Category Archives: Festival

Summer Solstice, Santa Barbara

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/13
Primary Language: English

Informant: “We have a Summer Solstice parade which is pretty wild too, but that doesn’t have anything to do with Fiesta. That’s a weird parade. I can’t even… It’s literally– the point of it is to be as weird as you physically, possibly can. There are people in, like, snow globes and they have, like, crazy make-up on. And they’re like, there’s, like, pregnant women doing, like, belly dancing.”

Lavelle: “So it’s like all the weird people come out–”

Informant: “Oh! It’s, like, people, it’s just, like, people who are like, ‘I’m usually a normal person, but I want my freak flag to fly.’ I don’t understand it but, Summer Solstice is the weirdest day in Santa Barbara. Like fiesta it’s, like, everyone’s drunk and blah lah lah… but that’s normal…”

Lavelle: “Where does summer solstice happen?:

Informant: “Uh, State Street. It all happens on State Street. It is the most bizarre parade and just… People make these floats that are, like, so strange and you’re just watching it and you’re like, ‘what drugs are you on?’ Like I imagine people would have a great time if they smoked some weed. It’s trippy, dude.

My informant is a native of Santa Barbara, California. He has never been very involved in the Summer Solstice celebration, but is aware of it’s existence. He seems wary of the population it draws into the town.

Girl in the Moon / Mid-Autumn Festival

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 50
Occupation: QA Manager at DirecTV
Residence: Torrance, California
Performance Date: 4/26/2013
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

“The earth was once surrounded by ten suns, and the earth was scorching hot, so people cannot survive—almost dying.  So this guy—he’s really good at archery—his name is Hao Ye, successfully shot down nine suns, so he becomes the king to rule China.  However, he grew to be a very bad, uh, dictator, so people hated him, but they could not do anything about it.  And then, he somehow also found the elixir of life, so he wants to become immortal.  But he has a very beautiful wife—her name is, uh, Chang Er—and she thinks that that will be disastrous for the Chinese people if he becomes, uh, immortal.  So she stole the elixir of life, and she drank it herself.  And then after she drank it, she found herself floating—started getting really, really light—and she float, and float, and float to the moon.  So if there’s a really full moon during autumn, actually you see a woman on the moon.  That’s the story.”

The story of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is a well-known Chinese tale that is taught in Chinese schools around the time of the Mid-Autumn Festival.  My informant is my mother who had heard this story as a little girl growing up in Hong Kong.  She says that it was told to explain the origins of not only the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, but also to explain to children why an image of a woman seems to appear on the surface of the moon.  When I asked my mother why there is a festival at all, she told me that it was to celebrate the fall harvest which happens to occur around when the moon is closest to the earth.  My mother feels that this story is important in explaining why the moon looks the way it does, but also because it teaches valuable lessons in standing up for what is right.  Chang Er is the heroine and should be a model for selflessness because she sacrifices herself for the good of all of China.  Though the story is not necessarily encouraging everyone to be a martyr, it does encourage that people not only understand the difference between right and wrong, but also care about that distinction enough to always fight for what is right.

On this, I do agree with my mother.  However, there is also another moral issue in consideration that takes place in the story: humility.  The story, in fact, contrasts the two main characters: the archer Hao Ye and the heroine Chang Er.  Hao Ye had also acted on his moral instincts to save the people of China from burning up from the heat of the ten suns by shooting down nine of them.  But rather than becoming a humble servant of the people, he raised himself to a position of ultimate power out of pride.  Chang Er, on the other hand, made the greatest sacrifice for her people which landed her on the moon.  The lesson is that it is not enough to be a hero if you are prideful; the best kinds of heroes are those who will do anything for the good of others with humility.  I think that there is some significance in the fact that the collective “damsel in distress” is the people of China.  This story represents the mindset of a country that is concerned primarily with the welfare of its people—the story probably originated from a commoner who felt the oppression of a large dictatorship and longed for a hero or heroine to swoop in and save the day.

Dragon Boat Festival / Duan Wu Jie (端午節)

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student; Intern at Process Green
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/17/2013
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English, French

“Duan Wu Jie (端午節) is a Chinese holiday that is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of every year.  It is an official Chinese holiday.  What you do is eat zongzi (粽子) which is a type of Chinese delicacy, uh, it’s sort of a, um, dim sum, but not really a dim sum.  It’s just a cuisine.  You wrap rice—a special type of rice, those sticky rice—um, inside a leaf and steam it or poach it in water.  It has a lot of flavors and a lot of different types of fillings.  Once you put the meats and flavors and fillings inside the marinated rice, you wrap it in the leaves, tie it with string, and cook it.  The reason behind eating it has to go with a story behind it:

“There used to be a Chinese politician back then—it’s a long time ago—and, um, he was very loyal to his country.  He warned his country and his king about what he should do before something goes wrong.  He knew something was wrong and that the other country would invade them, but the king wouldn’t listen to his advice, uh, so the tragic happened: people came and invaded the entire country.  He was very disappointed and very saddened, but he was still very loyal to his country.  So he committed suicide in the pond.  And the people found out on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.  And the people loved that politician and wanted to commemorate his death—they threw the, uh, zongzi inside the water so that the fish would not eat his body but eat the food instead.  So that tradition of eating zongzi came from that.  Although it was meant for fish originally, we eat it still.

“This festival is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival.  So people race dragon boats.  Um, apparently that day is also the day when the sun and dragon come out at the same time or something, and it’s a symbol of masculinity, I guess, to race dragon boats.”

Q: “I have also heard another version where the reason the dragon boats are raced is to go out and find this war hero/politician guy.  Have you heard of this version?”

A: “I’m pretty sure that is probably another version of the story.  I’m pretty sure they are still searching for his body, and they haven’t found it yet.”

Q: “And what else do you do on this day?”

A: “Well, it’s a public holiday so you kinda stay with your family and do something fun like go out and watch a film.”

Q: “So it’s mainly just the families that congregate together?  Or does the whole community get together and perform?”

A: “If you break it down, it’s more family-oriented.  Everybody has no work—you don’t have to go to work that day—so families come together, you know?  It’s supposed to be a national thing, but some people celebrate it, some people don’t.  It’s not a mandatory thing.  In our family, we just eat the zongzi that our grandmother made.  We don’t really celebrate, but it’s more of a family tradition now.  There’s special TV programs on that day—a lot of people singing, but I don’t think there’s any particular song that I know of that reflects that particular day.”

Q: “What about preparation?  Is there a lot of preparation for this day?”

A: “Of course.  The food—at least my grandmother started preparing a few weeks beforehand.  Actually, we started eating a few weeks before that day.”

Q: “Who usually is involved in preparation?  Is it mainly the women?  Or does the whole family get involved?”

A: “Yeah, it used to be like that, but now more and more people buy it from the store.  Which is very sad because the women in metropolitan areas are too lazy to learn and carry on the tradition.  Including my mom.  She complains a lot about how she doesn’t have time—actually, she says it’s too hard.”

Q: “Then it is mainly the women?”

A: “I guess it’s part of the tradition, but it doesn’t have to be.  It’s just sort of understated, you know?”

Through my interview with my informant, I feel that the tradition is not very well kept and persistent in his family.  The holiday is large enough to gain all working people and all school children the day off, but his experience with the holiday itself is rather minimal.  There is a huge concentration on the food aspect of this holiday because of the story that goes along with the traditional food.  The dragon boat races are also a large part of the holiday.  Since the holiday is so centered on the story of the suicidal politician, the events that characterize this celebration are related in some way to the disappearance of the great politician.  The food is symbolic of the people’s efforts to try and protect his body, and the dragon boat races are held to send teams out to try and find the body before the fish or currents could carry it away.  Even the mindset of dragon boat racing is considered “masculine” because the man everyone is searching for was masculine.  Also playing into that machismo state of mind is the fact that the women are often left to prepare the food for this holiday.  The making of zongzi is a rather long and difficult process if done correctly, so the women must spend lots of time in preparation for the holiday—weeks, according to my informant.  The women are placed in their domestic places while the men are left to go out and be breadwinners for the family.  Though we live in an era of progress and supposed equality, the holiday times seem to take on a more sexist role and place women back in households if they are to be considered “good wives.”  It is also interesting that because less and less women (whose responsibility it is apparently to learn how to make zongzi) want to spend time slaving away in kitchens, more and more people are going out to purchase ready-made zongzi from the stores.  The holiday has become commercialized.  And since the holiday is so heavily concentrated on the aspect of food, it is odd that the great preparation of the food has been completely removed from the picture of this holiday and left in the hands of businesses.  Because of this trend toward store-bought goods, I feel like the holiday is beginning to lose its significance and steadfastness in the families that had once spent many weeks prepping for and celebrating.  In the case of my informant, for instance, who mentioned that families would rather go out and see a movie together than actually celebrate the holiday, it seems like as the generations drift further and further away from a domesticated lifestyle, the less likely it is that the traditions of the Dragon Boat Festival will be maintained within families.

Baba Marta: Bulgarian Springtime Ritual

Nationality: Bulgarian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Palos Verdes, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2013
Primary Language: English

Contextual Data: A friend and I were sitting together one day after class and exchanging different bits of folklore we had encountered in our childhood. She mentioned to me that she was Bulgarian and there was one particular tradition that her family continued to participate in, which had just passed the previous month. The following is an exact transcript of her description.

Informant: “Okay, so Baba Marta. It’s a holiday for Spring in Bulgaria, um, and the name—it literally translates as, um, Grandmother March, since March is like the month of Spring, and we start celebrating it on March 1st. And what you do is, um, you put this little pin on you. Um…Or a bracelet. And it has to be with red and white threads because those are, I guess, Bulgarian symbols of Spring. And they kind of symbolize, you know, rebirth and regrowth and newness. And you have to wear that pin or that bracelet. And it can come in, like, many different forms. Um, especially nowadays—they get really creative with the designs and they have like little dolls, and etcetera. But you wear it for the entire month of March. Um, and then you can take it off either when you see a flowering tree, or—like you take it off and you pin it on the tree—or just like at the end of March. And then again, you find some nice blossoming tree or flower and you just kind of pin it on there. And we get ours from our relatives and they just kind of like mail it to us—because you obviously can’t find any here—which is nice. And then you get to… Just kind of wear it and, like, still be connected to the culture and like people ask you about it and they’re like, ‘Oh, what’s this?’ And you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s for Spring.’ Um, which is cool. And… It’s a nice little decoration or bracelet I guess.”

– End Transcript – 

This ritual very much seems to be a part of a life-cycle celebration. My informant explained that the beginning of March marks the beginning of Spring in the Bulgarian calendar, and as can be seen in many different cultures, this time of the year symbolizes “rebirth and regrowth.” That people perform this ritual could therefore be a way of sort of earning luck or signifying a rejuvenation as they move forward. It could even just be away of acknowledging the importance of this “rebirth” in the earth cycle — particularly if the colors stand as “Bulgarian symbols for the Spring.” My informant also mentioned that now that she lives in America, it is kind of a way of allowing her to still be part of the Bulgarian culture and to connect to her family back in Bulgaria (particularly as her grandparents are the one to mail her the bracelets). Whenever she sees those bracelets hung on trees during this time of year, she does get a little thrill of excitement from it — a kind of “oh, that’s nice.”

Full Month Party

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 48
Occupation: Software Engineer
Residence: Naperville, Illinois
Performance Date: 4/9/13
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

MATERIAL

 

小婴儿出生后一个月之内，不去公共场所，但是当满一个月时，通常都要摆“满月酒”，亲戚朋友们要给小婴儿送钱或者礼物表示祝贺；婴儿的家人要请来宾喝喜酒、吃喜蛋表示感谢。

 

Before a newborn turns one month old, neither the mother nor the baby ventures outside of the house. The baby especially can never go to any public places. However, when the baby turns one month old, there is a full month party. Friends and relatives come to the mother’s house to celebrate the baby’s first month. They drink alcohol and give the baby money or gifts to congratulate his or her life. In return, the mother and father will provide hard-boiled eggs that are painted many different colors for their friends and family to eat to show their gratitude for them.

 

ANALYSIS

 

Up until a few decades ago, it was not uncommon for babies in China to die before they reached one month of age. Living conditions, especially in the rural areas of China, were not up to par and many diseases floated around. Therefore, it was a big deal for a baby to survive its first month, because it was much more likely for it to live a normal life without complications. In some areas, babies weren’t even given names until they turned one month old. The Chinese tradition of celebrating a baby’s first full month has carried over to the modern day, despite newborn mortality rates being much lower than ever before. The eggs that are given to guests to eat are a symbol of fertility.

 

This tradition is especially hits home for my informant. She was the youngest of 5 in her family, the oldest being her brother and then three older sisters. She was born and raised in rural China, only moving to the United States when she was 28 years old. After my informant’s mother had her son and the first two daughters, she gave birth to two boys one year apart from each other. The first boy died before he reached his first month, but the other lived to be two years old before passing away from disease. Although my informant never met her two older brothers, it is still something that the whole family will with their whole lives. So, the full month celebration for all of the babies in the extended family have been and will continue to be elaborate, grand parties with a lot of love.