Tag Archives: tale

Chinese New Year – Folk Origin Myth

Nationality: Chinese and American
Age: 20
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Context:

My informant is from China. In China they celebrate Chinese New Year, otherwise known as Lunar New Year, which is the most important traditional holiday in their culture. Lunar New Year, marking the start of the lunar calendar year, is said to symbolize a fresh start and the opportunity to leave bad luck behind and welcome what the new year has to offer. The lunar calendar follows the moon’s monthly cycles and is about 354 days, making a leap month necessary to stay in line with the seasons. Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in many other East and Southeast Asian countries. Its significance lies in the blending of ancient traditions with modern day practices.

Conversation pulled from audio:
Informant:

“This is like a Chinese New Year’s story, basically. Like why you have to put like you have to have fireworks and like you have to put up like red stuff or wear red on Chinese New Year’s. It’s because like basically there was like a town in the past that was like always like attacked by like I was like tormented, I guess, whatever, like by a monster that lived in the mountains and it would come down once a year to like eat people. And basically like they realized that like by setting bamboo on fire, it causes like a bang, like a really like loud popping and like banging sound. And like the monster would be like scared of the sound. And then they also realized that like the monster was like scared of red because it’s like really it’s like looks like fire, right? And then so, but this is really out of order, but you guys can Polish it.

{ 1:01 }
And so like they did these things and then the monster would like stay away. And like when it did come down, it would like run away. So yeah.

Me: { 1:10 }
The red scared it off?

Informant: { 1:14 }
The red and then the firecrackers because it’s like when you set the bamboo on fire, it like kind of sounds like a firecracker.

Me: { 1:19 }
A ritual. Gotcha. I like that. That’s awesome. Thank you so much.”

Analysis:

Is this story true? Who knows. That’s what makes it a folk myth. Does it even matter if it’s true? I don’t think so. I find it interesting nonetheless. The fact that my informant was told this story as a child as the origin of Chinese New Year is all that matters. That’s what makes it folklore because this story has been pasted down by the folk, true or not.

What I find interesting is it’s explanations for why people wear red and light firecrackers during this holiday. The monster, symbolic or not, is scared away by the color red and the lighting of firecrackers because it’s scared of fire. Is this symbolic? I think so. I think it could represent bad luck, chaos, hardship, or winter and with the new year you celebrate to ward these things off. Often in folklore monsters are used to represent natural or social fears. This monster could also represent the warding off of doubts about the new year and struggles like famine and fear of invasion from the closing year.

‘El Cadejo’

Age: 48


Date of performance: 4/5/25


Language: Spanish


Nationality: Latino/a


Occupation: Caregiver


Primary Language: Spanish


Residence: United States

Text:

‘El Cadejo’ are two huge dogs, one white, the other black, one representing good and the other evil.

Context:

My informant heard the story of ‘El Cadejo’ from their father who encountered one of the two dogs returning from work at night. According to their father, upon walking back home from a long day of work, he encountered the huge white Cadejo. Aware of the tales of the creature, he remained calm upon its presence, turning away from it and walking forth home as it guided him back through the night.

Deriving from their father’s story of ‘El Cadejo,’ my informant interprets the white Cadejo to reveal themselves to people in place of their spiritual animal companion, there to guide them through difficult times. On the other hand, they interpret the black Cadejo to reveal themselves to those who do wrong in the world, present to punish them for their actions.

Analysis:

I agree with my informants interpretation, as I’ve personally heard the Cadejo were sent down to manage and help balance the world from the malice accumulating from peoples actions. Nevertheless, I believe it is also another folktale about being careful at night and to avoid at all wandering at night from factors that can be unavoidable.

“The Boy Who Traded His Voice”

Age: 21

Date: 03/27/2025

Language: English

Nationality: Ecuadorian

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: Spanish

Residence: United States

1. Text:


“So, me and my little brother came up with this story during a long road trip — but I still tell it to kids sometimes. It goes like this: There was once a boy who hated being quiet. He talked constantly, about everything and nothing, until people just stopped listening. One day, he met this spirit in the woods who told him, ‘If you give me your voice, I’ll give you something better — the ability to hear anything, even the things people don’t say out loud.’ The boy agreed without thinking. And suddenly, he could hear people’s thoughts — their secrets, feelings, fears — everything. But he couldn’t say a word. No one could hear him anymore. So he just listened. Forever. That’s the story. I always end it with: be careful what you give up for the sake of being heard.”

2. Context:

Told by Jalen (age 20), who said he made it up with his brother after a long car ride, but that the idea stuck. He now tells it to kids when teaching workshops about communication and listening. He interprets it as a lesson about empathy and restraint — how power can come from silence, not just speaking.

3. My Interpretation:

Though modern in origin, this tale follows a traditional moral structure. It reimagines the classic “deal with a spirit” theme and flips the expected outcome — instead of gaining a voice, the boy loses it. It critiques the desire to dominate conversation and encourages thoughtful presence instead.

“The Haunted Sock”

Age: 20

Date: 03/27/2025

Language: English

Nationality: Taiwanese/ Chilean

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: Spanish

Residence: United States

1. Text:

“My little sister used to swear that a haunted sock lived under her bed. Every time she lost a sock in the laundry, she’d blame it on the ghost sock that was ‘collecting friends.’ One time, she left out a cheese stick as an offering. When it was gone in the morning, she said, ‘See? He was hungry. And now I won’t lose any more socks this week.’”

2. Context:

The informant says her sister created the haunted sock story when she was around six. It became a running family joke that they still mention when socks go missing. She says it helped her deal with small fears — and now it’s part of their family’s shared sense of humor.

3. My Interpretation:

This joke functions as a playful child-created legend, giving magical explanation to mundane annoyances. It’s rooted in imagination and control — assigning personality to mystery. Over time, it transformed into a humorous family tradition, illustrating how folklore can emerge from the logic of a child and evolve into shared myth.

Beccaria Legends

‘In my little town of Beccaria in the central Pennsylvania mountains, we had a little church, and it was the center of our “so-called religious and social life” and so whatever happened in that church would be pretty powerful for me, even through my high school years as I think back on it. But what was a little different in this Evangelical culture that I grew up in was that every summer there would be something called “Evangelism Week”. There were these men who may not have even ever gone to seminary or bible school… But they had a certain amount of skill, and they were Evangelists. For one week we would go to church every night and they would preach. That preaching was always fire and brimstone… It was always how everybody in Beccaria was sinful, was bad, was going to go to hell for sure… everything that might be fun, like square dancing… or never mind any other kind of dancing… listening to country western music or wearing lipstick or makeup of any kind… having your hair permed or going to the movies… which was our main form of entertainment… That was all work of the devil. The devil was a very real kind of figure… a mystical evil legend and thing that was just ready to pop out in this 300-person population town. It was very real to me and very powerful to everyone in Beccaria. This has definitely affected me my whole life. I’m a very dutiful and prim person because of these tales told of the devil each Evangelism week. In the families that were pious, their children were damaged by that, like my cousins. I didn’t think about it as mystical when I was a kid, but it really was. But we would go… we would sit at it every year… every summer through high school. They would preach to us these tales in the pulpit and they would be very explosive, dynamic, and loud when they acted out these stories. It was always legends about the devil, nothing about Jesus or the “good parts of Christianity.” To think that I am almost 90 years old… it haunts me still… it’s as vivid to me as anything… it was the dark side.’ – VB

VB would hear these tales of the devil each summer growing up from groups of men who came to her little town of Beccaria, Pennsylvania. It was tradition for her family, and even her own parents grew up attending the same Evangelism week. This single week each summer practically dictated the way VB decided to live her life and how she wanted to raise her own children. The influence these tales and legends about the devil had on her practically consumed her whole childhood, and even decades later, she still thinks about it. She reminisced on the fact that after this week, she would refuse to go to any more Saturday night square dances, and even skip out on the Sunday afternoon movie showings, out of fear of damnation. It would take months for this influence to wear off before she would even consider going out to have a moment of fun. VB gave an anecdote that these preachings had a generational impact, her parents, grandparents, and even her cousins al felt affected by Evangelism week. As stated in the paraphrase of her story, she lives a dutiful life, raising her children to do so as well. However, she recalls that when her daughter married a “fun-loving” man, it truly changed a lot of her own perspective on religion and the way lives should be lived… allowing her to accept the fun times and move past the idea of entertainment being sinful.

My initial understanding of this story told by VB was that she grew up in a very small religious town, and with the Evangelism week was an opportunity for the church to instill fear into the townspeople to control their behaviors. This follows the stereotypes that I grew up learning about small “middle of nowhere” towns such as Beccaria Pennsylvania. However, a lot of religious folklore was present in Beccaria with this local tradition and annual ritual for the community. As folklore does, it brought the community together, sharing the same ideas and beliefs to all that would listen. Additionally, this story told by VB shows how oral tradition can shape beliefs of the entire community who listened, something folklore has been known to do. Additionally, much folklore has gestures and is performed, and as VB recalls, the preachers served a fiery sermon with animated gestures, practically making it into a performance. This folklore allowed the residents of Beccaria to shape their way of lives and have a collective experience together. While folklore is usually thought of in the sense of fairytales and mythical legends, it often can be used in a fear-mongering sense as it is here. Not only has this folklore been passed down from VB’s ancestors, but VB continued to spread this oral tradition to her own family, even though she was far from her hometown of Beccaria, no longer attending the Evangelism week.