cash | Dartmouth Folklore Archive

Title: Chinese Red Envelope of Cash (Taiwan – John Zavras)

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

ET is a sophomore (’24) at Dartmouth College who is from Taiwan. He lives in Massachusetts and has visited Taiwan 5 times before, with two years ago being the last time he visited. He claims that he is not particularly superstitious, but his family and culture is. He has experienced this collected piece of folklore.

Contextual Data:

Social context: The informant said that this piece of folklore stems from his Chinese/Taiwanese culture. In Chinese/Taiwanese culture, being financially stable is something that is heavily sought after. Whether that’s performing well in academics as a student in school, performing well in an interview in hopes to land a job, or celebrating a new year full of happiness and financial stability, this piece of folklore is present in the informant’s culture in many different settings and occasions. However, in traditional chinese/taiwanese culture, this piece of folklore primarily occurs near Chinese New Year.
Cultural Context: This item was collected in an in-person interview. The informant said that he collects the red envelopes whenever he receives them and keeps them in a box in his closet, as a lot of them mark important times in his life in which he prospered. He credits this superstition a lot for those successes. The item also exists in many variants; some families will use burning incense in hopes of achieving financial stability.

Item:

The item is a red envelope filled with cash that is passed from parent to child, employer to employee, friend to friend, etc. The most common is parents giving it to their children/nieces/nephews. When you give the red envelope to someone, you say “恭喜發財/ Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái,” which in Chinese means “I hope you get rich.” The item mostly is given on Chinese new year, but also the informant remarked that it is given before stressful situations that might result in richness, like a big exam or interview. For the purposes of this collection project, I focused on the red envelope being given in the context of a student preparing for an exam. The superstition is as follows: if a child receives the envelope, then he will succeed in his exam and be rewarded with richness in the future. However, if a child does not receive the envelope, he will do poorly on the exam.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

“One of my family’s superstitions is about giving red envelopes before exams. My parents gave one to me before the SAT, and I credit my success to the red envelope”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant recommends incorporating this superstition, as it brings him great joy and happiness knowing he’s doing something proactive to ensure good luck.

Collector’s Comments:

I found this superstition really cool and different from a lot of the rest, which are usually wearing an article of clothing or eating something before a big exam.

Collector’s Name: John Zavras

Tags/Keywords: (4-5 tags)

· Superstition

· Chinese

· Male

· Student

· Cash (richness)

Dartmouth Folklore Archive