Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Chinese Door Guardians

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

Chinese Door Guardians

“There’s a folk belief in China that you need door guardians. It manifests itself in two forms. One is that there is an actual door god, in traditional Chinese beliefs. He just watches over the safety of your home, and in some Chinese stories he comes to life. There are pictures of the door god and you paste him on your door, on both panels of the door, they look like actual soldiers standing at the door, the belief is that when your house is in danger they will actually manifest themselves as the door god’s spirit, and fend off whatever evil there may be. And to that effect, I think that stone lions work the same way, because they are menacing. Lions, dragons, phoenixes – those animals have specific connotations, particularly lions seem to be viewed as fierce and are used as door guards. Dragons and phoenixes also have different connotations, because they correspond to boys and girls. Dragon represents boy, phoenix represents girl. You’ll see these at Chinese restaurants sometimes, there will be a gold dragon and a gold phoenix wrapped around a Chinese character that means happiness. There are sayings associated with this, like ‘may your boy grow to be a dragon’ or ‘may your girl grow to be a phoenix’ because the dragons and phoenixes are viewed as the paradigmatic high of what a boy and girl should be.”

The informant who told me about these folk objects 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.

The informant points to the fact that animals have a strong significance in Chinese culture as forces of good and protection. Their presence as door guardians and as representations of the ideal put them in a very high place, especially in contrast to the downtrodden nature of most animals in Western culture. Although the informants family does not own door guardians, they are very common when he goes back to China. He first learned about the door guardians after visiting a Chinese temple, meaning that it is an older tradition. The belief still exists, however it has adapted based on urban living in Hong Kong and the West. While in China door guardians are very large and reside outside, in Hong Kong they tend to be small sculptures that are kept inside the house. Due to the fact that Hong Kong is quite westernized, many traditions, like this one, are downplayed for the sake of practicality but maintained for the traditional purpose of good luck.

“De poquito en poquito se llena el jarrito.”

Nationality: Mexican, American
Age: 52
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: Santa Fe, NM
Performance Date: March 20th, 2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English, Italian

“De poquito en poquito se llena el jarrito.”

 “Little by little the jar is filled.”

“Quiere decir que, por ejemplo, una persona ahorrativa, puede llegar a tener mucho,  porque antes la gente en lugar de tener banco, o sea, juntaban sus cosas en los jarritos. Los jarritos eran como los vasos para tomar el agua, y los que se rompían, esos se usaban como alcancía.”

 “It means that, for example, a person who is thrifty, can end up having a lot, because in the old days people, instead of having a bank, basically put their savings in jars. These jars were like glasses to drink water out of, and those that broke were used as piggybanks.”

My mom, the informant for this proverb, was born and grew up in Mexico, living the first 30 years of her life in Mexico City. As a native Mexican, she knows a lot about the customs and culture of the country. Besides that, she also grew up in a family that, like most Mexican families, uses proverbs very frequently in everyday speech. She therefore learned most of the proverbs that she knows in a household setting, from family members and friends. She remembers most of the proverbs that she heard while growing up given the fact that they were constantly repeated, and also because of their very memorable format, often using rhymes, alliteration, and rhythm to convey their message. Today, many of them are part of her everyday vocabulary.

The sentiment expressed in this proverb is wise advice for any person, but especially for those belonging to the middle or working class. Though you may feel like you do not have a lot in the moment, that little bit, over a longer period of time, will accumulate into something greater. This saying stresses the benefits of saving money, relating it to a very literal object of the past, that of the jar being used as a piggybank. It is indeed a resourceful, and economical philosophy – instead of spending money as soon as you get it, save it up towards something bigger and better.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Nationality: Bolivian and Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oxnard, CA
Performance Date: 04/28/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

So on December 12th is the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is the Virgin Mary. So in Mexican culture, it is believed that hundreds of years ago, a little boy named, Juan Diego saw the vision of a woman on December 9th while walking home on hill in Mexico. The woman was surrounded by light and told Juan Diego that she wanted him to build a church in her honor in that location. The little boy then realized that she was the Virgin Mary, so he ran to find the bishop to let him know of what happened and that they needed to build a church for the Virgin Mary. The bishop didn’t believe Juan Diego, so he asked him to return to the woman to get a miraculous sign of proof. So three days later on the 12th, the Virgin Mary told the boy to gather flowers, but they were all dead because it was winter and the flowers only grew during the spring and summer. So the Virgin Mary took the dead flowers from Juan Diego and put them in his cloak. The boy then went back to the bishop and when he took the cloak from Juan Diego, a bunch of beautiful bloomed flowers fell out and on the cloak appeared the image of the Virgin Mary.

 

To celebrate this holiday, you and your family make food and listen to music and dance, and everyone must offer flowers and cloaks to the Virgin Mary. For some people that I know, they have shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary in their homes and they just put the offerings there. Other people will go to churches and put the offering around the Virgin Mary’s statue there.

 

Does you family celebrate this?

No, but I know a lot about it. And last year, I went to my boyfriend’s house to celebrate this because his family is Mexican and this is a big holiday for them. I think it is one of their most valued and revered holy day. The Virgin Mary is a huge symbol in Mexican culture. You see her image everywhere. And rosary’s are popular for that reason too – cause you pray the Rosary to the Virgin Mary.

 

So do only religious families celebrate this?

No. But I mean, many of the families that do are religious, but it’s more of a tradition at this point. Like Christmas.  I know so many people are aren’t religious but celebrate Christmas for the traditional and loving aspect of it. It’s the same with this. Like people celebrate this day because of tradition if for no other reason.

 

My reaction:

In my Spanish class, I learned about this too and I am also aware that many Latin families celebrate the same figure and that it is a revered holiday.

Turnt Up

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 17
Primary Language: English

The informant spoke about a word that describes the feeling of inebriation combined with the sensation of being intoxicated off of another substance. The phrase that the informant used was “turnt up”. The informant recalls the use of the word in mainstream hip-hop music, but she did not hear the phrase first used by another person until she attended a party during junior year in high school. An individual may use the phrase when they feel that they are in a state of altered consciousness induced by alcohol or other narcotics.

In a way, the phrase is a bit ironic because consuming a lot of alcohol and using narcotics will slow down the body’s processes, in the sense that it is hindering the natural rate at which the body performs. It would make more sense to say “turnt down” rather than “turnt up” since the substances actually make the individual feel like they are behaving and reacting at a slower pace.

May Day

Nationality: Jewish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC - off campus housing
Performance Date: 05/1/2012
Primary Language: English

So May 1st is May Day and what you do is you pick flowers, preferably out of someone else’s yard and then you leave them on someone’s front door and you ring the doorbell and then you run away. And when they open the door, they have flowers there and it’s really cute!

 

So you pick someone else’s flowers and put them on a different person’s porch?

Yeah, cause that’d be fucked up to pick their own flowers.

 

Who taught you this?

I don’t know, I think it was my friend, Janelle, from 3rd grade and we’ve done it every May 1st since.

 

Do you know where she’s from or where she got it from?

Seattle.

 

And her family’s just always done it?

Yeah.

 

Have you told other people about this and do it with other people?

Yeah. I’ve done it like a lot. I haven’t done it in the last like five years, but I kind of really want to do it this May 1st.

 

What does this accomplish?

I don’t know. It like brightens their day and it’s like the beginning of spring. I mean, I guess it’s not the beginning of spring.

 

My Reaction:

I have never heard of this tradition before and I really wonder where it derives from. I am familiar with the term, “May Day.” But I know it as something completely different.