Category Archives: Folk Beliefs

New Years Ghost: Nian Guay

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“So there was this monster called Nien. Every year he would go into the village and eat all the people. This is for Chinese New Years and basically the customs such as wearing red, lighting firecrackers, and candles I guess. So every year on Chinese New Years eve, a monster would come out and eat people and animals, and so in order to avoid the monster the people would flee behind the hills of the village to hide out. And they called this day Nian Guan (the passing of the monster) But one year this old beggar came into the village but didn’t know the whole story with the Nian monster, but this old lady gave him food and told him, “You have to run into the hills if you don’t want to be eaten.” The beggar told her he will get rid of the monster if you let me stay in your house tonight. So the lady houses him for the night, but that night the Nian monster came out and saw that there was red on the door of the old ladies house, which was also brightly lit. So when the monster reached the entrance of the house the man came out in a red robe, and the monster was scared away, and the village was saved. From then on Chinese people have a lot of red on display for the New Year, and they have firecrackers to scare the Nian Guay, and a lot of other traditions come from this story.”

This is a myth that explains of where the Chinese New Year holiday came from, and why some of the traditions that take place exist. I’m not sure whether this story came first or if the new year existed before it, but Nian Guan also means “the end of the year,” which would give clues to the origin of Chinese New Year. Or perhaps the monster just happened to appear at the liminal time of the New Year, and the man scaring it away was the impetus of the New Year celebration.

Also, this story explains to modern cultures why they practice some of the traditions in place. Firecrackers, the color red, and candles are all things that would scare the monster, and thus these are things celebrated today and symbolize the time for celebration. I have also heard that the idea of red envelopes was developed because the monster would steal money from people, and the red kept it away. These are all derivative from this story, and give meaning to some of the actions that correspond to the holiday.

Werewolf Sighting

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Military
Residence: West Point, NY
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Spanish

“I’m pretty sure I saw a werewolf or a witch or something once. In 5thgrade everyone went to some camp in Oklahoma called Camp Classen, and one night there was a bonfire. It was fun, we made smores and played games but then at the end we told some ghost stories too. So everyone was having fun but also thinking of all the weird stuff we heard about I guess, and on the walk back, we walked through the forest and it was really sketchy. Pretty much we were all 5thgraders so I was scared of everything after the ghost stories, but I’m sure I saw some animal at least the size of a human in the distance. Unless there were like bears or something at Camp Classen, I’m pretty sure it was a werewolf. And I told my friend and he saw it too. Plus I remember clearly there was a full moon that night so you know its plausible. Honestly it was probably just some counselor or groundskeeper or something walking around at night. Werewolves don’t exist, but I might have seen one at camps.”

 

This story highlights many aspects of childhood socialization and the nature of folklore. First, the informant goes to great detail to explain the setting: at camp, during the night after hearing ghost stories, and in the dark forest with a full moon. These are all factors that add to the credibility of the story, as they are the conditions in which werewolves and creatures thrive in popular culture. Thus, the informant has turned his story into an memorate, a story of personal experience that, combined with knowledge of popular culture and others’ influence fits a mold of stories that have been told before; in the case the werewolf.

Furthermore, it shows how folk belief can act as social glue for a group. The informant tells his friend who believes him and sees similar things. There is probably not actually a werewolf, but later on the group undoubtedly gossiped and discussed the existence of such a creature, further perpetuating the idea that they may be real, and setting the scene for future discussions and propagation of the folklore.

 

The Mumu

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English

“My mom used to scare me by telling me about the Mumu. Like a Filipino monster sort of that would take you away in the night if you didn’t behave. Like a boogeyman. Supposedly it was a miniature monster that looks kind of like a cat, and it knew when all the kids are misbehaving and not sleeping and doing all the things moms tell kids they shouldn’t be doing. And if you did do that thing, when you went to bed it would come to your house and kidnap you.”

The informant tells us of a creature called the mumu, which sounds just like the boogeyman. It is something parents tell their children in order to get them to behave or listen to directions. It is convenient for parents to have a monster that can keep watch over the children at all times, and this theme is found in many other stories parents tell their children, including the boogeyman or even Santa Claus. It is also interesting that these creature will always attack after bedtime, when the child is most vulnerable unless they are in bed under the covers. The effect is all the same. Kids are afraid to stay up past their bedtime, read with a flashlight, or misbehave in general.

The Manananggal

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

“There’s this monster called the Manananggal, it’s like a monster that feeds on pregnant women’s babies. So what happens is at night, the monster detaches the upper body from its legs you know to eat the babies. The only way to kill it is to put salt on the lower part of the body. So like when the monster is out eating, you put salt on it so it doesn’t have a lower body to come back to. Just some widely known superstition in the Philippines. Everyone just knows.. tells it.”

The Manananggal is a monster in Filipino folklore. It is similar to the Western vampire as, according to sources on the internet, it is afraid of daylight and garlic cloves. Furthermore, it feeds on the blood of humans, and it can spread its condition by forcing others to drink its own blood. It is interesting that the informant did not include these facts, perhaps knowing only the oicotype of his region. According to the wiki pages for Filipino folklore, the Manananggal is closely related or even synonymous to another monster, the Aswang, and it is said that the Aswang originally appeared as a result of a pandemic, dystonia parkinsonism, and the natives’ misunderstanding of this illness.

Theater Occupational Stereotype: Crew Versus Cast

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Associate Professor of Theatre Practice and Technical Director at USC
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 11th, 2012
Primary Language: English

Interview Extraction:

Informant: “One actress friend of mine was in a play where she had to kill a canary in the second act. So for the first act they had a live canary in a cage and then at intermission the canary was supposed to be switched for a stuffed canary which was then killed during the course of the action. And one night, I don’t know what she had done to the crew but they were feeling evil and they left the live canary onstage to see what she would do. And of course she couldn’t kill the live canary, that would be mean. So she put it under a bowl in the kitchen portion of the set and left it on the drain board in the kitchen. Uh, which would have worked fine except for the rest of the act this bowl sort of went ‘THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!’ as the canary tried to get out from under the bowl.

There were also the people who, she had a quick change* that involved running out of one side of the stage, dropping her skirt, climbing out a window, running around the back of the theatre and changing various articles of clothing that were placed along the route as she went. And the last step in this quick change was to step into her shoes and pull up the full skirt that was on the ground right inside the door that she then made her next entrance from. And one night they nailed the hem of her skirt to the floor so that she couldn’t get in the door. So she played the whole rest of the scene from the doorway.”

Analysis:

My informant’s story reflects an aspect of theater culture that has been built on stories such as this and stereotypes of cast and crew members.  Cast members are those who are the performers such as actors or actresses and appear on stage.  Crew members are in charge of production side of theater such as scenic design or working as a stage hand.  There is a negative stereotype in theater that perpetuates the idea that cast members are high-maintenance and crew members are mean.  This of course is not true, and every interaction with an actor or crew member will be unique to what kind of person he or she is.  Generally these two sides of theater production work peacefully and collaboratively, as they are united with the common goal to put on a good story for the audience.  However the exchange of stories such as this help build a stereotype in each others’s mind that the other is difficult, or in this case that crew members like to play mean jokes on actresses.  This can lead to dangerous assumptions and conflict if problems in the production occur.

This is because working on a theater production can often be stressful due to time constraints or budget restraints, and people tend to look for someone else to blame the problem on, which is an unfortunate aspect of human behavior. For example when a show is having problems, it is easier to say that it is the fault of a difficult actress or crew member than to get down to the real problem.  And when someone puts the blame on a cast or crew member, the story is generally believed because in theater we have accepted these stereotypes without realizing we are generalizing people.

There are moments when these stereotypes seem to hold true, such as my informant’s story about the crew members.  In addition to that, I once worked on a television program where the musician was upset that the set was gold and not pink.  However, these occurrences are rare. But the stereotype that cast members are high-maintaince and crew members are mean is an aspect of theater culture that affects the way people interact with one another.

My informant was born in 1961, Connecticut.  He has more than 30 years of experience in theater and has worked on over hundreds of productions.  He continues to work on theater productions today, and serves as the associate professor of theater practice and technical direction at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

*Quick change: a term used in theater to describe a point in the play’s production where the actor must quickly change his clothes backstage before emerging back onstage.  Stand hands, also known as the backstage crew, often help the actor put on their costume to insure the speed and effectiveness of the quick change.