Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Korean Thanksgiving

Nationality: Korean
Age: 24
Occupation: Nail technician/Bartender
Residence: Eagle Rock, CA
Performance Date: April 15, 2013
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

My informant is born and raised in Korea. She just moved to Los Angeles about 6 years ago.  When I ask her what she misses most about home she replies with a smile, “Thanksgiving!”.  She notices that I am confused and clarifies her answer.  “Korean Thanksgiving I mean”. She goes on to explain what “korean Thanksgiving” is. She tells me that Chuseok is like the Korean Thanksgiving. It’s celebrated in the span of three days sometime in September usually and is more like a harvest festival celebration. Korean persons must return to their child hood homes, or their parents’ homes. She says one must either go to their parents and/or cousins homes; someone who is immediate or very close family.  This is a way to pay respect to their ancestors. After, they can visit family friends and so on. For Chuseok, women, men and chidren dress in traditional formal Korean dress, called Hanbok. “It is like the Japanese Kimono, but not,” my informant explains. Upon arriving, one must formally greet the elders as a sign of respect. However on this day it is not the usual everyday bow greeting. One must crouch and bow touching their hands to the ground. Once greeting are done, they proceed to other traditional activities.

For Chuseok, a lot of food is prepared. Aside from a traditional dish, a rice cake soup, there is Korean BBQ rice dumplings kimchi, etc.. “Some are very traditional with their food.  They even set the table in certain ways. But mine isn’t too traditional, we just have A LOT of food”.  The moon shaped rice cakes are called Songpyeon and have a great significance in the Korean culture (see Half-moon Songpyeon Legend). “It is like our turkey”. Alcohol is also included in this festivity. My informant stresses that’s everyone drinks soju- a kind of rice vodka. Instead of watching football, my informant says they watch a movie perhaps. But on Chuseok, there are television “entertainment” specials like game shows or variety shows. The family will sit and watch these shows together.

Not only has Chuseok become a traditional family dinner, but the continuation of small customs are passed along from generation to generation. There is meaning and significance in every thing they do or even eat.

Weed Day

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cypress Park, Los Angeles CA
Performance Date: March 21, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“4/20 is kind of like a holiday.”  My informant is referring to a “holiday” widely known in the cannabis culture where one smoke marijuana on April 20th . “Its common for people to smoke at 4:20 pm but on 4/20 you smoke basically all day. Its a day that people come together, hang out and enjoy a bowl or blunt.” My informant refers to a pipe bowl, a small amount of cannabis that is smoked and passed along thorough a smoking pipe. A blunt refers to a rolled up cigar-like way of smoking the cannabis. When asked if he knew where 4/20 originated from, he takes awhile to respond. “There are a couple of stories I’ve heard.” He lists off a few- the number of chemicals in the plant, Hitler’s birthday, the police code for marijuana smoking in progress.

 

But the most reliable story is that 4/20 originated in San Raphael, California in the 1970s. “A group of five friends at San Raphael High School called themselves the Waldos because their usual hang out spot was by some wall. They had heard about a lost cannabis plant somewhere in the woods or a park or something, so they planned to meet everyday at 4:20, after practice, to look for the plant. They never found it but they blazed the whole time while they looked for it. So they just started saying 420 to set up a smoke sesh”.  This is a widely known story, but no one really is sure if it is true or how it spread all over the world. My informants suggests that the spreading of the term could be from music, a “universal language’. 420 has been referenced in all types of music from reggae, to hip-hop/rap, to rock and roll. So music being the catalyst for popularity of this counterculture “holiday” is plausible. Which ever way this has grown to be a phenomena, mostly by word of mouth and a tradition among cannabis enthusiasts alike.

PLUR Handshake

Nationality: Ecuadorian/Vietnamese/American
Age: 24
Occupation: Grad Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“The first time I went to a rave was in 2010 for New Years Eve. It was pretty insane and an unforgettable experience. People were dressed n neon colors, wearing very little, almost nothing. I remember thinking how crazy these kids must be, not only because they were practically naked but because they were almost naked in 40 degree weather! As I wasgetting used to this “rave scene”, I noticed a lot of the people had beaded bracelets, some from their wrist to the top of their arms. Everyone was really nice and talkative. When I mentioned to one of the girls I met that it was my first time at a rave, she automatically got super gitty. I’m pretty sure she was on something because she just seemed way too happy. But anyways, she grabbed my hand, connecting her pointer finger and middle finger to my pointer finger and middle finger, like the peace sign saying PEACE, then LOVE , curving each hand and connecting to each other to make a full heart, then we put our palms together like a still high five, UNITY, finally interlacing fingers while she slid one of her plastic beaded bracelets from her wrist to mine., RESPECT. The bracelet was colorful, bright pink and blue with lettered beads spelling PLUR, which stood for each of the steps of the swapping. I felt so initiated into this crazy world. She went on to explain how her and her friends, Kandi Kids, get together to make tons of these bracelets before a rave, wear them and swap Kandi with other Kandi Kids. “

PLUR is somewhat of a value system in the rave subculture. It promotes peace, love, unity and respect. The handshake is used to exchange “Kandi”, which are usually bright colored bracelets made of plastic beads and elastic string. Kandi Kids are those who go to raves and practice PLUR and genuinely believe in this philosophy of loving and understanding everyone. By swapping these bracelets, this philosophy is spread to others and a part of each is given to others. My informant learned this at her rave experience, and the girl who introduced her to it was also introduces at her first rave.

Senior Locker Room

Nationality: Costa Rican American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: May 1, 2013

At Mayfield Senior School, there is a designated locker room for the senior class, which consists usually around seventy-five girls. The rest of the school (freshmen, sophomores and juniors) must share two locker rooms and are not able to choose their own lockers. The seniors not only get their own locker room but it comes with a variety of accommodations. One of the perks is getting to choose their own lockers. Another is the senior class, as a whole, must agree upon a theme for their locker room and decorate/paint the room according to the theme. My class had chosen Disney’s Pixar and painted the characters of the movies. Every girl in the class participates even if she is not exactly artistic. The class also gets a new sofa for their locker room. Also, every last Monday of the month, five mothers of the students bring in breakfast and snacks for the class. 

 This tradition has been passed down from many Mayfield traditions. Mayfield is known to be very centered on sisterhood and history of school. They have several traditions and customs that have been kept alive in the school. It is something for the lower class men to look forward too and a kind of initiation. Every year each senior class tries to decorate their lockers better than the year before. It is a space of comfort and to feel at home. 

License Plate Game

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 24
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bell, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2013
Primary Language: English

I like to play the license plate game when we go on road trips. My sisters and I used to play when we would take family trips to Vegas. Vegas was such a good location because people from all over the country would visit Vegas. We would spend hours looking out the windows trying to spot one from New Mexico or New York, whichever cool plate we could find. If we spotted a license plate from another state we get to punch the others while yelling the state name. In scoring the game we add all the numbers on the plate. For example, if there’s a plate dg429f1 the points for that plate would be 16 but it would be 1 plus 6 equaling 7 points.

This game is very common among North Americans. This is not the first person to tell me about the License game, as it is a very common way to kill time while driving on a long road. I think this game is common among younger children as a distraction from boredom of road trips, but adults play it too. It’s est played wth more people in the car because it’s a challenge to be the first one to yel out the state to which te plate originates from.  When asked how he started to play this game, my informant just remembered his dad starting it when he was younger. “I’m sure he got it from his parents, and so on. It’s a just a known road trip game.”