Title: Red Underwear (China)

General Information about Item:

• Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: China
• Informant: MK (friend from Dover, MA)
• Date Collected: 10-20-21

Informant Data:

• MK is a friend from home (Dover, MA) and a College Student. He is Chinese and was born in China. MK, his family, and most of his extended family moved to the United States near when he was born. Although MK is not in China anymore, his family kept many of their Chinese rituals, folklore, and traditions. This is one of those traditions.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: In China, the color red is a sign of good luck. It is the color that symbolizes the Chinese Communist Revolution, which led to the Communist party’s takeover in China. It is a color of great honor and pride, and it along with yellow are two lucky colors in China. Red is also the main color of the Chinese flag.
• Social Context: Just like in my folklore that I collected from my Japanese friend, exams are a very important and stressful part of East Asian culture. So much weight is placed on standardized exams, and the need for folklore and superstitions to channel luck and relieve anxiety is crucial.

Item:

• The informant claims that he wears red underwear every time he has a big exam. The superstition is as follows: If he wears red underwear on the day of an exam, he will earn a great score; if he does not wear red on the day of an exam, he will do very poorly and earn a failing grade. This is an example of the law of similarity – the red color symbolizes Chinese nationalism and good luck.

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

Transcript:

• “One of my favorite superstitions is always wearing red underwear when I take an exam. I even have a lucky pair that are super bright red that I always wear. Red is the color of China – it symbolizes our government and our proud nation. It is a lucky color for all of us Chinese-Americans, and with the power of China on my side, I can get a good grade on my exams. I first learned about this superstition from my older cousins, who also used to wear red underwear when they took exams. ”

Informant’s Comments:

• The informant is very passionate about wearing your country of origin proudly. He recommended that everyone finds some way to honor their ethnicity and country of origin and let your connection with your roots bring you good luck and prosperity.

Collector’s Comments:

• I found this superstition inspiring, and it made me want to be more appreciative of Greece and the United States (my countries of origin).

Collector’s Name: John Zavras

Tags/Keywords:

• Material Lore
• Superstitions
• Red
• Student
• Exam