Author Archives: Michael Effenberger

Kung Hei Fat Choy, “Fat Boy”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 5:20 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Early Childhood w/ Family

When Folklore is Performed: Every Chinese New Year

 

Transcript:

“So I’m third generation Chinese, and every Chinese New Year, it’s been a tradition in my family to say Kung Hei Fat Choy, which is the traditional Chinese New Year greeting, but we say Kung Hei Fat Choy Fat Boy! And this has been going on ever since my ancestors came over from America, and a large part of it goes down to how during Chinese New Year we eat a lot of food, and I think in China being on the bigger side, or fat, signifies wealth because you can afford to eat food and become fate. So, Kung Hei Fat Choy is our response to that, because we don’t want to become fat!”

 

This saying has been passed down throughout the informant’s family since immigrating to the United States, and provides a comedic variation upon the original New Year greeting. In creating such a variant, the informant’s family is able to bridge a gap between the two different cultures, such as the believed relationship between body size and wealth, and retain their own unique identity while doing so.

Washington’s Hill

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 3:33 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Birnkrant, 6th floor hallway.

Informant’s first encounter w/ folklore: Early childhood

When Folklore is Performed: National Holidays, such as July 4th

 

Transcript:

“In New Jersey, my town is Chatham. It doesn’t have a super long history, but it has a decent history. In our town, it’s split into a borough and a township. All through the borough there are little plaques around saying, “This person is here, this person is there.” Near my town is Springfield, and during the revolutionary war, there’s the battle of Springfield and there’s this one big hill where apparently George Washington stood and watched the battle of Springfield from the top of this hill. Now it’s weird because the hill’s a graveyard, but every year people do go their, look out over the field and think about what could have been. It’s weird, because the hill has a really good view of New York, one of the best. Now, every year people will go there and look on 9/11, and they’ll shoot the two beams of light that are supposed to be the towers and the hill takes on a new meaning.”

 

For my informant’s town, this hill serves as a way to reflect upon both a proud and a tragic part of their American heritage and history. It allows the young and the old to stand in the same spot as Washington and see how the America that he saw has formed over the years.

“There’s a Place in France…”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 11:58 a.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of EVK Dining Hall

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Childhood (10 or 11 years old)

When Folklore is Performed: During recess, amongst fellow students.

 

Transcript:

“There’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance,

There’s a hole in the wall where the boys see it all.

There’s a place downtown where the freaks come around,

There’s a hole in the wall, it’s a dirty free for all.”

 

This (remarkably mature) children’s song was sung during my informant’s gradeschool years. My informant remembers singing it with a group of his friends while the girls in the surrounding area would react in disgust. Like cooties, this seems to be the sort of activity that young boys would create once they begin to “notice girls” in order to grow accustomed to them.

“What’cha Doing?” “Eating Chocolate…”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 11:56 a.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of EVK Dining Hall

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Childhood (8 or 9 years old)

When Folklore is Performed: During recess, amongst fellow students.

 

Transcript:

Child A: A

Child B: B

 

A: “What’cha doing?”

B: “Eating chocolate.”

A: “Where’d you get it?”

B: “Doggie dropped it.”

A: “Where’d he drop it?”

B: “In the sewer.”

A: “What’s it taste like?”

B: “Cow Manure.”

 

This is a variant of a back-and-forth story that my informant remembers from his gradeschool (roughly around the 1st or 2nd grade). He told me this story with an emberassed yet gleeful expression, often chuckling in between verses. He apologized, explaining that the story brought back a lot of memories from “the playground.” He recalls reciting this with several of his friends, always reacting with the same “grossed out” expression after the final line was spoken. This sort of back and forth was part of the children’s dialect, almost like a code or a password into their society. If you could master it, you could match their wits. The piece also helped the children come to terms with the natural functions and materials of the body.

The Chinese Moon Festival

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 2012, 11:52 a.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of EVK Dining Hall

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Since birth. It is a family tradition.

When Folklore is Performed: On the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar.

 

Transcript:

“Chinese Moon Festival is one of the biggest holidays of the lunar calendar and basically the premise is, um, it’s a time of harvest, but also doubles as, like, a time when the family get’s together. It’s also called the Mid-Autumn festival and that’s where the harvest comes in, but the moon festival always falls upon the full moon. The idea is that wherever you are, you always see the same moon as your family and that’s when you look up and, um, reminisce over your family. One of the foods that we eat is the moon cake, and inside is a salted egg yoke which symbolizes the moon.”

 

My informant was very excited to relay this information to me. While the excitement may have also stemmed from the food we were about to eat, it was clear that this tradition was very special to him. It was not difficult for me to see why. While we do have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, rare is the holiday that celebrates the entire family. However, the Chinese Moon seems to commemorate not just the immediate family, but a world family united under one moon. Most who celebrate the lunar calendar return home to their family. For individuals whose families are simply too far away, such as my informant, it serves as a sacred and endearing ritual for him.