Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Bath of Pomelo Leaves

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 55
Occupation: Funeral Counselor
Residence: Arcadia, CA
Performance Date: March 12, 2017
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Daniel is an immigrant from Hong Kong who immigrated to the United States in search of better opportunities and a better life for both him and his family. Living in a poor family with seven other siblings, he immediately went to work as a police officer after receiving his high school diploma in Hong Kong. Once he moved to Los Angeles, he worked as a computer technician, and subsequently, changed his career to a funeral counselor.

Original Script

In our Chinese tradition, we believe the pomelo leaves can clean up all the dirty, evil stuff. Okay, so uh during the uh New Year Eve night, most of the Chinese, they will like to—I am talking about the Asian ones, the old ones—they will boil some pomelo leaves with a whole bowl of water, so all of the water will turn into green after boiling it. And then they will use the pomelo leaves to take a bath during the New Year Eve in order to clean up all the dirty, evil stuff from them. So they said they will cause them lucky for the coming year.

Background Information about the Performance from the Informant

The informant performed this tradition with his family ever since he could remember as a child. He continues this practice with his wife and children every year on Chinese New Year’s. Although he does not believe in its ability to grant luck anymore, he maintains this tradition because it is a custom he was raised with as a child.

Context of the Performance

I interviewed the informant at his house.

A longstanding tradition of the Chinese for Chinese New Year’s is bathing in pomelo leaves. By cleaning their bodies in water boiled with these leaves, they believe that they are washing away the dirt and casting away evil spirits from the previous year. This tradition follows the Chinese principle of “cleaning” and starting anew for the coming year.

My Thoughts about the Performance

There are many traditions during Chinese New Year’s, such as eating sweets to ensure one a “sweet” year and opening windows or doors to bring in good luck for the coming year. Considering what the pomelo fruit represents to the Chinese—abundance, health, childbearing, prosperity—I find this custom befitting for this holiday.

Chinese New Year’s Monster

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 55
Occupation: Funeral Counselor
Residence: Arcadia, CA
Performance Date: March 12, 2017
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Daniel is an immigrant from Hong Kong who immigrated to the United States in search of better opportunities and a better life for both him and his family. Living in a poor family with seven other siblings, he immediately went to work as a police officer after receiving his high school diploma in Hong Kong. Once he moved to Los Angeles, he worked as a computer technician, and subsequently, changed his career to a funeral counselor.

Original Script

This legend is talking about the New Year’s Eve. A lot of Chinese, they like to light the firecracker during the New Year’s Eve because they believe, actually the legend said that there will be a monster coming out during that time. They light the firecracker in order to scare away the monster. I think that this tradition is still used in most of China.

Background Information about the Performance from the Informant

The informant performed this tradition with his parents and relatives ever since he could remember as a child. He continues this practice with his wife and children every year on Chinese New Year’s. Neither him or his family believe in the existence of the monster, but they continue this Chinese custom because it is an enjoyable opportunity to bond as a family. His children enjoy this custom especially, because they can run around freely, lighting firecrackers and making a lot of noise.

Context of the Performance

I interviewed the informant at his house.

According to Chinese mythology, the Nián, whose name means “year,” is a beast that would appear every New Year’s Eve to consume humans and animals alike. However, an old man from Peach Blossom Village eventually discovered that the monster had three main weaknesses: the color red, loud noises, and firelight. Many New Year traditions, such as the firecrackers and the Chinese Lion dance, have originated from the legend of the Nián.

My Thoughts about the Performance

In many cultures, people generate a lot of noise and light during festivals, believing that the sounds and brightness would scare away evil spirits. When I was small, I never wondered about the reason why the Chinese let off firecrackers on Chinese New Year; I merely thought it was for fun. After learning about this legend, I found it fascinating how the Chinese came up with a tool possessing three different features to combat the mythological creature on Chinese New Year. This tool—the firecracker—utilizes the color red, bright firelight, and loud blasts to scare off the Nián.

A Lucky Welcome

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Georgia
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

The interview will be depicted by initials. The Interviewer is QB and the interview is CH.

QB: Are there any everyday superstitions that your family follows?

CH: Ok…so, you see this a lot on Chinese New Year but it can be done everyday. But many people hang a…um…a red piece of paper diagonal that has the Chinese word “fu” that means fortune or good luck. But the word is usually hung upside down because the Chinese words upside sounds very similar to the Chinese word “arrive”. So if you hang it upside down it is similar to saying “good luck” or “good fortune arrives”. And those hang on doorways all the time.

Analysis: It is interesting that the student noted that the superstition can take place on either Chinese New Year or everyday. It is understood that just because a person decides to do this everyday, they are not considered more “superstitious” than another person. In fact it is very welcomed within the country.

Shave and a Haircut

Age: Second Graders
Occupation: students
Residence: los angeles
Performance Date: 02/29/17
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

We all know that famous rhythm, door knock, pattern: “dah dah di dah di, dah dah”.  It is used all the time, everywhere.  It used to knock on a door, to get someone’s attention, and in the second grade classroom I taught at, it was used to get them to silence and focus.  

Turns out, this pattern has an interesting back story.  In morse code it punches out as: dash dot dot dash dot, dot dash.  Because morse code does not focus on letters but patterns and combinations, this certain rhythm actually means “attention.”  In war days, soldiers would execute this certain pattern to let a comrade know that they were of friends, not enemies, or that they had a prisoner.  When passing code all day it was considered humorous to tap out this “attention” pattern.

The popularity grew however after it was featured in many popular songs.  Artist’s like Joel Sayre, Dan Shapiro, Lester Lee, and Milton Berle all used this in their music and the catchiness spread.  Many musicians included this in reference to war time.  The height of its fame however came from the old song “Shave and a Haircut”– which is now the common name for the clap.  This song was placed in a commercial for Lucky Tiger Aftershave and it never was forgotten.

Interestingly enough, this pattern is heavily advised not to used because it gets translated in a much more negative form.  The connotation of this seven phrase knock is insulting and vulgar.  It contains the inference of cruel language and aggressive violence.

However, in the classroom, as in many American classrooms, this is used a common tactic to get the students to focus and look up at the teacher.  When the classroom got noisy a child came to me and said “Just do the clap!”  I proceeded to clap the five times in rhythm and the students followed by finishing off the last two and sitting quietly.  

Passover Seder Meals

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 78
Occupation: Psychiatrist
Residence: Mexico City
Performance Date: 03/16/2017
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: Hebrew

Main Piece: Everything we eat in Pesach has a special meaning behind it. We eat an egg, a lamb bone, bitter vegetable herbs and fruits and nuts, all because it reminds of the deeds of good Moshe. The lamb represents the sacrifice of a goat that was offered at the Holy Temple, for which Moshe was responsible. The fruits and nuts are the mortar that our people used to build storage houses for Pharaoh. The egg, which is hard boiled, was eaten on the first Pesach Seder that took place in the Holy Temple after the sacrifice. We also sacrificed a chicken for the Lord, and ate the egg it laid behind to remind ourselves of our connection to Him. Finally, there’s the matza, the most important of all the meals. Bread with no yeast. The meal of our people for 40 years in the desert. When we eat it, we are reminded of the suffering and dedication of Moshe and the slaves that gave the Holy Land back to us. At the end of the night, we have a little game where the elders hide the matza in some place of the house and the children look for it. Whoever finds it first gets money from the grandparents, and they get to eat it. I don’t know if it has a deeper meaning behind it, but it was my way of keeping the children up for the entire thing. It’s very important to me that they celebrate the Seder with us and understand their history through our food and traditions.

Background information about the piece by the informant: Ethel is the matriarch of a Jewish family in Mexico City and always organizes the Seder dinners in her house. As she said, they are very important to her, as her grandchildren learn about their cultural history through it.

Context about the piece: Pesach, or Passover, celebrates the Biblical event in which Moses freed the Hebrew people from the slavery of Egypt. According to the Torah, they wandered 40 years in the desert before arriving to Canaan, or Israel, to build their Holy Temple.

Thoughts about the piece: Like many other Jewish festivities, it is celebrated and remembered through food. This goes on to show that the Jewish culinary tradition is not simply based on the ingredients available to the culture, but is rather strongly tied to the significance of their traditions. The game of the mazta in the end gives an interactive aspect to the Seder, which involves the younger participants of the ritual and draws in the younger generations to continue the tradition.