Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Passing A Knife

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Critical Studies Film Student
Residence: Wantage, New Jersey
Performance Date: April 2, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Turkish

“Never accept a knife hand-to-hand.”

My informant and I were eating rolls at a restaurant when my informant realized that he did not have a knife for butter. I picked up my knife and offered it to him. He looked at the knife in my hand, and then told me that he “never accepts a knife hand-to-hand.” He then picked up an unused knife on the other side of the table.

Later, when I asked him why he would not accept my knife, he told me that “people who exchange knives will fight imminently, like within the next hour or day or so,” or, at the least, “there will be bad will between them.” He doesn’t remember ever specifically learning this folk belief, but when he was a little kid he remembers seeing his mother subtly never accepting knives from other people. He tries to be as subtle as she is, saying something like “just place the knife here,” especially with people he respects or does not know well. He often feels cornered into accepting knives, though, so with peers he is comfortable with, he will just tell them the folk belief.

My informant thinks the folk belief reflects a respect for knives, and the violence that they symbolize. A knife, according to my informant, should not be handled lightly, because it is an object with “gravitas,” or immense symbolic power. From an etic perspective, this explanation makes sense; knives are dangerous objects and, even in the innocent context of sharing a meal, can connote ill will or violence. The belief might also reflect a respect for guests, family members, and the people that one eats with. Eating together usually implies a peaceful relationship and situation, so by not passing knives around the table unintentionally insulting or implying violent feeling another diner be avoided.

Animation Christmas Tradition/Pinata/Effigy – American

Nationality: American - Caucasian
Age: 25
Occupation: Story Board Artist/Animator
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 22 April 2011
Primary Language: English

“We in, at my animation school every year we decide to – we make a piñata based on a recent…so Polar Express made it one year. We made a piñata of Tom Hanks in Polar Express and uh, we were gonna beat the crap out of it but unfortunately they made it out of duct tape so…boy it was a long, everybody got a swing. I thought they – then ended up having to tear it down and stomp on it and then it – ah, why duct tape! It’s like that’s not even fun! Actually no, it was fun. But I’ll tell you what it took us an hour then we were like something’s wrong. [Laughs.] This is, this is a – and we had a metal bat. We’re like, okay, something is up about this piñata. This piñata is really resilient! Okay. So finally we tore enough away that we realized, I was like, “Who made it out of duct tape!? What the heck!?” “Well, I don’t know we wanted to make sure that everybody – ” because the previous year, you know it was like bam bam done. [Makes grumbling noises.]”

The informant is a 25-year-old Story Board Artist and animator who works in television. She is originally from Denver, Colorado and moved to Los Angeles for college and work.

This particular incident took place during the California Institute of the Art’s (CalArts) Character Animation department Christmas party. Before describing this installment of the beating-of-the-animation-pinata tradition she told me she was unhappy when Polar Express came out because “It was gross, because the people didn’t move and animators are starving thanks to motion capture.” The informant, is an animator, though “not a starving one” but she does “have starving friends thanks to motion capture.”  She also was opposed to motion capture on a technical level:

“The effect is similar to mascots walking around Disneyland with giant hats. They move natural but it doesn’t make any sense with the character shape because you have to – if the character has a giant head and is a penguin or something they should not move like a human being! But they do and motion capture looks really gross.”

She then repeated that “animators are starving” because of motion capture.

The year before the pinata was “the bee from Bee Movie,” though it was not motion capture it was just a bad silly movie. “Besides everyone likes killing bees. They’re an endangered species.” “You cannot hit bees in real life so we make piñata bees,” the informant told me.

I think this is pretty clearly a cathartic tradition. The animators are frustrated that they are getting put out of the job by this, as they consider it, second rate technology. They cannot take any direct action against the inventor and users of motion capture, but they can make a pinata that represents all of that and beat it with a metal bat.

I would argue that this example of a holiday tradition is an interesting twist on the practice of beating or burning effigies of political figures in order to protest their policies or actions. The same day the informant was telling me about her Polar Express pinata, protesters in Pakistan were burning an effigy of American President Barack Obama as well as the American flag to express their anger regarding the recent US attacks on tribal Pakistani areas (Rodriguez). The anger toward the figure-in-effigy in both cases is clearly there. The bitterness in the informant’s voice as she talked about her friends that couldn’t get a job because of the widespread use of motion capture tells us that her mental state in beating the Polar Express pinata was more akin to that of the Pakistani protesters than a child having fun at a birthday party. Seen in this light, this tradition is surprisingly political.

Works Cited:

Rodriguez, Alex. “U.S. drone attack kills 25 in Pakistan.” Los Angeles Times 23 April 2011. Accessed online: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-drone-attack-20110423,0,5711991.story?track=rss.

Chinese Custom

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 80s
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: February 17, 2011
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

When present for the celebration for one’s birthday, all guests must consume at least one long noodle in order to wish and ensure longevity in the birthday person’s life.

Lucy lived in Taiwan for most of her life and moved to Hawaii in the 1980s when her sons moved there.  She told me this custom was a very popular in China and Taiwan.  What this custom means is to wish the birthday person a long life symbolized by the long noodles.  She told me that if one does not consume at least one long noodle at the birthday person’s celebration, he or she is wishing the birthday person a short life.

I knew of this custom from when I was a child.  While I do not believe that one who refuses to consume noodles on a person’s birthday is wishing that person a short life, I do understand the Chinese folk belief that wishes for long life.  It is simply a physical representation of what they wish for the birthday person.

This custom is also seen documented in Birthday Customs of the Newborn and Elderly on About.com:

Quinfa, Y. (2011). Birthday customs of the newborn and elderly. Retrieved from <http://chineseculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa021901b.htm>

Chinese New Year

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 60
Occupation: Vice President/ Business Development Manager
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 22, 2011
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Guo Nien

Pass year

New Year

Annually, an animal called the Nien came in the night and killed every first born in every home unless there was blood painted upon the door of the house. The next morning, the people would come out and congratulate everyone who was spared for having been passed by the Nien once again.  This was called Guo Nien, meaning “pass the year (or animal).”

Joseph was born and raised in Taiwan and went to school there until he moved to America to attend college at John’s Hopkins University.  He  told me this story about the Chinese New Year.  He said that when he heard the story, he noticed the incredible similarities between this story and the story of the Pharoah of Egypt, Moses, and the plagues.  In that legent, Moses commands the Pharoah to free the Hebrews enslaved to do the Pharoah’s bidding.  When the Pharoah refused, Moses, by God’s hand, inflicted the plagues in order to prove God’s existence and force the Pharoah to let the Hebrews go.  When he once again refused, God sent the plague that would kill the first born in every home unless there was a mark of lamb’s blood on the each house’s door as sacrifice.

Joseph said that the story of the Nien reminded him of his culture and that his mom and dad would tell the story to him and his younger brothers every Chinese New Year’s Eve.

I recently learned of this legend. While it is a legend, I do not believe it has any truth value. However, it is a great story as to explain the development of the year.

Customs – Swedish

Nationality: American - Swedish/Black
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Swedish

My informant’s mother is Swedish and her father is black. To keep in touch with her mother’s culture she learned Swedish as a child and visits her family members in Sweden every summer.  Her grandmother lives in the countryside in Sweden and traditionally whenever my informant would go visit they would go to the forest to pick svamps, which is the Swedish word for mushrooms.

Picking mushrooms in the forest is a common activity in Sweden presumably because Mushroom’s are often used in Swedish cooking. In modern times, it probably reminds people of the time when their ancestors were alive and they picked and gathered all of the food they ate rather than buying it. Mushrooms are also a food that reflects the lush and moist terrain of Sweden.

My informant sees this activity as a fun pastime that reminds her of her Swedish heritage and bonding time with her Grandmother.