Category Archives: Customary Lore

Entrée: Dry Noodles

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – Christmas dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: D.G.
  • Date Collected: November 11, 2020

Informant Data:

  • D.G is a ’22 at Dartmouth. He currently resides in San, Jose California. He was born in San Jose and has lived there his entire life prior to college; however, his parents are from China.

Contextual Data:

Social Context

  • D.G. first ate this dish at Christmas in his middle school years. It was very important to him because he was only able to eat the dish once a year during Christmas. The recipe to the dish is currently only held by his grandpa, and he would only get to see his grandpa on Christmas, so it was the only opportunity to eat it. D.G. ties the dish to seeing family around festive occasions.

Cultural Context

  • In Chinese culture, long noodles symbolic long life due to the visual appearance. Additionally, because of taste preferences and familiarity with their own culture, Chinese immigrants adopted many traditional Chinese dishes for American holidays such as Christmas and choose to celebrate Christmas culturally instead of religiously. The immigration experience can be isolating, which is why many Chinese immigrants emphasize family and unity.

Item:

  • As you would expect, Dry Noodles is a dish made from long strands of dried noodles. The noodles are first boiled, then tossed in traditional seasoning and eaten with seafood.

Transcript of Interview Clip:

Y.H. (collector): What is a special Christmas dish that you eat?

D.G. (informant): So every Christmas, we eat something called Dry Noodles, which is similar to fried noodles, but it’s not fried. We eat it with different Chinese seasonings and a lot of seafood.

Y.H.: So when was the first time you came across this dish and what was the situation?

D.G.: So, when I first came across this dish, I guess, at Christmas when I was really young at a family gathering. I think this was around when I was in middle school.

Y.H.: Ok, and then, what meaning does the dish carry to you and what does it remind you of, if anything?

D.G.: Uh. Well. I guess this Dry Noodle dish is meaningful to me because it’s always my grandpa who cooks this dish, and we only get to see him during Christmas, so I guess I have come to associate the dish with Christmas because that would be the only time I can eat it. He’s the only one who knows the recipe and knows how to make it well. Also, when I eat it, it’s always a festive celebration so we reserve it for important events like that.

Y.H.: Besides that, is there any other symbolism?

D.G.: Symbolism? Well, I guess that one thing is that it is supposed to represent a long life because the noodles are very long. Originally I think we meant it for birthday celebrations within the family, but I only remember eating it for Christmas so I’m assuming that my family adapted it. There’s nothing beyond that.

Y.H.: What cultural context and what background information does someone need to know to appreciate the dish?

D.G.: Well the dish is a Chinese dish so they would probably need to know Chinese culture or Chinese customs. I really can’t think of anything else.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think that it’s really interesting because the dish does not have anything to do with the history of Christmas itself. Rather, it is a symbol of familial folklore, in this case, a family recipe that is passed down from generation to generation. Christmas not only serves as a holiday, but also an opportunity where the elders in the family can pass down the folklore recipe to the younger generation. It’s really interesting when compared to Hot Pot and Roast Chicken, which also emphasize family.
  • Additionally, I think that to really understand the importance of this dish, one must understand family recipes that are passed down. Not every family does that and those that don’t may not fully comprehend the importance of family recipes.

Collector’s Name:

Yilin Huo

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Entrée: Roast Chicken

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – Christmas dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: A.Z.
  • Date Collected: November 13, 2020

Informant Data:

  • A.Z. is a Dartmouth ’22. She currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts and identifies as an Asian-American. Her parents are from China, but she was born and raised in the United States her whole life.

Contextual Data:

Social Context

  • A.Z. first had the dish 10 years ago with her family for Christmas. Either she or her parents cooks the chicken. While the roast chicken is the star of the Christmas meal, she also makes side dishes that go along the chicken.
  • The family tradition of eating roast chicken during Christmas started because A.Z. and her family were looking for a type of poultry to eat. According to their interpretation, the idea of eating poultry is closely tied to holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
  • As a result, for A.Z., it symbolizes family and getting together as well as taking the time to sit down with each other to have a good time during Christmas.

Cultural Context

  • Poultry is viewed as a significant part of the American Christmas meal. A.Z. and her family sought to adopt this tradition. The roast chicken and the accompanying side dishes represent a fusion between American and Chinese cuisines.

Item:

Roast Chicken is a whole chicken bought raw from the grocery store and then cooked at home. The chicken is seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary and other herbs. The chicken is then placed on a baking tray and inserted into the oven to cook and roast.

Audio Clip:

 

Transcript:

(0.08) Y.H. (collector): All right, so what is a special Christmas dish?

A.Z. (informant): So we don’t usually eat like a set Christmas dish every year. But a lot of the time when we look at reverse chicken, and we usually eat a mixture of Chinese and American food. So it’s like a, like a full chicken, but we’ll cook it ourselves. So I don’t really, my mother, usually will help out. But like, since the roast chicken is harder to do, show, like, do the main stuff with that will help out with like the side dishes.

Y.H.: When did you first eat it? What does the roast chicken symbolize for you?

A.Z.: I can’t remember, but maybe like 10 years ago. We also do the same thing for Thanksgiving. So, um, I guess it symbolizes family for me. I think I think it’s like, less so than what the chicken itself symbolizes. But like, the chicken is a proxy for like, what Christmas symbolizes for me. I think, like I said before, I think it symbolizes family and getting together. And just like taking the time to, like, sit down with each other. And just have a good time relaxing.

Y.H.: In your opinion, what sort of cultural background understanding is required to enjoy the dish?

A.Z.: Could you rephrase the question? So I guess like, Okay, I’m not sure if I’m understanding the question, right. But I don’t think you need to have like any certain kind of background to understand why we eat chicken like it’s not I feel like it’s not, it’s definitely not a Chinese dish. And like we more so adapted it to like American standards. Because like, we do feel that like Christmas is an American holiday. So we tend to emphasize the American dishes a little more than we do the Chinese dishes. So like, for example, like chicken will be the star of the dinner rather than, like some Chinese fish dish that we make.

I think it’s like when we think of like stereotypical Christmas, we think of like this giant bird. Or like, or, like we think I feel like I feel like ham is like a very, um, Christmas-esque dish. But I feel like none of us know that our family doesn’t really like ham. And I think like, just like the look of a chicken. It’s very gray. And so that’s why we eat it. (4.00)

Collector Comments:

  • I actually really empathize with the fact that the roast chicken is not purely a Chinese dish, like A.Z. said – it is a blend of Chinese and American cooking styles, especially when combined with the side dishes. It creates a really interesting family culture that is only present in the presence of people who are part of the Chinese diaspora. Similar to the discussions of the origins of folklore potentially stemming from a diaspora, this Roast Chicken tradition is a result of the Chinese culture that A.Z.’s family brought with them combined with American culture.

Collector’s Name: Yilin Huo

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Entrée: Hot Pot

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General Information:

  • Genre: Material Lore – Christmas dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: E.S.
  • Date Collected: November 8, 2020

Informant Data:

  • E.S. is a ’22 at Dartmouth College, raised in San Jose, California. She currently studies Economics, French and Psychology. Her parents are from China, but she has been in the US her whole life.

Contextual Data:

Social Context

  • She first participated in this Hot-Pot-eating tradition at Christmas during 2004. Her sister, father, and mother were also at the event. Every time they eat Hot Pot, they would eat thinly sliced lamb, fried tofu curd, spinach cabbage, fish balls, stuffed fish balls, and a personal dipping sauce. At the end of the meal, they would wrap it up with glass noodles.
  • To her, Hot Pot always gave her a cozy, sheltered and safe feeling because the Hot Pot would always steam up the windows. E.S. said that she could not imagine feeling the same with other foods during Christmas.
  • E.S.’s parents don’t place much significance on Christmas, so for them, it is not a serious holiday. However, for the family as a whole, it is definitely a nice opportunity to spend time together. Even though they don’t follow the gift-giving tradition, they make sure that they spend quality time as a family. Because Hot Pot requires the eaters to cook the food themselves, the long cooking time provides E.S. and her family with more time together.
  • As a second-generation Chinese American, it was interesting for her to see the food that her parents ate in China growing up. She appreciated participating in their culture and also views this tradition as a tribute to her parents and ancestors.

Cultural Context

  • Because Hot Pot is a Chinese dish, it is important to understand the background behind the dish. Hot Pot is a simple, no-frills dish that is simply a variety of ingredients put into a soup. Historically, many people could only afford simple ingredients for Hot Pot.
  • Not all people who celebrate Christmas are religious, or believe in Jesus. Hot Pot might surprise people because it has no religious significance. Nevertheless, it is a very important family custom for E.S.

Item

  • Hot pot consists of a broth cooked in a large pot at the center of the dinner table. The pot is shared by all members, and people can just reach into it as they please. Traditionally, different meats (thinly sliced beef and lamb, fish balls, seafood, etc.), vegetables (bok choy, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms), and noodles (ramen, udon, pasta) are cooked in the broth.

Transcript for Interview Clip

Y.H. (collector): Alright so let’s get started. My first question is how you would describe yourself, maybe in one to two sentences.

E.S. (informant): Ok so I’m a ’22. I live in San Jose, as you know. I’m studying Economics, French and Psychology at Dartmouth. Both my parents are from China but I was born in the US.

Y.H.: Great. So this project is about collecting traditional foods eaten during Christmas. Does your family have one?

E.S.: Yes we do.

Y.H.: Can you tell me a bit more? what is the food you eat and when was your first time eating eat.

E.S.: So the food we eat is Hot Pot, which is like a broth where we throw random things in, cook it, and then everyone eats from the same pot. We usually eat it with thinly sliced lamb, fried tofu curd, spinach cabbage, fish balls, stuffed fish balls and a personal dipping sauce. And when was the first time I had it? Hmm. I got to think about this one. I think it was in 2004? I’m not really sure because I have been eating it for a long time.

Y.H.: Did eating Hot Pot make you feel a certain way? Or what was significant about it to you?

E.S.: I also feel cozy, sheltered and safe feeling because the Hot Pot would always steam up the windows. I could not imagine feeling the same with other foods during Christmas. My parents don’t really celebrate Christmas in the traditional way so for them, it is not a serious holiday. However, to the family as a whole, it is definitely a time to spend together. Even though we don’t have a traditional gift-giving, we make sure that they spend quality time together. Because Hot Pot requires the eaters’ to cook it themselves, it gave us a lot of time. However, for me personally, it was interesting to eat the food that my parents ate when they were in China. I really appreciate participating in this culture and also see this tradition as a tribute to my parents and ancestors.

Y.H.: Great. And overall, do you think that there is any cultural or background knowledge that someone would have to have to appreciate Hot Pot the same way you do?

E.S.: I mean, Hot Pot is a Chinese dish so you probably would need to know Chinese culture. It represents the only types of food that most people could afford in Chinese history. Also, I think that we eat Hot Pot instead of other foods because we still celebrate “Christmas” without eating “Christmas” dishes, so probably someone who isn’t Christian yet still celebrates Christmas would understand.

Collector’s comments:

  • Hot Pot is also a big tradition in my family. However, for us, we usually eat Hot Pot during New Years and not Christmas. Nevertheless, I understand the significance of coming together around the dinner table and catching up on each other’s lives. We also take the opportunity to tell each other short sayings such as wishing each other good fortune or good education.

Collector’s Name:

Yilin Huo

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Salad: Ensalada de Noche Buena

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: Mexico
  • Informant: G.P.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

  • G.P. is a ~60 year old woman living in New Jersey. She was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico and has spent over 20 years in the United States, where she lives with two of her siblings and her two nephews and niece, up until they started university. In the US, her family usually celebrates Christmas by inviting over more family members, preparing food, and partaking in some religious traditions.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Salads in general are popular in Mexico since most of the population cannot afford certain items on a daily basis. This leads to many families depending on their crops and fruit trees for both food and supplemental income. Luckily, since it doesn’t get cold, crops can be grown year round.
  • Social Context: Many families eat this dish during the midnight dinner on Christmas Eve into Christmas day, and, while the orange makes it a bit more tedious to prepare, a sufficient amount is always made. It is mainly eaten after the main dish, almost as a dessert, but with the main purpose to balance the spicy main meal with something cool and sweet.

Item:

  • The “Christmas Eve Salad”, as it would be known in English, is a sweet fruit salad typically composed of beets, bananas, lettuce, and oranges. It is mainly served at Christmas time due to its festive, flashy, purple color, as well as its cool refreshing taste since it is typically served chilled and with peanuts. The most common procedure involves peeling and boiling beets in about a liter and a half of water, then cutting it into cubes and placing back into the water it was boiled in. While it is boiling, you cut bananas in slices, cut lettuce, and peel oranges so only the juice sacs cut into cubes remain. Once the beets are ready, you wait until its room temperature and then add honey and sugar, cool it, then add the rest of the ingredients. It is typically served in clear glass to complement the colors, as well as with optional peanuts.

Translation of Interview Clip:

C.Y.(collector): Do you make this salad every Christmas?

G.P.(informant): Yea when a lot of family comes over. Due to Covid though, I don’t think I’ll be making it this year. It’s only going to be my close family and I, so I think we’ll probably stick to something simpler and smaller.

C.Y.: What about making a smaller portion?

G.P.: Come on, you should know this. We don’t scale things down. Not in this house. If we do it, we go big. So unless you want to drive a two hour round trip to drop some off to your cousins…?

C.Y.: Haha, I’ll err, get back to you on that.

Collector’s Comments:

  • My family tends to eat this both during the holiday and outside the holiday during the warm months. We typically don’t tie much traditional value to it, aside from the light homeopathic magic belief that something cool will also help cool the stomach down to prevent stomachaches and indigestion since, once accustomed to it, its quite easy to go overboard on spicy foods.

Collector’s Name: Carlos Yepes

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Dessert: 8 Treasure Rice

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – food, Customary Lore – celebration
  • Language: English, Chinese
  • Country of Origin: China/Canada
  • Informant: A.Z.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

  • A.Z was born in China and spent half her life there before moving to Canada. As far as she knows, she is full Chinese. She has strong ties to her family as her mother and grandmother have passed down many recipes to her. She always spends Chinese New Year with family. Currently, she is a second year student at Dartmouth College studying computer science.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Rice is a staple food in China as it is an ingredient found in countless dishes. In its purest form, rice can just be steamed and used eaten as a side to other meats and vegetables, rice can be fried, rice can be used in congee or porridge. However, rice can also be used to make noodles and cakes. Because of its versatility, rice can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and can even be used in various desserts.
  • Social Context: Chinese New Year is a widely celebrated festival by Chinese people around the world, and it typically includes a large meal with family and many other festivities.

Item:

  • 8 treasure rice (八宝饭) is a Chinese New Year dish that dates back 2000 year ago to the Zhou Dynasty and it typically eaten as a dessert. The reason why it is called 8 treasure rice is because it contains 8 fruits that are considered very therapeutic in Chinese Medicine, including Red Dates, Red Bean, Plums, Winter-melons, Nuts, Longan, Lotus Seeds, etc. There are many variations of what ingredients are added depending on who makes it as some form include canned tangerines, winter melons, and more. These “treasures” are considered the toppings to the main component being glutinous rice.

Audio Clip:

 

Transcript:

C.C. (collector): So what is one particular Chinese New Year dish that you would eat and enjoy?

A.Z. (informant):  So one of my favorites is 八宝饭, which translates in English roughly to 8 treasures rice. This is a sweet dessert we usually have during Chinese New Year after our main courses as kind of a finishing plate. And the history behind it is that this dessert has over 2000 years of history dating back to the Zhou dynasty and the reason why its still so popular and has been popular throughout these 2000 years is that it is a very beautiful looking dessert rice dish that contains 8 treasures, that’s the name, 8 treasures rice. And each of these treasures or fruits and vegetables are believed to have medicinal and therapeutic properties according to Chinese medicine. So these fruits usually vary depending on the region of China, but basic and common fruits put into 八宝饭 include red dates, lotus seeds, plums, winter-melons, longan, red bean paste, nuts, and yeah these are the common ones we put.

C.C.: Ok that’s it. Thank you.

A.Z.: You’re welcome.

Informant’s Comments:

  • She would typically eat this dessert at restaurants instead of preparing it at home, and each place she had that dish at, the 8 treasure rice would be made differently with some of the “treasures” varying.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I have never tried this dish or heard of it before this interview, however, I am familiar with rice-based desserts. I think this dish would be similar to the rice desserts I tried in the past.

Collector’s Name: Chris Chao

Tags/Keywords:

  • Chinese New Year
  • Material Lore
  • Customary Lore
  • Food
  • Dessert

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“Attention”

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“Attention”

Title: “Attention”

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, dance routine
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: S.M.
  • Date Collected: 11-15-20

Informant Data:

  • S.M. was born in Virginia on March 15, 1999. She was raised by a single mother who works as a high school arts teacher and administrator in Windsor, Virginia. Her family origins are Puerto-Rican and Western European, primarily Irish and Scottish. She is a senior at Dartmouth College studying Theater, English, and Russian.

Contextual Data:

  • S.M. downloaded TikTok in January of 2020 and uses the app for at least twenty minutes everyday. It is a way for her to pass the time.

Item:

  • This dance is to the song “Attention” by Todrick Hall. This dance is different from many other TikTok dances because it involves a lot of gymnastics moves, including splits and flips.

Dance Example:RPReplay_Final1605543927

Informant’s Comments:

  • Really impressive when people can do it well.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This dance is not as popular because of how difficult the choreography is.

Collector’s Name: Savannah Miller

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Dance
  • Internet Folklore

“Motion Sickness”

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“Motion Sickness”

Title: “Motion Sickness”

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, dance routine
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: S.M.
  • Date Collected: 11-15-20

Informant Data:

  • S.M. was born in Virginia on March 15, 1999. She was raised by a single mother who works as a high school arts teacher and administrator in Windsor, Virginia. Her family origins are Puerto-Rican and Western European, primarily Irish and Scottish. She is a senior at Dartmouth College studying Theater, English, and Russian.

Contextual Data:

  • S.M. downloaded TikTok in January of 2020 and uses the app for at least twenty minutes everyday. It is a way for her to pass the time.

Item:

  • This dance is to the song “Motion Sickness” by alternative artist Phoebe Bridgers. Among other moves, it involves raising your hands to three different levels on the body and throwing your hands down.

Dance Example:RPReplay_Final1605543354

Informant’s Comments:

  • Not as popular a song. Independent/alternative.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This dance rose to prominence in the summer of 2020. It is extremely popular amongst LGBTQIA+ users of TikTok.

Collector’s Name: Savannah Miller

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Dance
  • Internet Folklore

“Cannibal”

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“Cannibal”

Title: “Cannibal”

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, dance routine
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: S.M.
  • Date Collected: 11-15-20

Informant Data:

  • S.M. was born in Virginia on March 15, 1999. She was raised by a single mother who works as a high school arts teacher and administrator in Windsor, Virginia. Her family origins are Puerto-Rican and Western European, primarily Irish and Scottish. She is a senior at Dartmouth College studying Theater, English, and Russian.

Contextual Data:

  • S.M. downloaded TikTok in January of 2020 and uses the app for at least twenty minutes everyday. It is a way for her to pass the time.

Item:

  • There is a choreographed routine that is based on the lyrics of the “Cannibal” audio. It involves moving hands from your shoulders to your waist, serving an invisible platter like a waiter, and then drinking from a tea cup formed by your thumb and pinky fingers.

Dance Example:RPReplay_Final1605542787

Informant’s Comments:

  • Really catchy. The main moves she remembers is serving a platter and drinking from a cup formed by your hands.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This dance became extremely popular in the beginning of the year 2020.

Collector’s Name: Savannah Miller

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Dance
  • Internet Folklore

“Say So”

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“Say So”

Title: “Say So”

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, dance routine
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: I.T.
  • Date Collected: 11-04-20

Informant Data:

  • I.T. grew up in a small town in Northern California called Orinda. She attended public elementary, middle and high school. She is first generation Vietnamese and a senior studying at UC Santa Cruz. She is twenty years old.

Contextual Data:

  • I.T. does not have a Tiktok account or the Tiktok app downloaded, however has still been involved in making Tik Tok videos through her friends accounts. She however, is still exposed to the app through her explore page on a different social media app, called Instagram. Instagram reposts Tiktok videos through ‘Reels’, which is Instagrams implementation of Tiktok within their app.

Item:

  • This dance is about 20 seconds long. It involves shaking your hands out to the side twice, then pretending to knock the top of your head. The dancer then punches the air, making a circle with their fist. The dancer then rolls their body before doing the hand shakes again.

Dance Example:v09044c90000bnu0diud9kv2cfscm540

Informant’s Comments:

  • Mainly knows the moves involving the punch and roll.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This dance is of a moderate difficulty. The song’s dance was picked up by the original recording artist Doja Cat and used as a catalyst to create a music video for the song. The video features Doja Cat performing the TikTok dance.

Collector’s Name: Rachelle Louie

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Dance
  • Internet Folklore

“Laxed Siren Beat”

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Laxed Siren Beat

Title: Laxed Siren Beat

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, dance routine
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: S.K.
  • Date Collected: 10-20-20

Informant Data:

  • S.K. was born in December of 1998 and has lived in Rockville, Maryland her whole life. She is a current senior at Dartmouth College studying Biology and Anthropology. She is white, specifically Ukrainian, and a first generation American.

Contextual Data:

  • S.K. downloaded TikTok in the summer of 2020 following the coronavirus quarantine. She considers herself barely a user of the app, spending less than fifteen minutes on the app a day. However, she still enjoys watching TikTok dances and has even learned some of them from repeatedly seeing them on her For You Page.

Item:

  • This is a simple dance incorporating three hand raises throughout the course of this ten second audio. Step one: Take your right hand from your left shoulder, to the right shoulder, raise it in the air, and then move side to side. Step two: Take your left hand from your right shoulder, to the left shoulder, raise it in the air, and then move side to side. Step three: Take both hands and repeat the actions of step one and step two at the same time.

Dance Example: RPReplay_Final1603309353

Informant’s Comments:

  • Super easy to learn. Didn’t even try to.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This dance was super fun and an easy way for non-dancers to participate in a TikTok dance.

Collector’s Name: Savannah Miller

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Dance
  • Internet Folklore