Category Archives: Festival

All Saints Day

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/28
Primary Language: English

Background: The informant is my roommate and a fellow student at USC. She grew up in Southern California and attended a private Catholic school until she began high school.

Informant: I don’t know if this is a thing like…anywhere else, but at least at my school you’d dress up as a different saint on this day…it was called All Saints Day. Like it was Halloween but with saints instead of like monsters or whatever and we’d go to mass and we’d just all march around and you’d kind of get into character as your saint like you could be Mother Teresa or something.

Me: Was this a tradition at your school…like did teachers tell you to do it?

Informant: Yeah it was like an official day…I think it was just cute because it was like tiny kids dressed as these like adult saints but I don’t know if it was religiously significant.

Context: This was told to me during a recorded in-person interview. Upon further research, the informant later told me that it was in fact celebrated by many Christians outside of her school, and it was meant to signify that anyone who trusts in God is themselves a saint.

Yuán Xiāo Jié (Chinese Lantern Festival)

Nationality: Chinese/American
Age: 49
Occupation: Software Engineer
Performance Date: 4/29/2022
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Background: The informant is my mother, who was born and raised in China but immigrated to the US after receiving her undergraduate degree. She grew up on a small island off the coast of China.

A: yuán xiāo jié is for tuan yuan – which means that um…family gets together for this celebration

We make round rice cakes called yuán xiāo filled with sweet black sesame and we eat them, and different colorful cute animals or flower shaped lights using wood or bamboo or paper and drawings on them, sometimes we make characters even. The…government, or community…would hang these very big lanterns in the streets, for a lantern festival we go to where riddles are written and hang under the lantern, and when you solved the riddle you could keep the light. People could buy these lanterns or make it themselves, and they had a candle inside of them so they could be lit.

Me: When is yuán xiāo jié celebrated?

A: It’s on….I think it’s on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, it’s the day when the moon is the roundest. The shape of the yuánxiāo is modeled after the shape of the round white moon. 

Me: How did you learn about this festival?

A: No one needs to tell you about it exactly, everyone just knows. It was just something that everybody did since I was very young. All the kids had lights, and the kids always competed over who had the prettiest lantern. Once when I was young I got a lotus flower lantern and I thought it was so beautiful…I was very proud. I would happily walk around with the adults and look at the beautiful lights.

Me: What does it celebrate?

A: It’s about spending time and enjoying time with your family. Families walk around the streets with the lanterns and can all enjoy their time together as well as when they get together and eat the rice ball. We celebrate togetherness and the happiness of the family. It’s part of the new year traditions.

Context: This was told to me over a recorded call.

Dia de Los Muertos

Informant information
Nationality: Afro-Latina American  
Occupation: Teacher 
Residence: California
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 9, 2022
Primary Language: English 
Other Language(s): Spanish

Background
My informant is my co-worker who is Afro-Latina and while sitting at the front desk, we started talking about Dia de Los Muertos.

Performance 
X-  Whatever you put on your altar is supposed to– it’s like– so on your altar, you’re putting, ideally, you’re putting objects and food and bread that were like favorite dishes from the person who died, so you’re celebrating the person who died and usually celebrate on the first and second. The first I believe is for the children or that’s the second, the second is children,  the first for the adults, and what happens is on the first, the veil comes down, and that allows for the souls to pass back onto the land of the living and they are supposed to come and see the altar and eat the food and drink the liquor and you just celebrate with your family members or whoever and that celebration in the evening. And cultures go– go down to the graveyard and go build their alters around the gravestone then they go back to their houses and they eat all the food and they celebrate the life of the person who passed because day of the dead isn’t about mourning, it’s about celebrating them and so you’ll put their photos of who died and it’s it’s it’s really just like a celebration of living like a grand party. 

Thoughts
I didn’t know much about Dia de Los Muertos before having this conversation with X, but I learned a lot in understanding that it is not a day of mourning but of celebration and I think that’s really beautiful.

New Year’s Eve Tradition: Run Outside

Informant: My informant is a current sophomore at the University of Southern California. Her parents are from Jalisco, Mexico. However, she grew up in Denver, Colorado. 

Context: The following is an excerpt of the informant and their description of their New Year’s Eve traditions. These customs are performed only during New Year’s Eve. 

Main Piece/Text: My family and I are very superstitious people. In fact, we are so superstitious that when it comes to New Year’s Eve, we do all kinds of funny and strange practices. For example, my sister loves traveling, and she always wants to travel more. Therefore, in hope for this wish to come true what she does every single year is that she runs outside with her suitcase, in hopes of the new year bringing her travel. And then I’ve also seen it with people who want to have kids who like are hoping to get pregnant. They’ll walk out with a baby stroller or like a diaper bag, something that symbolizes. what they want in upcoming New Years. 

Analysis: I think these rituals are interesting. I myself have heard from all of them in TV. In fact, they have all been encouraged be performed on TV! These performances demonstrate/express excitement for the year to come. In addition, it also reflects a future oriented perspective and a strong determination. There are these ideas of faith vs. hope. How much can one control their destiny? The fact that the family runs while doing these performances demonstrates everyone desire to move forward.

Ghost Month

Nationality: Taiwanese/Singaporean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student

Description: A month dedicated to ghosts as they come to the land of the living and wander the streets. The ghosts would stay starting from the first day of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar. During this time, people would leave food and other object offerings to the hungry ghosts.

Background: As the informant lived in Taiwan, the ghosts month traditions are commonly seen every year.

Transcript:

BL: So there is a month we do in Taiwan, it’s hard to miss. It’s called the month of ghosts or something like that. It’s the month when ghosts come out, so people have to leave stuff outside their house to give the ghosts. So you see stuff like food or clothes and stuff. Sometimes people would also put baby shoes outside. It kind of has a creepy vibe when it’s the middle of the night and there is all this stuff outside people’s doors.

Me: When is the month?

BL: It follows the Lunar calendar so it starts at around the first day of the seventh month. People also put incense and stuff like that too.

My thoughts:

The first thing I thought of were other holidays that celebrate the dead. Halloween and Dias de los Muertos come to mind. As the dead, such as ancestors and dead family members, are very prevalent throughout many Asian traditions, it isn’t shocking to see that Taiwan has an entire month dedicated to appeasing the ghosts. Personally, I hope that ghosts exist as it shows that we will have an afterlife. Though the food and offerings obviously don’t go to the ghosts, I think it is the thought that counts. It’s a tradition that makes people remember those who have passed away.