Korean 100-Day Celebration

Age: 22

Text: Baek-il (백일) or “100 Days” is a traditional celebration in South Korea. It marks the 100th day after a baby’s birth, traditionally celebrated to honor the child’s survival through a once-vulnerable time. Once celebrating a day of survival, it’s slowly transitioned into a day that is more jolly and focuses on a child’s future.

Context: “In Korean culture, there’s a special celebration when a baby turns 100 days old. My cousin had a party for her baby’s baek-il and I actually got to experience one that wasn’t mine. There was a big spread of food, rice cakes, and the close family wore traditional hanbok. It was partly a family celebration, but also had this deep respect for the baby surviving the most fragile part of infancy, so many close friends were invited to come. During this ceremony, another mini-event is held called Doljaebi where a number (usually 6-8) of career symbolic items are placed in front of the baby (i.e. gavel for judge, stethoscope for doctor, money for a rich life) and the baby is encouraged by the crowd to choose an object for their future career.

Analysis: Baek-il is a significant Korean ritual marking a child’s 100th day of life, historically rooted in a time when infant mortality was high. Reaching this milestone was cause for gratitude and hope. The ritual blends celebration with protection, often involving food offerings and prayers. Even in modern times, it represents continuity with tradition, anchoring new life within family and cultural heritage. It has now transitioned to more of a ritual that celebrates what a child will become in the future now that they are “full of new life” through the doljaebi. It’s tone has moved from a more tense one to a more joyous and public ritual.

Chinese Acupuncture

Age: 21

Text: Acupuncture is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine involves inserting fine needles into specific points on the body to balance qi (energy flow). It’s often paired with moxibustion, the burning of herbal heat sources near the skin.

Context: “My uncle had chronic back pain, and instead of going to a Western doctor, he went to a traditional Chinese acupuncturist. They placed needles all down his spine and in his legs. After a few sessions, he swore he felt better. My family really believes in acupuncture. They think it works with your energy, not just the muscles or nerves. When I still did sports during high school, I regularly went to a clinic for acupuncture because my mom really pushed and swore that it would make me feel better. I went regularly and I won’t lie, I think I only really felt the effects when my pain was really bad or just really exhausted. Either way, it did help in the long run in my opinion. ”

Analysis: Acupuncture is one of the most widely practiced elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is based on the belief that health comes from balanced energy (qi) flowing through pathways called meridians. The placement of needles stimulates these points to restore balance, reduce pain, or treat illness. While now recognized globally, acupuncture is still practiced in many Chinese communities as both a clinical treatment and a cultural ritual. It reflects a worldview that links the body, nature, and energy systems and offers an alternative to Western biomedicine that prioritizes harmony over symptom suppression. From what I’ve seen, it’s slowly (even though it’s been around for a very long time) entering people’s awareness because chiropractic is becoming more popular and I’ve seen people get confused between the two. More and more people have been using acupuncture as it is an easy way to soothe aches.

Irish Funerary Traditions in an American Family

Age: 19

Text:

Hello A, do you have any end-of-life celebrations or just traditions that your family does? I understand you have something for your mom’s side.

Hi, yes.  Good afternoon. So on my mom’s side, for a traditional ceremony, we call it celebrations of life, a tradition for us to be cremated and then, after the play, the bagpipes at the funeral, followed by family-given obituaries and the like. You know the normal stuff. Then your ashes are usually scattered around a place that you are quite fond of, usually, for my family, it’s somewhere around the water. But yes, Ben, thank you for your interview time. 

Would you like this to happen to you at the end of your life, or is it significant to you? I mean, have you seen multiple funerals where this happens?

Yes, it’s quite typical for where I’m from, and especially within my family. I want this when I pass: to be cremated and have the bagpipes played and have my ashes scattered in the ocean.  So, of course.

Do you know where this tradition allegedly came from or when it started in your family?

My greatest hunch is that it came from when my family was residing in Galeium, Ireland. It goes along with the bagpipes and also close connections to the sea. They are very much a seafaring people from that part of the Western coast of Ireland. Thank you.

Context:

End of life celebrations involving the scattering of ones ashes are a traditional form of cremation/celebration from Norse and Gaelic cultures. The practices following Americans who immigrated to the US over 150 years ago (in the case of A’s family) show just how enduring many of these practices are. A also discusses the strong connection to the sea that many families who leave proximally to it in the northeast have. These enduring connections are reminiscent of the traditions of their Irish forefathers, who also felt a spiritual connection to the sea, the same reason that their end-of-life celebrations occurred there.

My interpretation:

These are traditions that are passed down from person to person in these families. It is in major life events that we return most to our traditions and the perceived heritage that we link ownership to, and so it makes sense that these traditions have passed from person to person in these settings. The connection that Alex made to his Irish ancestry is interesting, as it also displays that he is aware of where his family is allegedly from inside of Ireland. Americans, especially those of European ancestry, often seem to wish to find some understanding of which part of that continent their family’s blood originates from, mostly because Americans of European descent in the US have little to no ethnic identity.

“Collectivism Day”

Age: 23

Interview:

I understand your family has some special politically charged traditions centered around the Fourth of July, could you expand on that?

My dad is a first-generation college student; his father immigrated here from Croatia during the reign of the USSR. My dad has a lot of the same views as my grandpa, who believed the USSR was just doing communism wrong. As a revolt, somewhat, I guess, somewhat as a welcome to the American people, my grandfather passed down a version of celebrating “Collectivism Day” as opposed to the usual Independence Day.

I understand, too the number “four” is significant to your grandfather wanting to start this tradition, why?

So my grandfather was convinced the four great bringers of communism and Marxism were Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin, and himself.

Not Marx?

Not Marx. Frankly, toward the end of his life, Grandpa got into numerology and into the “out-there” aspects of spiritualism, and so while originally the idea of the four started as a personal goal, he eventually saw it as more of a prophecy where on a particular Fourth of July he would lead the revolution.

So let’s talk about the actual day, what do you do to celebrate?

Grandpa wanted the day to appeal to Americans, and so he borrowed a lot of iconography and traditions, for instance, the hot dog swap, where we’d make a bunch, but to emphasize collectivism, we’d cut them into 5-6 pieces, and then everyone would give away all of their pieces but one and still eventually be left with a whole hot dog with swapped pieces from every other party present. In the typical sort of fashion where when you’re little you don’t get how Santa works, I didn’t really understand the significance of the hot dog swap; I just thought it was sort of a fun thing. The collectivist message was lost on my six-year-old brain.

Do you plan on passing this tradition down to your kids?

I do, but there are certain parts of the holiday I might not continue… like the choosing of the Kulak.

What is that?

Eh…I don’t really want to talk about it. (Interviewee seemed uncomfortable by the question.)

That’s okay! Is there anything else you want to share?

At the very least, Collectivism Day will be a way for my children to connect with their heritage. At the most, Collectivism Day could be the domino that topples the American Empire as we know it. Who is to say?

Context:

F is discussing a tradition within his family that is a recently immigrated Czech family in the Bay Area. The tradition mixes the elements of the grandfather’s exposure to communism in USSR-controlled Czechoslovakia with American food and nationalistic celebrations. The celebration takes place on the traditional American holiday of the Fourth of July, but runs counter to the celebration, even serving as a protest.

My interpretation:

This is an interesting blend of a lot of folklore elements with an American twist. There are elements of prophecy, superstition, counter-hegemonic behavior, and straining to keep a sense of tradition within a family structure uprooted by the move to another country. I think this tradition is a little bit of the grandfather straining for identity in a place that doesn’t conform to his ideology.

Fiesta Days in Vacaville

Text:

So I understand that you have a festival in your hometown. Do you want to talk about that?

Yeah, so it’s called the Fiesta Days parade, or it’s a Fiesta Days. Just the Fiesta Days. It’s a festival in late May every year in Vacaville and what happens is basically it starts off with this parade of, I don’t know, like, 30 different, probably more like 50, different bands, floats, just anything can be included. Like cool cars, anything like that can go through the main street of the town in this parade. And everybody from the community kind of comes out for it and watches it. It’s a great way for everyone to come together.

What’s kind of the theme of the celebration or are the floats themed? How did it arise?

I honestly don’t know too much about the history. But the theme is mostly… It’s kind of like Mexican-adjacent. It’s why it’s called the Fiesta Days. Honestly, not too many of the floats really like followed that theme. A lot of marching bands are from local high schools and middle schools and it’s more like the spectacle of all of it all, but I guess the general theme of it would be Mexican. There’s Mexican food, trucks and stuff. And then they have some, you know, like, I don’t know, mariachi bands and things that will play sometimes. Yeah.

How long have he lived in Bacaville? 

I’ve lived there. Well, I lived there my entire life before coming to USC.

Did your parents live there at all for like any period of time? 

They…Not without me.

So do you know how long, like, at least, like, people have celebrated this in Bacaville or? 

Um, man. I honestly am not sure, but I think it’s a pretty longstanding tradition. I’d say it probably dates back to at least the 80s. 

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Context:

The interviewee is discussing a festival he has seen since his childhood that takes place in his hometown of Vacaville. The festival is associated with a certain time and space within the year, always within late May, signaling the ceremonial switch from spring into summer. The celebration is ethnic in nature, although not exclusively, and not binding to the participants.

My Interpretation:

I think this is a classic example of a naturally arising community-based festival that celebrates a period of transition between two periods of the year. The nature of the event is interesting, as it is called “Fiesta Days” basically just meaning “party days,” but it doesn’t lean too heavily into its latin tilt nor require participants to dress a certain way, speak Spanish, or theme their floats entirely with a Latin American theme. The inclusion of “cool cars” and other items make the event seem like a celebration of wealth and status within the community, while also feeding everyone and displaying creativity through the floats.