The Star and Crescent

Text

“In my fraternity, Kappa Sigma, every new member must memorize a historic passage called the Star and Crescent. Besides other responsibilities as new members such as getting to know every brother in the house and earning their trust to become their fellow brother, the Star and Crescent must be memorized to perfection and able to be recited aloud. Once we can repeat each line to the brothers and have fully earned their respect, we are free to be initiated as official members of the Kappa Sigma chapter. I remember me and my boys, particularly —- and —–, would stay up late at night in one of our dorms just reciting it together. Not only was it something every brother has to do but it taught us how to be a good member of the frat. I remember my anxiety as the day to recite it in front of our executive came. I was so scared to mess up that even after I memorized it I still would practice at least 30 minutes a day following that.”

Context

I first learned about this passage when one of the brothers, —-, told us we had to have this memorized by heart before we could be initiated into the chapter. I remember seeing a large print version of the text framed on the wall. When I read it I knew it was specific to every Kappa Sigma, so I was not surprised when we were told to memorize it. After reading it over and over I came to appreciate its message about the honor of being a Kappa Sigma and the fact that not everyone is suited to be initiated into this chapter. It tells you that a man must be intelligent, honorable, truthful, and worthy to wear the star and crescent.

Analysis

Rites of passage such as this account of his fraternity shows how certain folk groups around the world require initiation rituals that are either physical or verbal. Shared knowledge of passages by memory create shared culture and identity between members of these groups. In knowing each and every member went through the same process and held the same requirements, they can share mutual respect because each knew what it took to join. Shared experiences that are turned into folklore help those in the folk group bond and create memories for life. This rite of passage is an example of an initiation ritual that represents members commitment to the fraternity. Beyond just memorization, is the history and shared journeys behind reciting these words, distinguishing the brothers as one folk group. This process before becoming a brother reveals a folk concept known as liminality because it is the middle ground between a non-member and a brother of this fraternity.

Cheese Touch

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“When I was in like elementary school a lot of us would mess around with a game called the cheese touch like if you said cheese touch when you were tagging someone then they would have it. And the only way to prevent it would be to have your fingers crossed. And once you have it you have to give it to someone else or you’re stuck with it. So, I remember we would always have our fingers crossed because anytime was fair game. I remember getting frustrated because kids would lie and say their fingers were crossed when they got tagged. Me and my friends would team up in secret and promise we wouldn’t tag each other if we got the cheese touch. In my senior year of high school, we played senior assassin which gave me flashbacks to the cheesetouch because of the safe rules and the lies that would be created after someone got out. I was completely into both games because they brought out the inner kid in me and my competitive nature.”

Context

I first saw this game when I watched the Diart of a Wimpy Kid movie. I remember being at my friend’s house in his living room watching with my childhood friend group of 4 guys. When we saw the cheese touch scene with thought it was funny but also disgusting because the cheese was rotten. Other kids at our elementary watched the movie too and one of them copied the movie. Since we were immature kids who just wanted to have fun, the mention of the cheese touch got everyone riled up and the game began.

Analysis

The cheese touch game shows the diversity of forms that folklore can come in. It is a variation of another folk belief known as the “cooties” because they both involve infecting others with a negative thing. While it originated in a movie, kids around the US adapted the game into their own and transformed a silly game into a national form of folklore. Folklore is highly prominent in the younger generations because with social media and televesion, kids are prone to copy what they say without questioning its validity. Similar to Alan Dundes’s idea, folklore functions socially within groups that share similiarity giving mutual trust in this scenario. The secret alliances he formed with his friends show the strength of culture through folklore. Regardless of the rules of the game, their tight knit folk group shaped by friendship and a collective interest to not get the cheese touch led to them bending the rules and creating shared identity.

War Orphans in WW2 China (遗华日侨)

Context:

The informant is a senior undergraduate International student from China, studying at USC. She grow up in a very traditional Chinese household, and are well-educated in Chinese culture.

Text:

“This story is about the wife of my grandmother’s younger brother.

She was born in 1938, during the war between China and Japan, which was the early stage of World War II. Her biological father was an officer in the Nationalist Party. Her biological mother was a Chinese woman who could speak Japanese.

I think one of the big problems at the time was this: after Japan occupied Northeast China, many people born there — including Japanese settlers and local Northeasterners — experienced an identity crisis. They couldn’t tell whether they were Chinese or Japanese.

For the Japanese born there, they thought: “Our country has occupied this land. I was just born on land occupied by my country. I was born in the fourth year of the Shōwa era, so I am Japanese.” Later, when this land was redefined as China, they still considered themselves Japanese.

For the local Northeastern children, because the Japanese required everyone to learn Japanese, they spoke Chinese at home but had to speak Japanese at school and pledge loyalty to the Japanese Emperor. So they too experienced this identity confusion.

The mother in this story was exactly that kind of person with an identity crisis. Ethnically, she was Chinese, but she was fluent in Japanese and worked as an interpreter for the Japanese. Naturally, at that time, she was labeled a “traitor” (汉奸).

Around the time the War of Resistance against Japan was about to be won, in the mid-1940s, the Nationalist government was retreating to Taiwan around 1944–1945. Her biological father was very irresponsible. He bought only one boat ticket and abandoned the mother and daughter in Northeast China. The mother was left alone with a baby only five or six months old, barely able to carry her in her arms. Life was extremely difficult. Also, because she had been labeled a traitor, she couldn’t raise her child properly. So one day, she placed the baby on a woodpile in a rural area, hoping some kind-hearted person would adopt her.

Soon an old woman came out to gather firewood for the heated brick bed (炕) common in Northeast China. She found the baby. The baby hadn’t been wrapped properly — her right foot was exposed, which later caused a permanent disability. The old woman took the baby home and slowly began raising her. To be honest, the old woman wasn’t entirely kind-hearted: she wanted to raise the girl as a future child bride for her own son. But regardless of her intention, she did save the girl’s life.

The girl grew up in that household. Besides her future husband, there was an older brother, much older than her. The brother treated her more or less okay, but after he got married, the sister-in-law was not so kind. For example, when the girl wanted to study, the sister-in-law wouldn’t let her use the oil lamp. She suffered a lot, but through her own hard work, she got into China Agricultural University — which is still a prestigious university today.

When she grew up, the Cultural Revolution had already passed. Then, in the 1990s, someone contacted her, claiming to be her biological father. It turned out that he had never made it to Taiwan for various reasons. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, his identity as a former Nationalist officer was exposed, and he was severely persecuted, even losing the use of one leg.

As for her biological mother, she fared relatively better. After leaving the baby at the old woman’s home, the mother claimed to be a Japanese refugee. Since Chinese and Japanese people looked similar, and she spoke fluent Japanese, no one could tell the difference. Before the People’s Republic of China was founded, she managed to flee to Japan, where she remarried — a Japanese man — and lived a fairly happy life. Although the Japanese economy was poor after the war, under American occupation, people could still get enough to eat.

So, in the end, this is a family tragedy set against the backdrop of a turbulent era, but also a small family legend.”

Analysis:

This is family legend shaped by historical trauma, where large political events are understood through personal experience. It highlights themes of identity instability, as characters are caught between cultural and national affiliations and judged by shifting social norms. The narrative also reflects a common motif of abandonment and rescue, though presented with moral complexity rather than clear good or evil. Overall, the story shows how family narratives preserve cultural memory while helping later generations make sense of difficult and ambiguous histories.

The Hitler Parody

Context

The informant attended the same elementary school as me and is currently studying in college in China. During the time we were in school together, “Hitler Parody” (希特勒鬼畜), also commonly referred to as Downfall Parodies was a widely popular internet meme within Chinese online culture, particularly in early Bilibili video communities. The meme originates from a 2004 German film, Downfall (Der Untergang), and became globally viral through user-generated parody edits.

Text:

The informant recalls that during elementary school, “Hitler Parody” videos were very popular online. These videos are based on a scene from Downfall, where Hitler, portrayed by actor Bruno Ganz, becomes extremely angry upon hearing news of Germany’s defeat in 1945.

In internet adaptations, users kept the original German audio but replaced the subtitles, making it appear as though Hitler was angrily reacting to modern situations such as failed exams, video game updates, or everyday frustrations. Sometimes, the audio is also distorted and replaced with popular songs, making it appear as though Hitler himself is singing and performing the music. The informant explains that the exaggerated emotional performance made the scene highly adaptable for parody.

One of the many examples: bilibili.com/video/BV1Jx411w79d/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=64229e788fe1b4b2152a8b0251a4c2ee

Analysis:

This meme demonstrates how digital folk culture transforms historical media into modern content through remixing and reinterpretation. By replacing subtitles while retaining the original emotional performance, users create a flexible narrative template that can be applied to present situations. This process reflects a form of “internet folklore,” where repetition, modification, and collective participation generate shared cultural meaning.

At the same time, the meme illustrates how humor is used to distance and reframe historical figures, turning a figure associated with extreme violence into a source of comedic exaggeration. This reflects a broader tendency in online communities to neutralize seriousness, while also raising questions about the boundaries between humor, memory, and historical representation.

The Pen Spirit (笔仙)

Context:

Me and the informant became friends in middle school due to our common interest in ghost stories and spiritual ceremonies. We decided to summon 笔仙 (a spirit that can be summoned through the action of two or more participants holding a single pen over a sheet of paper), and to let them answer some of our stupid questions, and it actually worked, somehow.

Text:

“笔仙 (Pen Spirit) is a very popular folk ritual in China,” the informant recalls, “even for people who are not into spiritual study, it’s almost safe to say that whenever people think about spiritual rituals, they would immediately think about 笔仙. Like any other folk ritual, the 笔仙 ceremony has multiple variations of how to perform it, but what we did was we wrote the alphabet on a piece of paper. We held a pen in our hands and chanted an incantation and start drawing in circles. If the spirit has been successfully summoned, the pen would start moving on its own, and then it is time for us to ask whatever questions we want. However, there are limitations, of course. You can’t ask how the spirit that is summoned died, or else it would be considered disrespectful. In addition, after you finish all your questions, you need to respectfully ask the spirit to leave.”

“And the spirit you summon can be random. For everyone who is performing the ritual, you are not summoning the same ghost. It varies—some can be friendly, some can be hateful toward us. So I’m really surprised that back then we even had the courage to actually do the ceremony, because if we were ever to summon a spirit that wanted us dead, they could potentially curse us. But he was so friendly (the informant was referring to the spirit that we successfully summoned). We didn’t ask any questions regarding his death, of course, but we did ask him something about his past life and the reason why he is still around on earth. I remember he said he actually spoke some English, and he went to college, and I think he died at a young age.”

“He was very generous with our stupid questions”, I said.

“Yeah, because I remember we were asking questions like who would be the next president of the United States. It was back in 2020, before the presidential election. He said it would be Biden, which he did get right. Many people summon 笔仙 to predict things, you know, but I don’t think the spirit that we summoned had that much power or energy to do so. We just asked a lot of random and silly questions, and we let him go, as if we were chatting with a friend or something. This is still a totally crazy experience, you know—we were two crazy middle schoolers.”

Analysis:

The interview highlights how rules and boundaries play an important role in shaping folk rituals, even among young participants. The informant describes clear limitations, such as not asking about the spirit’s death and the need to respectfully dismiss it, showing that the ritual follows an understood structure and moral code. At the same time, this experience reflects a coming of age moment, where engaging in something slightly forbidden or risky becomes a way for middle schoolers to test boundaries and bond with each other. The mix of caution and curiosity suggests that the ritual is not only about contacting a spirit, but also about navigating fear, respect, and social connection. And for sure, me and the informant became closer after this experience.