Category Archives: Gestures

Polish Yuletide: The Sharing of Bread and the Self

Nationality: Polish
Age: 25
Occupation: Medical Student
Residence: Poznań, Poland
Performance Date: 04/18/21
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Main Performance:

Also in polish tradition, during Christmas time and sometimes Easter, a special unleavened bread is used. You start with a whole and someone (a family member or such) will come up to you, take a piece of the wafer and in return wish good things upon you (pleasure, money, health etc.) and you go up to others and do likewise until your wafer has been taken from everyone and you took a piece from everyone. The bread is called opłatek which roughly translates into “toll” or “payment”.

Background:

The informant, JK, is one of my close friends from my Catholic high school who I maintain contact with after graduation. He hails from a devoutly Catholic Polish family. Among most of the families that I knew of while attending, most of my classmates did not speak their family lineage’s mother tongue except for most of the my Polish and Hispanic classmates. No German and definitely not any Irish being spoken there.

Context:

My informant is currently attending medical school in Poland and I reached out to him through social media to ask if he had any traditional/folk-things he could share with me given his actively apparent and practiced Polish heritage, doubly so now that he is back in Poland.

My Thoughts:

Immediately what comes to mind is the Eucharist and the transubstantiation concept in the Catholic church of how Christ’s body is figuratively and literally represented by the communal bread is akin to this is taking place where individuals represent themselves with the loaves of unleavened bread. Then they take parts of themselves and share it with their loved ones. Considering that these most likely occur at family gatherings with relatives who could potentially live far away from each other, it comes off as an encouraging reminder that they always have each other. The wording of “toll” also gives off the suggestion that they expect good deeds to be returned, or just be acted in response to exchange their own pieces of bread. One loses themselves from sharing all the bread until it is gone, but will have formed a symbolic whole from the others who have given pieces of themselves to you, which really puts the entire act of giving and receiving in a simple but introspective light.

For more on the origins of opłatek, refer to Claire Anderson’s detailed study of its Slavic roots.

Anderson, Claire M. “In Search of the Origins of the Opłatek.” The Polish Review, vol. 58, no. 3, 2013, pp. 65–76. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/polishreview.58.3.0065. Accessed 3 May 2021.

Celebration of Survival- Infant Edition

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 67
Residence: Chicago, Illinois
Performance Date: 05/01/2021
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Main Performance:

The Dol (돌) is the celebration of an infant’s first birthday in South Korea. Childbirth and its complications in an impoverished country without advances in medicine and temperamental weather patterns meant that many children did not survive long past birth. Many children were kept in-doors as a means of protection and as a necessity for survival. Milestones for a child’s survival are celebrated on the 100th Day (백일) and then a large celebration is held on the first birthday where the wider family gathers for the occasion as the belief goes that once a child survives until its first year, the next hundred will be guaranteed. The Dol is characterized by a feast of traditional foods and also the an activity at the end called Dol-jabi (돌잡이) where a child is placed in front of multiple items. Bills of money, golf-balls, pieces of string, microphones, all sorts of objects are placed in front of the child and whichever object the child reaches for first will determine their success in that field. Reaching out to the string guarantees their long life, the microphone meaning that they will become a talented entertainer, a golf-ball for a pro golfer, money for being good with money, and etc.

Background:

The informant is my father who remembers me and my brother’s 1st Birthdays, 100th Day, and many other occasions involving the extended family. As Korea was still a developing country during his childhood and farther back, the reasons for celebrating a child’s survival is by no means a small matter. While the 100 Day celebrations have been phased out because of the advances in medicine, the first birthday is still widely celebrated. Of course, more modern items have been added to the myriad of objects placed in front of the child in the dol-jabi activity as the years go on.

Context:

My nephew had just celebrated his 1st Birthday on the 1st of May and I asked on the specifics of what the event pertained to and both of my parents explained what they did for me and my brother’s, which I have seen pictures of but have no recollection of.

My Thoughts:

It’s been stated multiple times that many Korean traditions stem from its impoverishment and I think no other element reflects that fact better than the celebration of a child’s survival past birth. The homeopathic magic comes into play to determine what the child’s preferences will be in the future as well, a determinant little “game” that I’ve also seen in other country’s. I find this story a lot more relevant these days because of the Covid pandemic and the world’s inability to contain the situation during 2020 that makes these life celebrations relevant again, especially when I hear about so many people trying to not have kids as their outlook on the world’s future becomes dimmer and dimmer. Korea in particular has had an issue about declining birth rates and my cousin and her son gave me some first had examples of the Korean government stepping in to promote childbirth and giving her family a large amount of federal money because she had given birth, giving credence to “government sponsored culture vs. tradition” going on. While I have heard some humorous conspiracy theories about Japan promoting marriage and procreation through positive portrayals of romance in their multi-media, I have not heard the same in the Korean context.

For a Chinese equivalent, see the Zhuazhou celebration:

The Tradition of Zhuazhou, 15 Feb. 2011, www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2011-02/15/content_12016991.htm.

Use And Misuse Of The Left Hand In India

Nationality: Indian
Age: 25
Occupation: Recent Graduate (Master's)
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 5/2/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Telugu, Hindi

Informant’s Background:

My informant, SV, is a recent graduate with a Master’s from the University of Southern California. He is 25, was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, and moved to the United States to attend a graduate program at USC. Post-graduation he remains in Los Angeles hunting for a job.

Context:

My informant, SV, is my roommate and a close friend of mine. I asked him if he could share some Indian traditions, customs, or folklore with me. NOTE: For this dialogue, I am AT.

Performance:

SV: “So… In India there’s a tradition of eating with your hands, and-which is quite common, and one of the, I guess, major rules or things that may offend someone is if you use your left hand to eat or grab things or get things. And the primary reason for this is it is considered unclean, because in older generations in India, uhm, when you’re cleaning yourself, uhm, after taking a shit… It’s usually using water and your hands, and most people are sort of taught to use their left hand, so that’s one of the reasons why your left hand is unclean, even though obviously you’re going to wash it with soap or gonna wash your hands. So that’s one of the kind of traditions there is that’s kind of prevalent in India.” 

AT: “What if you’re left handed?”

SV: “So that’s sort of a weird, uhm… So the way it started was even if you’re left handed you use sort of- you use your right hand to eat or like you use your right hand to for example, if you’re in a shop or in someone’s house and you’re giving something or taking something from them you’re always taught to use your right hand, or maybe if it’s heavy both hands, but never your left hand. But uhm… Like, I don’t know, I think that maybe in slightly older time they didn’t want people to be left handed for this reason, but I think nowadays less emphasis is placed on this thing.”

Informant’s Thoughts:

SV: “Overall I think like… There’s sort of like some reason-like some reasoning behind it that is sort of valid to some extent. But like I guess like with modern like, uhm, advancements and like stuff like washing your hands with soap and I think now in most urban settings people have a bidet they use to wash their like, bodies once they’re taking a shit. So I don’t think it’s as big an issue, using your left hand, and now being left-handed or using your left handed doesn’t make you any worse than any other person. I think maybe if you were in some more rural areas and you used your left hand I think maybe some people might like be offended. But in general I think this is not very common a lot now.

Thoughts:

I had never really heard of anything like this until now, but I think SV is right in that it maybe seems like fairly sound reasoning in times before advancements in modern day sanitation and cleanliness. Upon some further research, it appears that the left hand is not only used for wiping one’s rear but also for other “unclean” actions as well, such as the removal of shoes, and cleaning your feet. Apparently left-handed activists in India today are attempting to fight prejudice against left-handed people, in schools some left-handed kids are taught to only use their right hand and are beaten for using their left. However overall, as SV said, it seems these practices and prejudices are fading in modern India.

“The Head Nod”

Nationality: American
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Lancaster, CA
Performance Date: May 2, 2021
Primary Language: English

Context: 

My informant, AW, is my 15-year-old brother. He is homeschooled, and participates heavily in gaming culture. He told me about “the head nod” during an informal interview at home. He says the head nod is universally known amongst all guys, and is the only way to greet each other. I refer to myself as SW in the text.

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AW: “Have you ever heard of the head nod?”

SW: “I’ve heard of the head nod.”

AW: “You have? Do you understand any of what it means?”

SW: “Not really, please explain the head nod to me.”

AW: “Ok so the head nod is if you go something like… I don’t know how you put this on to paper but if you like *he does the very slight upwards head nod of greeting* – the head nod. If you’re walking by someone and you um… yeah if you’re walking near… if you’re passing a stranger in a hallway and it’s one on one you to do this. If you’re in a crowd and you accidentally lock eyes with people you have to do this. It’s just… it’s just law. But, if it’s someone you do not know or… yeah if it’s someone you do not know it’s generally just a sign of respect or I acknowledge your presence and I acknowledge I was staring at you or something. And it’s just a *he does the slight downwards head nod of respect* or something like. If it’s someone you know, or you’re trying to get attention from someone, it’s *he does the upwards head nod*.

SW: “So it’s like a… a downward head nod of respect with people you don’t know, and an upward head nod of like a ‘hey’ with the eyebrows if it’s someone you do know.”

AW: “If it’s someone you know and you’re about to talk to them it’s like ‘hey’ *he proceeds to do the upwards hey head nod* but if it’s someone you know and you don’t want to talk to them it’s just *he does the downwards respect nod*.”

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Analysis:

Folk gestures are a very small thing, but arguably make up one of our most important ways of communicating with others. A known shared gesture helps link members of a group without anyone even needing to say anything. AW says that all guys know about head nod culture, and it is a way to show respect and communicate familiarity. It also is a way to differentiate who is “one of the boys” and on a peer level, versus someone you have a more formal relationship with.

Mano gesture

Nationality: Philippines
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Haven, CT
Performance Date: 04/10/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

BACKGROUND: My informant, AV, was born in the Philippines. His parents are also both immigrants from the Philippines and currently live in the US. This piece is an explanation of a gesture used in Filipino culture to signify respect. AV explained that this is something his parents taught him to do in front of elders.

CONTEXT: This piece is from a facetime call with my friend to talk about customs in Filipino culture.

AZ: A custom that we have in the Philippines is like — they can’t see me right?

Me: It’s only audio.

AZ: Okay well in my specific language, like my parents would be like, [speaks Tagalog] Like, I don’t know how to explain it, but basically, you take the person’s hand and hold it, you hold it in your hand and you kind of like, bring it up to your forehead like this. Basically, it’s like a sign of respect for your elders and usually you go to your aunts and uncles and do that. But like, it’s funny. I think like a lot of times when like adults don’t want to feel super old, they’ll be like, “Oh no, don’t do that.” But like, I guess as you get older, if you’re like my grandma or like my grandpa they definitely expect us to do it. All the older relatives too. 

THOUGHTS: This gesture is really telling of the things that Filipino society considers important. As a kid, back when my parents were still fairly new to the US and staunchly steadfast in their culture, I had to show my respect to them by bowing my head and avoiding eye contact when speaking to them. On top of this, as the eldest daughter in the house. My mom always made me present a bowl of soap and water to my father and other older male relatives to wash their hands with whenever they ate dinner at our house. As I got older and my parents became more engrossed in American customs, I was no longer required to avoid eye contact or prepare my dad’s bowl. It’s interesting to me how the more “Americanized” I became the less I was required to show respect in the traditional way.