Category Archives: Old age

Retirement, seniority, death, funerals, remembrances

Mano Po

AGE – 23

Date_of_performance: april 28th 2025

Language: Tagalog, German, Romanian/Filipino 

Nationality: Bisaya

Primary Language: English

Text:

“I heard this from the teachings of my family from generation after generation, This is where I learned it from. Tradition-wise wise we bless the elderly and help others like family members. The point is about having a strong bond with family and blessing them, taking care of the elderly and the young ones, etc. Mano po is a blessing we perform to show respect to our elders. We gently grab the hand of the eldest person and move it to our foreheads. You don’t normally do this to strangers, as they might not want to be perceived as old; this is more so for families of friends, partners, and yourself. “

Analysis:

Translated, the word “mano” means hand in Spanish, while the “Po” is a Filipino honorific. Together, they summarize the ritual performed by Philippinos, which can be traced back to 1493-1898 with a book called “The Philippine Islands.” Other countries have also adopted this ritual, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. As Marcel said, it’s tradition to greet someone old with Mano Po, as it’s a great form of respect for someone.

清明节 (Qīngmíng Jié) Tomb Sweeping Day

Title: 清明节 (Qīngmíng Jié)

AGE: 55
Date_of_performance: April 4, 2025
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Nationality: United States (lived in china for 20 years)
Occupation: Employee of the British Council in China
Primary Language: English
Residence: Beijing, China, currently Toronto, Canada

Folklore Explanation:
“Qingming is a public holiday, so everything slows down for the day. You probably remember—we’d get the day off, and if we stayed in the city, you’d notice how quiet it felt in the morning. Most families would head out early to visit the graves of their relatives. You’d see them cleaning the tombstones, pulling weeds, and laying out offerings—usually food, flowers, or incense. Some people burned paper items, like imitation money or little paper houses, as offerings to the ancestors.

But it wasn’t just a solemn day. After the rituals, families would often go on long walks together—some even make a trip of it. A lot of people leave the city and go into the surrounding countryside or small towns where the holiday is more deeply rooted. You could see whole groups picnicking, flying kites, or gathering for a big meal. It’s a day about remembrance, but also about being together as a family. The weather’s usually mild by then, and it kind of marks the real start of spring.”

Analysis:

Qingming Festival is a form of calendar custom and ritual folklore, rooted in ancestral worship practices common in Chinese folk religion, Confucian values, and Taoist and Buddhist influences. It is an example of commemorative folklore, observed at a fixed point in the solar calendar (around April 4–6). The festival’s customs—tomb-sweeping, food offerings, and symbolic paper burning—are passed down intergenerationally, typically through oral tradition and communal practice, rather than through formal education. While deeply spiritual, Qingming is not tied to a single organized religion but reflects a broader cultural reverence for lineage, harmony with nature, and seasonal change. It continues to be transmitted through family practices, media portrayals, school education, and public rituals, maintaining a strong presence in both rural and urban areas of China.

Pagpag – Filipino Funeral Custom

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 51
Occupation: IT Help Desk
Residence: Naperville, IL
Language: Tagalog

Text:

“Pagpag” in Tagalog translates to “Dust off”

“If you go to a wake/funeral, you shouldn’t go straight home. You have to go and stop by somewhere else – for example a coffee shop, mall, or restaurant.”

Context:

The performer didn’t experience this tradition until his Lolo died, and it he never really questioned it, because it was common for his Filipino relatives to eat after any gathering. It was something the people he grew up with just understood. He grew up in the Philippines (rural Luzon) until he was 8, then moved to America where his family still followed this tradition.

“That way you wouldn’t bring death to the household. If there is a ghost that latches on from the funeral home or just death in general, you don’t want it to follow you home. You don’t just go to a place and drive by, you have to stop and spend some time there.” “In the Philippines, there weren’t really places to go before going home. Now whenever we go to a funeral, we do Pag pag.”

Analysis:

Pagpag is rooted in spirital folk belief of liminality: the belief that events such as death and spiritally charged and potentially dangerous. By not going home right away, people seek to disrupt the path of wandering spirits and ensure their household won’t become haunted. This ties into Filipino animism and folk Catholicism which is a blend of indigenous spiritual beleifs and Catholic concepts of afterlife (brought over in the 1500s by Spanish colonizers).

Another great value of Filipinos is community. By avoiding going home right away, this practice also forces community through shared mourning and offers emotional decompression after an emotionally taxing event. Even if it’s not tied to superstition and the fear of vengeful spirits, societies tend to pact together after devastation just to cheer each other up as it’s human nature which has been passed down across generations.

60th Birthday Celebration

Age: 25

Text: D. told me about how there are 12 zodiac signs in East Asia that apply to all 12 months, but years as well. 60 years is considered a whole cycle since there are 5 types of zodiacs (blue dragon, black dragon, 3 more). He said when someone turns 60 years old it is a big celebration because they lived through all the zodiac signs. He said they rent a venue and do a crazy fancy celebration.

Context: He said he’s always known the 60th birthday to be a milestone. He says that it is fading with the younger generations because it used to be a big accomplishment to live until 60, but nowadays it is way more common. He said that he went to his grandparent’s 60th where they had a lot of food in a big buffet and traditional Korean clothes. 

Analysis: This ritual is a good example of cyclical time and rites of passage. It’s more than just a party, it reflects ideas of symbolic rebirth. Passing through all the zodiac signs is a rebirth and cause for a celebration. It also shows how we celebrate major milestones and transformations. It’s a right of passage into elderhood. Additionally, it exemplifies how tradition shifts over time.The fact that D. mentioned it’s less popular in younger generations shows how traditions that once carried a lot of weight adapt to new contexts. Things like traditional clothing, however, help preserve cultural identity in a modern context.

Folk Ritual: Funeral Custom – Saranta

  1. Text: It is custom in the culture of Greek people to practice an extended window of mourning after a loved one dies. This window lasts 40 days and is called Saranta. It is the belief of the Greek people that during this window of time, the soul continues to stay within the earth and navigate within it. It has not passed on to heaven, but remains wandering for a period of time in order to complete and review lingering tasks from its time in life. This concept has been colloquially believed in by Greek people for centuries. It is at the basis of their concept of mourning, becoming something almost as equally important as the very funeral service itself. By participating in a continued mourning during this time, the family becomes adjacent to the spirit of their loved one as it exists around them.
  2. Informants Context: The Saranta is very important in our culture. For 40 days after the death, we continue to mourn. This is because we believe that the spirit continues to walk the earth for 40 days after passing. After my husbands death, I wore black for 40 days. This was to recognize and signal my own mourning. For the first three days after the death, they say the spirit remains near where they lived. I believe this – I felt him around the house, I heard him around where his bed was. After that, its said that they begin to explore the world, go back to places where they used to spend lots of time. Maybe he went back to Greece for a few days, I don’t know. But then in the final few weeks, he has to be with God, or so they say. Then on the 40th day, he gets to be free. He goes to heaven. We do little things in that time so to watch over him as he wanders. Mirrors are covered during the 40 days, my grandmother used to say that souls get trapped in the glass if they go into it. During the funeral, we make sure a small window is open in case his spirit wants to leave, to wander. Other little things are part of the 40 days. For example, very little cleaning and no renovation to the house after the death so not to disturb the soul if it wants to visit. The most important thing is that we light the Kantili (oil lamp) everyday to assure that he is guided back to us when he wants to visit. If the candle burns, it will also in part assure that his spirit will be eternal. These rituals were passed down to us by our families when we used to still live in Greece. They showed us how to practice these things when there were deaths in the community. I was there during the second world war when I was very young, and then during the civil war. So even though I left at an early age, we attended many funerals before I officially departed from the country.
  3. Collectors Interpretation: Both the 40 day period and the superstitious rituals that occur during this period reflect certain distinct values on the part of the Greeks. Firstly, these superstitions clearly reflect a value for the concept of the eternal. Specifically as it applies to the burning light, Greeks want to assure that the spirit remains forever in existence despite bodily death. This is consistent with the superstitious fear of windows as well. Juxtaposing the hope for eternal paradise is the fear of eternal purgatory that could arise from getting trapped in these reflective surfaces. The Greek concept of 40 days of mourning clearly evolves into a folkloric concept in and of itself, as it is born out of and coupled with many of the superstitious concepts surrounding it.

Fields

AGE: 85

Date_of_performance: May 5, 2025

Informant Name: Confidential (EZ)

Language: Greek/English

Nationality: Greek/Canadian

Occupation: Retired

Primary Language: Greek

Residence: Canada