Money Burning Ceremony for Chinese New Year

Nationality: Chinese-Cambodian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose, California
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant is a Chinese-Cambodian American from San Jose, California, an area known for its large population of people of Asian descent. This tradition is a part of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, which is usually a week of festivities in late January.

“So, on the last Saturday of the week of Chinese New Year, um, my family, including all of my uncles, aunts, and cousins gather around a big metal Chinese pot container thing that is lit up by a flame. We sit around it in silence and say prayers to our ancestors, and wish everyone around us good health and fortune for the new year. Once everyone is done doing that, the oldest family member hands out small stacks of fake paper money with Chinese characters and images on them. We each take turns throwing bills of money into the pit, and doing so is supposed to give our ancestors wealth and fortune in the afterlife. This is supposed to help bring good luck to their living descendants. Then, following the burning of the money, there is a feast for the family, but first some food is set out in front of an altar as an offering to the ancestors. That’s about it.”

How long has your family been doing this tradition?

“At least since I was born. I’ve done it almost every year, and my family from out of town will all come together and go to the temple to pray and perform the ceremony. It’s a very distinct memory from my childhood.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

Being from an Asian-American from San Jose as well, this tradition seems very familiar to me, yet at the same time it is different from the traditions that my family practices. The Lunar New Year celebration is a very big deal in San Jose, and involves a week of prayer at temples, decorations and parades, and feasts to honor the ancestors and bring in the New Year. However, there are many variations in the celebrations, especially between the different ethnic groups. This is an example of one of the many ways in which the holiday is celebrated.

Kara- A Steel Bracelet worn by Sikhs

Nationality: Indian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Performance Date: April 24, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant is a student at USC, and is a practicioner of the Sikh religion.

“The Kara is a plain, completely round steel bracelet worn by all Sikhs to identify themselves to other Sikhs. You receive it right when you are born, and you’re supposed to wear it until you die. Well, I guess that you have to swap it out once it gets too small on you, but that’s besides the point. It is a form of identification so that everyone would know that we were Sikhs, because the Sikhs were known as the protectors of people from the Mughal empire. It is also a charm that protects you from bad spirits, and the circular shape is used to represent and remind us of the infiniteness of God. It is always made of steel so that everybody is equal. Like, the peasants will wear steel karas and the richest people would wear steel karas too, to show that everybody was the same under the eyes of God. So I wear one, and all of my family wears them as well, as a sign that we are Sikhs.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

This is a very good example of jewelry that is worn for religious reasons. This is very interesting to me personally, because I have seen a few people who are Sikhs wearing the same bracelet, but I had not known what the purpose was. It is also very interesting because this is an identifying mark within the Sikh community so that other members can recognize each other, so even today, beyond its religious significance, it serves a functional purpose.

Bandi Chhor Divas- A Sikh Holiday

Nationality: Indian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Performance Date: April 24, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant is a USC student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her family practices Sikhism, one of the major religions of India that is practiced primarily in the Punjab region in the Northwestern part of the continent. This holiday is one of the main reasons that the Sikhs celebrate the larger Indian celebration of Diwali.

What’s the story behind the holiday?

“This is the reason why Sikhs celebrate Diwali. So basically, a long time ago, the Muslims put 52 Hindu princes, into a prison because they would not convert to Islam. So, Guru Har Gobind, 6th of the 10 major Sikh gurus, went to the Muslim emperor and asked him to release the princes from captivity. The emperor agreed on the condition that only those who could hold onto the guru’s clothing as he walked out would be set free. The guru, being very wise, attached 52 threads to his clothing so that each of the princes could hold on and be set free. The holiday was established as part of the Diwali tradition to celebrate the freeing of the princes.”

How is this holiday celebrated?

“It’s a festival of lights just like Diwali. The temples are all lit up and people leave candles all over their houses, as a way to direct the princes back home. People at home will pray and set up shimmering lights, and it’s an important time for prayer and being with family. At larger festivals, people will shoot fireworks and hang lights everywhere.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

I had known before that Diwali was a very large holiday in India, but I did not realize that the different religious groups had different reasons for celebrating the same holiday. This story is interesting because it involves multiple religions of the Indian continent, showing that these religions are aware of the other belief systems around them, and that the associations are political as well as spiritual.

The Pineapple Man- A USC Legend

Nationality: Irish-German American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Anaheim, California
Performance Date: April 23, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant is a sophomore at the University of Southern California, majoring in Computer Science/Business Administration. This is a story about an event that he had heard last about last year from a senior student, who said it had happened long ago on Menlo Street, an area off campus that is known for its parties.

“So this is a story that one of my senior friends in an entrepreneur club told me. The story goes that one of his friends had gone to a party at the SoCal Vocals house on Menlo Street. This friend was slighty tipsy and was under the influence of a marijuana edible, so he was at the kitchen sink drinking water straight from the faucet, when to his right, there was a guy who pulled a pineapple out of the fridge. The guy set the pineapple onto the counter, and he look a big ass, machete ass knife out of their wooden cutlery block and starts hacking away at the pineapple. Starts slicing the fuck out of the thing. Then, a brother from the SoCal Vocal house approaches the guy and says ‘Hey bro, you can’t just eat our pineapple.’ So the guy says, ‘Fuck you, I can do whatever I want. I don’t even go here.’ And he starts waving around the knife and air slicing everything with this big ass knife. The friend is still at the sink this whole time, drinking water and feeling like this is a movie going on. So the brother tells him to calm down, and two other brothers come in to help, at which point the dude is just getting angrier. They try to wrestle the knife out of his hand, and eventually they pin him down and get it away. They try to drag him out of the house, but he breaks away and breaks a window, barrel-r0lls out of it, and runs off into the street. That is the Pineapple Man.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

This is a story that almost sounds unbelievable, yet based on the setting, is very possible. Menlo Street is an area where many different people, primarily USC students but also outsiders, will go to party on the weekends. The houses throw parties where anyone can enter for a fee, so it is not surprising that this person is an outsider. Based on the fact that the person who experienced the event and told the story was intoxicated, some of the details might be jumbled or exaggerated, but this makes for a very memorable tale to tell friends and underclassmen, which is how the informant had learned about it. This story could be easily passed along by word of mouth, and would be very relatable to the experience of many USC students.

 

 

The Lover’s Leap

Nationality: German American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Modesto, California
Performance Date: April 23, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant is from Modesto, California, up in the northern part of the state. This is an area that

“So there is a place off of the freeway right by my city called the Lover’s Leap, and it’s like a big cliff area that overlooks the area. According to legends, there was once a young man and a young woman who were part of different warring Native American tribes who fell in love with each other. However, their tribe elders would not let them be together, no matter how much they pleaded and begged, as the clans really hated each other. So, one day, the two lovers came together and decided to run off with each other, but they were discovered by their respective tribes, who went to go and tear them apart. As a result, they ran until they reached the edge of the cliff, and seeing that there would be no way for them to be together as long as their tribes fought, they both made the leap off of the cliff to their deaths, hence the name The Lover’s Leap. It’s a really sad story actually, and it reminds me a lot of Romeo and Juliet.”

Do a lot of people go there?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a pretty cool place just to get a view of the surroundings, and a lot of younger people our age will go there to hang out and sometimes do illegal things though. I think its a neat part of the city’s history and its background.”

 

Collector’s Comments:

This story sounds almost exactly like Romeo and Juliet, although within a Native American context, which makes sense because California was inhabited by many different Native American tribes long before anyone else was here. This makes me wonder if the story itself had originated from the Native American peoples themselves, or if it was made up later by people who had known of Romeo and Juliet beforehand, and had adapted it to fit their own surroundings. Either way, it is a fascinating explanation for the name of a location.