Tag Archives: season

夏が終わった

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Japan
Performance Date: 2020.5.1
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: Japanese

Main piece:

Original text: 夏が終わった

Translated text: The summer ends.

The informant told me that in Japanese, words sometimes have more meanings than they seem to have. For example, “summer” is not only a season. It represented the best time of love. “Summer” is when you are fervently love someone but haven’t decided to tell him/her. It’s like the beautiful relationship between highschoolers: they are in love, but too young to say it out bravely. When “the summer ends”, it means someone decided to give up on a relationship, or a fruitless love.

More generally, 夏が終わった also means the best period of one’s time has ends. It’s like the end of teenage.

Background information:

The informant is a student from China studying abroad in Japan. She saw the hashtag 夏が終わった on twitter. People do not only post about season under it, but also use it to descrive something more emotional. She shared this with me through social media chat box.

Context:

I collected this piece through a casual interview with my informant in social media chat box.

Thought:

It’s a really beautiful to say something inside someone ends. I like how Eastern Asian culture tends to have more connotation in their language.

Weather Log

Nationality: American, caucasian
Age: Upper 60s
Occupation: Construction Foreman— Blue Collar, etc.
Residence: Columbus, MS
Performance Date: 4/21/18
Primary Language: English

Title: Weather Log

Category: Folk Object

Informant: Tony Walker

Nationality: American, caucasian

Age: Upper 60s

Occupation: Construction Foreman— Blue Collar, etc.

Residence: Columbus, MS

Date of Collection: 4/21/18

Description:

A weather log is a short, truncated stick about the size of 3” attached to a piece of twine with a laminated card attached. The card reads similar to the following:

IF IT’S WET, IT’S RAINING.

IF IT’S DARK, IT’S CLOUDY.

IF IT’S LIGHT, IT’S SUNNY.

IF IT’S MOVING, IT’S WINDY.

Context/Significance:

The list can continue. The weather log is meant to inform the owner what the weather is outside in a comical sense. This object is usually given/received as a joke or gag-gift.

Personal Thoughts:

My crazy Uncle makes weather logs to give to family members as a joke gift. He seems to find them extremely hilarious. These logs are hung from a tree outside close to the owner’s window. If nothing else, they’re a reminder of him and his humor.

Winter Solstice Festival (冬至)

Nationality: Taiwanese-American
Age: 52
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: San Marino, California
Performance Date: February 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Taiwanese

冬至
dōng zhì
Winter Solstice Festival

“The Winter Solstice Festival is very important to the Chinese culture.  It is celebrated around December 21, the shortest day of the year.  This festival celebrates longer daylight, which means that there’s more positive energy.  For this festival, families get together and eat tangyuan.  Tangyuan are glutinous rice balls that represent reunion.  It allows families to reunite.”

My informant learned the item when she grew up in Taiwan.  It’s an important Chinese tradition that most people participate in.  My mom has been celebrating the Winter Solstice Festival ever since she was a little kid, and now my family celebrates it every year.
My family celebrates the festival on December 21.  We have a huge family reunion with my aunts and uncles.  We go to a Chinese restaurant to eat a delicious dinner, while catching up on everybody’s life.  After dinner, each family separates and goes home.  At home, my mom cooks tangyuan for my whole family.  Usually, she makes several stuffed tangyuan and many small plain ones.
My mom enjoys this celebration because she loves family get-togethers.  With the busy lives that everyone leads now, my parents do not get to see their brothers and sisters often.  This festival is a chance for everyone to reunite.  This celebration is particularly important to my mom because of the fact that we always have a family reunion on this day.  This day also allows my mom to sit down with my family while eating tangyuan.
I think that this festival is significant to Chinese culture and Chinese families.  I agree with my mom, and I think that families really don’t have very much time to sit down and talk to each other.  Even family dinners are becoming so rare in American families.  Parents are always working and children have extracurricular activities and large amounts of homework that keep them from eating at a set time.  Also, this festival shows Chinese values.  Chinese people value positive things, so the fact that after the winter solstice is over and there will be days with longer daylight is relative to their beliefs.