Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Festivus

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 24
Occupation: Student, Part time facilities attendant at on campus gym
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/27/13
Primary Language: English

The Informant provided the following when asked to describe a tradition in which he took part:

So, every year, instead of celebrating Christmas, some families celebrate the holiday of Festivus, which is, um, basically,you get a giant metal pole, and, like that’s sort of your…. and you decorate that kinda like a tree, and you eat spaghetti and meatballs, and you have an airing of grievances, which is, you can you sit down at the table with everyone and you get to stand up and you get to just say anything you want about anybody in the room, like that’s been bugging you or whatever without any repercussions this one time of the year you can do that, and at the end of the night, the last thing you do is the oldest member of the group wrestles the youngest member of the group, and that goes until the youngest member can pin the oldest member… and that is the festival of Festivus, which is a Christmas… winter? holiday.

The informant said that every year, his fraternity celebrates this festival, and he takes part in it. Although he admitted it is originally from the popular sitcom Seinfeld, making it originally fakelore, it has since taken on a life of its own, being practiced with much more detail and variety than was originally included in the television show from which it developed. Festuvus serves as a secular alternative, or simply an addition, to the Christian Holiday of Christmas, and seems to draw on both traditional and pagan themes to create a winter holiday which will appear to a wide youth demographic.

Banoonooed

Nationality: Philippeano
Age: 21
Occupation: Student, Part time facilities attendant at on campus gym
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/13/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The informant provided the following as a tale his father would tell him before bed,for the purpose of making sure he didn’t eat too much before going to sleep.

Alright, so, when I was a kid my Dad, (first of all my dad’s family is Philippeano. my dad is full Philippeano.) So he would tell me that, uh, if I ate right before bed I’d, what would happen was, it was called “banoonooed.” [ban-noon-noon-ed] and what that means is that if you eat before bed when you go to sleep you’ll have a bad dream and your entire hair will go, just like… white. So yeah, anyway, if you eat before dinner and if you eat too much, er, sorry, if you eat too much before you go to sleep it will give you nightmares, and those nightmares will be so scary that your hair will just go completely white and I think that’s, like my dad didn’t make it up, but I think it’s to stop people eating before going to bed and… yeah. 

As the informer notes, this tale is not specific to his family, but it does seem to be a Philippeano tale in general as opposed to one which has spread across cultures. As the informer noted to me, large meals are a significant part of Philippeano culture, and a tale warning against their consumption before bed is likely more relevant to their culture than others. Furthermore, the scare-tactics and over the top consequences for eating too much before bed, make it a good children’s story, and that gives its moral a context.

Kicking USC’s Flag Pole on Game Day for Good Luck

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student, Part time facilities attendant at on campus gym
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/29/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Here my informant recounts her first experience with a USC tradition, which, although it began decades ago, still continues today:

    So, every time there’s a football game here at USC, all the students have to kick one of our flagpoles on the way to the stadium for good luck, and basically, you can hear that clinging noise coming from the pole for, like, miles away I wanna say, even though that’s probably inaccurate… whatever! It’s just you can feel the pride of the Trojan family every time someone kicks that flagpole.

I experienced this tradition my first game day ever here at USC, which actually wasn’t even when I was a student, it was when I was in eight grade visiting the campus, and that’s how I knew I wanted to go to this school.

The fact that the informant recounted this tradition with such pride, remembering details from when she was in the eigth grade, shows its significance to her. Indeed, even if she did not really know when that young that she wanted to attend USC, this experience has come to represent that for her, and she obviously takes great pride in this long-held tradition.

Chinese New Years

Nationality: British (Hong Kong), American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24th, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Chinese New Years

The informant who told me about the traditions associated with Chinese New Years was born and grew up in Hong Kong for a great part of his life. He speaks fluent Chinese and has had significant exposure to Chinese culture, given the fact that he and his family still speak the language and practice many of the traditional customs. He moved to the US in 5th grade.

Chinese New Years usually takes place during the end of January or in the beginning of February based on the Gregorian Calendar, because it is lunar based in comparison to the Western Calendar and therefore follows the moon. It is formally a fifteen day celebration, however, the informant’s family usually doesn’t celebrate past the second or third day and then the fifteenth day because it is significant in its own right. Throughout the New Year’s celebration, there is a tradition of saying auspicious phrases, which are usually 4 character phrases, related to good luck and happiness in every situation (See entry: Auspicious Phrases for Chinese New Years).

On New Years Eve there’s a big dinner, where the family eats a lot of food. The informant’s family, like a lot of Chinese families, places a lot of emphasis on abundance so the meal is a lot about saving up to have an abundance and then not wasting it. It is traditional to clear the table of food. There are puns, given that some of the foods have significant meanings – for example fish is eaten during New Year’s Eve dinner because fish sounds like the Chinese word for “abundance”. Tonal difference again is important. You eat foods like this to get good luck, homeopathically. In a more modern context on New Years Eve, you turn on the TV to a station that is celebrating. It is a really big deal, with people doing traditional plays or traditional performances like the dragon dance, which all come from stories about monsters and how New Years originally was a way to scare away those monsters with noise and fireworks. According to the informant, there is not too much of a liminal sense to the way in which his family celebrates New Years, other than making noise. Although here in the US there are stricter regulations on fireworks, back in Hong Kong, streets explode with fireworks, especially in more rural areas where the tradition stays really strong. New Years Day is a day when the entire family spends time with the fathers side of the family. Visiting his father’s parents is very convenient for the informant, given that the informant’s grandmother lives with them. It is therefore a pretty normal day, however there is a tradition for the elders to give kids red pockets or red envelopes. Giving a red envelope with money to a child meant that you hoped they would live long enough to use it. It used to be a reality that before the age of 1, many children in China died. The giving of red envelopes was an assurance that they would survive. New Years Day also involves more food, but it is a different set of food. This includes a vegetable that sounds exactly like the Chinese phrase for good luck or prosperity.

The Second Day, you visit the mom’s side of the family, which can be difficult for some people like the informant’s family since his mom’s family lives in Hong Kong. Instead he calls. The third day is called ‘Red Mouth’ which is connected to the fact that you are not supposed to talk to people that day. In a modern context, no one really practices that anymore, but it used to be practiced because apparently you risked making inflammatory remarks, angering people, and ruining relationships. The informant’s family doesn’t observe it. In fact his family primarily observes only Day 1 and Day 2 because that is all about visiting family and congratulating everyone for making it to the new year. An interesting fact is that in China, instead of saying “Happy New Year” you say “Congratulations”. This is due to the belief back in the old days that there were monsters that terrorized villages, and to escape being eaten by the monster on New Years Eve and to survive and make it to the new year was a big deal. Fireworks have something to do with why monsters don’t exist anymore, because they scare them off and starve them to death. The informant doesn’t really know what happens from day 4-14, given that his family doesn’t observe these days. Day 15, however, is the end of the New Year period, and it is celebrated with the lantern festival. Traditionally people would make lanterns with riddles on them. Its all about riddles, poetry and also eating dumplings, since the word for these dumplings is a pun of “lantern festival” in Chinese. The informant knows that in China and Hong Kong give breaks from school for students, but due to the fact that it is not the case here, he and his family work around and celebrate the most significant days of it. As he says, “It’s Chinese New Years in a very light sense.” He also said that his family used to dress traditional dress during this time, but after immigrating to the US a lot of things got watered down because people do not have the time. The informant has celebrated the traditional Chinese New Year for the entirety of his life.

Auspicious Phrases for Chinese New Years

Nationality: British (Hong Kong), American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24th, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Auspicious Phrases for Chinese New Years

“These are nice, compacted ways of wishing very generic and relatable positive thoughts during New Years. They are usually 4 character phrases… It is interesting that there is an entire canon of what you’re supposed to say at the event of greeting people during the New Year. There’s a certain ring to the way these phrases are said. And to be able to say these things, the more you’re able to say and the more pertinent they are to the recipient, the more impressive they are. Also, the more metaphorical they are and the more artful they are, the more impressive they are to the recipient.”

The informant who told me about these auspicious phrases was born and grew up in Hong Kong for a great part of his life. He speaks fluent Chinese and has had significant exposure to Chinese culture, given the fact that he and his family still speak the language and practice many of the traditional customs. He moved to the US in 5th grade.

 

出入平安 “Chu ru ping an”

“May you have peace wherever you enter and wherever you exit”

“Peace and safety to all who come and go”

This is said to someone who travels a lot, because it means you have peace both in and out. It is also popular to put over entranceways.

 

学业进步 “Xue ye jin bu”

“Improvement in studies”

This phrase is about good luck and success in academics. People say this when they greet each other during New Years, especially to younger people, students, who are indeed studying.

 

恭喜发财 “Gong xi fa cai”

“Congratulations on your luck”

People wish each other congratulations on New Years because of the old belief that there was a monster called “Nian” (which is a pun in and of itself because the Chinese word for “year” is “nian”) that would come out every New Year’s Eve and eat villagers. To survive that was good luck and something to be celebrated. In a more literal sense, the phrase is a pun, since it means “surviving” the year as well as surviving the monster. This is the traditional way of wishing “Happy New Year”, and is used most frequently in China.

 

新年快乐 “Xin nian kuai le”

“Happy New Year / New Year Happiness”

This is the modern way of saying “Happy New Year”. It is used more commonly now due to the fact that it comes closer to the meaning of the wester phrase of “Happy New Year”. This phrase is used more frequently in Hong Kong and the West.