Author Archives: Corinne Gaston

How Taoism Saved my Grandfather

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Waitress
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/18/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

So my dad’s grandfather, my great-grandfather, had three wives and they all lived in the same house – yeah, it was fucking messy. And then my grandfather, my dad’s father, was the favorite son, or so he says. And so they had this huge family – you know, cause it was three people’s families, basically, of like twenty kids. And they had like nannies, cause my dad’s side of the family made a lot of money in the timber industry. And so one day my grandfather got super super ill. It was gastrointestinal. And they didn’t know what to do with it. They tried herbal medicine they tried purging and bleeding. And so my grandfather’s mother, as a last resort went to see a Taoist practitioner. And she was like, “what should I do? My son is so so sick. And he’s about to be married off. Like we want to see him get married and start his own family.” So this Taoist drew a picture of this pentagram and then he told my great- grandmother, take this to this specific field on this day in the evening and burn it under the night sky. So she went out and did that and then apparently magically he was better after that. Cured him of his illness.

This is a family story that was passed down in my informant’s family. It attests to the luck and perseverance of a large family as well as to the power of magic. Life works in mysterious ways, so my informant’s grandfather “magically” being cured reveals his fortune. Also, his healing may be related to him being the favorite son within the context of Chinese culture.

Ancient Chinese Architecture Folk Belief

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Waitress
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/18/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

So basically, in Chinese – in ancient Chinese architecture, the roofs are – each tile is curved – and the roof is built in a jagged way, so that it’s uneven. And the point of that is to keep the demons from sitting on your house, because if your roof is slanted or flat, the demon will be comfortable there.

My informant also told me that many roofs today are still built with curves and slants. Even people who are really impoverished and live in shanty houses, will build their roofs with several pieces of tin or wood to make sure that there is still a slant. My informant said that when her family moved into an apartment complex, her mother believed that the “place was fucked” (as my informant put it) and that misfortune would befall those who lived there because the roofs were all flat. Buddhists believed that curved roofs would ward off evil spirits believed to manifest as straight lines. So the ideas of traditional Chinese architecture have been passed down and people still hold deep beliefs concerning them.

more information can be found here: http://library.thinkquest.org/10098/china1.htm

Santeria Love Spell

Nationality: Hispanic (product of Spanish rule in the Americas)
Age: 21
Occupation: student, front desk worker/ website translator
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

To make someone fall in love with you, you take a drawing of a saint such as St. Gabriel or the holy death, a garment from the person you want to love you, and a picture of them. You write that person’s name vertically on the photograph then pin all three items together with a safety pin to a candle. Then you layer the outside of the candle with honey or some kind of wax and put it inside a glass jar. You burn the candle for seven days. If the candle makes the inside of the glass turn black, it means that person’s heart belongs to someone else, but if it’s clear at the end of 7 days, that means the spell worked and you just have to wait.

 

Trying to make love manifest from magic is interesting. The spell evokes the power of god through a saint, the use of something sweet that can be used to “catch” things, ie: honey, and a garment of the person, which hints at the significance and power in folk magic associated with physical objects used by a specific person. However, once all of the preparation is done, this spell depends on chance on how the candle flame affects the jar, which is similar to love; you can’t force it. It’s up to chance and depends on how the feelings of respective individuals develop.

Spanish Funeral Celebration

Nationality: Hispanic (product of Spanish rule in the Americas)
Age: 21
Occupation: student, front desk worker/ website translator
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

We celebrate the death, well not the death, but a celebration of that person’s life. You know how here you wear black, you have a little get together, it’s very quiet, you can’t make jokes and it’s inappropriate if you do. Where in my family and culture you bring in a big mariachi and a banda, and you play and drink. The banda is literally a band and they have trombones, clarinets, and guitars…um, and basically you drink and get super fucked up until 2 or 3 in the morning. Or sometimes until the sun comes back up. And you make really good food and you just remember their life. I mean, you’re kind of talking about the person the whole time, for example you dedicate songs to them, and you’re just like, “this is for you, fucker! You fucking bastard, you owe me three dollars!” (laughs) You talk a lot about dumb shit they did or as a kid how stupid they were. It’s never like, “we miss them.” Although…the mother is usually crying…afterward you visit their capilla – if you build one – on the anniversary they died.

These funeral customs have similarities to Irish funerals. Like most funerals, it’s about the loss of a loved one, but instead of being somber, sad, and quiet like most Americans are during funerals, they cope with the loss through celebrating that person’s life. Clearly there’s still sadness – the mother usually being the one crying – but by celebrating, drinking, and telling stories about their lost loved one, they possibly have a stronger outlet for their emotions and are able to deal better with their grief.

Dead Chapels: Capillas

Nationality: Hispanic (product of Spanish rule in the Americas)
Age: 21
Occupation: student, front desk worker/ website translator
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

My informant told me about capillas, which are little chapels that people build above the ground where a person is buried. Usually they put cement there first, so the ground above the grave doesn’t get dirty. Then they can put gifts like flowers or candles inside of it. They’re constructed as a way to honor the dead. As my informant said, if you don’t have a landmark above the grave as a reminder, you may forget that person is there. He said his mother’s side of his family is thinking of building one over his uncle Basilio’s grave, because he is only one in his mother’s immediate family who has died, and there are cement and bricks over his grave, but no capilla yet. Based on this and other information my informant shared with me, honoring the dead and honoring family is highly important to him in his culture. It seems as though the dead are not simply buried and forgotten, but they still play a significant role in the lives of the living.