How Many Origami Stars to Make a Wish

Cultural Significance:

The so called Lucky Stars (folded paper stars, origami stars, lucky paper stars) that I was told are mainly significant to middle school and high school students, are somewhat of a ritual in this culture. These stars that are folded and hand-made (although I found some in the store that were already pre-made), are used as gifts, mostly between couples, to signify how much you love or care about someone. The amount of stars that you give someone has significance as well. If you're not giving the stars as a gift of love, then the stars can be used to make a wish. If you make 100 or 1,000, it is said that you can make a wish on these (2). Alternately if you give someone 100 or 1,000 folded lucky stars then they are able to make a wish on the stars. This ritual of ascribing meaning to the stars, and meaning to giving them to someone brings these Lucky Stars into circulation. They are circulated between couples, and friends, and given as gifts. The simple folded paper star is given a deeper meaning, something which I doubt anyone who gives the stars as gifts fully believes in, but nonetheless wants to tell someone something with them.

Network:

The network that surrounds these Chinese lucky stars is at the surface simple, but actually more complex than it seems. Simply, the paper used to make these stars is made and printed and cut – basically manufactured somewhere. I was not able to find any reference to how this paper is made, but I assume as any other paper and then just cut specially for the folding of the stars. The paper is then sold to people who want to make lucky stars. There are a lot of places online to buy this kind of pre-cut paper, but a lot of people will cut this paper on their own, to the size they want (4). Other than just this simple network of resources and people, there is also the case of the pre-made stars that are sold in stores or online. In this case, the paper is made and cut, but instead of going straight to the consumer, there is a middle step where someone is employed to make tons and tons of these paper stars, or else it is done mechanically. People also sell these pre-made stars independently online (5). After these stars are either made or bought pre-made, they are usually given to someone as a gift. The stars are usually placed in glass jars when given as gifts, so the entire manufacture and purchasing of the jar is also a part of the network that is involved in the circulation of the lucky stars. The woman who worked at the store where I found these said that they buy the pre-cut paper from in the U.S., but she was unsure about the pre-made stars.

References:

From what I could find on the internet, the whole custom of making these lucky stars and giving them as gifts with meaning really took off after in a 1980s Chinese movie, a woman gave a man a jar of these folded stars as a blessing (3). This is the only concrete reference to meaning that I could find, however, the meaning of these stars is reinforced when they are given as gifts. People have ascribed meaning to a certain number of stars to mean a certain thing, and this meaning is circulated along with the lucky stars, and is subject to change over time. The companies that sell the pre-made stars, and companies that sell the pre-cut paper also establish the meaning of the number of stars as well. I saw a couple of pre-made packets of stars in the store that had the meaning of the number of stars that you give to someone on the back. Meaning is somewhat arbitrary, and although generally agreed upon by the community of people who make the stars, can easily be changed by these companies. The meaning of the lucky stars is more so something that although agreed upon by the network they are circulated in, is determined by the individual making or giving the stars to someone.

Most of the information I got about these lucky stars was from the woman who I talked to in the store as well as from public forums online such as Yahoo Answers. Because these lucky paper stars are such a peripheral cultural custom whose meaning is largely determined by the individual, it makes sense that there wouldn't be a lot of scientific information on them or their meaning or circulation.

Sources:

1. http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/396697-any-one-know-about-lucky-stars/

2. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070505191927AAJ0Tqz

3. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080512211307AADUvWM

4.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqoITxMsD4B5zmA0XUd.8dPxxQt.;_ylv=3?qid=20090119013446AAB7tp

5. http://blackheartqueen.deviantart.com/

Pre-cut paper sold for $1.00 per pack (there were 70 pieces in each pack) to make paper stars.

Jars in the store filled with paper stars.

The lady in the store showed me how to make a paper star, so I bought some paper strips and made some lucky stars myself! Definitely not enough to make a wish, but it was fun! :)

How Many Origami Stars to Make a Wish

Source: https://sites.google.com/site/ddmission05/home/chinese-lucky-stars

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