Nationality: Filipino-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/25/2016
Primary Language: English
- “So on our birthdays we eat noodles because we believe that they’ll give us log life. Ya. It’s not like my family thinks if we don’t eat it we’re going to die sooner. It’s just that we’ve been doing it for so long we just keep doing it again.”
- She knows it because she’s Filipino and it’s part of Filipino culture
- She learned it from her family who practices this tradition and passed it on to her and her sisters
- It’s just supposed to mean that eating noodles will give you long life if eaten on a birthday
- Context of performance: we were just discussing various types of family traditions and culture
- I think it makes a lot of sense, the idea of noodles representing longevity. Noodles are typically long, smooth, and consistent which would be the ideal type of life to lead as you grow. I just don’t know how I feel about the consumption of those noodles leading to long life, however. I don’t feel as if there would be any specific benefit to eating those noodles however there’s not really another way to connect with a symbol that’s a food besides eating it. I think it’s possible that they hope by consuming that food they are giving themselves the opportunity to be able to reflect the qualities of the noodles which they want to be representative of their lives.
