Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Dragon Boat Festival / Duan Wu Jie (端午節)

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student; Intern at Process Green
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/17/2013
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English, French

“Duan Wu Jie (端午節) is a Chinese holiday that is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of every year.  It is an official Chinese holiday.  What you do is eat zongzi (粽子) which is a type of Chinese delicacy, uh, it’s sort of a, um, dim sum, but not really a dim sum.  It’s just a cuisine.  You wrap rice—a special type of rice, those sticky rice—um, inside a leaf and steam it or poach it in water.  It has a lot of flavors and a lot of different types of fillings.  Once you put the meats and flavors and fillings inside the marinated rice, you wrap it in the leaves, tie it with string, and cook it.  The reason behind eating it has to go with a story behind it:

“There used to be a Chinese politician back then—it’s a long time ago—and, um, he was very loyal to his country.  He warned his country and his king about what he should do before something goes wrong.  He knew something was wrong and that the other country would invade them, but the king wouldn’t listen to his advice, uh, so the tragic happened: people came and invaded the entire country.  He was very disappointed and very saddened, but he was still very loyal to his country.  So he committed suicide in the pond.  And the people found out on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.  And the people loved that politician and wanted to commemorate his death—they threw the, uh, zongzi inside the water so that the fish would not eat his body but eat the food instead.  So that tradition of eating zongzi came from that.  Although it was meant for fish originally, we eat it still.

“This festival is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival.  So people race dragon boats.  Um, apparently that day is also the day when the sun and dragon come out at the same time or something, and it’s a symbol of masculinity, I guess, to race dragon boats.”

Q: “I have also heard another version where the reason the dragon boats are raced is to go out and find this war hero/politician guy.  Have you heard of this version?”

A: “I’m pretty sure that is probably another version of the story.  I’m pretty sure they are still searching for his body, and they haven’t found it yet.”

Q: “And what else do you do on this day?”

A: “Well, it’s a public holiday so you kinda stay with your family and do something fun like go out and watch a film.”

Q: “So it’s mainly just the families that congregate together?  Or does the whole community get together and perform?”

A: “If you break it down, it’s more family-oriented.  Everybody has no work—you don’t have to go to work that day—so families come together, you know?  It’s supposed to be a national thing, but some people celebrate it, some people don’t.  It’s not a mandatory thing.  In our family, we just eat the zongzi that our grandmother made.  We don’t really celebrate, but it’s more of a family tradition now.  There’s special TV programs on that day—a lot of people singing, but I don’t think there’s any particular song that I know of that reflects that particular day.”

Q: “What about preparation?  Is there a lot of preparation for this day?”

A: “Of course.  The food—at least my grandmother started preparing a few weeks beforehand.  Actually, we started eating a few weeks before that day.”

Q: “Who usually is involved in preparation?  Is it mainly the women?  Or does the whole family get involved?”

A: “Yeah, it used to be like that, but now more and more people buy it from the store.  Which is very sad because the women in metropolitan areas are too lazy to learn and carry on the tradition.  Including my mom.  She complains a lot about how she doesn’t have time—actually, she says it’s too hard.”

Q: “Then it is mainly the women?”

A: “I guess it’s part of the tradition, but it doesn’t have to be.  It’s just sort of understated, you know?”

Through my interview with my informant, I feel that the tradition is not very well kept and persistent in his family.  The holiday is large enough to gain all working people and all school children the day off, but his experience with the holiday itself is rather minimal.  There is a huge concentration on the food aspect of this holiday because of the story that goes along with the traditional food.  The dragon boat races are also a large part of the holiday.  Since the holiday is so centered on the story of the suicidal politician, the events that characterize this celebration are related in some way to the disappearance of the great politician.  The food is symbolic of the people’s efforts to try and protect his body, and the dragon boat races are held to send teams out to try and find the body before the fish or currents could carry it away.  Even the mindset of dragon boat racing is considered “masculine” because the man everyone is searching for was masculine.  Also playing into that machismo state of mind is the fact that the women are often left to prepare the food for this holiday.  The making of zongzi is a rather long and difficult process if done correctly, so the women must spend lots of time in preparation for the holiday—weeks, according to my informant.  The women are placed in their domestic places while the men are left to go out and be breadwinners for the family.  Though we live in an era of progress and supposed equality, the holiday times seem to take on a more sexist role and place women back in households if they are to be considered “good wives.”  It is also interesting that because less and less women (whose responsibility it is apparently to learn how to make zongzi) want to spend time slaving away in kitchens, more and more people are going out to purchase ready-made zongzi from the stores.  The holiday has become commercialized.  And since the holiday is so heavily concentrated on the aspect of food, it is odd that the great preparation of the food has been completely removed from the picture of this holiday and left in the hands of businesses.  Because of this trend toward store-bought goods, I feel like the holiday is beginning to lose its significance and steadfastness in the families that had once spent many weeks prepping for and celebrating.  In the case of my informant, for instance, who mentioned that families would rather go out and see a movie together than actually celebrate the holiday, it seems like as the generations drift further and further away from a domesticated lifestyle, the less likely it is that the traditions of the Dragon Boat Festival will be maintained within families.

“Duk Guk on New Year’s”

Nationality: Korean-American
Age: 52
Occupation: Finance & Administrative Manager
Residence: San Pablo, CA
Performance Date: March 2013
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

            Born in an agricultural town in South Korea, the informant shared the tradition of cooking and eating  떡국 (duk guk), a rice cake soup that sometimes includes dumplings called 만두 (mandu), on New Year’s day, or 설날(Seollal). The informant explained that her first memory eating the soup was at the age of three, and it has since been so ingrained in her lifestyle that she has carried the practice over to America, where she and her family enjoy the delicacy each New Year. As the informant spoke about the yearly tradition, she was in the process of cooking dinner for her family, and she added that this felt natural to her because cooking in groups was often a social experience as well in Korea, when women could talk freely with one another.  

 

            We always eat duk guk on New Year’s. We always eat it for breakfast New Year’s morning. The tradition of making mandu in our family began when I was, eh. . .maybe seven or eight. It was always the women. The men usually gathered together in another room and drank and played cards. Duk guk is part of our inherited culture. Duk is, you know, long and a little thicker. . .it’s like a water hose, and when they actually make duk in a big kitchen or factory it’s almost as long as a water hose, too (the ones I bought at the market for you and your brother when you were kids are just always already cut up). But, when I was little we would take the really long duk home and after it hardened a little bit we would cut up in the oval shape that you see in the duk guk. The long duk symbolizes long life, which is why we eat it on New Year’s. Duk guk is made with beef broth, which we make first, and then we add the duk, and then the mandu, and then a little bit of egg, and finally we sprinkle thinly sliced seaweed over the top.

            The mandu that we put in the duk guk is a fun activity that allowed us ladies to get together. We make it in an assembly line style, and we assign who does what part depending on what they are good at―some people are better at mixing, or putting the stuffing in, or folding the dumplings. Making the mandu is where the cooks can get more artistic; each person might make them a little differently, and if you’ve been making mandu together for a long time you can tell who made what dumpling. During the mandu-making process we might be gossiping, or telling funny stories, that’s how it’s always been.

            The funny thing is that, in Korea, once you eat duk guk on New Year’s day, everyone gets one year older. So in Korea, you do not age on your birthday. . . everyone ages on New Year’s day. You might still have a small celebration on your actual birth date, but you earn one more year only on New Year’s Day. You get a year when you’re born―you’re already one year old, and then you get another year when you eat the duk. That’s why your Korean age and American age might be a little different. Oh, and didn’t I tell you? . . everyone eats duk guk.

 

            The informant’s description elegantly explains the reasoning behind why duk, the rice cake, is eaten on New Year’s. The combination of its symbolism of long life paired with the process of aging collectively on New Year’s in Korea shows that, in Korean culture, perhaps there is a muted emphasis on individual importance (i.e. a big birthday celebration for each person). This value is seen again in the dumpling-making process, as each person contributes to one dumpling, only able to express their individualism and talent in little, creative ways. The women, quite literally, expend equal amounts of energy during the cooking process, and thus the food presented to the men and rest of the family is a undoubtedly collective effort. The informant also emphasizes several times that “everyone” eats the dumpling soup, implying the link to a national identity when Koreans eat duk guk.

“Nose Goes”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 18th, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

Informant Data: My informant is an International Relations and Global Business major here at the University of Southern California. She is a first generation Filipina and is fluent in Tagalog.  She grew up in Oakland, California before coming down here for her undergraduate degree. She is very bubbly and loves to use proverbial phrases in everyday life.

Item: The custom of using the folk-phrase “Nose Goes” as a means of selection. The following quotations are direct transcriptions of my dialogue with the informant, while the additional information provided is paraphrased.

Contextual Data: My informant first heard this phrase on the playground in elementary school. She describes the process as: “If there is some type of unwanted task to be done amongst a group of peers, someone might shout “Nose goes!” and touch their index finger to the tip of their nose. Everyone must follow in suit as quickly as they can, and the last person to touch their nose is the one who has to do the task.” She says that on the playground, the phrase was used often to pick who was “it” in games such as tag, hide and seek, and “hot lava monster.” Nowadays, she uses it in everyday scenarios, but not in big decision making. “I will still use “nose goes” occasionally, maybe if no one wants to go meet the take-out food delivery guy or deciding who is going to drive a group to a destination.” My informant regards the process as rather childish, and therefore inappropriate for many situations, “but among close friends, its occasional use is fun.” She also speaks of its negative implications, as oftentimes, the last one to touch their nose is created separate from the group, now an “other” by rule of the custom. My informant implies that there are ways to cheat the system; to employ “Nose goes” when certain members of the group are distracted or busy, giving you and whoever else an advantage. “This is why “Nose goes” decisions are often disputed and the person who is last, is often annoyed.” This is an example of perspective enhancing one’s disposition towards a custom, if you come out on the advantageous side of this means of selection; it was performed in good humor and is acceptable. To be on the other side facilitates a switch of the perspective switch that views the custom as unfair and childish.

How to guess the sex of a pregnant woman’s baby

Nationality: Am
Age: 49
Occupation: Therapist
Residence: Newport Beach, CA
Performance Date: April 10th, 2013
Primary Language: English

Informant Data: The informant is in her late 40’s, Caucasian and self-identifies strongly with Judaism. She is married with two daughters, and has a career as a Family Mental Health Therapist.

Item: The folk-belief that in pregnant women, girls are carried high and boys are carried low, as well as the folk-ritual of guessing the baby’s sex at the baby shower. At the baby shower, the expecting mother with lie down on her back with her belly exposed. A friend will then dangle her wedding ring, tied to a string, over the belly. If the ring swings back and forth, it’s a boy, and if the ring moves in a circle, the baby is a girl. The following quotations are direct transcriptions of my dialogue with the informant, while the additional information provided is paraphrased.

Contextual Data: My informant was introduced to both of these items when she was pregnant with her first child. “I was told that I was going to have a girl, because I was carrying so high. And sure enough, I did. Second time I was pregnant I was carrying high again and many people I met told me as well “must be a girl!” And sure enough, another baby girl. I always thought it would be more comfortable to carry a pregnancy low though, but never got the chance to find out.” When asked, my informant said she did not believe it’s a valid predictor of sex, that her experience with it “was two coincidences back-to-back.” Furthermore, she says that “whether you carry a baby high or low, I think, is dependent on your body type and configuration. I don’t think many women who have multiple children switch.” As for the baby shower folk-ritual, my informant detailed that “this was done for me at both my baby showers, almost more for the delight of my friends than my own! They took my wedding ring, tied some thread around it and held it above my belly. Then, they all screamed as it started in an oval-like path, both times. I took this as an “in-between” kind-of answer, since it wasn’t really a circle and it wasn’t really back and forth, but my girlfriends took it for a circle.” Again, the sex of her children correlated with this method’s prediction as well. “I still don’t think there’s much validity to it, but I sound so cynical because both methods of guessing my babies’ sex were right, four out of four times!” My informant chalks both of the items up to coincidence, explaining “I don’t think I could even guess a biological or rational reason why they worked for me, so I’m going to say it’s a funny coincidence.” These practices seem to have their roots in a pre-modern era, due to the contemporary technologies that eliminate the need for guessing. Therefore, they seem to be upheld by tradition and their interactive nature. “People love to comment on pregnancies, whether it evokes nostalgia for them or perhaps your excitement is contagious, loved ones like to feel like a part of the process,” and these two items are ways to feel incorporated.

Vietnamese New Year Gift Ritual

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 21st, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Vietnamese

Informant Data: The informant is a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention major here at the University of Southern California. She is Vietnamese and is exposed to Vietnamese culture and traditions through her parents; she describes herself as more passive than active in regards to Vietnamese traditions.

Item: The ritual of receiving money from relatives on Vietnamese New Year. The following quotations are direct transcriptions of my dialogue with the informant, while the additional information provided is paraphrased.

Contextual Data: The informant has participated in this ritual for as long as she can recall. She explains it as: “On Vietnamese New Years, its tradition to get money in a red envelope, sometimes they have pretty pictures on the front. But you can’t just get it; usually the elders give it to the kids, so I get it from my aunts, uncles, parents, etc. But you can’t just have it handed to you. For example if it’s my dad giving me a red envelope, I have to say this little script where you speak in Vietnamese and you say “Happy New Year Father, may you have good health and happiness and wealth in the next year.” That was always really hard for me because I could never speak Vietnamese well, so it would always take me 5 minutes to say one sentence.” When asked why the envelopes are red, the informant replied “in Vietnamese culture, red is a symbol of good luck and fortune. Kind-of fitting for a gift of money.” When asked what significance this ritual holds for her, she says “Honestly, most of the Vietnamese cultural things I partake in are because of my mom, she requires them of us [me and my siblings]. I don’t ask any questions, I just go along with the customs.”

Another version of this informant’s Vietnamese New Year ritual was published in the Hartford Courant newspaper (see citation below). In the article, the author details the gift of money, similarly placed in “lucky” red envelopes; however, they are hung from the branches of a tree with thread, unlike my informant’s direct exchange with her elders. While my informant mentions decorative pictures, the author of the article describes fortunes, as well as candy, alongside the monetary gift.

Sureck-Mei, Shana. “Vietnamese New Year.” Hartford Courant 02 Feb. 1998: A.3. Web. Apr. 2013.