Onam- Indian Festival

Age: 22

Text:
Informant: “Onam is a festival about King Mahabali returning to visit his people once every year. One thing people do is make pookalam, which are flower carpets placed at the entrance of the house to welcome Mahabali. My grandma makes them and that’s where I first saw them. People usually get together to make one and it can take two to three hours. There’s also a big meal called Onasadya which we eat for lunch. People sit in rows with a banana leaf in front of them and volunteers serve the food. Someone will bring a big bucket of rice and scoop it onto everyone’s leaf, then another person comes and gives things like bananas. Everything is vegetarian and there is 25 different dishes, the number of dishes is important and you eat with your hands. There’s also boat races called Vallamkali with 100-foot snake boats. I’ve watched them on TV before.”

Interviewer: “How long have you been celebrating Onam?”
Informant: “Pretty much since I was a kid, maybe when I was six or eight. My family celebrates it and that’s how I learned about it. I don’t celebrate it as much anymore, but my parents still celebrate it.”

Context:
The informant grew up in India and learned about and participated in Onam through family celebrations during childhood. Their first encounter with the traditions was watching their grandmother prepare pookalam flower designs at home. The informant explained that their family regularly celebrated the festival when they were around age six or eight. Although the informant does not celebrate Onam as frequently now that they have moved to America, their parents still celebrate in India.

Analysis:
Onam is an example of festival folklore, which combines storytelling, ritual practices, food traditions, and communal gatherings. The festival is centered around the legend of King Mahabali and his annual return, showing how narratives help explain and structure cultural celebrations. The traditions practiced during Onam also express important Indian cultural values such as hospitality, cooperation, and community. Activities like making pookalam or sharing the Onasadya meal require many people working in tandem, which turns the festival into a collective experience rather than an individual one. The large vegetarian meal served on banana leaves and eaten in rows reinforces a sense of equality, since everyone receives the meal in the same way.

금시초문 (Geum shi chomeun)- Korean Proverb

Age: 21

Text: 금시초문 (Geum shi chomeun)- hearing something for the first time

Informant: “It’s a four-character proverb or idiom. Each syllable has meaning, like “gold, time, first, escape,” but together it means hearing something for the first time. People say it when they are surprised by something they just heard. I like to use it as a joke, but most people use it as a surprised exclamation. Not all Koreans use it. It’s something more educated people tend to use It’s part of the culture. It’s something people in Korea say, especially when speaking to older people. If you use it with older people they might be impressed. I first heard it in 8th grade Korean school, we were learning four word proverbs.”


Interviewer: “Can you give an example of how you would use it?”
Informant: “If someone said, ‘Oh I heard this person is transferring to UCLA,’ someone could respond, ‘That’s a geum shi chomeun,’ meaning this is the first time they’ve heard that news.”

Context:

The informant learned this four-character Korean idiom while attending Korean language school in eighth grade. The phrase was introduced as part of a lesson on traditional four-character proverbs that are common in Korean speech and writing. The informant explained that although the expression is not used by everyone, it is often associated with more educated speakers and can be especially appropriate when speaking with older people. The informant mostly uses the phrase humorously among friends.

Analysis:

This example is a proverb or idiomatic expression, a form of verbal folklore that circulates through language and everyday conversation. Four-character idioms are especially common in East Asian traditions and are valued for their ability to carry complex meanings in only a few syllables. Although each syllable has its own literal meaning, the phrase can only be fully understood when the words are interpreted collectively. This shows how certain forms of folk speech require shared cultural knowledge to understand beyond a direct translation. The informant notes that the phrase is often associated with educated speakers and can be used to impress older people, showing how language can carry cultural prestige. In this way, the idiom reflects not only surprise, but also the value placed on education, tradition, and respect for elders in Korean culture. At the same time, the informant mentioned that they sometimes use the phrase jokingly with friends, which shows how folklore is dynamic and can take on new meanings in different social contexts.

己所不欲，勿施于人 (Treat others the way you want to be treated)- Chinese Proverb

Text: “己所不欲，勿施于人” (Jǐ suǒ bù yù, wù shī yú rén).

Informant: “己所不欲，勿施于人 (Jǐ suǒ bù yù, wù shī yú rén). It means you want to treat other people you want to be treated, if there’s something you don’t want for yourself, don’t do it to others. It’s a Chinese principle of life. Everything is not about yourself, it’s more about the community and living in society. That’s a cultural difference from Western culture.”

Interviewer: “Is it different from the Western saying ‘treat others how you want to be treated’?”
Informant: “In American values they do have this idea, but the difference is that in Chinese culture it’s integrated into everything. In American culture there are also other proverbs that encourage you to be whatever you want to be. There are more choices between ideas. In China there are fewer contradictory principles like that.”

Interviewer: “When was the first time you heard it?”
Informant: “Since I was about seven or eight. I heard it from parents, neighbors, and teachers. Usually when you have conflicts with other kids, like when you fight with your brother or sister or with other students. For example, when my parents would bring good food or little treats, sometimes you try to keep the best one for yourself and give your brother or sister the one you don’t like. Then they would say this proverb.”

Context:
The informant first heard this proverb when they were around seven or eight years old from parents, neighbors, and teachers. It was commonly used in everyday situations when children were arguing with siblings or classmates, or when they were being selfish while sharing things like food or treats. The proverb was used as a reminder to consider others and behave fairly. As the informant grew older, they continued to hear the saying and later used it themselves when raising their own children.

Analysis:

This example is a proverb, a form of verbal folklore that communicates cultural values through a short and memorable phrase. Proverbs are often used in everyday conversations as a way to guide behavior, especially by parents and teachers when correcting children. In the informant’s explanation, the saying emphasizes thinking about how one’s actions affect others rather than focusing only on individual desires. Similar ideas appear in other cultures, such as the English saying “treat others the way you want to be treated,” which demonstrate multiplicity and variation. The informant describes the Chinese proverb as being deeply embedded in everyday moral teaching. Through repeated use in situations like family conflicts or lessons about sharing, the proverb reinforces Chinese cultural expectations about community and consideration for others.

Double Happiness Red Paper- Chinese Wedding Tradition

Age: 54

Text:
Informant: “When people get married, friends and relatives help prepare for the wedding. They cut out the double happiness character, ‘双喜 (shuāngxǐ),’ using scissors. It means double happiness. They cut the character out of red paper, it has to be red paper. The character is 喜 (xǐ) for happiness, and the wedding version combines two of them to make double happiness. People only do this for weddings, they make both small and big ones and place them everywhere in the house of the bride and the groom, like entry doors, windows, gates, the bed board, and furniture.”

Context:

The informant is from China and and explained that this practice of cutting the 双喜 out of red paper is widely performed in China and considered a cultural tradition and blessing associated specifically with marriage. The informant also shared that they personally participated in this custom when they got married and when their friends and family married.

Analysis:

Wedding decorations like the double happiness character (双喜) are a form of customary folklore tied to an important life transition. Weddings mark the beginning of a new stage of life, and symbolic objects are often used to express hopes for the couple’s future. The repetition of the character for happiness represents the union of two people and the wish for joy and prosperity in their marriage.

The decoration also has elements of material folklore, since the character is physically created by cutting it out of red paper. In modern times, people tend to buy the paper pre-cut, but there are still people who cut it by hand. The process of preparing and displaying these decorations is often done collectively by family members and friends, which reinforces the communal nature of wedding celebrations and an overall community emphasis in China. Placing the symbol throughout the home not only signals to others that a wedding is taking place, but also symbolically invites happiness and good fortune into the new household.

女娲补天 (Nuwa repairs the Sky)- Chinese Myth

Text: 女娲补天 (Nǚwā bǔ tiān)- translated to English as “Nuwa repairs the sky”

Informant: “In ancient times there was a water god and a fire god who were in war with each other. The water god lost, and in his anger he crashed into the huge columns that supported the sky. In ancient Chinese belief, the sky was supported by giant mountain-like pillars so when the columns broke, the sky collapsed and everything fell apart. There were floods everywhere, fires burning, and people were dying. So there was a female goddess named Nuwa who saw all the humans suffering and wanted to save them. She found special stones and used fire to melt them down to patch the hole in the sky. Then she needed something to support the patched sky, so she fought a giant turtle monster that was as tall as a mountain. After beating him, she cut off its four legs and used them as four pillars to hold up the sky. Also during this time, because of the floods and destruction, many other monsters appeared on earth. Nuwa fought all these dragons and monsters and defeated them, finally restoring peace and order to the world.”

Context:

The informant explained that they first learned the story of Nuwa repairing the sky in elementary school through children’s picture books.

Analysis:

Stories like Nuwa repairing the sky belong to a group of sacred narratives that explain how the world came to be ordered the way it is. Unlike folktales, myths are not constantly invented or changed. They tend to become canonical stories that are repeated over long periods of time and eventually written down, often becoming closely tied to religion or cultural tradition.

The story also demonstrates the concept of multiplicity and variation. Many cultures have different myths about how the world was created or repaired after catastrophe. The flooding and destruction in this story are similar to flood narratives found in other traditions, such as the biblical flood story. While the details differ, these stories address similar questions about why disasters happen and how order is restored. Because events like the formation of the world or large natural disasters are difficult to explain, folklore often emerges to help societies make sense of the unknown. In this sense, myths function as early cultural explanations for the natural world, helping people understand chaotic events.