales but this one is crazy to explore and hear. First off, the connection between catholic churches and ghost hauntings goes way back, I mean seriously. The beliefs and folklore surrounding ghost hauntings in Catholic churches can be traced back to centuries ago, with stories and legends often rooted in historical events and cultural traditions dating back to medieval times and earlier. In my own research of this ideal, apparently, the connection between Catholic churches and ghost hauntings is often rooted in cultural beliefs, historical significance, and popular folklore rather than official Catholic doctrine. Many Catholic churches have a long history and rich cultural heritage, making them popular settings for ghost stories and legends. The presence of burial grounds or crypts within or near some churches, along with the religious symbols and rituals associated with Catholicism, can contribute to perceptions of spiritual or supernatural activity. Cultural beliefs about spirits and ghosts, as well as popular media portrayals of haunted locations, further shape public perceptions of ghost hauntings in Catholic churches. However, it’s important to note that Catholic doctrine does not specifically address ghost hauntings, and individual interpretations of such phenomena are influenced by personal experiences and cultural influences rather than official teachings of the Church. Now that this info is out of the way, I personally found this story and the acute history of ghosts and catholic churches to be extremely fascinating. I mean who really knows if this is real, but AC hinting at the fact that she doesn’t believe in ghosts and experiencing what seems to be a ghost encounter in a culture and religion that she doesn’t even follow is what interests me so much. The idea that ghosts aren’t really tied to a specific culture, but all cultures, where each one has their own interpretation of ghosts, and even so, the idea of hauntings, skepticism about said hauntings, sightings, and even experiences, all still managing to have no ground or real meaning when faced with unexplainable phenomenon and encounters with something mind blowing or scary and spooky like with AC’s story, is so awesome. It seems that no matter your belief, ghosts will always find some way of haunting your mind.

Why Did The Ice Cream Cross The Road?

Nationality: Korean
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA, California
Performance Date: 3/3/2024

Context:

My informant, DH, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Los Angeles, California. I talked with DH one night in second semester freshman year about food, as DH loves food. We were going to get some ice cream and he just started spastically laughing whilst getting some ice cream because I said a tame joke about how much he loves sugary foods. I asked him why in the world he was laughing so much and he told me this:

Text:

“My mom and I would have this dumb joke between the three of us, me, my brother, and her. It was this super funny joke about how fat we were because, well, we were, and I mean who could blame us, we love food! Especially ice cream, so she said this to us one day: ‘Why did the ice cream cross the road? 너에게서 멀어지려고!’ Which translates to: ‘To get away from you!’ That was so funny, it stuck forever.”

Analysis:

Now I did look this up and didn’t find anything specific, I mean I did find a Korean dad joke about ice cream crossing the road but the answer was a Korean word which was a play on words but has nothing to do with a specific person or their history as this one did. I find it interesting how they have their own joke about their own history together but it’s still somewhat tied to their Korean language and heritage. It’s a wholesome funny joke that I’ve personally never heard of before but it seems super funny and self aware too, love it.