Category Archives: Material

Snow Traditions 2

Nationality: American
Age: 14
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Morris Plains, NJ, USA
Language: English

These were local rituals done to bring about a snow day. Kids would pressure each other to do them before bed, hoping the more people who did them, the more likely it would be that a snowstorm came. 

“I remember when we first turned our pjs inside out before bed. [J](his brother) told me about it for the first time. We turned our pjs inside out, flushed ice cubes down the toilet, and put a spoon under our pillows. All of these done with a lot of people hopefully would bring more snow to town. I remember telling a big group of friends they had to send pictures of their inside-out PJs and spoons under pillows to their moms to send to my mom.” 

This ritual doesn’t have a designated time besides whenever a kid can’t take another day of school. These rituals are passed between friends mainly in cold communities. The peer pressure to participate is very interesting because it shows the heavy belief these kids take in turning pajamas inside out or putting a spoon under their pillow. Kids are very superstitious before they learn how the world works scientifically. Most people grow out of these superstitions after they learn about precipitation. 

Gaff Circle

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Morris Plains, NJ, USA
Language: English

“The Gaff Circle was a tradition run crew did before each show. We would stand in a big circle on stage and pass around a roll of gaff tape and put a piece on each other’s arm for each show we had done. The right arm was for musicals and the left arm was for plays. It was a pretty big deal to be an 8 show senior plus it was cool to see all the different years on run crew.”

This ritual is similar to an initiation and continuation ritual. People earn stripes of gaff tape to show how many years they have been on run crew. While run crew is considered an annoying job for most, at this high school, it was coveted. It was a sign that they were all part of the same little group and that they earned their spot. It creates community and connection between them while also reminding them of previous people and experiences. 

Feeding Birthday Cake

AGE: 21

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 4/19

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: Canadian 

OCCUPATION: Student 

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: Westlake Village 

Text

Interviewer: What’s a tradition you and your family have done during the holidays or certain celebrations?

SA: “One small but meaningful tradition in my family happens during birthdays. I only recently learned that this is an Indian thing–but the person whose birthday it is feeds cake to the people closest to them, and they get fed cake by those same people. It’s a simple act but deeply rooted in affection and closeness.”

Interpretation

A lot of the rituals, superstitions, and other traditions that SA had described to me in her family and her culture surround concepts of love, devotion, and affection. I think it’s so beautiful that there are so many distinct rituals that surround the concept of love and adoration. The only rituals or traditions I can think of at the moment in American society is either Valentine’s Day or someone’s anniversary. But on the topic of birthday rituals, in Korean culture it’s typical that the person’s family will make them birthday soup. The next chance I get to interview SA, I would love her to expand on how she found out it was an Indian tradition and whether she would like to continue this tradition with her family in the future. Since it involves cake, did this tradition begin as the modern world developed or has cake replaced something else used in the past? Either way, what a beautiful and familial tradition.

Incense and Temples

AGE: 21

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 4/19/25

LANGUAGE: English, Chinese

NATIONALITY: American, Taiwanese 

OCCUPATION: Student

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: Los Angeles 

Text

Interviewer: Does your culture have any stories of superstitions or superstitions themselves?

AC: “Don’t leave chopsticks straight up and down in rice because it looks like incense sticks which are usually reserved for rituals at temples.”

Context

Before the question asked above, I had also asked AC the following question:

Interviewer: Are there any distinct festivals or rituals you grew up around or attending when you were growing up? Are there any now? 

AC: [she lists out] “Chinese Lunar New Year, Autumn Festival, Taiwanese Folk Religion events… [she adds context] FYI my immediate family are 7th day adventist Christians but my family in Taiwan worships a local folk religion, and they’re very religious. My family owns and operates several temples in our hometown Tainan, Taiwan.”

Interviewer: What is it like for your family to own several temples? Are there any distinct rituals or celebrations your family does at the temples?

She then proceeds to answer the question, but this part of her answer is the context of the proceeding text above:

AC: “…what you usually do is…when you arrive at the temple, you light incense and then place it like up and down into this bowl/stand. Then you pray standing up…”

Interpretation

My immediate family and I are the least religious people. Technically, we’re Christian, and when I was younger my mother, sister, and I would go to Korean church, but we stopped going once my sister and I started playing sports. Although AC is not particularly religious herself, and her family is part of a completely different religion than their extended, AC has in-depth knowledge and experience with temples and how folk religion affects and works within smaller communities. The concept of bad luck by placing chopsticks straight up in rice connects with how her family’s temples operate. Why would you pray if it’s not in the proper setting and with the proper intention? My guess as to why it’s bad luck is because it might attract bad spirits or maybe upset the spirits that people pray to. It connects again to what we learned in lecture about the importance or folklore behind up and down.

Wedding Soup Noodles

AGE: 21

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 4/19/25

LANGUAGE: English, Chinese

NATIONALITY: American, Taiwanese 

OCCUPATION: Student

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: Los Angeles 

Text

Interviewer: What’s a tradition that you and your family have done during the holidays or certain celebrations? This can include holidays, birthdays, weddings, funerals, etc.

AC: “Weddings are huge in my family, so the day of the wedding there’s this thing called wedding soup noodles. It’s like sweet/sour soup and mushrooms and seafood in a thicker soup. Noodles are also thicker. Also the bride still wears white!”

Context

AC and her nuclear family are the only ones from the rest of their family that is currently in America. The rest of her family (her extended family basically) all still live and reside in Taiwan.

Interpretation

I had never really heard of wedding soup noodles before, so this was definitely really interesting to hear about another tradition in Asian culture. Although, I think if I was to ask my family there would probably be a lot of wedding traditions also in Korean culture. The wedding traditions I know of are more ritualistic and concerned with what you wear. But, after some quick research, noodle soup is also a thing in Korean wedding culture! A lot of traditions overlap across Asian cultures, so it makes sense that there also includes “wedding soup” in Korean weddings as well. I’m not sure if I’ve ever ate these wedding noodles since my family leans more on the Americanized side and I honestly cannot remember the last time I went to a wedding.