Category Archives: Festival

Feliz Año Neuvo

Nationality: Colombian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Costa Mesa, California
Performance Date: 4/7/13
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“On New Years Eve in Colombia, all the families will build a stuffed doll together. It is filled with old clothes that you’ve grown out or old sheets and pillowcases. My family also writes slips of paper with our bad habits or mistakes and throw those inside the doll, too. It is kind of like a New Years Resolution but the opposite. They are things you want to rid yourself of. After you put everything in the dummy figure, you either tie it with firecrackers or put firecrackers inside of it. On the stroke of midnight, you set off the fireworks with a match. All through the streets, you can see everyone’s dolls blowing up and firecrackers going off. It’s very loud, bright, and colorful everywhere. It’s a celebration of a new beginning.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

The transition from one year to the next is a subliminal time. That being said, many traditions revolve around New Years Eve and the moment the clock strikes twelve and the New Year is upon us. My informant grew up in Colombia and celebrated New Years Eve with friends and family every year. The day of New Years Eve, my informant’s house, along with most other Colombian households, were buzzing with food preparation and doll making. My informant said his favorite part of New Years Eve was watching the firecrackers blow up the doll.

This celebration is very symbolic of a new beginning. When the doll blows up with the firecrackers, the old sheets, clothes, and slips of paper with bad habits blow up with it. This is a representation of getting rid of the old year and all the bad luck that came with it, preparing your household and family for the new year. Firecrackers are used in many cultures to contact dead ancestors or the Gods in the heavens. Therefore, I believe that the firecrackers may also be used to notify either ancestors or Gods that a new year is upon the Colombians, and that they are ready for a year of good luck and success. Beyond that, a celebration of firecrackers in the streets and children running around and rejoicing is a way to show all of Colombia coming together to celebrate during a special time.

Lantern Festival

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/7/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

MATERIAL

 

农历正月十五是“元宵节”，又称“花灯节”，很多地方会举办“灯会”，各种各样的灯笼，里面点上蜡烛或电灯，聚集在一起，很是漂亮；大家要吃“元宵”，又称“汤团”来表示生活的美满。过完元宵节，春节就算是过完了，大家又要开始正常的生活。

 

15 days after the Lunar New Year, there is New Year Festival known as the Lantern Festival. Traditionally, everyone would make a variety of red lanterns, candles, and lamps. Everyone would hold them and play and congregate in the streets. Now, there are usually parades in the streets that have floats decorated in red and with lanterns all over them. The Lantern Festival symbolizes the end of the Spring Festival, and signifies to everyone to resume normal life again.

 

ANALYSIS

 

The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the biggest and most celebrated traditional Chinese holiday. 15 days after the first day of the lunar calendar, there is another festival known as the Lantern Festival. These lanterns are usually red, which is the most important color in Chinese culture. It symbolizes prosperity, good luck, wealth, and happiness. It is used in almost every big holiday or tradition. In older days, everyone would make the lanterns and candles and come together in the streets to interact with each other. It was a time for all the children to have a free play day and a time for the adults to have some time to talk amongst one another. It symbolizes the end of the Spring Festival. The light from lanterns and candles is supposed to light up the sky, to let the heavens know the festival is over but that China is still as one, praying for the Gods to bless the New Year. It is a last hurrah for the two weeks that the Spring Festival lasts. It lets everyone know that it is time to resume normal life. Firecrackers are sometimes set off as well, to alert the Gods and ancestors that everyone will be returning to school and work, but asking them to keep blessing everyone on Earth with the good luck of the New Year. My informant remembers visiting China once for the duration of the Spring Festival when she was very young and she thought it was a magical time.

Dragon Boat Festival

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/7/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

MATERIAL

 

每年的五月初五是“端午节”，这一天的主要活动是吃粽子，赛龙舟，挂菖蒲，喝雄黄酒等。吃粽子和赛龙舟源于纪念古代爱国诗人屈原。屈原因为愤恨当时腐败的政府而投江自尽，人民爱戴他，不想看到他真的死去，所有大家划龙舟去追赶他；又把粽子投到江中，希望水里的鱼吃粽子而不去吃他。挂菖蒲和喝雄黄酒是为了辟邪。

 

On the fifth day of the lunar calendar, there is the Dragon Boat Festival. The main activities of this day include eating zongzi (a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice and filled with different fillings such as eggs and meat), dragon boat racing, hanging a special plant, and drinking special wine. Eating zongzi and dragon boat racing is to celebrate the memory of the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan resented the corrupt Chinese government and so jumped into the river to commit suicide. However, the people really loved him and did not want to see him die, so they raced boats out onto the river to try to rescue him. They threw zongzi into the river in hopes that the fish would eat them instead of the body of Qu Yuan. Hanging the special plant and drinking the special wine is to ward off evil spirits.

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant did a great job in explaining the symbolism of the different aspects of the Dragon Boat Festival in her retelling of the tradition to me. She grew up in America, but her family still makes zongzi during the Spring Festival to pay homage to the tradition. Although she had visited China once and observed the dragon boat racing tradition, she was very young and barely remembers it. She would like to go back to see it again. However, growing up, her mom had always told her the story of Qu Yuan, so eating zongzi always reminds her of his story and of the reason why zongzi and dragon boat racing is so important to the Spring Festival holiday season.

Straight Arms During Irish Dancing

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“Irish dancing dates back to before the English occupied Ireland. The English supposedly wouldn’t allow the Irish people to express their culture. So, they weren’t allowed to perform their Irish dance anymore. As a result, the Irish people would dance their traditional steps but leave their whole upper body and arms straight so that they could dance in their houses and the English soldiers walking by couldn’t tell that they were dancing. Sometimes, they would dance behind bars as well and nobody could tell because their upper body was so straight it looked like they were just walking around. So even now, in Irish dancing, when you compete, you get scored on how straight your upper body is. Feis means festival in traditional Gaelic. This is where Irish step dancing is usually performed nowadays.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant learned traditional Irish dance when she was 7 years old and competed and performed until she was 16 years old. She was always judged on how straight she could keep her upper body and arms and never really understood why until her mother explained it to her. From then on, she remembers that it was easier to keep them straight because in her mind, she imagined that she was in the days in which she could be prosecuted for moving her upper body too much. This is a great example of a circumstance in which the explanation behind a tradition gives it much more context and allows the person observing the tradition to be more personally invested.

Spring Festival (春节)

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

MATERIAL

 

大年初一称为“春节”，是中国最大的传统节日。这一天，大家都要穿新衣服、新鞋子；小辈要给长辈拜年，长辈要给小辈“压岁钱”；亲朋好友间要互相送礼拜年，互祝“新年好”。春节前，每家每户都要在门框上贴春联，有的地方还要挂灯笼、在窗上贴“窗花”、在墙上贴年画等来祝愿新年交好运。很多地方有“扫尘”的风俗，就是要在家里做个彻底的清扫，这样就能把过去一年的差运气除去，准备迎接新年的好运气。

 

大年三十晚上是全家团聚的时候。每个人无论在多远，都要尽可能回到家里与全家人一起吃年夜饭。半夜之前不睡觉，称为“守夜”。到半夜十二点时，要放鞭炮、吃饺子、隔年饭等来辞旧迎新。有的地方在大年初二时出嫁的女儿要回娘家，表示对娘家的感谢和祝福。从大年初一到初三，家里的垃圾不能往外倒，表示要“聚财”；大人不能打骂孩子；不能用刀，表示“平安”；除了商店之外，几乎所有部门都休假。

 

The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is China’s largest traditional holiday. Although technically it is the first day of the new lunar calendar year, the festival lasts for a while after it. It is more of a holiday season than one day of a holiday. On the first day of the new year, everyone wears new clothes and new shoes. The younger kids bow down and wish their elders a happy new year and in return, the elders give the children a red envelope with money in it. Friends and family members exchange gifts and wishes of a happy new year. Before the Spring Festival begins, every household frames their door frames with traditional Chinese red paper slips that have happiness wishes written on them. Some places also hang lanterns in their windows. Many places in China also have sweeping and dusting customs. Before the Spring Festival, families will all do a thorough cleaning on their home, sweeping away the dust and symbolically, all the poor luck of the past year, preparing for the New Year to bring good luck.

 

New Year’s Eve is a night for families to congregate. No matter how far you live from home, you are supposed to travel back for this night. Nobody is supposed to sleep that night and at midnight, households set off firecrackers and eat dumplings. Traditionally, married daughters lived and stayed with the groom’s family and seldom returned home but on the second day of the New Year, she is allowed to return to her family to celebrate for a day. From the first day of the new year to the third day, the garbage in households can not be taken out. This is supposed to be a time of taking in new things and you need to keep your new luck for the new year. Also, adults cannot get mad at and spank children over these three days. Crying is supposed to be reserved for only when someone dies, so adults are supposed to refrain from getting mad at children during this period. Knives are also not supposed to be used, in an effort to keep the holidays peaceful.

 

ANALYSIS

 

The Chinese culture is all about togetherness and family. So, it comes as no surprise that on the biggest traditional holiday, the Spring Festival, one must be with one’s family. My informant grew up in China and the Spring Festival was a time to see all of her family that perhaps didn’t live in the same area as she did. Even when my informant was young and her family was extremely poor, they would always spare a little money to buy new clothes and shoes for the family to wear on the first day of the New Year. This symbolizes a changing of luck in the New Year and represents new beginnings. Around Spring Festival time, there is a lot of red all over China. Red symbolizes prosperity, good luck, and success. Therefore, the red slips of paper are placed around doorframes and red lanterns are hung in windows, to signify that anyone who walks in and out of the door will be blessed with good luck in the New Year. The changing from one year to the next is a liminal state and many Chinese traditions revolve around this time. Dumplings, in the Chinese language, represents togetherness and firecrackers are to celebrate and to alert the heavens and ancestors that it is a New Year and a time of happiness. Not taking the garbage out from the first day after the New Year until the third day is to symbolize keeping whatever the New Year has given you. If you throw garbage out, it would represent throwing away your good luck for the whole year.

For another version of this holiday, view pages 14-28 of this book:

Wei, Liming. Chinese Festivals. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.