Author Archives: ivyhong

Chinese Lunar New Year

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 43
Occupation: Esthetician
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/23/16
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

The informant gave out the following piece of folklore at my request. They are of Chinese descent, and the setting was casual.

 

They said that a long time ago, there used to be this creature that wasn’t quite a spirit, or like the guardian lions. These creatures were called “年” aka Nián, meaning “year” in Chinese. They would come down and attack this town every year to steal food, and eat humans. The humans heard that these creatures were afraid of loud noises, so they lit fireworks to scare them away. After seeing how Nián never came back, they began to light fireworks every year.

 

Some variations also include the color red and masks to scare off Nián. What was interesting about this interaction was the informant’s reaction when I said I, a person also of Chinese descent, was not familiar with the complete legend behind Chinese Lunar New Year. It reminded of the discussions the class had about what it meant to be of a certain identity.


One thing to clarify is that while several nations and cultures observes the lunar calendar, there are usually a few distinct differences between how one culture celebrates it, and how another celebrates it.

Flipped Over Shoes

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Performance Date: 4/19/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Latin

The informant is Catholic, and of Irish descent. They agreed to meet up with me, and share pieces of folklore for this project.

 

“So this is like- It’s not actually like my personal heritage I guess, but, um one of my neighbours is, uh African and whenever we went to her house, she would tell us… We were close with her, like I went over there a lot. Um, that like if your shoes, or like with the soles, the bottom of it is facing the sky, then it’s like really bad luck. It’s like it means you’re gonna die or something. So, she would always make us turn our shoes over, and then like we started doing it at our house to cause we got used to it.”

 

This could perhaps stem from how having the bottom of shoes facing up creates a dissonance of sorts with the environment. Perhaps like how “up” is good in the U.S., having something normally facing “down” face up simply feels like a bad sign.


I also thought it was nice how easily this habit transferred over to the informant’s family.

Irish Fest

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Performance Date: 4/19/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Latin

The informant is Catholic, and of Irish descent. They agreed to meet up with me, and share pieces of folklore for this project.

 

What is Irish Fest?

 

“Um, so…I- In Milwaukee, Wisconsin where I’m from, they have this thing called Irish Fest every year, and- because there was a really big population of Irish people in Milwaukee, and Irish fest is the biggest festival for Irishness outside of Ireland and- Like a lot of people from Ireland actually come to Milwaukee for it because it’s, um like a bunch of Irish music and stuff is played there, and they don’t gather as much in like Ireland. Like it’s the biggest music festival for Irish music. Um, so me and my family, every year we go to Irish Fest and, um well- I don’t know. So there’s like Irish dancing and, um there’s Irish music and we always eat reubens, which are like an Irish thing. It’s like corned beef.

 

Do you usually eat reubens outside of Irish Fest?

 

“I… We do, but not as much. We usually eat it on Saint Patrick’s Day, and… and Irish Fest.”


This ties into when the class talked about how heritage is inherited, something one is born into. Despite how the informant does not live in Ireland, they and other Irish descendants seem to feel drawn to the festival as a way to feel connected to their heritage. I also found it interesting how people from Ireland fly in for the festival as well.

Socks and Softball

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Performance Date: 4/19/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Latin

The informant is Catholic, and of Irish descent. They agreed to meet up with me, and share pieces of folklore for this project.

 

So what folklore do you have about softball?

 

“Um, so I play… well I play a lot of sports, but I play softball. And we, whenever we were on a winning streak, like if we like… won a game, you would not wash your socks. Like you had long softball socks, and you wouldn’t wash them if- until you lost again. So like, it was suppose to be lucky. You couldn’t wash them; it would like, wash out the good juju or whatever.”

 

Although the informant was in a school sport, one can still consider this as occupational folklore. As another field where people rely on chance a lot for success, those involved tend to follow superstition as there are usually not harm in doing so.


That said, the idea of not altering the state of something for fear of washing away the good luck can also be found in Chinese culture. For Chinese Lunar New Year, families do not sweep during the first few days, nor are they suppose to cut their hair. Like how a win in a game may have upgraded the socks to a charm for good luck, a new year brings in good luck to a household.

Flipping the Fish

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/24/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese

The informant is of Chinese descent and shared this piece at my request. It was an informal environment.

 

Why is it improper to flip over a fish as you eat from it?

 

“Oh okay so, back in the, um olden days in China when fishermen were on their ships, they wouldn’t flip over the fish when they eat- ate it because it would give a bad omen and possibly flip their own ship over. So when you eat the fish, you don’t, um flip it over; you have to pull off the spine and just continue eating it.”


This is an example of homeopathic magic, where like produces like. As we discussed in class, professions where chance plays a large role tend to have a lot of superstitions. This particular case is interesting because the informant and their family are not fishermen, and neither are most of the people that does it. Whether their boat would flip over is of little actual concern to them. Having said that, I think it became more of a habit for people than anything.