Tag Archives: tradition

Happy Birthday sung in three languages

Nationality: Taiwanese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Animation student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA / Queens, NY
Language: English

Text:

JC: “Okay, so um… for context, well you know this but my parents were originally from Taiwan, but my dad grew up in Costa Rica, so he’s picked up an understanding of Spanish. And in my family, we had this big group of like… in a lot of holiday celebrations, so like New Years or in the summer, we all tend to gather around and like, celebrate a specific holiday. And as a tradition we sing happy birthday first in English, ’cause everyone understands it, and then in Chinese to kind of like.. just for all the grandparents to understand, for them to join in, and for.. all of the like, Taiwanese people around. And then for the Costa Rican side, we end up singing it in Spanish.”

Context:

Informant JC is part of a multi-cultural and multi-lingual family. He added, “I always thought that was very interesting, like my family dynamic. I’m primarily Taiwanese-American, but we still ended up incorporating like a lot of Costa Rican cultural bits. There’s like, having Costa Rican food on the side, or being more open to Costa Rican culture. I also feel like because we’ve all like, grown up in America, like my parents moved when they were very young, and my relatives came in more progressively, and they’ve had to assimilate to American culture. A lot of what we end up doing feels very American.”

Analysis:

Happy Birthday songs are ritualized celebrations of the human life cycle, commemorating the completion of an approximate solar year since a person’s birth. They provide an opportunity for one’s community to get together and reaffirm their bonds with a person.

JC’s multilingual birthday ritual is especially significant in light of broader political changes. From 1949 to 2007, Costa Rica had diplomatic relations with Taiwan. After nearly 60 years, Costa Rica decided to break off this relationship in favor of establishing ties with China. Despite these shifting political alliances, JC’s family birthday ritual demonstrates that community bonds extend beyond the borders and interests of the nation-state.

No Hitter Jinx

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Residence: San Diego, CA

Text:

When a pitcher is throwing a no hitter or a perfect game, nobody in the dugout is allowed to talk to the pitcher and nobody at all (including teammates, fans, broadcasters, and anyone else watching) is allowed to say the words “no-hitter” or “perfect game”. If you talk to the pitcher or if you say no-hitter you will jinx the pitcher and they will give up a hit.

Context:

Both of these rules are common practice across baseball, and my friend has experienced both of them first hand. In high school, one of his teammates had a perfect game going through 6 innings; when he was not on the mound the pitcher sat by himself at the far end of the dugout and nobody, including the coaches would talk to him. Normally coaches would ask how a pitcher is feeling after every inning and give them advice, but the coach stayed far away. The pitcher successfully finished the perfect game. As a fan, my friend was in attendance when the Mets pitched a no-hitter in 2022. Everybody knew that the Mets had a no-hitter going, and the crowd became more and more excited as they got closer to closing out the game, but nobody ever said the words “no-hitter”. People would count down the number of outs left, or ask each other questions like “do you think they’ll pull it off” but everyone carefully avoided the words “no-hitter”.

Analysis:

Both of these rules are in line with Frazers principles of sympathetic magic. The refusal to talk to a pitcher can be seen as wanting to avoid contact with the pitcher along the lines of the Law of Contact. If a pitcher has a perfect game going and you come into contact with him, then your imperfections could influence the pitcher and ruin his perfect game. The refusal to say the words “no-hitter” or “perfect game” follows a similar idea, but here you are not interacting with the pitcher but rather with the perfect game itself. By saying “perfect game”, a person is indirectly contacting the perfect game (if the perfect game is to be thought of as an object), and by contacting the perfect game the person risks magically ruining the game. Beyond the magical beliefs of a perfect game, there is major societal pressure involved with these rules. If you break one of these rules and a pitcher gives up a hit, people will blame you for it. To avoid the risk of being blamed, people follow these rules whether they believe in magic or not.

The Symbol of the button down

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Bay Area
Language: English

Text

Every Easter, the informant and his brothers always wear either pink or blue button down dress shirts. We did this to show our Easter Spirit as we would wake up early to go to 9 am mass.

Context

They are Christian Catholics and take these holidays seriously as it is tradition to dress this certain way, it is proper, and respectful to the values and ideals in the informant family as well as the holiday. The informants family tries to do this “costume or dress code” every year as the color blue represents purity, the Virgin Mary, and heavenly grace. Moreover, wearing Pink symbolizes a liturgical color used on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent. 

Analysis

I am also Christian Catholic so when listening to this story I was able to make some connections. Related to the symbolism of the colors blue and pink, I feel as though when thinking about Easter I associate those colors with it and visualize it with those. When I was younger I didn’t realize these colors had meanings to them until I was older and started to learn about them. Easter decor that is sold in stores is usually presented in these colors. Also lots of colors in society have symbolic meanings to them but also it may vary for cultures. Vaz da Silva’s article demonstrates color symbolism, such as colors in movies. It shows how we have expanded and modernized color symbolism and its involvement in specific things. 



The unlucky Three

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Chicago
Language: English

Text

When the informants grandma sends her money for her birthday, Chinese New Year, or Christmas it’s always in red envelopes, which are part of the Chinese tradition. The envelope contains two dollar bills or even numbers; but never ends in the number three because it is unlucky in Chinese culture.

Context

She was taught this by her mom, because she was always wondering why she was getting two dollar bills. A two dollar bill adds to the idea that it is lucky and unique. The informant was told this when she was younger and now when she receives these envelopes she knows the meaning behind the two dollar bill.

Analysis

Society over decades has created many meanings to numbers ranging from luck to the devils number such as 6. I also think the fact that a two dollar bill is in the envelope is significant because those are rare and usually people don’t have those. This number superstition reminds me of angel numbers, making a wish on 11:11, and more. This is a living tradition because it’s, “something that is being done, mode of activity that represents the past, based on performance”. As this has been tradition in the informants family for many years.

Post Funeral Practices

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Home renovator
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text:

“After funerals, we always wash our hands with pomegranate leaves in a bowl before we can enter the house. Also, you cannot go straight home directly after a funeral, as it will bring bad luck. You always need to go somewhere else.”

Context:

My informant learned this from the older Chinese generation in his family. His mother would always remind him to do these rituals after attending a funeral.

Analysis:

Chinese culture has many superstitions regarding funerals, as demonstrated through these rituals. This practice of washing your hands before entering the house is related to apotropaic magic in that the symbolic action is intended to wash off any bad luck or ward off evil spirits. This falls under the category of contagious magic, the idea that things that were once in contact will influence each other even after the contact is broken. In the context of a funeral, individuals who have come into contact with impurities must wash it away to break the connection.