Tag Archives: family

Chinese New Year Tradition of Making “Dern”

Text:

“On the 15th of the Chinese New Year, my grandma would make something called “dern.” “Dern” is like a bun shaped in the form of our Chinese Zodiac. She would make the “dern” for all family members. She would make seven of them, and they are all in our corresponding Chinese zodiac. So, if I’m born in the zodiac of the chicken, then she would make a chicken. This is practiced on the last day of the Chinese New Year. All of our animal characters would be on the same big bun; there are usually three big buns in total. She would also make two fish on one of the big buns, corresponding to the proverb “May you have abundance/surplus year after year.” After I got a boyfriend, my grandmother started making his “dern” as well. It is referred to as “dern” in the Shandong dialect. To be honest, sometimes it is hard for me to recognize which animal is which after she made them. Another thing is that we have to eat it. We have to bring this gigantic bun back to our own house and place it on our table for a day, and then you eat it. I’m not sure why we put it on the table for a day, but if you eat your zodiac, that just means that you are safe and good, and you have to eat the parts with the pieces of gold as well, which means that you can earn a lot of money in the upcoming year.”

Context:

This text was collected from a Chinese international student from Beijing, China. She learned this tradition through direct participation in her grandmother’s annual practice and shared it with me in a casual conversation as she spoke from personal memory. Her grandmother was from Shandong province, and dern is also a word describing decorated buns in the Shandong dialect. The tradition takes place on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year (the Lantern Festival), which marks the final day of the celebration period. The grandmother serves as the sole maker of the buns, crafting zodiac-shaped figures for every family member. A significant detail is that after the informant began dating her boyfriend, the grandmother started making a bun for him as well, suggesting the practice functions as an informal way of welcoming new members into the family. She interprets eating one’s zodiac as ensuring personal safety and prosperity in the coming year.

Analysis:

This piece exemplifies material culture, more specifically when it functions as a family lore, which shows how a broader regional tradition becomes personalized at the household level. This reminds me of Carl von Sydow’s concept of oicotypes: in this case, the family’s specific variation — seven individual buns, three large bases, fish for prosperity, a one-day display — represents a local adaptation of a wider Shandong practice. The variation is shaped by this family’s particular values and composition. Moreover, the ritual also aligns with Frazer’s theory of homeopathic magic: eating one’s zodiac animal and the golden pieces embedded in the bun not only symbolize safety and wealth, it also enact them. Corresponding folk beliefs like those exemplified through the shape of the “dern” collapse the boundary between representation and outcome. The grandmother’s decision to include the boyfriend’s bun is especially interesting, as it functions as a vernacular act of admitting family membership, which comes before any official social recognition of the relationship.





Chinese Birthday Tradition of Longevity Noodles

Text:

“For everybody’s birthday, we have to wear new clothes from top to down. And then we also need to eat noodles each morning, and your whole family also needs to eat noodles with you. And then you also need to like use a chopstick to drag the noodles as long as possible (like hold it as long as possible). And say something like “live forever” or something like that. So that can like represent that you are going to be healthy and have like a good life for a very long time. Everyone has to take pictures as they hold the noodles. Even when we are apart, my family still does it and sends it to me on my birthday.”

Context:

The informant describes a family birthday tradition centred on eating 长寿面 (longevity noodles). This is a common practice in many Chinese households. She grew up participating in this ritual with her family, where eating noodles on one’s birthday symbolises wishes for a long and healthy life. The informant explains that this is not only done in person but continues even when family members are physically apart, as they take photos and share them with each other. For her, this tradition is both a symbolic ritual and a way of maintaining family connection across distance.

Analysis:

This tradition can be understood through Mary Douglas’s idea that everyday practices carry symbolic meanings that reinforce cultural values. The emphasis on the length of the noodles reflects how physical actions are used to represent abstract ideas like longevity and health. The act of carefully holding and eating the noodles shows intentional participation to express these wishes. Other than carrying symbolic value, the shared participation (whether in person or through photos) reinforces family bonds and continuity.


Lunar New Year Superstition

Age: 23

JL: “My Mom texted me today, ‘Hello my daughter and son. It’s Chinese New Year so you don’t have to sweep or take out the trash.'”

Context: This is from one of my roommates, who is Chinese American. She celebrates the Chinese New Year with her family every year. This was a text from her mom to her family group chat, which includes her father and brother. It is a Chinese superstition that if you sweep on the Lunar New Year, you sweep away all your good luck. If you take out the trash, you are throwing away prosperity as you enter the New Year.

Analysis: This superstition is a Chinese folk belief, combined with a calendar ritual relating to Lunar New Year. Like many other cultures folklore, this one relates the idea of good and bad luck with specific rituals. Functionally, not participating in these chores reinforces cultural identity, and also reinforces Chinese social values of prosperity and luck. I also think that the fact this was shared over text demonstrates how folklore adapts over time. Many years ago, this may have been an in person face to face conversation, but in the year 2026, people have found other ways to communicate and connect with one another in order to spread knowledge and information. Overall, this tradition helps create a sense of certainty when the future may be uncertain, especially at the start of a new year.

Ouija Board Experience

Age: 19

Interviewer: Well first off, what is an Ouija Board?

CJ: The Ouija board is like a board full of numbers and letters to help, um, What’s it called? To help speak to people who have passed away. They help you learn more about that person. [The ghosts] could be good or bad.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. And um, okay, who, who related to you uses the board?

CJ: My mom, friends. A lot of people around me actually.


Interviewer: So, okay, so when your mom uses the board. Who would she use it with? Would she use it by herself?

CJ: She was younger when she would use it. I don’t think my mom has an Ouija board anymore, but she would use it with, um, like her, her siblings. Like, they were really into that stuff.


Interviewer: What were the stories that you heard from her or any one of them about the board?


CJ: When she was younger, and like, when she used the board, she would try to talk to her mom’s mom. My great grandma. She was trying to um, figure out her name.


Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

CJ: My grandma wouldn’t tell my mom her great grandma’s name. I don’t know why. I feel like something followed her from the Ouija board because I feel like they were really young when they were doing that shit. There’s rules to it. Me and my cousin Isabella would always talk about how there was something in the house and like, my grandma heard stuff in the house.

Interviewer: You feel like a ghost followed your mom?

CJ: There’s just always weird vibes around her house. I think. I kind of stay far away from that shit because I get scared.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Can you explain some of the rules? Of the board?

CJ: I think you put your hands on a mold. Put the um- it’s kind of like a, it kind of looks like an illuminati symbol. kind of. You put it on the board and you put your fingers on it and kind of ask questions.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. To the ghost?

CJ: Yeah. And the ghosts will guide your fingers on that mold across the board to help communicate.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm. And then is there a specific way to, like, start communicating and end it?

CJ: Um, I don’t know the way to end it, but you kind of just- you- I think you kind of have to put yourself in that headspace to communicate with ghosts, and that’s how you start it, but I don’t know how you end it. I think you’re supposed to say like, goodbye to like, completely disconnect yourself from those bad spirits. I’ve never done it personally. I’ve never touched anything like that before because I don’t want to play with my life like that.

Interviewer: Yeah.

CJ: But, um, my mom did something to herself because of it. We’ve all felt bad stuff in her house. I think that’s why they don’t talk about it though, because, my Tia Miriam also used to do tarot cards. It’s similar to what my mom was doing. She said she’s had like bad experiences with seeing um, spirits. In the process of it.

Interviewer: Oh.

CJ: it’s just something she doesn’t really talk about because she got traumatized by it. Um, and like, Um, I’ve seen it at, or- I’ve heard it at my mom’s house.

Interviewer: And what would you hear and see?

CJ: I’d see like- I never saw anything, but I would hear things. Like, for example, like, I’d hear footsteps walking up and down the hallways. Then one time, I tried to use the restroom, but both doors- because our bathroom had 2 doors in it. One door was leading into the, um, like sink room where you kind of wash your hands, and then there was a separate door in that bathroom where the shower and toilet was. Both of those doors closed, like, they slammed shut and locked. I remember, I was thinking to myself like: oh, it must have been the wind. I kind of waited 5 minutes for somebody to come out, but I realized nobody was coming out, so I unlocked it with a penny. It kind of just made me think, like, these doors would never, like- yes, they could close to the wind, but they would never lock on their own. Both of those doors locked.

Interviewer: Yeah. That’s scary.

CJ: You know? And in the middle of the night, we’d hear like, footsteps running up and down the hallways when I was younger.

Context: The informant says a specific ghost has been following her family for years. Her family has a history of dabbling in activities that involve communicating with the dead, or have strong ties with spiritual guidance. Her family very strongly believe in ghosts, and have all shared some paranormal experiences while living together in her mom’s house in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Although her family hasn’t used an Ouija board in years, her mom still practices using Tarot cards for spiritual guidance, and frequently engages in other activities that involve speaking with spirits.

Analysis: Most people encounter an Ouija Board as children. It is a combination of ritual and social experience between participants who use the board. Its used as a ritual for spirit communication, and kind of represents human curiosity about the afterlife. A lot of Memorates emerge from this ritual specifically, and I have found myself recalling many other stories I’ve heard about a friend or friend of a friend’s encounter with an Ouija Board. I also think that its really interesting how individual and cultural experiences and backgrounds can effect how this ritual is viewed. Charlie’s personal experiences makes the idea of talking with spirits dangerous and taboo, while her mom frequently uses various methods to communicate with spirits regularly.

Fukusui bon ni kaerazu

Text:

Informant: “My grandpa taught me a phrase called, “fukusui bon ni kaerazu”, which means “spilt water never returns to the tray”. It’s basically saying what’s done is already done, so don’t stress about it too much, and I really like it because it’s like a really zen way to live life, you know?”

Interviewer: “Oh yeah for sure, do you mind sharing when you first heard this, and the kind of effect this had on your life”

Informant: “Yeah, so my grandpa told me that during my senior year, and I was basically telling him how there was a part of me that regretted being set on going ROTC for college early on instead of trying to like actually go further with hockey, since I didn’t try to talk to any college coaches or like go to more camps, since I was like always just set that it’d be better off to go to college since the chance of making it pro is so slim. And I think what made me regret so suddenly was just watching all the other guys I grew up playing with going onto play higher levels either in pros or college but him telling me that and kind of explaining how it’s useless to stress about the past helped me get closure and just move on, since I could still play hockey at USC in the club team even if it might not be as flashy as the pros.”

“I think in general the phrase just helped me learn to not take everything too seriously, and just let things happen instead of trying to control everything, since whatever happens happens.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old sophomore at USC, who is studying environmental science. He grew up in Irvine, California, and played hockey all his life, and still plays to this day on the USC men’s club hockey team. This topic came up after I came back from playing intramural basketball, and told him about how I missed the feeling of playing actual organized sports and wished I was good enough to have had the chance to play in college, even if it was a small D3 or JUCO school. Relating to the experience, he shared his hockey experience and our conversation reached this topic. As shown in the interview, the phrase was told to him by his grandfather, who was a second-generation Japanese American; for the informant’s interpretation, it seems he took the literal meaning to heart, and uses it in his life to help him mentally not stress too much about past regrets or mistakes.

Analysis:

This Japanese proverb is a perfect exemplification of a traditional verbal folktale, as it is a long-standing saying in Japan that was passed down orally through family for this informant. The context of use for this proverb is to offer emotional wisdom, emphasizing that it’s what’s past is past, and that it’s foolish to let any form of regret from the past continue to affect one’s life. For this informant, just as how verbal folklore is passed down intimately between individuals, he learned this proverb from a family member. This informant’s story also holds cultural significance, as with the informant being a fourth generation immigrant who is culturally closer to the U.S than Japan, him still finding meaning within a Japanese proverb and its application to an important decision in his life shows how folklore can be meaningful across multiple cultures.