Raksha Bandhan – India

Nationality: Indian American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mission Viejo, California
Performance Date: 4/23/17
Primary Language: English

My informant is half Indian and Caucasian. She considers herself not “very Indian” but explained to me one Indian festival that her family used to celebrate every year:

“So in India we have a holiday called Raksha bandhan where it’s basically just celebrating the brother and sister bond. Or basically any male or female bond—it can be cousins too in a family. What basically happens is the sister or girl cousin ties like a little bracelet—a little hand-made bracelet—on the brother or the male cousin. That’s like a little show of love. And then in return the brother or the male cousin gives a gift or money to the sister or girl cousin. So we always loved celebrating it because my cousin gets like a little crappy bracelet but me and my sister get cash in return. It’s a great holiday.”

 

Hahah that’s amazing. When you guys do this, is there a certain date that you do it to celebrate or is it just whenever?

 

“There is a certain day. I’m not really sure, but I’m pretty sure it’s sometime in August”

 

Do you guys celebrate every year?

 

“We usually do it every year.”

 

And do you guys still do it?

 

“Uhm we still do it. But I don’t have any brothers so we always do it with my cousins. But honestly this year we didn’t do it cause I think they’re tired of getting ripped off hahah. And there’s more girls in our family than guys, so it’s kind of sad cause they’re giving so much money away to all the girls in the family. The guys literally just… it’s not even a….it’s thread. Like what you would use thread—that’s how thin the bracelet is. We just tie it on them. But it was really cute cause my guy cousins, I have one that is older than us but two that are 7 and 10. They were just… you can just tell on their face that they were so confused like ‘What? This is a rip off’.”

 

After some research, I found that Raksha Bandhan is a festival that celebrates the bond between a brother or sister or any brother-sister type of relationship. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is recognized on the full moon in the month of Shravan, which is August. The bracelet—called Rakhi— that is tied onto the boy’s wrist symbolizes the girl’s sisterly love for them. The boy is supposed to offer them gifts in return along with a vow promising them protection. This festival seems to stem from the idea that women are spiritually superior and require physical protection whereas men are physically superior and need spiritual protection.

Eye Contact – Korea

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 52
Occupation: Business Owner
Residence: Newport Beach

“In Korea, you don’t lock eye contact. It’s extremely rude, especially to elders–you should look down. Older people would be extremely offended. That’s a huge deal in Korea. But in America it’s rude if you don’t make eye contact or it can come off as passive. When I first came to America, the teacher noticed my lack of eye contact and told me to makes sure to make eye contact is part of key communication. Literally my English teacher asked me ‘Are you shy? You should be more confident and try to be yourself. You really have to present yourself. Your attitude has to be looking straight in the eye and being confident and expressing yourself.’ I told her in a respectful way that in Korea to respect your teacher, you never look them in the eye.”

While speaking, my informant made sure to really emphasize how rude it is to make eye contact with superiors–even if they’re only a year older. Koreans place a heavy emphasis on displaying respect towards elders. Therefore, by locking eyes you are implying that you are of equal status. There is a whole science behind the implications of using eye contact in East Asia. However, for Koreans it is just a cultural practice/etiquette that they learn naturally from each other.

Butterfly Song – Korea

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 52
Occupation: Business Owner
Residence: Newport Coast
Performance Date: 2/17/17
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Original Script:

나비야 나비야

이리 날아 오너라

노랑 나비, 흰 나비

춤을 추며 오너라

 

봄바람에 꽃잎도

방긋방긋 웃으며

참새도 짹짹짹

노래하며 춤춘다

Phonetic (Roman) Script:

nabiya nabiyauh

iri nara onuhra

norang nabi huin nabi

choomul choomyuh onuhra

 

bombabarameh ggotipdo

banggutbangut ootumy

chamsedo jjekjjekjjek

norehamyuh choomchoonda

Translation:

Hey butterfly, Hey butterfly

Come fly over here

Yellow butterfly, white butterfly

Come over here while dancing

 

Petals dance in the breeze too

Smiling, smiling, laughing

Sparrows chirp, chirp, chirp

Singing as they dance

 

My mom was born in South Korean, but moved to America when she was 16 years old. She told me that she had learned this song about 45 years ago when she was in first grade. This was one of the many songs taught during her music class. Unlike some of the other songs my mom taught me, the butterfly song is a nursery rhyme that seems to be well-known by almost every Korean child. Nursery rhymes are important for young children because it helps them develop an understanding of the language. For me personally, singing this song helped me with my Korean.

Morning Song – Korea

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 52
Occupation: Business Owner
Residence: Newport Coast
Performance Date: 2/17/17
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Original Script:

아침해가 떴습니다

자리에서 일어나

이빨 닦고 세수하고

학교에 갑시다

 

Phonetic (Roman) Script:

achimhaega tteossseubnida

jalieseo il-eona

ippal dakkgo sesuhago

haggyoe gabsida

 

Translation:

The morning sun has arisen

Get up from bed

Brush your teeth, wash your face

Let’s go to school

 

My mom was born in South Korean, but moved to America when she was 16 years old. She told me that she had learned this song about 45 years ago when she was in first grade. She isn’t sure if they still teach this song, or if it is something that all schools taught or just hers. Everyone was taught to sing this song during music class. Music is a great way to reach students; it can help discreetly teach important lessons. My mom said students were taught to sing this song in particular as a way to encourage them to get up for school and help them develop a morning routine. When I was little, we used to sing this song together all the time. It was actually really effective in getting me out of bed, and made it more entertaining to get ready in the morning by singing along with her.

Funeral – Ireland

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Alameda, CA
Performance Date: 4/23/17
Primary Language: English

My informant is Irish-Korean. When her grandfather passed away, her family flew to Ireland for the funeral. She explained to me a couple of the events that took place for his funeral:

“So my Granddad passed away two years ago. The first funeral event we had, we had kind of like this viewing of the body for close relatives. They are very ‘light feelings’ I guess about death in Ireland so they just had my Granddad kind of exposed in the kitchen right where the food was. No one found it weird and it was just a very normal thing to do. He was in my uncle’s house and not in a proper setting. He was in a coffin, but like an open coffin. Kind of laying super casually by all the food, and people were eating around him and I felt really weird. So we had that event, and then that night all his (Granddad’s) sons and daughters– so like my dad and he has seven siblings– all stayed in the house with him there. And they had him there in the living room and they all just slept in the house, I guess to…bond? Or as a last time remembrance? And then we had another open body funeral for the whole community since we’re from a smaller community in Ireland. They had his body in a funeral home and all my siblings and cousins and relatives that could come would kind of stand in a line around the ‘funeral home’ –I don’t really know what the building was–and everyone in the town that knew my Granddad would shake every single relatives hand as a way of showing (and) saying that they’re sorry.”

Although Irish wakes are responses to the death of relatives and close friends, they are much more casual compared to American ones. In Ireland they like to play pranks with the corpse by creating situations where the deceased seems alive. It’s representative of the strange state between life and burial. We can see this when my informant’s grandfather’s corpse was casually set out in the kitchen, as people ate and interacted with each other in a very social and optimistic environment. This is very different from all the funerals I’ve attended; people are very quiet and somber. Their sadness comes from placing emphasis more on the loss of life as opposed to celebrating the life of the deceased. I also thought it was interesting how my informant’s relatives would sleep near the corpse. It’s as though they’re treating her granddad as alive, one last time.