Tag Archives: family

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.

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.

Armenian Genocide

Text

“This is the story of my great grandma. At four years old, the Ottoman Empire came bursting into her city, raiding houses and killing anyone who resisted. On a snowy night, she escaped, and would never see the rest of her family again. Trudging through the snow with no shoes, she could see a church steeple. The nuns saw her and invited her in with open arms. At first, they spoke a langauge she did not understand. Eventually, a nun spoke to her in the Armenian language. “We are lucky to have found you. You may stay here as long as you like.” Still too weak to speak, she nodded yes.

They lived together for several years. My great grandma learned she was living in a German convent, and the nun learned that the little girl’s name was Heghine. Every day, Hegine studied reading, writing, and speaking the Armenian language. With the teachers, she learned many wonderful things as she grew up. After years passed, Hegine grew to be a happy, humble, and very smart girl. One day, her favorite teacher came by to sit with her in the rose garden and said “My dear Hegine, the time has come that you continue to a bigger school. There is an Armenian school in the city of Jerusalem. Would you like to go there?”

“I will be a little nervous to go, but I will also be happy. I am very very thankful for this time I have had with you here at the convent.” Just before sunrise, Hegine and her beloved teacher arrived at the train station. They said their goodbyes, and Hegine got on the train. On the train, Hegine sat in a seat by the window, and while the train started moving, she watched the mountains as the sun began to rise.”

Context

“I heard this story from multiple people in my family. In particular, my uncle even made a short story describing her story which gave me a strong sense of what she went through to eventually raise a family that I am part of today. It is very important to my family because her resilience to survive a genocide resulted in my family and I getting to live a fortunate life in the US. Her story is a lesson to us to always be grateful for our opportunities and never give up hope.”

Analysis

This story reveals how family narratives serve as folklore due to their passing through generations. These type of folk stories create cultural identity and connect personal history to larger groups such as the Amerian people. The story demonstrates the value of perseverance and gratitude in everyday life. This survival story connects Amerian identity to family history and maintains the memories of the past. Because of this family lore’s importance in their family, it shapes their collective family identity and becomes a story they all learn and continue to pass it down to future generations. Through the creation of a short story, the varied narratives of the great grandma’s story are reduced and everyone in the family gets the same account, allowing them to all resonate with the same messages.

New Year’s Banzai

Text

“Every year or New Year’s day my entire extended family, on my Dad’s Japanese American side, get together at my aunt’s house. We all live relatively close to her house in San Pedro, so everyone drives up to her place. It is tradition for everyone to coordinate with her on what to bring so there is a feast with a variety of foods. We always eat mochi soup, spam musubi, and sushi along with many other dishes and desserts. Each year after we eat, everyone gathers in the living room to do a toast with the adults having some sort of alochol such as champaigne and the kids with juice. Unfortunately I still have to drink the juice for a couple more years. Then, usually an older man of the family, like one of my uncles, gives a toast to the new year with wishes of health, love, and fortune and ends the speech with yelling “Banzai” three times. After each ‘banzai’ we repeat it after him while raising our glasses, and after three times we all drink.”

Context

“I think this family tradition manifests connection and love for the new year and makes the day feel special. As far as I know, the tradition started at my great uncle’s house and following his passing, my aunt also his daughter, continued the celebration at her house. From my memory we have been gathering and performing this tradition as far as I can remember in my 17 years.”

Analysis

Family folklore often is passed down throughout generations in the form of traditions. In this particular family, the tradition that began at her great uncle’s house is carried on by his daughter to keep the family’s identity on New Year’s alive and also maintains the memory of her father. Often times, folklore is maintained across generations to preserve what the folk before us created with minor changes in tradition along the way. The annual tradition of this event along with the Banzai toast make it a ritual because of the same foods and actions performed for each celebration. The shared drinking and eating foster connection and give this folk group their own unique identity.