Author Archives: Katarina ODette

Don’t Step on the Head–Folk Belief in the Trojan Marching Band

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cerritos, California
Performance Date: April 20, 2012
Primary Language: English

“There’s a painting of a Trojan head on the floor of the USC Marching Band office right inside the door and you’re not supposed to step on it. If you step on it, everyone yells at you because you’ve brought bad luck to the football team. Also, just generally, it’s considered highly disrespectful. No one told us when we joined band. On the first day of band camp, a group of us freshmen walked into the office. Everyone started yelling at us to not step on the head.”

 

On the one hand, this folk belief is about trying to demonstrate control over the outcome of football games. Because so much of the outcome of a football game is the result of chance (if the wind was blowing right at the right moment, if a player was left unguarded at the perfect opportunity to score, etc), the use of folk magic allows the members of the band to act as though they have control over these moments of chance. If a band member steps on the Trojan head, he has stepped on the Trojans’ chances of winning. Therefore, if the team does not play well, the band can point the blame toward the person who caused it. Rather than blaming the players for their own failings on the field (which would make it less desirable for the band to cheer them on), they can put the blame on one of their own.

In addition to being a folk belief, it also serves as part of the initiation of new freshmen into band. Learning to not step on the Trojan head is one of the first things freshmen learn about band traditions and culture, as they have to step into the office on the first day of band camp. Once they have learned that they have to walk around the head, they have started the process of accumulating the knowledge of all customs associated with being a fully fledged band member.

The Balikbayan Box

Nationality: Filipino-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Gilroy, California
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

“So, a lot of Filipinos emigrate from the Philippines, and my family is one of them. I’m third generation—my grandparents immigrated here. I’m not sure how it is for every Filipino family in America, but for my grandparents, it was hard to get assimilated into this culture because of the language barrier and the accents. My grandfather had a hard time getting jobs and people would look down on him because of his accent, so when they came to America, they didn’t want to give their kids that experience. They wanted them to learn English and speak it well, but even though they value their Filipino heritage, my grandmother was very strict about ‘we’re in America now. We’re going to adopt this culture.’ Since we were benefiting from America and living in America, we should use that culture. And that’s where they stopped practicing many Filipino customs. She was very excited about the opportunities in America. But one thing we have always observed is the balikbayan box. In Filipino culture, it’s custom that if you move to America, you send a balikbayan box back to the Philippines. It’s basically a box of things from your new culture and things you can’t get in the Philippines. So, for a long time, that included things like chocolate. That’s more readily available now, but you would send a box full of things that were hard to come by in the Philippines. And also, when I visited my family in the Philippines, we brought a lot of stuff with us. It’s kind of a custom that when you visit your family in the Philippines, you bring a balikbayan box. Treats and different things for them. At the airport, it was funny, because a lot of the luggage was boxes that said “balikbayan box” on them. It’s just a way of bringing them things from better-developed countries like America. I think it just goes along with the whole culture of a close family in Filipino culture. Family is extremely important, so it’s an expected thing. It’s not necessarily a sign of respect. It’s just a thing you do for your family because family is so important.”

 

In other parts of our interview, my informant stressed how important the idea of respect is in Filipino culture, particularly respect for elders. Although she did not feel that that played a large role in the case of the balikbayan boxes, I believe the story of her grandparents’ immigration suggests otherwise. Her grandparents decided to try to make life in America easier for their children by ignoring many Filipino traditions. Although this is not something that was done maliciously or that would have been paraded in front of older relatives still in the Philippines, it still could be seen as a rejection of the culture and customs imparted to them by their older relatives for their entire lives. In this way, it is almost a rejection of their older relatives and the culture that is so important to them. Having the tradition of sending the balikbayan box allows Filipino emigrants to temper that rejection. They send a box full of only items from their new country and culture, but it is sent according to the traditions of their former country and culture for the enjoyment of the family they left behind. It becomes a gesture of respect, almost a promise to their relatives that, despite the large influence of the new culture the emigrants are becoming absorbed in, they will still remember Filipino traditions and practice those that affect older relatives still in the Philippines. Regularly presenting gifts to their family promises that their respect for their family, even in a different country with different traditions, is still intact.

The Mano

Nationality: Filipino-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Gilroy, California
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

“Respecting your elders is a very big thing in Filipino culture. There’s a tradition we do in Filipino culture where when you greet an older family member, you grab their hand and you put it up to your forehead. It’s called “the Mano” and it’s just a form of respect. It’s a respectful greeting for your elders. I did that to my older family members. The ones from slightly younger generations knew that I was American, so they were confused as to why I was doing that. But the older generation really cherishes it. They expect it. Before I went to visit my relatives in the Philippines, my dad, whose grandparents emigrated from the Philippines, told me that that was a custom. He told me about the Mano.”

 

As my informant said, the importance and continuation of this folklore in Filipino culture comes from the great respect they have for family and their elders. In addition to the surface level of using the Mano to demonstrate respect for their older relatives, the younger generations’ continued use of the Mano allows them to show their respect for the Filipino culture and traditions of the older generations. By keeping up customs that are held so dearly by the older generations, the younger generations acknowledge how important these customs are to the older generations in how they perceive of their culture. Continuing to use these customs is, in a way, a promise to the older generations that these customs will be kept going even after those generations are gone. That promise commits the younger generations to respect their elders in the long-term in a way that goes beyond the simple gesture of the younger relative putting the older relative’s hand to his forehead. Its use by members of the younger generation who did not grow up in the Philippines (in this case, my informant is a third generation American immigrant) speaks even further to that respect. Although not a custom a non-Filipinos would be familiar with or perform, visiting descendents of emigrants are still expected to, and do, use the Mano to demonstrate that their respect for their elders transcends their nationality and cultural upbringing.

Kuya and Ate

Nationality: Filipino-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Gilroy, California
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

“A lot of Filipino culture is centered around respect for family, especially those people who are older than you in your family. There’s the word for older brother, you call him ‘kuya’ and for an older sister, you call her ‘ate.’ But it’s actually, it’s a form of respect to call them that. And if you have older cousins, it’s a sign of endearment to call them kuya or ate, just to show that they’re close to you. And to show that you look up to them. When I visited my family in the Philippines, I remember one of my little cousins… she was four or five, and she would come up to me and call me ‘Ate Bekah! Ate Bekah!’ It was really cool hearing that because it’s a term of endearment, so it shows that even though I had just met her… using that term is a term of respect. It really shows that that family member looks up to you and respects you as an older person. It felt awkward for me to use at first, because we don’t use it with my family back in America, but it’s a big form of respect in the Philippines. I had heard of the titles in passing, but I didn’t really know them until I went over there. I heard it with my cousins and people encouraging me to call my older cousins ate or kuya.”

 

As my informant said, the importance and continuation of this folklore in Filipino culture comes from the great respect they have for family and their elders. In addition to the surface level of conferring the title upon relatives as a sign of respect, continuing to use these titles in this way allows the younger generations to show their respect for the Filipino culture and traditions of the older generations. By keeping up customs that are held so dearly by the older generations, the younger generations acknowledge how important these customs are to the older generations in how they perceive of their culture. Continuing to use these customs is, in a way, a promise to the older generations that these traditions will be kept going even after those generations are gone. That promise commits the younger generations to respect their elders in the long-term in a way that goes beyond the simple use of the words kuya or ate.

Senior Ditch Day

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Gilroy, California
Performance Date: April 19, 2012
Primary Language: English

“Senior Ditch Day at Gilroy High School is a day when seniors at the end of the year all ditch school on the same day. All the seniors would know that it was going to happen every year, so they would figure out a date that would work and spread the word around by word of mouth. We would try to make sure it was after prom and Advanced Placement tests, because a lot of the students were AP students. And it had to be after prom because we didn’t want them to take away our prom privileges. So, we’d do something rebellious after. A lot of the teachers knew. They would try to prevent it. Or give little speeches about why we shouldn’t ditch. Some teachers, if they were cool with it, wouldn’t assign as much work on that day, but some teachers would assign a quiz that day to get back at the kids who were ditching. A lot of kids would go to the same place. We went to the beach, everyone together. Half the teachers didn’t assign work, because it was just this unspoken thing that half the kids weren’t going to be there. A lot of the parents know it’s happening. Some of them are cool with it. Some aren’t. It really depends on the parents. Some kids got their parents to write them sick letters. Other kids forged their letters. But I mean, when kids are seniors… it’s the end of the year. You feel like you’re at the top of the class. You reached that point of prestige that you were trying to reach for four years. It’s kind of us deciding that we deserve a break. It’s kind of a fun thing to do. And it brings the class together. It brings us together as seniors. There’s prom first of all, and then there’s AP tests, and we’d do it after so we didn’t have to be worried and stressing about our tests. It’s kind of a national thing, an American thing. I guess. Lots of high schools in America do it. You see it in movies, people talk about it a lot of the time. It’s like how prom and football are staples of high school. It’s Senior Ditch Day, one of those traditions.”

 

I believe my informant was largely correct in her analysis of the importance of Senior Ditch Day. After finishing their tests and prom, the students feel like they have completed high school, although they still have to attend classes and learn. They are almost in a liminal period–though technically still students, they feel as though they are only waiting for graduation to make that official. Senior Ditch Day allows them to demonstrate this. By not going to school, they are saying that they do not need school anymore. Although some students try to avoid being too defiant (getting excused from the day of classes rather than accepting the punishment of having skipped a day of school), it does not seem to be a deterrent if they are not able to provide an excuse for their absence. Neither avoiding punishment nor blatantly breaking the rules is the goal. The students are focused on the bonding experience of being together and not being at school, rather than trying to openly defy teachers and administrators. Though presented as rule-breaking, the focus of and enjoyment caused by Senior Ditch Day does not seem to actually be on breaking the rules, but on the ability of the students to make the decision for themselves that school, for that day, is optional. They are, in some way, proving their coming adulthood by demonstrating the ability to make decisions for themselves that are normally made by adults.

 

Incidences of Senior Ditch Day can also be seen referenced in the following article in the Tampa Bay Times:  http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/14/Citytimes/Life_s_a_beach_for_ma.shtml.