Category Archives: Kinesthetic

Body movements

Gang-gang-sul-lae

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 53
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 27th, 2018
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English, Mandarin

Story 

Gang-gang-sul-lae is a Korean folk dance that is exclusively performed by women of the community. It is also known as Ganggangsuwollae (강강수월래 in Hangeul/ 强羌水越來 in Hanja, which are Traditional Chinese Characters. It is a traditional dance where group of women hold hands in a circle, spinning around and singing. 

My mother, who I collected this data from said: “When I learned the history of Gang-gang-sul-lae in elementary school, I was told that admiral Yi Sun-sin (이순신) , during the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th Century, devised a plan to dress all the women into men’s clothing and dance around in circles. Then the Japanese soliders thought that admiral Yi had a big army and retreated in intimidation.”

Context

I remember first seeing Gang-gang-sul-lae in the field of my public school when celebrating Chuseok (추석/ Mid-Autumn Festival). It was during 2005, which was the same year when I started attending elementary school. I remember my mother and I dressing up in Hanbok (한복/ Traditional Korean Attire) and having a valuable cultural experience provided by the local community. This traditional dance has significance to my mother and many other Korean women as they have partaken in Gang-gang-sul-lae themselves. Because my mother now resides in Los Angeles and has not performed the Gang-gang-sul-lae for over a decade, singing and spinning around the living room while holding her son’s hand apparently brought back a “joyous memory”. 

Analysis

Despite being well known through its role it allegedly served in the 1592-1598 Japanese invasions of Korea, Gang-gang-sul-lae’s role in modern day society serves as a symbol of Korean culture and ‘heritage’. It is rare to see youth to play though performing the dance, it can always be seen at cultural events, which are especially prevalent during traditional holidays such as the first full moon of the lunar calendar and the mid-autumn festival.

Last Shot Tradition on the Basketball Court

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 10th, 2018
Primary Language: English

 

Story

 

“So this is at least from what I know a very popular basketball ritual. Right as people have to leave the court and have to stop playing, somebody will shout “Last shot!”. Now it is really bad luck to end the last shot of the day as missed. So people have to take a shot and if they miss, they have to keep trying until they make it.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my friend that I made in university. He is Asian American and grew up in the city of Walnut his whole life. He is an avid basketball player and always stayed in school to either go play basketball or go longboarding with friends. The Last Shot Tradition on the basketball court is significant to my friend as he would always miss and would have to keep trying until he made it in, which encouraged him to work on the accuracy and precision of his shots.

 

Analysis

 

This court ritual performed helps integrate the sport of basketball into a part of everyday life. By associating missed shots with “bad luck”, which may affect every part of people’s lives, people will try to improve their skills in order to make basketball not hinder the other part of their lives. Moreover, this ritual can help improve the players’ game as there can be similar scenarios in a real basketball game such as a ‘buzzer beater’, which is when one player scores as the buzzer is sounding to indicate the end of the game is.

 

 

 

 

 

1960s Elementary School Hand Gesture

Nationality: American
Age: 59
Occupation: Former curator
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: April 25, 2018
Primary Language: English

AH is the informant, my mom, and PH is myself.

PH: Do you have any folklore for my project?

AH: I don’t think I know any folklore…
(She then mentioned some stories that are told by other family members, but wasn’t comfortable telling herself.)

PH: You know so much folklore and you don’t even know it! It’s not just ghost stories, it’s sayings or games or hand movements you do, anything that you were taught in an unofficial capacity… Like, when you were younger, didn’t you put your hand up in a C or something?

AH: Oh yes, how do you know about that?

PH: You’ve told me before!

AH: How do you remember this?

PH: I just remember! Now, can you explain this to me as if I’ve never heard it before?

AH: When I was a kid in the ‘60s, and someone called you a name on the playground, teasingly or not…and now [current day] maybe you’d say “same to you, or something”…

PH: Like, “I know you are, but what am I?”

AH: Oh, yes, we had that too… So, then we would hold our hands up, and form our hands in the shape of a C with the thumb on the bottom, and curve it in the shape of a C, and so that whatever they said would zoom around the curve and go back to them like a boomerang

PH: Okay, anything else to add?

AH: Well then they would put their hands up and do the same thing and it would go back (laughs)

PH: You said “their hands”? Plural?

AH: They, as in people in general, but just one hand…. So that would’ve been the late ‘60s when people started to say “cool” and “man” and stuff like that

PH: Do you remember how you learned that?

AH: No, it was…I don’t know if it was made up in our school or if it was something everyone did at that time

PH: What age would you do this?

AH: I’d say.. Probably second through fifth grade

PH: Do you think it was an age thing, that everyone at that age was doing it, or a time period thing, as in people from different age groups were all doing it at that time…?

AH: I doubt if high schoolers would do it… It might’ve gone to middle school..

PH: Does this have a name?

AH: Ohh… shoot. I don’t know.. “Back to you?” I don’t know.

PH: So there was a name?

AH: No probably not.. I wonder if it had anything to do with Star Trek, which was around that time too! (laughs)

PH: Really? Just because it’s a hand movement?

AH: No, I don’t know! (Laughs)

IMG_7492

Flight Ritual/ Superstition

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Boston, MA
Performance Date: 4/9/18
Primary Language: English

In a conversation about upcoming travel plans, Lida brought up a ritual of her own:

“Before I get on a plane I touch the outside of the plane with a flat palm and if can, I touch the first window with a flat palm. I also walk on only with my right foot.”

 

I asked, when did you start doing that?

“I am really not sure when I started. I must have seen someone do it and then that was it. I did it every time and now I can’t fly unless I do it. I’m not sure if it’s a superstition but it’s kinda like a comfort thing. It’s a habit or like a routine that makes it seem like everything is gonna be like it always is when I’m flying.”

 

Background: Lida is a twenty-year old born and raised in Boston, MA and currently living in Los Angeles, CA attending USC as a sophomore. Her parents are divorced and she has two sisters.

Context: Lida brought up her ritual when we were talking about the upcoming trip she had the following weekend to fly home from school.

Analysis: This story totally resonated with me because I feel like I do many things that have become a “routine” simply for the sake of comfort and safety. I’ve always been an okay flyer, but my mom on the other hand, is a really nervous flyer. If I am on a plane with my mom she will always hold my hand for the entirety of the take-off and then again for the landing, but will be totally fine while we’re in the air. She has done this since I was a little girl, so now it has become instinct whenever I fly with her, and definitely a gesture of comfort. It is interesting to analyze how a gesture that will realistically not change any outcome of future events can create peace of mind and a calm disposition. I think the concept of folkloric “habits” in regard to beliefs or superstitions is an intriguing concept of study as they dramatically vary person to person and can be very uncommon or seem weird to others.

Ambulance Superstition

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/9/18
Primary Language: English

A conversation with a female friend went as follows:

Me: “I am not a very superstitious person at all. I don’t feel like those things ever do anything.”

Response: “I don’t have a a lot, but there are a couple that I do religiously. I don’t even think about it anymore”

Me: “Really? I would NEVER think that about you.”

Response: “Yeah… they are so subconscious at this point I don’t even think anyone else would even notice. I don’t even notice haha. But like…let me think of one…. Oh, every time I see an an ambulance I have to touch something red”

*(as she responds, she reaches her right hand to her left hip)*

 

 

Background: She is a twenty-year old born and raised in Boston, MA and currently living in Los Angeles, CA attending USC as a sophomore. Her parents are divorced and she has two younger sisters.

Context: This conversation took place as we were walking from class back to my apartment building.

Analysis: As my friend was telling me about a superstition of hers, she subconsciously reached her right hand across her body towards her left hip. At first I laughed, wondering why she did that, and when I told her why she was laughing she realized what she was doing. She explained that she typically would see an ambulance with its lights on while she was driving or in the car, and therefore, the closest thing to her to touch would be the red base on seatbelts. This superstition and “touching something red” has become so second nature to her that she literally acts like she is touching a seatbelt even when simply talking about the superstition itself. The fact that she didn’t realize what she was doing demonstrates how embedded folkloric beliefs can become in our worldview and within our daily actions. I was very intrigued by this interaction and loved gaining more insight into the depth of her superstitious beliefs as our conversation continued and developed.