Category Archives: Earth cycle

Seasonal and celetial based

Chinese New Year Superstitions

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: CT
Performance Date: 3/20/13
Primary Language: English
Language: None

“On Chinese New Year, you’re not supposed to use scissors or knives cause you’re cutting away your good luck on Chinese New Years. Also, on Chinese New Year, little kids are supposed to wear new clothes because, supposedly, there’s a monster that takes the little kids away, so if you wear the new clothes it’s like the monster can’t recognize you.”

My informant learned these beliefs from her parents when she was little, when once she got curious and asked why there were special rules that her and her sisters had to follow on Chinese New Year. Her family continues to practice these rules today, even though her siblings are all grown. When asked why the clothes rule is practiced, in particular because the belief states it only applies to children, my informant replies, “I dunno…Really, it’s an excuse to wear new clothes”.

 

Analysis:

My frame of reference for New Years’ folk beliefs is limited to American ideas of the New Year celebration, including champaign, and kissing a loved one. Both of these beliefs act as forms of homeopathic magic, drinking champaign representing wealth that will be found in the New Year, and kissing a loved one representing a romance that will continue or grow in the New Year. The scissor prohibition found in my informant’s Chinese New Year beliefs is similar, though has an opposite mindset: instead of doing something that will inspire good luck in the New Year, one must avoid doing something that will bring misfortune in the New Year. Both sets of beliefs rely on actions of symbolic significance, for these actions do not enact their effects in a literal sense (one cannot literally cut luck away, for example, for even luck is an abstraction that cannot be recognized in the physical world). Nevertheless, traditions such as these stick with people because they provide hope and stability for the future, and there is comfort in knowing that tangible actions one can take in the present will have some effect (even imaginary) on the future.

As for the monster that steals little kids away, the belief intrigues me because often belief in monsters is instilled in children in order to enforce some kind of discipline (scaring children into behaving). This monster, however, seems to have no obvious ties to discipline, only a justification for wearing new clothes on this specific day. Perhaps this could be a way for parents to get their children they did not necessarily want to wear, in which case the monster does become a disciplining threat, though my informant’s approving tone did not suggest that happened with her family. Maybe it is just an excuse to wear new clothes in the new year, like my informant suggested.

Persian New Year

Nationality: Iranian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/22/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

In the following my informant recounts how he celebrates Persian New Year:

This other Persian tradition that I’m gonna describe has to do with Persian New Year, or, Norus “new day” as it’s said in Farsi. Persian New Year occurs on the first day of Spring, and there’s a lot of symbolism in that: Spring is the beginning of life, the flowers come to bloom, the air becomes filled with perfume, there is, um, an incoming of life into the world, and that’s why it’s considered the beginning of the year. Spiritually also in Islamic, Iranian tradition, religion is considered the coming of life and springtime, but that’s only somewhat related. Anyways, during this period of Norus, this is very similar to Christmas in a way where, there’s a gift giving and families come together, um, there’s many… it’s usually a very outdoorsy thing where you do pick-nicks and if it’s like Los Angeles where’s there’s a large Persian population, there will be crowds of thousands that come to a park and come and commemorate Norus, or new year together. The Christmas tree for Persians is the Haft sin, which means seven “s”. Sin is the letter S in farsi, and this haft sin is, usually you lay out a rug, or on a table you set out 7 objects that begin with  the letter S in Farsi, and each have a symbolism having to do with the new year. So you would put the seib, the apple which is, you know, health, and the sedecay which is vinegar  which is a symbol of fertility, secay which is, um, a coin and is a symbol of wealth, um, many similar things, so seven things that begin with the letter s. And I  don’t know them in farsi, but there are goldfish on the table, there are, uh, there’s like a sweet sugary paste, there’s garlic I believe, there’ a bed of wheat grass that the families grow themselves, there’s painted eggs, all these things have a symbolic nature to them and they’re presented on a table, and It becomes a very, there’s uh, the hyacinth flower, they all have a symbolism, and it becomes the center of a house and a place which is the representative of the holidays.

My informant tells me he has celebrated Persian New Year every since childhood, and has observed these celebrations firsthand several times, since, for him, it is a major celebration. He talked about how even in Los Angeles, Persian tradition is strong, and the preservation of so many specific customs is important for the overall preservation of the holiday.

First Person To Enter The House On New Years

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 46
Occupation: Mother
Residence: Bay Area
Performance Date: February 2011
Primary Language: Vietnamese

In order to honor Lunar New Year, my mother reminded me to not be the first person to enter the house on the first day of celebration. In fact, no members of your immediate family should be the first person to enter the home or else it may bring a year of misfortune. My mother told me that it should be a person from your extended family to be the first one to enter your home for Lunar New Year. That way they can dispel any negative effects of being the first person to enter your home in the new year.

I recall a year when my older brother was the first person to enter our house during Lunar New Year. I do not remember that year being awfully unfortunate, so I’m a little skeptical about the powers of this rule.

 

Swedish Myth: The Witches’ Pilgrimage

Nationality: Swedish and English
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 22, 2013
Primary Language: English

Contextual Data: I asked my friend if she had any stories or myths from when she was younger that she wouldn’t mind sharing with me. She mentioned that she was half Swedish, and so there were a lot of Swedish myths and legends that she had heard growing up and which she encountered whenever she went to Sweden. She mentioned one particular tradition that took place around Easter time, and I asked her to tell me more about it. The following is an exact transcript of her response.

Informant: “Okay. Well, I don’t know if it’s…It’s directly related to Easter, but it’s around Easter time, and I’m not really sure where—where it comes from, but my family lives, like really far in the north…So I remember when I was visiting there—I mean, I’ve been several times, but once I was in Sweden around the time of this holiday. And I don’t really remember what the holiday is called, but, um… It’s at the very least a northern Sweden thing—could be like a Swedish thing entirely. But, um, basically they have this legend that on the certain day of the year—it’s around Easter—all of the, um, witches in Sweden will fly to this like mountain in the north. And it’s called—I think it’s called Blue Mountain, but I’m not entirely sure, but it’s kind of like this witch pilgrimage that happens. And all of the witches, like, fly—like, you know, you could see, like, witches in the air going on, like, their migration to their…yearly convention at Blue Mountain. I don’t really know [Laughs]. So, um, I was really little and I woke up, and my parents woke me up and they were like, ‘[Name], [Name], wake up!’ And this woman walked into the cabin that we were staying in, and she was like all hunched over and she had these like, warts on her face [Gestures with hands to face] and she was missing teeth and she had like this shawl wrapped around her head. And she came over and she started, you know, kind of cackling at us, um, and gave me a bunch of, like, little chocolate covered eggs and, like, pinched my cheeks, and was generally kind of creepy [Laughs]. And then she left, and my parents were like, ‘Wow, [Name],’ um… ‘That’s one of the witches going to Blue Mountain.’ And I thought it was the coolest thing. Um… It actually turned out to be one of my Swedish family members whose name is Ann, and she just dressed up like, really well, and painted this, um, black stuff on her teeth so it would like she didn’t have—like she was missing some. But I think it’s something they kind of do for the kids up there, um, and I don’t know where it comes from. Maybe it’s like a throwback to sort of the pre-Christian times in Scandinavia. Um, but it coincides with Easter.”

Me: “So do you think it’s a celebration for the children? Or do you think there’s some other symbolic significance to it?”

Informant: “I think maybe at one point there was a greater symbolic significance—like sort of with Halloween, you know, you have…Like it used to not be necessarily about like, candy and kids running around dressed up, but it became a holiday that maybe was rooted—what was it, like  ‘sowin’ or ‘sowane’ or something, like that was the Pagan holiday. And then that became like, All Hallows’ Eve and then that became Halloween, and it sort of has been deconstructed to something that’s entertaining for kids because they can still kind of harness that, like, sense of magic that I think adults have kind of put out of their minds. Um, so I think at one point it was maybe more serious than it is, but I don’t know for sure ‘cause I have limited experience with it, but I think now, it’s definitely something that’s for, like, the children. It’s almost kind of like Halloween around Easter. You know, like a witch shows up and gives you candy.”

– End Transcript – 

My friend did a fairly thorough job of explaining the tradition and why it continues to exist — that it may have had a greater significance once upon a time (perhaps coming from pagan traditions or pagan mythology), but that nowadays, it is something that is sustained because of its appeal to children.

 

Swedish Spring Celebration

Nationality: Swedish
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/29/13
Primary Language: Swedish
Language: English

Swedish Maypole

So every year we have what’s called “midsummer”—its in June every year. And we have a maypole, which we dress with flowers and all this, like, nice stuff. A maypole is supposed to be a sign for a woman and man. It’s like a big pole… it’s like a cross almost. And there’s this special song that we sing every year, and everyone has em…those things on their heads. What do you call them? Flower wreaths? Yes, flower wreaths. Everyone has flower wreaths on their heads. The song is called “little frogs”. So we have the maypole and there is singing and jumping, and the sounds we make sound like frogs.

 

This Swedish ritual is a celebration of the arrival of spring. The maypole—a pole that bears symbols for both masculinity and femininity—represents the fertility and life that is associated with spring. When I asked why the frog played such an important role in the celebration, Stina replied that the frog jumps, and the jumping is supposed to represent the leap (or the “spring”) from winter to a time of blossom and growth.

 

If speaking in Freudian terms, the pole itself could very well symbolize the phallus and its ability to disseminate its seed and be a catalyst of birth and growth. The flowers could represent the innocence that will soon be taken away once male and female unite.

 

In the United States I have never heard of any celebrations of spring or any particular season in and of itself. Toward the end of the winter we usually keep an eye out for the ground hog that “springs” out of his whole to tell us how much longer winter will drag on. However, there exists no celebration of the spring’s arrival.