Author Archives: sofiarey@usc.edu

Chinese New Year

Nationality: Half Chinese Half Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Burlingame, California
Performance Date: 4/20
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: Are there any cultural celebrations or holidays that you engage in?

 

Informant: Chinese New Year is a big part of my culture and it’s a big holiday that I usually spend with my family. We usually celebrate at my grandmother’s house and the first thing we do is exchange red envelopes. And my grandmother makes “long life noodles” and then “gold bars” which are actually spring rolls that symbolize money.  There are also eggs with oysters for fertility and then we have a Chinese candy to stand for a sweet life.

 

Interviewer: What do the red envelopes symbolize? And is there any part of the celebration that you directly do or a role that has been passed on to you?

 

Informant:  The red envelopes stand for good fortune and they are usually filled with cash money, and the elders of the family or the older generation like parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles hand out the envelopes.  And then my grandmother used to make spring rolls every year but now my sister and I are the ones who make them.

 

Interviewer: And how long does the celebration usually last?

 

Informant: We usually just celebrate one the actual day of Chinese New Year, or if it doesn’t fall on a weekend, then we celebrate on the Friday of the closest week.  My grandmother also gives everyone a stuffed animal of whatever animal or zodiac sign of that year.

 

Interviewer: And do you have a special meal or prayer or ritual?

 

Informant: We usually do a special meal and my mother’s whole side of the family comes to my grandmother’s house for dinner.

 

Interviewer: And that meal is the same as the noodles and the spring rolls and?

 

Informant: Yes, it’s the same just larger portions so that the whole family can eat.

 

Interviewer: Wow that sounds good! Thank you for sharing.

 

Background: The informant is a sophomore at Loyola Marymount University studying psychology.  She is half Chinese and half Caucasain and her grandparents on her mother’s side immigrated from China when they were young.  Her and her sister have been raised with many of the traditional Chinese holidays and often share their customs with friends.  For the informant, this piece was relating something that takes place every year and is often a way for her to spend time with extended family.  It is also a reflection of the Americanization of the holiday given the way her and her family celebrate.

 

Context:  This interview was done while in the car on the way to Disneyland to take part in the Chinese New year celebration theme.  She has been celebrating the holiday since birth and her family has also been celebrating the holiday both back in China and in the states.

 

Analysis: It was not the first time I had heard of the various traditions but the first time I understood their meanings and reflected on the importance for my friend’s culture. It is also fun to the different variations of the celebration and the added twist of giving out stuffed animals or engaging in other things.

Chinese Jade

Nationality: Chinese and Caucasian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Ramon, California
Performance Date: 4/19/20
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: Do you have any cultural beliefs or superstitions?

 

Informant: Well in Chinese culture, jade is in a lot of the jewelry that we wear.  It is supposed to be worn for good luck and protection.  But the most common forms that jade comes in for a lot of people is in bracelets or necklaces. There are various colors that jade comes in is green, orange red and purple but green seems to be the most popular.  It is also really important that the jade is real and not just a fake or an imitation.  My mom has a jade necklace and a jade bracelet that she never takes off, never.  The jade is supposed to be for protection and also it channels one’s chi or energy.  And typically jade is really vibrant, but my mom’s jewelry becomes really dull when she wears it but my aunt had jewelry that she wears it doesn’t fade or go dull.  So it’s kind of weird because when my mom gets a new bracelet the old one will become vibrant again once she takes it off, so it’s almost like she’s using the magic in it, like she’s draining it.  I don’t know if that’s very common but I have only seen it happen to her.

 

Interviewer: Are there any times when the jade actually protects someone?

 

Informant:  Well I have heard this story that one of my grandmother’s friend was wearing a jade bracelet and she one day took a really bad fall.  And when she looked at her bracelet it had shattered but she walked away with no injuries.  It was also very important for my grandmother that when I went away to school, I had a jade bracelet to protect me.  So even if I don’t wear it I always have it with me somewhere.

 

Interviewer: so do you believe in its powers?

 

Informant: I think that growing up and being told that jade is protection and a source of good luck has made me believe in it.  But I also don’t believe in the tradition of having to wear it for it to protect me.  I don’t wear mine often, but I keep little pieces of jade everywhere.  Like in my car there is a piece hanging from the rear view window and in my wallet there are pieces of it.  But I don’t actually wear it most of the time because my taste in jewelry is just different but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in its power.  I think it would be very weird for me if my family members stopped wearing their jewelry or took off their jade.  It is also more of a practical choice because I am in a lot of science classes and they are often really careful about what we wear and I don’t want it to get damaged or get chemicals on it.  So I do believe in the tradition and the magic but I don’t practice it in the same ways that my elders do, and I should probably be doing it but I just haven’t recently.

 

Interviewer: Great thanks for sharing!

 

Background:  The informant is a Junior at USC studying human biology.  She is half Chinese and half Italian but spends more time with her Chinese family and has more beliefs and practices based on her Chinese ancestors.  For the informant, this piece became a form of self-reflection about her own beliefs and how she lives them out in her daily life.  It also served as a reminder of where she came from and the people who are supporting her while she is away.

 

Context: This interview was done during a discussion in a dorm room as the informant and interviewer are roommates.  The informant first experienced this belief and practice as a young child and was given her first piece of jade upon birth.  Though the informant is unsure where the belief originated, it is understood throughout most of China as a folk belief and has traveled with people who have immigrated to other parts of the world.

 

Analysis:  This belief is evident throughout a lot of mainstream culture and exemplified in many Chinese practitioners.  It was interesting to understand the meaning behind the practice and the stories that reinforce the belief. I have seen many people wear jade but it was more meaningful to learn about the power and strength of having this cultural symbol always with you.  In a way it made me related to my own pieces of jewelry that I do not take off and what they mean to me.

 

 

 

Ching Ming Festival

Nationality: Half Chinese, Half Italian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Ramon, California
Performance Date: 4/11
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: Do you have any traditions or ceremonies that you and your family perform or engage in? Any holidays that are unique to your culture that you celebrate.

 

Informant: The celebration is Ching Ming festival. And I have been doing it with my family since I was born.  And basically you go to the cemeteries in which your ancestors or your elders are buried, sometimes they aren’t directly related to you.  But there are specific days in Chinese culture when you go to the graves and do this, but my grandmother chooses a different day for our family because she doesn’t want to go when it’s too crowded. But we bring things for the grave, fake and real flowers, we normally do yellow rose and red roses and we have a system of who we see first.  We go to the grave and we clean it and replace the flowers and then you bow in front of the grave.  We start with my grandmother’s side first and then continue to my grandfather’s side.  And at the last grave, which is traditionally my grandfather’s parents, we have a meal.  Some families have their meal like in the car at the cemetery or in another location that isn’t the literal grave, but my family eats directly at the grave because it’s my family, my uncle’s family and my grandparents. And we usually have a little celebration and lay the food out and we bring a pot and put fake money in it and we burn the fake money and incense and then we have small firecrackers.  And then when you bow at this grave you say something to your elders or the people you are honoring.  And then we eat.  Usually it is a wide variety of dim sum including different dumplings and dishes that we order before and bring.  When we finish eating at the grave then we go out to lunch or early dinner and eat again.  The whole process takes the whole day.  And each year it is a different day and that day is somewhat mandatory, like you don’t not go.

 

Interviewer: Did your grandmother do this when she was young?

 

Informant: My mom used to do it when she was little and then my grandparents immigrated from China so I’m not sure if the process is the same in China but this is our version.

 

Interviewer: So what does it mean to you?

 

Informant: Well I haven’t met all of the relatives or elders that we visit, but you bow anyway as a sign of honor.  So it’s more about respecting and honoring the dead because they are a part of you and watching over you. And my great-grandmother recently died and now when we do this ceremony we include her in the graves that we visit.

 

Background: Amanda Fornataro is a Junior studying at USC and is my roommate.  Her grandparents immigrated from China and brought many traditions with them.  She consulted with her mother and grandmother when giving the account since it wasn’t possible to see the ceremony live. This ceremony is very meaningful and she is usually home to experience it with her family and flew home in February to celebrate.  It is an important belief and cornerstone of Chinese culture to honor your ancestors.

Context: I interviewed Amanda during the week after hearing about the ceremony in previous conversation.  She first started the ceremony when she was small and has carried it on to today and even as her older relatives pass on, they too become part of the tradition. It has traveled from her grandmother to her mother to her.

Analysis: hearing about the ceremony was very interesting.  I have seen and heard about variations of the tradition before but it was great to hear about it from someone who actually performs the ceremony. It also exemplified a belief in the importance of generational traditions and how the variations make more unique to each family.  Like how there are designated days for this ceremony but that Amanda’s grandmother likes to go when it is less quiet is something that makes the tradition even more special to her own family.

Chinese Funeral Customs

Nationality: Half Chinese, Half Caucasian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Ramon, California
Performance Date: 4/22
Primary Language: English

Interviewer:  Are there any practices in your culture that revolve around life transitions, like funerals, weddings, or birthdays?

 

Informant:  So at Chinese funerals there is often a viewing beforehand where it’s like a reception and people make speeches and you bow and pay your respects to whoever has died.  And then before you sit down for the service you are given a red envelope that already had money and candy in them.  They are usually prepared by the immediate family of the deceased and then handed out to guests.  And when you go up to casket after the speeches in a specific order depending on family and friends, we did it that way because we didn’t know everyone that had come so we just wanted to have an orderly way of doing it.

 

Interviewer: So who are the envelopes for and what do you do with them?

 

Informant: The envelopes are made of the guests.  You don’t give the envelopes to the deceased or the family of the deceased they give them to those who have come to pay their respects.

 

Interviewer: And what do the envelopes symbolize?

 

Informant: Well I haven’t been to a lot of funerals but I believe my grandparents said that it was for good luck and a way of spreading prosperity.

 

Interviewer:  Do you do anything else?

 

Informant: After the viewing you get into your cars and drive to the cemetery.  At the cemetery then you say more things as the casket is getting lowered.  We also put fake money in the grave with the caskets and we bowed again, and said a prayer.  Some people depending on their relationship to the person who has died, they get different colored ribbons based on the placement of that person in the family.  And then once you get to the cemetery you take off the ribbons and put them in with the casket.  SO my mom wore a ribbon at my great aunt’s funeral but my brothers and I did not.  After everything is done at the cemetery, it is customary to go and visit another place before going home from the cemetery.  You have to spend the money you are given and eat or visit some other location as a way to not lead the spirit back to your home.  And then once everything has passed, the newly dead become part of other festivals like the Ching Ming festival.

 

Interviewer: So in a way everything is connected! That’s actually really cool. Thanks again for sharing.

 

Background: The informant is a Junior at USC studying human biology and a roommate of the interviewer.  She is a second generation Chinese American and is also half Italian.  Her grandparents immigrated from China when they were young and had her mother and uncle.  She has two brothers as well.  For her this piece was also a learning experience because she has only been to a few Chinese funerals and was especially new to taking on a role within the funeral customs.

 

Context: This interview was done during an afternoon in our apartment.  The context of the informant experiencing this custom was when her great aunt died in the previous year on her mother’s side. It was the first time someone relatively close to her had died and she had to take on certain roles like passing out envelopes and where her mother had to engage in the custom of wearing a colored ribbon.

 

Analysis: This piece extremely interesting because I had never heard it before.  It also provided a lot of context for other festivals that the informant had shared with me. Being able to better understand the cycle of a culture’s beliefs made the pieces less like random facts and more like I was truly learning about my roommate’s culture and traditions and where they came from.

 

Full Moon Magic

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 56
Occupation: Physician
Residence: San Mateo, California
Performance Date: 4/7/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Interviewer: Do you have any occupational folklore or superstitions that come with the jobs or things that you or someone else has experienced?

 

Informant: There’s this huge belief among physicians that when there’s a full moon, we get patients who are somewhat more crazy.  The cases overall are more strange and difficult.  It gets more chaotic and dangerous to be like working in the ER or even just seeing everyday patients.

 

Interviewer: Do you have some examples?

 

Informant: Well more women seem to go into labor when there’s a full moon.  There are weirder cases that we usually don’t see very often.  For instance, rotating in the ER you see more stabbings, more shooting victims and more car accident cases that on a regular day would not happen.

 

Interviewer: Now that you aren’t rotating at the hospital, do you still see weird cases? Do your regular patients act in a weird way?

 

Informant: Yes, definitely.  But more than seeing weird cases or situations of why they are coming to visit it is more that the patients I see around a full moon are acting strangely or they aren’t behaving like their normal selves.  It seems like a psychological change, that all of a sudden there’s a shift and then these people that I know just change.  It’s interesting though because even if I don’t know its currently a full moon, and I have a lot of these strange experiences with patients, it will turn out that the following night is a full moon.

 

Interviewer: Is there anything you do to prepare or protect yourself if you know a full moon is coming?

 

Informant: No, I think I’ve found that it is going to happen no matter what you try to do to resist it so it’s just better to take it as it comes. If you just acknowledge the power of the full moon then you won’s be so distressed about the things that are happening and realize it’s not you it’s just the way it is.

 

Interviewer: Thanks so much for sharing, it has been really helpful and interesting to hear about this.

 

Background: Maria Juarez-Reyes has been a physician for over twenty years and while she used to round at a hospital, she has since moved to primary care.  Despite her change of work venue, this belief in the magic of the moon has followed her as it seems to have followed many in the health care professions.  To her this piece is not only folklore containing magic but also occupational folklore as she has yet to find another profession that sees this phenomenon.

 

Context: This interview took place while at a weekend at home with family.  The informant first experience this phenomenon while an intern who was rounding at her first hospital and then has experienced it ever since.  She has also had colleagues who have had their own experiences with the power of the moon and have contributed to the overall belief and its potency.

 

Analysis:  This piece is extremely interesting not only because it is well known within the community of health care professionals but also because those outside this profession associate the magic with doctors.  Even professor Thompson brought up this example during lecturer one day as an example of folk magic and related it back to a common belief among physicians.  It is also interesting to point out the development of folk beliefs that women are said to be biologically in tune with the moon cycles and to see it in some ways come to life.  Especially with the example that more women often go into labor when the moon is full.