Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

Gender Reveal Party

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 10th, 2018
Primary Language: English

Story

 

“Okay there are many different ways to host a gender reveal party. Oh and gender reveal party is just where the gender of the baby is informed to the parent in different ways. One of the ways that was recently trending was gender reveal through sports. For example, like in a basketball gender reveal party, people will fill the basketball with purchasable colored smoke bombs. One parent will take the shot, and if the get the ball into the hoop, the colored smoke bombs will break open, revealing blue smoke if the baby is a boy, and pink smoke if the baby is a girl.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my friend that I made in university. He is Asian American and grew up in the city of Walnut his whole life. When I asked of any American folk traditions or rituals, despite gender reveal party not being historically and traditionally embedded into every American household, he informed me of the gender reveal party as it was something that is a very recent trend and something where I could discuss the effects of social media on the spreading of folklore, traditions and rituals.     The gender reveal party, especially in the form of basketball, is significant to my friend as before seeing this ritual, he had no interest and intention on gender reveal parties. However, after watching many viral clips on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, he tells me that now he wants to perhaps have one gender reveal party for his own child because he wanted to participate in the activity due to it looking fun.

 

Analysis

 

The gender reveal party example shows hybridization of traditions. By relating the gender reveal to a very relatable activity such as sports, the gender reveal ritual is definitely more exciting than just being informed of the baby’s gender. Additionally, as it is a party, it is a ritual that promotes socializing with others.

The ritual also outlines the power of social media. The ritual became so popularized on the internet that gender reveal products are extremely accessible.

However, this goes against propagative nature of folklore due to the ritual spreading through views on a video, rather than through word of mouth. This could be due to the ritual being so dependent on the visual effects of the colored smoke bombs, as telling one about throwing a basketball into a hoop to have pink smoke exploding outside indicating that the child is a girl is less exciting than seeing it through video, and hearing the cheers of many people.

Three Year Mountain Pass (삼년고개)

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Shanghai, China
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Mandarin

Story

 

The three year mountain pass (삼년고개/ sam-nyeon-go-gae) is a traditional Korean folk tale.

“Once upon a time, there was the three-year mountain pass. The mountain pass had its notorious name due to everybody that fell on these mountain passages only having lived three years after falling. One day, a grandfather, who was a lumberjack, was carefully treading the three-year mountain pass when a hare suddenly appeared, scaring the grandfather and causing him to fall. Once realizing that he fell on the three-year mountain pass, he fell ill knowing that he had only three-years left. As the third year became closer, the grandson asked the worrying grandfather what the worry was about and the grandfather explained his fall in the three-year mountain pass. Then the grandson replied: “Then if you fall there again you will three more years and if you fall once more, would you not live six?” After hearing his grandson’s input on the situation, the grandfather went to the three-year mountain pass and proceeded to fall numerous amount of times and lived happily ever after”

 

 

Context

 

I collected this from my high school friend who lives in Shanghai, China. Despite living abroad, I was amazed when I went over to his house because his bookshelf was filled with Korean children’s folktales. He stated in the interview that because he moved abroad to Shanghai at a young age of three, his parents feared that he would lose to ability to speak Korean or not be able to identify renowned traditional stories. So his father made sure to always buy books when he traveled back to Korea for business and carry them back in suitcases. Because he is the youngest child from both the maternal and paternal side of the family, he states that he has no younger cousins to give the books to so he plans to make sure his children read the same books as he did.

This story is significant to only only my friend, but to many people that attended Korean pre-school, kindergarten or elementary school, as the three-year mountain pass is one of the first stories children learn.

 

Analysis

 

The tale of the three-year mountain pass, promotes thinking outside of box. If it was not for the grandson looking at the problem from a different angle, the grandfather would have passed away due to being fixated on the thought of only having three-years left in his life. It can also be interpreted to think simple, as the simple mind process of the child was what was able to save the grandfather.

Additional interesting factors are that this is a tale that is intended for children but it is a story of a child saving the day, despite the lack of knowledge and wisdom. It can have a moral to parents of not completely disregarding the children’s input on a situation, as well as showing kids that its okay to have courage to say what they believe is right to their parents.

On a final note, the story also has themes of worrying about impending doom, as the grandfather lies ill for the three years. The story gives a moral of not wasting times worrying about the impending doom as although the grandfather laid ill for three years, there was no information about the three years, implying that they all went to waste due to there being no relevant information during the three years, other than the fact that he was ill, to show that the grandfather did nothing significant for years due worrying about a factor that he thought he could not influence.

 

Drunk Christmas Carolling

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 22, 2018
Primary Language: English

Main piece:

“Christmas eve everyone comes to my house and we have a huge dinner, and then we fake kind of getting tired and kick our family out and then we go to our best friend’s house, and then we all.. Well when we were younger all the adults would get drunk and then as the kids got older the kids got drunk too, and we’d go around our neighborhood, and even after we moved we went back to our old neighborhood, and we drunk Christmas caroled. And we’d pick up family after family, and so even if the whole family didn’t want to come, if someone wanted to come like the kids then the kids would join on and then we just end up going to everyone’s house Christmas caroling.”

Background:

Informant is a first year student at the University of Southern California who grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Context:

The informant and I were talking about our Christmas traditions one evening, and this is what she shared.

Commentary:

Holidays are often associated with spending time with extended family, but for this informant the most important part is the time she spends with her friends and neighbors. This is also in some ways a rite of passage, because as the children become adults they get to participate in the drinking as well. It is a bit of an unconventional take on the classic act of Christmas caroling, but it has become a beloved tradition in this informant’s family.

New Pajamas on Christmas Eve

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 22, 2018
Primary Language: English

Main piece:

“One of my Christmas family traditions is every Christmas Eve everyone gets to open one present, and the one present that you get to open is your pair of pajamas, and you wear those pajamas the night of so that you can wake up and you get to open all your presents in your new pajamas.”

Background:

Informant is a first year student at the University of Southern California who grew up in Pleasanton, California.

Context:

The informant and I were discussing Christmas traditions, and this is what she shared.

Commentary:

This is a tradition that I have heard from many families, and I have even participated in it with my family as well. It allows the children the excitement of opening one present the night before Santa supposedly arrives, and also adds a special element to Christmas morning because they get to enjoy one gift as they open their others.

 

Baby Jesus Bringing Christmas Presents

Nationality: Colombian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 22, 2018
Primary Language: Spanish

Main piece:

“We go to bed, and we have to go to bed early so that baby Jesus puts our biggest present under our bed. Yeah, baby Jesus puts the big present under our bed, that’s the big one. Like, if you wanted a GoPro, baby Jesus comes down and puts it under your bed. So you go to bed, and then the next morning is also exciting, so it’s a two day experience. So the 25th, we wake up… I usually wake up at like 5:30-6 to milk my cows, but before that I check under my bed, and like one of my happiest memories was getting a Wii, and I ran into my parents room and I tell them that baby Jesus brought me a Wii. And then that’s pretty much the day.”

Background:

Informant is a first year acting student at the University of Southern California. She was born in Medellin, Colombia, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and at age 12 she moved to Paris and later Hong Kong. She spends her winter and summer vacations with her family in Colombia.

Context:

I asked the informant about how she celebrates Christmas, and this was her response.

When asked how she celebrates Christmas, the informant shared that in her family, the belief is that baby Jesus himself brings you one present, typically the biggest one you asked for, and he leaves it underneath your bed. She still said Santa brings other presents, but the biggest one comes from Jesus.

Commentary:

Unlike the typical belief that Santa Claus comes through the chimney and delivers all the presents under the tree, the informant added onto this and said that for her family in Colombia, baby Jesus himself is responsible for bringing the biggest or most important presents. Santa is still responsible for bringing other gifts (see also “Celebrating Christmas on December 24th”), but her family wanted to emphasize the fact that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus by having him bring the present that they most looked forward to. Christmas seems to get more and more commercialized each year, and this addition is a simple reminder of what the holiday is about at its core.