Category Archives: Material

Yusheng

Nationality: Malaysian and Taiwanese/Singaporean
Age: 22 and 21
Occupation: Student

Description: It is the tossing of fish salad done during the New Years. People would circle around with chopsticks in hand. Then they would throw the salad as high as they are able, the higher meaning better fortune for the next year and having your wishes come true. The fish is the most important part due to the pun of the Chinese word for fish sounding like the word for abundance.

Background: It is something commonly done within her household. I was able to observe this ritual when we did it with a group of friends.

Procedure:

The salad is prepared with sauces, assorted vegetables and most importantly fish. The dish will then be presented on a table where people would gather. Each participant will be equipped with a pair of chopsticks. When the ritual begins, each participant will toss the contents as high as they can while saying their wishes. The duration of the ritual varies. At the end, the salad is consumed like a normal meal.

My thoughts:

In terms of cuisine, the salad is delicious. While the tossing does tend to make a mess, the sense of community and energy it brings is well worth it. There are many elements of this tradition that I believe are very neat. One thing is the origin of the tradition. It is mainly practiced by people who are ethnically Chinese living in Singapore or Malaysian. Most of the wordplay originated from the Chinese language, the fish signifying abundance is well known to any one who is Chinese. This tradition creates a branching and unique identity that separates itself from the traditions of the mainland and Taiwan. Food is commonly seen as something that brings people together; sharing food is often a bonding experience especially with home made cuisine. The community aspect is especially true for those in Malaysia, where ethnically Chinese people are part of the minority.

The SMU Beanie

Nationality: USA
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Dallas
Performance Date: 4/12/21
Primary Language: English

Main Piece

The “beanie” is a peculiar bit of Southern Methodist University (SMU) material lore that is “like a baseball cap, but it’s been shortened and it intentionally fits badly.” AB tells me about the beanie’s history at SMU:

The whole university’s freshman class, circa 1930s, used to wear them as a signifier that they were freshmen. They were required to wear them at all times when outside, and recommended to do so while inside. Over time, they were less and less used and enforced until it became just the football team and the band that kept the tradition (this was around the 1980s). By the 2000s, only the band was still enforcing the beanie tradition.

Nowadays, the band makes freshmen wear their beanies just at ceremonies, such as Homecoming. However, while not required to wear their beanies at all times, the freshmen are expected to carry it at all times: if an upperclassman asks them where their beanie is, and they don’t have it, they have to sing the Beanie Song:

  1. “Oh where, oh where has my beanie gone?
  2. Oh where, oh where could it be?
  3. With its big-ass blue bill and its diamond M on the back
  4. Oh where, oh where could it be?”

This song carries the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

Informant background

AB is a university student at Southern Methodist University (Dallas), originally from the California Bay Area. He is a member of the SMU band.

Performance context

AB described this to me during a phone call when I asked him to tell me about SMU traditions, rituals, and rumors.

Analysis

The beanie tradition seems to be a good example of an initiation ritual (or, in other terms, “hazing”) that serves to humiliate the new members so that they have to go through what all the other upper-classmen have been through, to officially be a part of the group. Also, it is notable that the tradition started with the entire school, but dwindled down to just the band over time, who are charged with carrying school spirit.

The Taboo of the Left Hand in Yemen

Nationality: China
Age: 75
Occupation: Arabic Interpreter
Residence: Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Performance Date: 4/20/2-21
Primary Language: Chinese

Backgrounds:

CC was born and grew up in Beijing. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Arabic, and then served as an interpreter for China’s medical assisstance team sent to Yemen. He stayed in Yemen for over 10 years, helping with the communication between the patients in Yemen and the medical workers from China. During his time in Yemen, he got to know many local Yemen people and was able to learn a lot about their culture from local people.

The informant shared this piece of folk practice during an interview via phone call.

The Main Piece:

In Yemen, most people eat with their hands instead of using forks or chopsticks, etc. One has to use the right hand and may not use the left hand to eat. Also, when handing stuff to other people or receiving things from other people, one must use the right hand. It is super offensive to use the left hand to pass objects.

CC gives the reason: after defecation, the people in Yemen use water, instead of toilet papers, to clean their anus. And this is always done with the left hand. So everyone in Yemen keeps it in mind that the left hand is for the “dirty business” and the right hand is used to interact with other people.

Analysis:

I believe this custom reveals that the people in Yemen draw a clear line between their “private” practices and their interaction with others. I personally think that even if someone uses the left hand to hand objects to another person, it wouldn’t be that much of a big deal because the hand is already washed. But the people in Yemen still make this distinction between the left and right hand. It shows their respect for other people’s feelings, as well as their dislike for faeces.

Another interesting things is that the custom makes everyone to clean their anus with the left hand, because normally people might have different preferences for the left or right hand. This case is an example how cultural norms can shape ones habits.

People Don’t Eat Shrimps in Yemen

Nationality: China
Age: 75
Occupation: Interpreter
Residence: Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Performance Date: 4/20/2021
Primary Language: Chinese



Backgrounds:

CC was born and grew up in Beijing. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Arabic, and then served as an interpreter for China’s medical assisstance team sent to Yemen. He stayed in Yemen for over 10 years, helping with the communication between the patients in Yemen and the medical workers from China. During his time in Yemen, he got to know many local Yemen people and was able to learn a lot about their culture from local people.

The informant shared this piece of folk practice during an interview via phone call.

The Main Piece:

CC asked: “Do you know that Arabic People (I personally think he’s mostly referring to people in Yemen) don’t eat shrimps? They say that shrimps are made of the dead skins and dirt from Alah’s feet, saying they’re dirty. When I was in Yemen, sometimes we go to the beach, we might see the beach full of shrimps, but nobody takes them or eat them. But we’re Chinese and we didn’t care, so we would collect a lot of the shrimps and we would eat them. But people know shrimps are delicious, so nowadays more and more young Muslims started eating shrimps, but the older ones I know, they don’t eat shrimps at all. “

Analysis:

I know there are some restrictions on what a Muslim can or cannot eat, but I didn’t know it would involve such common foods like shrimps. It is interesting that this habbit of not eating shrimps is linked to the creation of things: the people in Yemen give everything an origin in their creation myths, and shrimps, unfortunately, have a less popular one.

Hotpot Sauce in Sichuan

Nationality: China
Age: 19
Occupation: Rapper
Residence: Yibin, Sichuan, China
Performance Date: 4/26/2021
Primary Language: Chinese

Backgrounds:

LEX was born and grew up in Yibin, Sichuan, China. He is currently attending Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China.

The informant is a rapper, and so am I. We decided to go and eat hotpot together, and by the way also discuss future collaborations. During the meal, he made a classic Sichuan style hotpot sauce for me and shared the ingredients with me.

The Main Piece:

The Sichuan style hotpot sauce is called 油碟（you die), or oil dish. The ingredients are as follows:

mashed garlic，oyster sauce，sesame oil， coriander，green onion

When the food in the hotpot is cooked, we dip it into the You Die and then eat it.

Analysis:

LEX says all the liquid oil in the sauce can help to cool the hot meat that has just came out of the pot.

Personally, I noticed a significant difference between the hotpot sauce in Shenyang, where I came from, and in Sichuan. In Shenyang, we use sesame butter, which is more thick, with a lot of sugar, making it super sweet. But the Sichuan style You Die has no sugar in it. I think it is because most Sichuan People are accustomed to the super spicy food in the hotpot, because Sichuan food is famous for being super spicy. They grow up eating it and got used to it. But we people from the north are less accustomed to the spicy taste. So, we need sweet suger to offset the spicy flavor.

I also find that the Sichuan style hotpot sauce goes extremely well with animal organs, while the northern sesame butter goes better with meat. The difference in hotpot sauces reveal the different food preferences between northern and southern people in China