ZhongQiuJie

References

Chinese Characters (Simplified): 中秋节
Chinese Characters (Traditional): 中秋節
Romanization: zhōngqiūjiě
Transliteration: Middle – Autumn – Holiday
Free Translation: Mid-Autumn Festival

Text:

Me: 中秋节的时候，你做什么？(What do you do during Mid-Autumn Festival?)

Informant: 我去买中秋月饼 (I go to buy Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncakes)，吃中秋月饼 (eat them)，然后晚上来我就出去看bright moon (and then in the evening I go out to see the bright moon)。然后了(after that)， 我打电话给我的爸爸因为中秋节就是 (I call my dad because Mid-Autumn Festival is) it’s a rounded moon so want to means kind of uh united with your relatives, your parents.

So at the time, sometime, make me a little homesick. Sometime I also go to a party like in your community. you know Chinese association sometime in the past before COVID will have uh uh uh mid-fall festival party, potluck. And then, there are, they distribute like uh moon cake. 

Me: 你小时候 (When you were younger)，like, did you do other things or different things when you were at home with your family?

Informant: Back at home, uh so in you know in Shanghai, uhhh so the uh we will go visit relatives. So they come to our home bring a box of moon cake and some other stuff and we go to their home and brought a box of moon cake so you kind of like visit each other it’s a time, kind of connect to each other.

Me: You mentioned, like, how, like the full moon means like connecting to other people and stuff like that. Could you tell me more about that?

Informant: So full moon, in Chinese means 圆yuǎn . So Chinese has a phrase called tuányuǎn团圆. it means united [means reunion via Google Translate], so uh so the moon is rounded right, so pronounced yuǎn [圆] so people get together all the people get together is called tuǎnyuǎn is the same yuǎn. so so so so it’s the time uh people look at the moon and uh miss their family, and miss the people that already passed, their ancestors or something. And some people will think their hometown if they’re not at home. Just a lot of when we enjoy the beautiful moon, celebrate it, is also the time to connected as a family, gather together tuǎnyuǎn means gather together. So it would be good if we could, on that day, all be together. Sometime we cannot, then we look at the moon and think oh we all share the same moon, and we kind of like, breathing (??) to each other through the bright moon.

Context:

Me: Was there a point as a kid where you first started celebrating or learned about it?

Informant: Oh ever since I can remember things, it’s always every year that way. 

Me: Did they ever try to kill ZhongQiuJie during Communism?

Informant: Oh no no no, that’s a very tradition holiday for the people. So, Chinese government actually is uh support that. That’s a good uh you know way to connect the people, and Chinese is pretty good in family, right. So, you know, they didn’t.

Me: What’s the significance of ZhongQiuJie to you?

Informant: Ummm I’m more connected to, think about my mom, and think about you guys, when you guys when you were not home. And I just feel like oh we all look at the same moon, and we are all connected that way. It’s that time that I will sit there and look at the moon and also I take pictures y’know. I like bright moon, it’s beautiful, it’s kind of like I want to go out take pictures. And I also just you know think the people close to me. You know, my mom, my dad, you guys

Context of Performance: Collected from an in-person conversation.

Personal Thoughts:

To me, ZhongQiuJie was always just an excuse to eat mooncakes. However, it’s not surprising to hear that this festival is about family. China is incredibly old, and for the longest time people did not have much physical mobility. People would stay in a particular place for centuries. In addition, add Confucianism’s intense focus on family, and you have a society devoted to family. It is interesting, however, to learn that this festival has a ton of linguistic ties. Why is the character for round in reunion? Why did people in the past see the moon and think “oh that’s round”?

柳暗花明又一村

Text:

Chinese Characters (Simplified and Traditional): 柳暗花明又一村
Romanization: Liǔ’ànhuāmíng yòu yī cūn
Transliteration: Willow – Dark – Flower – Bright – Another – Village
Smoother Transliteration: past dark willows and flowers in bloom lies another village [via Source 1 listed at the bottom]
Free Translation: A solution lies at the end of the tunnel.

Context:

Me: When would you hear this or when would you say it?

Informant: so usually when we have a difficult time, and but somehow all of sudden, you have a hard moment, is all of sudden you have a solution for it. so uh so and uh that’s pretty much it. I-i-i like it is just because um there are no problems or no difficulties cannot be like cannot be solved, but sometime there is a time period you are searching and you are just not find it, right? but you keep searching, and then at a moment, you find a solution. So that’s we say 柳暗花明又一村. 

Uhh so liu means the trees, I think liu shu, how to say in English. Is uh, is willow. Willow so have like long strips of those things, willow. An is just dark, but then you’ll see flowers. Hua is flowers, ming is just bright, uhh so then you you yi cun is another I mean, basically you see the flowers in another village. Something like that. So you discover things.

Q: Where did you first hear this? Who first said this to you?

A: Can be my teacher. or, could be friends, they are naturally very optimism people, they are just very positive people, so so when we are searching and in the dark and find something, sometimes they they also encourage you, say 柳暗花明又一村 you’re going to find something

Q: Who usually says this?

A: People who are working together trying to find a problem, usually I’m just I just get excited 柳暗花明又一村 say something like that. 

Me: Do you know the origin?

Informant: Yeah, it is, so there is, this is from a Poem from Song dai (Song dynasty) a poem. And uh, so, in his poem, that’s one sentence. Just said when you have a difficult time, if this method does not work, you try different method, and you through trial and error search to find the solution.

Personal Thoughts:

This particular proverb is interesting because it finds its origins in authored literature. It is important to note, however, that many sayings and proverbs in Chinese have written origins, or at least accompanying stories. Alas, having a written origin is not necessarily enough to disqualify something from being folklore. The fact that this one line is being used in every day situations centuries later, separate from its original work or even the name of the poet, has shifted this work from purely written to more folkloric. This saying is also interesting because its literal meaning is drastically different than its free translation.

Additional Notes:

For translations of this one particular saying:

[1] 山穷水尽疑无路，柳暗花明又一村的英文. 查查在线翻译. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2022, from http://www.ichacha.net/%E5%B1%B1%E7%A9%B7%E6%B0%B4%E5%B0%BD%E7%96%91%E6%97%A0%E8%B7%AF%EF%BC%8C%E6%9F%B3%E6%9A%97%E8%8A%B1%E6%98%8E%E5%8F%88%E4%B8%80%E6%9D%91.html 

For the full poem referenced:

山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村_百度百科. 百度百科. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2022, from https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E5%B1%B1%E9%87%8D%E6%B0%B4%E5%A4%8D%E7%96%91%E6%97%A0%E8%B7%AF%EF%BC%8C%E6%9F%B3%E6%9A%97%E8%8A%B1%E6%98%8E%E5%8F%88%E4%B8%80%E6%9D%91/3576938 

Kpop Pull Rituals

Text:

[i.e. having someone else pull K-pop merch for her as a lucky charm]

Alright, so if you listen to k-pop, and you buy something called, buy physical albums, they tend to come with physical inclusions that are more than just the CD or just like a small lyric book. There is usually a photoshoot book, sometimes there stickers, sometimes there’s like extra random like goods. But they almost always have something called a photocard which is like a small card that people like to um trade or buy after pulling it. It’s kind of like the same concept as a baseball card, for example, or Pokemon cards, where you basically, it’s like a gacha system where you can get one of the members in a group, or if it’s just a soloist then you just a soloist card. But there are generally different versions so collectors really like to collect all of them, similar to how like people like to collect all of the Pokemon cards or try to get certain rarities. 

So, in this case, what it means to be rare is to try to get the card that you want in particular, um which usually tends to be either a member you really like or a card from a set.

Um, so I guess in terms of like, ritualistic things that happen with this, I would say uh

one of my friends has really good luck with getting pulls that she wants and so recently, my friends have all been making her choose which albums we choose to purchase. Just because her, the chance of her getting the card we want has been… quite high in terms of like um which one what our pulls end up being. Most recently, she and I were getting the same album, but I wanted different cards from her. She didn’t really have a particular card she wanted, so she manifested for me instead. And I was wary, so I decided to switch the albums over. And the one she opened had all the cards that I wanted that she had originally given to me. So,…it’s been kind of interesting because if she is really sure about wanting a certain card, that card tends to appear. So um I guess that’s an example.

Context:

Context of Performance: In-person conversation

Me: Do you see any other cases of other K-Pop pull groups doing this, like having a specific lucky pull person?

Informant: um I have seen on like TikTok, that there’s this one guy who apparently. This one person’s boyfriend who also pulls what they want. I don’t know since I’m mostly referencing it from my group of friends.

Me: Do you think having her pull truly increases your chances?

Informant: I didn’t think so, but the coincidences have been kind of high as of late. She’s been able to get other people their pulls if she thinks hard enough about it. I don’t know if it’s really real or just a lot of coincidence, but it has happened enough that I’m suspicious.

Personal Thoughts:

The idea of having someone else participate in a heavily luck based thing is not unique to my informant’s experience, or K-pop pulls. There’s an entire genre of games referred to as Gacha games where players gamble to obtain playable characters. In addition, characters or other gamble-to-obtain items tend to be heavily objectified. In all heavily luck-based games there is a common thread of having someone else pull for you because they are luckier (an example is linked below). This is some that correlates with the past – for example gamblers having lucky rabbit’s feet. However this practice has also changed as we have moved into the modern era. Now, because we can SHARE our luck based experiences, people have lucky PEOPLE instead of lucky charms.

Additional Notes:

For another example of having a lucky person instead of a lucky charm:
Komemos. (2022, April 22). My best pulls ever???? Ayato and venti pulls … – youtube.com. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGrNpwNzAq8 

Sweeping Out the Good Luck (Chinese New Year)

Transcript (the folk practice):

Me: Do you do anything on Chinese New Year?

Informant: Like don’t sweep on Chinese New Year?

Me: Wait that’s a thing?

Informant: You don’t know that?

Me: I’ve never heard this!

Informant: Wait this is like famous, hang on. It’s like you’re not supposed to sweep during Chinese New Year if you don’t want to sweep the luck out of the house cleaning out the house symbolizes wait wait wait yeah sweeping out the house should be avoided during the first 3 days because good luck would be swept out.

Context:

Context of Performance: collected from an in-person conversation.

Informant: so it’s like a fun thing for Chinese New Year that I understand and don’t have to speak Chinese for it AND I get to like do it.

The informant also commented that she learned about it from her mom. Her family has been not sweeping during Chinese New Year since she was a kid (at least 10 years).

Personal Thoughts:

There’s a lot of traditions done during Chinese New Year that are associated with fortune and wealth. However, most that I’ve heard are things to do to scare off bad luck (such as lighting fireworks) as opposed to things not to do to keep good luck. This tradition is particularly interesting to me because I’ve associated Chinese New Year with Spring Cleaning time and/or a reset.

Egg Day (立春）

Nationality: Chinese-Malaysian American
Age: 18, 52
Residence: United States
Performance Date: February 4, 2022; March 4, 2022
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Malay

(above image is taken from the informant’s Instagram with their consent. It was posted February 4, 2018)

Note: The tradition was performed by the 18 year old informant (notated I), while the further explanation was supplied by her mother (notated M).

Performance: This tradition was performed on February 4, 2022 by the 18 year old informant. Further information was collected over a phone call March 4, 2022.

Transcript of the informant explaining the performance:

[Note: the informant didn’t really explain the tradition in detail because it was something I already knew about. In essence it’s the balancing of eggs on the 4th or 5th day of Chinese New Year, however the informant does it every February 4th for convenience. Further detail can be found in the transcript from my conversation with the informant’s mother.]

I: um like, and I only like, we never like did it every year until a couple years ago, but like it was a long time ago since we were still living in that old house, um it’s like a fun good luck thing, and I get to do a fun thing for Chinese New Year that I understand and don’t have to speak Chinese for it AND I get to, it’s always been like a fun thing to include other people on. Because, like, I post on Instagram and half the people are like oh my god it’s f***ing egg day and the other half are like what is happening, what is egg day, why is everybody in on this?

And then, y’know, when I came here [Australia], two people were like what the f*** are you doing? and I was like balancing eggs do you want to balance eggs? and they were like kind of. So, I don’t know, it’s also something you can use to connect with people. And be like “this is a fun culture thing.” I don’t know, I just enjoy it. It’s a fun way to connect with my culture. But like, in a very, un-serious way.

And it’s not like a *super important cultural practice*, y’know? So, it really is like anybody can do it.

Transcript of the informant’s mother explaining additional information about the tradition:

Me: What is the name of the tradition, and what’s its origin?

M: Origin, Chinese. The name is call 立春 (Lìchūn)

M: Spring time (春Chūn) is in the middle. Li (Lì立) is like you stand straight. that’s called li.

[FROM LATER IN THE TRANSCRIPT]

M: I don’t think this is from like, from China. I think China people don’t do that though I don’t know why. This is more like Taiwan people do that, Hong Kong, of course Malaysia, right. Singapore. I don’t know, I kind of shocked when I asked my neighbor, she’s from Shanghai. She said she never did it. Maybe is not from China, I don’t know, but Hainam, the Hainamese do that.

What is the origin or meaning behind this tradition?

W: So we do that on…the the the meaning behind doing this is just to start, it means that the new, the spring day is coming. Is a new day, so for a new year, so that’s why Chinese doing it on the Lunar calendar New Year, um usually count it like fifth days, fourth or 5th days after the Chinese New Year, count it, start from the first day. And, lichun leans that in the old time, all the farmer right? So when it’s time to plant, that is when they do this, is called lichun. Lichun is just to like, to tell that it’s time to plant and that it’s spring time. 

so this standing the eggs thing is just a…they believe the Earth is tilted on that particular day, that is straight. straight down like this that means it balance on both sides right. And somehow, I don’t know when it started, that they tested it… you can actually balance, because egg is the only thing that is not, you know, that is impossible to stand an egg. but on that day, actually they tried it, it worked, so it’s proof that the Earth is actually really straight and with the strong gravity. So we do that, then of course why they say do that is because to bring good luck in, into your house, prosperities. so that’s why Chinese do that during Chinese New Year, and then during Chinese New Year you want to bring good luck, you want to bring money into your house, so doing that means that, so you stand an egg, means that if it happens, if you’re successfully, you can do it, means that you have good luck. Then you let it stand in your house. I always let it stand for 15 days because Chinese New Year is 15 days so-

I: It means I have great luck. 

M: So Chinese New year is always 15 days, right? And so a lot of celebration going on the 7 day, the 15 days, it depends on what you origin from. So like you’re Hawkin you do it differently, if you are Hainamese you do it differently, so all of it if you are different province you have different belief. 

Personal Thoughts:

This tradition is particularly fascinating to me, because it displays an awareness that the Earth is not perfectly upright. While this tradition fulfills typical traits of many Chinese New Year traditions – an association with good fortune, it also differs greatly by balancing eggs. While the informant’s mother said that they balance eggs on this particular day because eggs are not perfectly round (and are difficult to balance), I also wonder if it’s because eggs are supposed to be a potential reflection of the world balancing on this particular day. Many ideas of world eggs are discussed in Venetia Newall’s Easter Eggs. While none of them particularly match Egg Day, they share an idea of an egg as something greater than just an egg.

Additional Notes:
For additional discussions of Eggs and their significance to folklore, go to:
Newall, Venetia. “Easter Eggs.” In The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 80, No. 315. (Jan. – Mar., 1967), pp. 3-32.