German Proverb: Shirts Without Pockets

Background: My friend, ZK, comes from a German family and is bilingual in English and German. I asked her if she knew any German proverbs, and this was her response:

ZK: “I grew up with a lot of proverbs. My great-grandma’s favorite saying was das letzte Hemd hat keine Taschen, and it translates to ‘your last shirt has no pockets,’ which means you can’t take anything with you when you die. She said it every night before she went to sleep, and I feel like it says something about German culture.”

Analysis: My friend frequently talks about her family’s struggles growing up in Post-War East Germany, and I think this proverb in particular is strengthened by that context. This proverb is particularly anti-materialistic, and I think her great-grandmother saying it as a nightly sort of ritual is indicative of an ideal or desired mentality as reflective of a larger societal belief or priority. Its brevity makes it memorable, and I can imagine that the daily ritual of it indicates that choosing the anti-materialistic route was not instinctual, or always desired.

German Proverb: Day Before Night

Background: My friend, ZK, comes from a German family and is bilingual in English and German. I asked her if she knew any German proverbs, and this was her response:

ZK: “Oh wait, and there’s also Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend Ioben which directly translates to ‘you can’t praise the day before the night’ so like you can’t say that something is good before the entirety of it is done because you never know what can still happen.”

Analysis: Based on my conversations with my friend, I think this proverb reflects a lot of the cultural values she was instilled with growing up–delayed gratification in some ways, a more conservative view on upcoming events and occurrences, a general sense of wariness that would be logical with Germany’s history. The realistic interpretation of the proverb in conjunction with its metaphorical meaning make its double entendre more significant.

Hot Foods vs Cold Foods

Background: My informant, CL, grew up in Taiwan, and speaks Mandarin, Hakka, English, Japanese, and Cantonese. Interview conducted in English over FaceTime.

Me: “Aren’t hot foods and cold foods a thing in Taiwan?”

CL: “Yes. Chinese people don’t like cold foods or cold water, because we believe hot things give you more energy. Deep-fried things make you feel more energy. We drink hot water because we drink tea. During old time, there were lots of bacteria inside water, made you sick. So you had to brew water, make it hot, to not get sick.”

Me: “Is that why you don’t like iced water?”

CL: “Yes, ice water is too cold, make your throat hurt. Hot water is better.”

Me: “Are there any exceptions to mostly eating hot foods? Like what about during the summer?”

CL: “We have ice cream and cold foods too. Taiwan is a hot place. Appetizers are usually cold because it’s a light thing before the hot food. But hot food gives more energy–during the winter my grandma always made spicy food so we would sweat, warm up when it was cold.”

Analysis: I find the concept of energy transfer here to be lingeringly medicinal while also practical. Eating hot foods would naturally lower the risk of disease, if it was cooked, and I doubt that ice-cold drinks were particularly easy to come by in olden times either. But reinforcing a logical practice like that with the added belief that energy and healing (implicitly) could also go alongside that practice adds layers to the intentionality and history of practices like this and diet more broadly. It quite literally denotes an in-group of people who experience less illness because they eat hot foods, compared to those who don’t and run a greater risk of potential disease with uncooked foods.

Cantonese Tea

Background: RT grew up in Taiwan, but his mother is originally from Hong Kong. He speaks fluent Mandarin, Cantonese, and English.

Me: “So I heard there’s a superstition around pointing the tea pot while eating?”

RT: “Yes, Cantonese speakers point the teapot away while eating. You point the mouth outside, away from the table and people.”

Me: “Why?”

RT: “It’s rude. Also bad luck.”

Me: “Do you know about anything that’s ever happened to someone because a teapot was pointed towards them?”

RT: “Not sure. My mom always told me to never do it, so I haven’t tried.”

Me: “Do you know about any other superstitions related to tea?”

RT: “Before we eat, we also use tea to pour inside the bowls and cups to clean and kill the bacteria because it’s hot.”

Analysis: Once again, this is a practice that in some ways serves a practical purpose that can more theologically be applied to superstition. Not pointing the tea pot at someone could indicate bad luck towards the person it’s directed towards, but may also be a reflection of a collectivist society that doesn’t single out any one person for no particular reason, so I think there’s a lot of societal and cultural implications in this practice as well. And then with the tea pouring, it also remains connected to a practical worry, but also denotes a degree of cultural fluency that certainly contributes to in-group and out-group status in degrees as well.

No Cleaning After Chinese New Year

Background: My informant, CL, grew up in Taiwan, and speaks Mandarin, Hakka, English, Japanese, and Cantonese. Interview conducted in English over FaceTime.

Me: “Do you have any Chinese New Year traditions?”

CL: “We don’t clean after Chinese New Year. You have to clean before. It’s bad luck if you clean after, and you’re also very busy during celebrations so you don’t have time anyway.”

Me: “Do you know why it’s bad luck?”

CL: “You need to start the New Year with a clean house. If you already have to clean after the start of New Year, it’s unlucky.”

Analysis: The performance element of this custom is apparent, but I’ve also been surprised by how many customs appear to stem from logic in conjunction with belief as well. Yes, cleaning after Chinese New Year may appear unlucky, but it also may have just been too difficult logistically as well, given the volume of celebrations, feasts, and festivals taking place during the same time period as well. So it’s interesting to see it attributed to luck when it may just as easily be attributed simply to time management as well.