Chinese Characters (Simplified): 中秋节 Chinese Characters (Traditional): 中秋節 Romanization: zhōngqiūjiě Transliteration: Middle – Autumn – Holiday Free Translation: Mid-Autumn Festival
Text + Context:
Q: Was there a point as a kid where you first started celebrating or learned about it?
A: Oh ever since I can remember things, it’s always every year that way. We go to relatives homes they come to our home we eat mooncake. And in China there are many different type of mooncake, like made by fresh ground pork, and uh and you know they have different style, cantonese style, SuShe I don’t know how they call in English, is basically the uh the place near Shanghai they have some kind of special SuZhou is the city close to Shanghai, small one. They have a particular way to make mooncake.
Q: Would you usually eat a particular type of mooncake? Is there a particular one in Shanghai?
A: We have both, either they call sushe guangshe, I mean it’s Shanghai so they have everything. shushe is a little less expensive, guangshe is a little cheaper. But when people come to our home, as guests, they bring a gift? Usually they bring Guangshe gift, just because it’s uh it looks a little nicer and costs a little bit more. But I remember my uncle, because uh, come to our home, since our mom is his older sister. He would always come and um bring gifts um bring moon cake. bring mooncakes. And my aunt, my mom’s older sister, 3 sons they would go to they would bring the mooncake to my mom. Up to now, even last year they give to bring the mooncake.
Q: Is it expected to bring mooncakes to relatives, and is it older relatives?
A: It’s uh kind of expected if you go to relatives you always bring some small gift, but if it’s moon cake I mean mid fall festival, then it’s just, people just naturally bring mooncake as a gift.
A: I have never done that because I left the country very early. I just never got the chance to do that.
Context of performance: collected from an in-person conversation.
Personal Thoughts:
In Chinese culture, it’s expected for a guest to always bring a small gift when they visit. In turn, it’s expected for a host to play some 客气 (kèqì, literally means polite), which is a game of the host pseudo refusing the gift by calling the guest too generous. It’s interesting that for this particular day about reuniting with relatives, people just tend to bring mooncakes. For one thing, 中秋节 is always on the Harvest Moon, so being called a mooncake makes sense. In addition, the moon has a particular meaning linked with reunion. Overall, it’s fascinating to see a specific food with a specific intention for a specific festival.
Chinese Characters (Simplified): 中秋节 Chinese Characters (Traditional): 中秋節 Romanization: zhōngqiūjiě Transliteration: Middle – Autumn – Holiday Free Translation: Mid-Autumn Festival
Text:
Me: 中秋节的时候，你做什么？(What do you do during Mid-Autumn Festival?)
Informant: 我去买中秋月饼 (I go to buy Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncakes)，吃中秋月饼 (eat them)，然后晚上来我就出去看bright moon (and then in the evening I go out to see the bright moon)。然后了(after that)， 我打电话给我的爸爸因为中秋节就是 (I call my dad because Mid-Autumn Festival is) it’s a rounded moon so want to means kind of uh united with your relatives, your parents.
So at the time, sometime, make me a little homesick. Sometime I also go to a party like in your community. you know Chinese association sometime in the past before COVID will have uh uh uh mid-fall festival party, potluck. And then, there are, they distribute like uh moon cake.
Me: 你小时候 (When you were younger)，like, did you do other things or different things when you were at home with your family?
Informant: Back at home, uh so in you know in Shanghai, uhhh so the uh we will go visit relatives. So they come to our home bring a box of moon cake and some other stuff and we go to their home and brought a box of moon cake so you kind of like visit each other it’s a time, kind of connect to each other.
Me: You mentioned, like, how, like the full moon means like connecting to other people and stuff like that. Could you tell me more about that?
Informant: So full moon, in Chinese means 圆yuǎn . So Chinese has a phrase called tuányuǎn团圆. it means united [means reunion via Google Translate], so uh so the moon is rounded right, so pronounced yuǎn [圆] so people get together all the people get together is called tuǎnyuǎn is the same yuǎn. so so so so it’s the time uh people look at the moon and uh miss their family, and miss the people that already passed, their ancestors or something. And some people will think their hometown if they’re not at home. Just a lot of when we enjoy the beautiful moon, celebrate it, is also the time to connected as a family, gather together tuǎnyuǎn means gather together. So it would be good if we could, on that day, all be together. Sometime we cannot, then we look at the moon and think oh we all share the same moon, and we kind of like, breathing (??) to each other through the bright moon.
Context:
Me: Was there a point as a kid where you first started celebrating or learned about it?
Informant: Oh ever since I can remember things, it’s always every year that way.
Me: Did they ever try to kill ZhongQiuJie during Communism?
Informant: Oh no no no, that’s a very tradition holiday for the people. So, Chinese government actually is uh support that. That’s a good uh you know way to connect the people, and Chinese is pretty good in family, right. So, you know, they didn’t.
Me: What’s the significance of ZhongQiuJie to you?
Informant: Ummm I’m more connected to, think about my mom, and think about you guys, when you guys when you were not home. And I just feel like oh we all look at the same moon, and we are all connected that way. It’s that time that I will sit there and look at the moon and also I take pictures y’know. I like bright moon, it’s beautiful, it’s kind of like I want to go out take pictures. And I also just you know think the people close to me. You know, my mom, my dad, you guys
Context of Performance: Collected from an in-person conversation.
Personal Thoughts:
To me, ZhongQiuJie was always just an excuse to eat mooncakes. However, it’s not surprising to hear that this festival is about family. China is incredibly old, and for the longest time people did not have much physical mobility. People would stay in a particular place for centuries. In addition, add Confucianism’s intense focus on family, and you have a society devoted to family. It is interesting, however, to learn that this festival has a ton of linguistic ties. Why is the character for round in reunion? Why did people in the past see the moon and think “oh that’s round”?
Informant: Wait this is like famous, hang on. It’s like you’re not supposed to sweep during Chinese New Year if you don’t want to sweep the luck out of the house cleaning out the house symbolizes wait wait wait yeah sweeping out the house should be avoided during the first 3 days because good luck would be swept out.
Context:
Context of Performance: collected from an in-person conversation.
Informant: so it’s like a fun thing for Chinese New Year that I understand and don’t have to speak Chinese for it AND I get to like do it.
The informant also commented that she learned about it from her mom. Her family has been not sweeping during Chinese New Year since she was a kid (at least 10 years).
Personal Thoughts:
There’s a lot of traditions done during Chinese New Year that are associated with fortune and wealth. However, most that I’ve heard are things to do to scare off bad luck (such as lighting fireworks) as opposed to things not to do to keep good luck. This tradition is particularly interesting to me because I’ve associated Chinese New Year with Spring Cleaning time and/or a reset.
(above image is taken from the informant’s Instagram with their consent. It was posted February 4, 2018)
Note: The tradition was performed by the 18 year old informant (notated I), while the further explanation was supplied by her mother (notated M).
Performance: This tradition was performed on February 4, 2022 by the 18 year old informant. Further information was collected over a phone call March 4, 2022.
Transcript of the informant explaining the performance:
[Note: the informant didn’t really explain the tradition in detail because it was something I already knew about. In essence it’s the balancing of eggs on the 4th or 5th day of Chinese New Year, however the informant does it every February 4th for convenience. Further detail can be found in the transcript from my conversation with the informant’s mother.]
I: um like, and I only like, we never like did it every year until a couple years ago, but like it was a long time ago since we were still living in that old house, um it’s like a fun good luck thing, and I get to do a fun thing for Chinese New Year that I understand and don’t have to speak Chinese for it AND I get to, it’s always been like a fun thing to include other people on. Because, like, I post on Instagram and half the people are like oh my god it’s f***ing egg day and the other half are like what is happening, what is egg day, why is everybody in on this?
And then, y’know, when I came here [Australia], two people were like what the f*** are you doing? and I was like balancing eggs do you want to balance eggs? and they were like kind of. So, I don’t know, it’s also something you can use to connect with people. And be like “this is a fun culture thing.” I don’t know, I just enjoy it. It’s a fun way to connect with my culture. But like, in a very, un-serious way.
And it’s not like a *super important cultural practice*, y’know? So, it really is like anybody can do it.
Transcript of the informant’s mother explaining additional information about the tradition:
Me: What is the name of the tradition, and what’s its origin?
M: Origin, Chinese. The name is call 立春 (Lìchūn)
M: Spring time (春Chūn) is in the middle. Li (Lì立) is like you stand straight. that’s called li.
[FROM LATER IN THE TRANSCRIPT]
M: I don’t think this is from like, from China. I think China people don’t do that though I don’t know why. This is more like Taiwan people do that, Hong Kong, of course Malaysia, right. Singapore. I don’t know, I kind of shocked when I asked my neighbor, she’s from Shanghai. She said she never did it. Maybe is not from China, I don’t know, but Hainam, the Hainamese do that.
What is the origin or meaning behind this tradition?
W: So we do that on…the the the meaning behind doing this is just to start, it means that the new, the spring day is coming. Is a new day, so for a new year, so that’s why Chinese doing it on the Lunar calendar New Year, um usually count it like fifth days, fourth or 5th days after the Chinese New Year, count it, start from the first day. And, lichun leans that in the old time, all the farmer right? So when it’s time to plant, that is when they do this, is called lichun. Lichun is just to like, to tell that it’s time to plant and that it’s spring time.
so this standing the eggs thing is just a…they believe the Earth is tilted on that particular day, that is straight. straight down like this that means it balance on both sides right. And somehow, I don’t know when it started, that they tested it… you can actually balance, because egg is the only thing that is not, you know, that is impossible to stand an egg. but on that day, actually they tried it, it worked, so it’s proof that the Earth is actually really straight and with the strong gravity. So we do that, then of course why they say do that is because to bring good luck in, into your house, prosperities. so that’s why Chinese do that during Chinese New Year, and then during Chinese New Year you want to bring good luck, you want to bring money into your house, so doing that means that, so you stand an egg, means that if it happens, if you’re successfully, you can do it, means that you have good luck. Then you let it stand in your house. I always let it stand for 15 days because Chinese New Year is 15 days so-
I: It means I have great luck.
M: So Chinese New year is always 15 days, right? And so a lot of celebration going on the 7 day, the 15 days, it depends on what you origin from. So like you’re Hawkin you do it differently, if you are Hainamese you do it differently, so all of it if you are different province you have different belief.
Personal Thoughts:
This tradition is particularly fascinating to me, because it displays an awareness that the Earth is not perfectly upright. While this tradition fulfills typical traits of many Chinese New Year traditions – an association with good fortune, it also differs greatly by balancing eggs. While the informant’s mother said that they balance eggs on this particular day because eggs are not perfectly round (and are difficult to balance), I also wonder if it’s because eggs are supposed to be a potential reflection of the world balancing on this particular day. Many ideas of world eggs are discussed in Venetia Newall’s Easter Eggs. While none of them particularly match Egg Day, they share an idea of an egg as something greater than just an egg.
Additional Notes: For additional discussions of Eggs and their significance to folklore, go to: Newall, Venetia. “Easter Eggs.” In The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 80, No. 315. (Jan. – Mar., 1967), pp. 3-32.
Background information/context of performance: DC is a 21-year-old student at University of Southern California, Santa Cruz. She grew up in Los Angeles and Alameda, CA, but is currently living in an apartment in Santa Cruz. Now that we’re back on campus, DC has been able to engage much more with UCSC culture and traditions.
DC: First Rain is another tradition that Santa Cruz has, but I think it’s the same for a lot of colleges. It still hasn’t happened this year though (laughs). Because it hasn’t even rained. It’s pretty sad, um, but I guess we still have a few weeks for it to happen.
Me: If there had been a first rain at UCSC this year, what would the tradition look like?
DC: It rains a lot in Santa Cruz usually. But a lot of students like to exercise by walking and running around campus, so maybe this came from that? I don’t know. But basically, like, whenever it rains on campus for the first time during the school year, everyone will run through campus naked. I think everyone runs from somewhere to Porter College, and the run ends there.
Me: Do you know anyone who has been able to participate in First Rain? Is that how you now about it?
DC: Yeah, I think I know a couple underclassmen friends who have? I’m not really sure. I think people mostly just know about it because it’s a big Santa Cruz thing. It just fits with the whole, like, hippie kinda reputation the college has. I remember Kayla is the one who told me about it in high school, when I decided to go here. Maybe they knew from their friends who went there in past years too.
Me: It might be too late for a First Rain this year, but would you do it next year?
DC: (laughs) Um…maybe! If my friends did it with me then I feel like it would be funny. And I’ll be a senior so I may as well since it’s my last chance. But I’m not, like, in a rush to do it. I think it’s funny though, I would definitely wanna see one before I graduate.
I have heard of this tradition occurring at multiple universities, but UCSC definitely has a culture that I feel like aligns with it tradition the most. The college is known to have a very free-spirited and artsy student body, so learning about their First Rain tradition was a fun way to see how that reputation is kept up. I also think it was very interesting to learn that First Rain has become less accessible due to the lack of rain in California, despite the fact that it was established when it rained very often during the Fall and Winter months in Santa Cruz. Hearing about this made me think about the relationship between climate change and longstanding folklore and traditions – if something like UCSC’s First Rain can no longer occur annually because the environment is much dryer than it used to be, I can only imagine how other cultural practices and traditions throughout the world have changed/become obsolete as a result of climate change as well.
