Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 58
Occupation: Art Teacher
Residence: Fullerton
Performance Date: 4/14/2017
Primary Language: Chinese

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

KY: “a long time ago there was this dude, forgot his name, who was a war hero and a sick poet. He was loved by everyone and eventually became the emperor’s right hand man. The Emperor trusted him and listened to all of his advice. However, there began a rumor that this dude was a traitor and selling secrets to other nations, and the Emperor started believing this rumor. The guy was kicked outta nation and he just hung out on his own for a few years. Eventually he hears news that his nation has been invaded and defeated. The guy was so sad, because he really loved his country, he took a rock and drowned himself. People felt bad for him so they made these zongzi for his spirit and threw it in the river that he drowned himself in. One day as these people were throwing the zongzi the guy’s ghost floats up and was like ‘guys, the fish are eating all the food and I don’t get any’. So the people went home, put the zongzi in bamboo baskets and threw them into the river”

wait i thought they threw the rice because then the fish would eat the rice and not each the guy’s corpse

KY: “I don’t know man, thats what I remember…”

Thoughts: To me, this is a very familiar because zongzi is a large part of Chinese cuisine and culture, and I’ve heard of this story from my parents and my teachers too. Zongzi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, which shows that it is a big part of Chinese culture. Anyways, this story just reminds me of when I was a kid and I would listen to my mandarin teacher tell us all these stories about why we eat different things during different Chinese festivals, and also reminds me of how much I miss home.

For another version of this story see: https://artifactsjournal.missouri.edu/2014/03/the-legend-behind-zongzi/ by Xiao Fan

The 12 Zodiac Signs

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 58
Occupation: Art teacher
Residence: Fullerton
Performance Date: 4/14/2017
Primary Language: Chinese

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

KY: “I kind of don’t remember why they animals race. I think its because God wanted 12 guards or something, so the animals raced. The rat and the ox were the earliest to wake up so they raced. Eventually they came across a river that the rat couldn’t cross, so he jumped on the ox’s back. Once on the other side, the rat ran and got first place while the ox got second. Next came the tiger and rabbit cuz they were the fastest and most athletic. Following them in 5th place was the dragon. God saw dragon and was like damn you’re good looking your son can get 6th place. However, dragon’s son didn’t come and just then the snake shows up and says ‘I’m the dragon’s son’, making snake 6th place. Then came the horse and the goat, who were both really kind, so God ranked them 7th and 8th respectively. Eventually, the others, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig, came.”

The 12 zodiacs is a story that I had learned growing up and is present in my life a lot. Since one animal is represented each year in a cycle, your spirit animal is the animal of the year; mine is the ox. Often times my parents would ask people they just meet what their zodiac sign is to get a feel of the person. If they have the same zodiac sign people often bond over it. Zodiac sign also represents personality traits and love connections in Chinese culture. Zodiac signs are a really important part of Chinese culture and many other Asian cultures which is why it is very important to know where they came from.

 

No Whistling

Nationality: Cantonese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: West 27th Place
Performance Date: 4/11/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese

Informant AN is a student at USC in the cinema arts school, so she knows a lot of cinema traditions.

AN: “Another taboo thing that theater kids believe in is that you shouldn’t whistle in a theater, regardless of whether you were onstage or backstage. This is because back in the day, people who were working behind the stage for props and special and effects and stuff were out of work sailors. Sailors work with ropes and all the stuff back then was made with ropes, also sailors communicated to each other using whistles because that was how they communicated when they’re out at sea. So you can’t whistle because if you whistle you might accidentally have a sailor do something wrong and hit you in the face with a sandbag or something.”

Thoughts: I found this really interesting because I’ve never heard of this before and I didn’t know that back then the people who worked behind the stage were sailors. I think it’s cool how even though the people who work back stage are not longer sailors and most of the special effects and stuff don’t use ropes anymore, there is still this superstition that whistling in the theater will cause something to go wrong.

Flowers

Nationality: Cantonese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: West 27th Place
Performance Date: 4/11/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese

Informant AN is a student at USC in the cinema arts school, so she knows a lot of cinema traditions.

AN: “Like the other ones that I’ve talked about, this one also brings bad luck. It is common knowledge that after a production you are supposed to give the actors and directors flowers as a sign of congratulations for a great play. However, giving flowers to the director or actors before a production is a sign of bad luck, I don’t know why though you might want to search it up when you go home.”

Thoughts: I went online and searched this up and I found that the reason you aren’t supposed to give them flowers before the productions is because in the past, in order for people to get cheap but beautiful flowers, the flowers were picked from graveyards. Therefore, if you give flowers to them before the production it symbolizes death of the production, so it is considered bad luck.

Break a Leg

Nationality: Cantonese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: West 27th Place
Performance Date: 4/11/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese

Informant AN is a student at USC in the cinema arts school, so she knows a lot of cinema traditions.

AN: “In theater you are not supposed to tell the actors ‘good luck’ because that will bring bad luck. Instead, you’re supposed to say break a leg. I was told this was because people believe that if you say good luck, there are evil spirits in the theater that would do everything they can to bring about bad luck, like not functioning props, or something forgetting their lines or something like that. Instead, break a leg is used because it means you’re trying to tell the actor to work so hard and do so well that they break the legs of the stage.”

Thoughts: To me this sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy. If the actors think that someone saying good luck to them will bring about bad luck, and then someone says good luck to them, they will freak out and start getting nervous and stuff. This nervousness will cause them to not perform as well as they could and essentially bring “bad luck”. However, it’s still fun to learn about these small little taboo words that can’t be spoken as an actor.