Category Archives: Material

Chinese New Year Tradition of Making “Dern”

Text:

“On the 15th of the Chinese New Year, my grandma would make something called “dern.” “Dern” is like a bun shaped in the form of our Chinese Zodiac. She would make the “dern” for all family members. She would make seven of them, and they are all in our corresponding Chinese zodiac. So, if I’m born in the zodiac of the chicken, then she would make a chicken. This is practiced on the last day of the Chinese New Year. All of our animal characters would be on the same big bun; there are usually three big buns in total. She would also make two fish on one of the big buns, corresponding to the proverb “May you have abundance/surplus year after year.” After I got a boyfriend, my grandmother started making his “dern” as well. It is referred to as “dern” in the Shandong dialect. To be honest, sometimes it is hard for me to recognize which animal is which after she made them. Another thing is that we have to eat it. We have to bring this gigantic bun back to our own house and place it on our table for a day, and then you eat it. I’m not sure why we put it on the table for a day, but if you eat your zodiac, that just means that you are safe and good, and you have to eat the parts with the pieces of gold as well, which means that you can earn a lot of money in the upcoming year.”

Context:

This text was collected from a Chinese international student from Beijing, China. She learned this tradition through direct participation in her grandmother’s annual practice and shared it with me in a casual conversation as she spoke from personal memory. Her grandmother was from Shandong province, and dern is also a word describing decorated buns in the Shandong dialect. The tradition takes place on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year (the Lantern Festival), which marks the final day of the celebration period. The grandmother serves as the sole maker of the buns, crafting zodiac-shaped figures for every family member. A significant detail is that after the informant began dating her boyfriend, the grandmother started making a bun for him as well, suggesting the practice functions as an informal way of welcoming new members into the family. She interprets eating one’s zodiac as ensuring personal safety and prosperity in the coming year.

Analysis:

This piece exemplifies material culture, more specifically when it functions as a family lore, which shows how a broader regional tradition becomes personalized at the household level. This reminds me of Carl von Sydow’s concept of oicotypes: in this case, the family’s specific variation — seven individual buns, three large bases, fish for prosperity, a one-day display — represents a local adaptation of a wider Shandong practice. The variation is shaped by this family’s particular values and composition. Moreover, the ritual also aligns with Frazer’s theory of homeopathic magic: eating one’s zodiac animal and the golden pieces embedded in the bun not only symbolize safety and wealth, it also enact them. Corresponding folk beliefs like those exemplified through the shape of the “dern” collapse the boundary between representation and outcome. The grandmother’s decision to include the boyfriend’s bun is especially interesting, as it functions as a vernacular act of admitting family membership, which comes before any official social recognition of the relationship.





Chinese Birthday Tradition of Longevity Noodles

Text:

“For everybody’s birthday, we have to wear new clothes from top to down. And then we also need to eat noodles each morning, and your whole family also needs to eat noodles with you. And then you also need to like use a chopstick to drag the noodles as long as possible (like hold it as long as possible). And say something like “live forever” or something like that. So that can like represent that you are going to be healthy and have like a good life for a very long time. Everyone has to take pictures as they hold the noodles. Even when we are apart, my family still does it and sends it to me on my birthday.”

Context:

The informant describes a family birthday tradition centred on eating 长寿面 (longevity noodles). This is a common practice in many Chinese households. She grew up participating in this ritual with her family, where eating noodles on one’s birthday symbolises wishes for a long and healthy life. The informant explains that this is not only done in person but continues even when family members are physically apart, as they take photos and share them with each other. For her, this tradition is both a symbolic ritual and a way of maintaining family connection across distance.

Analysis:

This tradition can be understood through Mary Douglas’s idea that everyday practices carry symbolic meanings that reinforce cultural values. The emphasis on the length of the noodles reflects how physical actions are used to represent abstract ideas like longevity and health. The act of carefully holding and eating the noodles shows intentional participation to express these wishes. Other than carrying symbolic value, the shared participation (whether in person or through photos) reinforces family bonds and continuity.


Ouija Board Experience

Age: 19

Interviewer: Well first off, what is an Ouija Board?

CJ: The Ouija board is like a board full of numbers and letters to help, um, What’s it called? To help speak to people who have passed away. They help you learn more about that person. [The ghosts] could be good or bad.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. And um, okay, who, who related to you uses the board?

CJ: My mom, friends. A lot of people around me actually.


Interviewer: So, okay, so when your mom uses the board. Who would she use it with? Would she use it by herself?

CJ: She was younger when she would use it. I don’t think my mom has an Ouija board anymore, but she would use it with, um, like her, her siblings. Like, they were really into that stuff.


Interviewer: What were the stories that you heard from her or any one of them about the board?


CJ: When she was younger, and like, when she used the board, she would try to talk to her mom’s mom. My great grandma. She was trying to um, figure out her name.


Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

CJ: My grandma wouldn’t tell my mom her great grandma’s name. I don’t know why. I feel like something followed her from the Ouija board because I feel like they were really young when they were doing that shit. There’s rules to it. Me and my cousin Isabella would always talk about how there was something in the house and like, my grandma heard stuff in the house.

Interviewer: You feel like a ghost followed your mom?

CJ: There’s just always weird vibes around her house. I think. I kind of stay far away from that shit because I get scared.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Can you explain some of the rules? Of the board?

CJ: I think you put your hands on a mold. Put the um- it’s kind of like a, it kind of looks like an illuminati symbol. kind of. You put it on the board and you put your fingers on it and kind of ask questions.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. To the ghost?

CJ: Yeah. And the ghosts will guide your fingers on that mold across the board to help communicate.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. And then is there a specific way to, like, start communicating and end it?

CJ: Um, I don’t know the way to end it, but you kind of just- you- I think you kind of have to put yourself in that headspace to communicate with ghosts, and that’s how you start it, but I don’t know how you end it. I think you’re supposed to say like, goodbye to like, completely disconnect yourself from those bad spirits. I’ve never done it personally. I’ve never touched anything like that before because I don’t want to play with my life like that.

Interviewer: Yeah.

CJ: But, um, my mom did something to herself because of it. We’ve all felt bad stuff in her house. I think that’s why they don’t talk about it though, because, my Tia Miriam also used to do tarot cards. It’s similar to what my mom was doing. She said she’s had like bad experiences with seeing um, spirits. In the process of it.

Interviewer: Oh.

CJ: it’s just something she doesn’t really talk about because she got traumatized by it. Um, and like, Um, I’ve seen it at, or- I’ve heard it at my mom’s house.

Interviewer: And what would you hear and see?

CJ: I’d see like- I never saw anything, but I would hear things. Like, for example, like, I’d hear footsteps walking up and down the hallways. Then one time, I tried to use the restroom, but both doors- because our bathroom had 2 doors in it. One door was leading into the, um, like sink room where you kind of wash your hands, and then there was a separate door in that bathroom where the shower and toilet was. Both of those doors closed, like, they slammed shut and locked. I remember, I was thinking to myself like: oh, it must have been the wind. I kind of waited 5 minutes for somebody to come out, but I realized nobody was coming out, so I unlocked it with a penny. It kind of just made me think, like, these doors would never, like- yes, they could close to the wind, but they would never lock on their own. Both of those doors locked.

Interviewer: Yeah. That’s scary.

CJ: You know? And in the middle of the night, we’d hear like, footsteps running up and down the hallways when I was younger.

Context: The informant says a specific ghost has been following her family for years. Her family has a history of dabbling in activities that involve communicating with the dead, or have strong ties with spiritual guidance. Her family very strongly believe in ghosts, and have all shared some paranormal experiences while living together in her mom’s house in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Although her family hasn’t used an Ouija board in years, her mom still practices using Tarot cards for spiritual guidance, and frequently engages in other activities that involve speaking with spirits.

Analysis: Most people encounter an Ouija Board as children. It is a combination of ritual and social experience between participants who use the board. Its used as a ritual for spirit communication, and kind of represents human curiosity about the afterlife. A lot of Memorates emerge from this ritual specifically, and I have found myself recalling many other stories I’ve heard about a friend or friend of a friend’s encounter with an Ouija Board. I also think that its really interesting how individual and cultural experiences and backgrounds can effect how this ritual is viewed. Charlie’s personal experiences makes the idea of talking with spirits dangerous and taboo, while her mom frequently uses various methods to communicate with spirits regularly.

Zongzi

Age: 23

JL: “I’ve been Chinese for 23 years. Every year my family in the beginning of May wraps sticky rice in, I think, banana leaves? It’s either banana leaves or another type of leaf. My grandma did it, but now she’s too old, so my mom does all of it now. I help my mom wrap the rice. There’s a story behind it- Why we do this tradition. There was this married couple, and the man fell into a river, and there’s, like, fish inside. His wife made the wrapped sticky rice to feed the fish so that they wouldn’t eat her husband. So, that’s just kind of a fun story. Its sticky rice usually filled with cured meat and sausage and mushrooms and mung beans and peanuts. It’s like a comfort food. Mom freezes it. I have some in the freezer, and I ate it recently. It’s portable. It’s easy to heat up. It lasts a while.”

Interviewer: “who who told you that story?”

JL: My mom told me it multiple times. I heard it in Chinese school. It’s a very common Folktale slash Uh, story, cultural story. In Chinese culture, there’s a lot of meaning behind a lot of things. Every word has a story behind it. Every holiday has a story behind it. People speak in idioms with stories behind it. So that’s important.”

Context: The informant considers herself very close with her Chinese heritage. She is a first gen USC CS games student, and has noted that Chinese traditions rituals, beliefs and culture play a big part in her everyday life. She has a lot of experience cooking, specifically Northern Chinese food, and really enjoys this specific comfort meal.

Analysis: Because the story is rooted in reality, I think this would fall into the Legends category. This cultural Foodway tradition of making this specific meal on a certain day of the month is a big reinforcement of Chinese identity. The informant learned this through an institution, Chinese school, reenforcing the popularity and importance of this story in Chinese culture. The fact that most holidays and rituals are paired with a narrative or story shows how these traditions have adapted in order to be kept alive, even across generations, since the “origin” of this Legend and food started thousands of years ago. Looking at this through a functionalist lens, this story also solidifies this specific food item’s importance. Zongzi metaphorically saved this mans life, is also portable, easy to store, yummy to eat, and filled with nutrient heavy foods, reenforcing how nourishing it is for those who make and eat it.

Claddagh ring

Age: 22

“I am white, specifically mostly Irish and Italian, and this story particularly has to do with the west coast of Ireland. Basically, in the west coast of Ireland, and specifically in the city of Galway- I don’t even think tradition is quite the right word, but there is a symbolic gesture, that goes along with a like very specific object. it’s called a Claddagh ring. The Claddagh symbol is a heart being held on either side by 2 hands with a crown on top of it. I’m fairly sure that it originates from the city of Galway, if not, just the west coast of Ireland. Um, but it, historically symbolizes love, loyalty and friendship, not necessarily to like a crown of any sort. It doesn’t maintain that sort of, like, colonial affiliation with England in any sort of way, but that’s what the symbol, like, visually looks like. Traditionally within Irish culture and something that the Irish friends in my life also very much observe and believe in: You cannot give one to yourself- or you can’t buy one for yourself. It’s considered bad luck to purchase that for yourself. It has to be given to you. I think that that has some kind of cool relation to the way that the Irish language thinks about possession and ownership. There’s actually no way to say that something is yours in the Irish language. You just say that something is on you or with you or near you. I think that’s a pattern in a lot of different native languages too, that that idea of possession actually can’t be directly expressed in the language. I think that that’s kind of an interesting reflection in an important tradition. sometimes Claddaghs are worn as wedding rings, not all the time. There’s also a little bit of I think slightly more modern folklore or like tradition around wearing Claddagh rings, which is that, no matter what finger you’re wearing it on, if you flip the ring around so the heart is like facing away from you, that usually means that you’re single or like that your heart is open. Then if you flip it the other way, it means that you’re married or taken.”

Context: The informant studied abroad for a semester in a university in Galway, which is a city in the Republic of Ireland. They have Irish ancestry and wanted to study abroad in Ireland specifically to get more in touch with their Irish roots. They made many friends during their semester abroad and learned many folkloric traditions that their Irish friends taught them. They were gifted a Claddagh on their last day in Ireland by a group of friends before returning home to the United States, where they currently live and grew up.

Analysis: The ring itself is socially assigned meaning, and symbolizes social status such as being “taken” or “single”. I think the custom that it should not be bought for yourself is really interesting, and its association with bad luck reinforces social bonds. Like many other folklore, this piece of tradition and culture also comes with bad luck consequences if not followed correctly. Since it must be gifted, it gives more meaning when you receive one. The nonverbal communication of one’s relationship status using the heart symbol while wearing the ring creates an esoteric “in” group specifically Irish people who are familiar with the Claddagh ring tradition can recognize. Wearing this ring is also an indication of reinforcement of Irish culture or status.