Author Archives: Carmen Soret

Christmas exchange

“On my dad’s side of the family there’s about 50 people. He’s the youngest of 7 kids and they have kids and even they have kids. So it’s like three generations of people. We use to do a gift exchange where we drew names with a price limit according to the generation. But now we have a new tradition where we donate to charity instead. We keep the same price limit, $40 for my dad’s generation, $30 for my age group and so on. So like my generation would pull $30 from everyone in that age group. Each age group pulls their collections into a group. And then each year, it rotates between the seven siblings, their family decides where the donations go to. So this year will be my dad’s ‘turn.’ My dad and mom will choose where their age groups donation is going to. And then my brother and I will pick where the money is going to for the collection from our generation.”

I find this tradition interesting because in the last few decades, with globalization there has been a movement towards more humanitarian actions. People have become more aware through media of human rights, health issues, natural disasters, and other struggles communities and groups are facing. This family tradition of my roommate reflects this awareness. Because her family is made up of so many members they are able to make a sizable contribution. They are definitely focusing on the theme of giving during the American “holiday season” and not of receiving. It goes against what the Christmas tradition has morphed into with the consumer culture that has developed in American and Western society. It’s also great that they involve the younger generations as well and teach them this selflessness from an early age.

Don’t step on the falcon

“Our mascot for my high school is a falcon. They have a big tile mosaic thing of a falcon in the quad and you’re not supposed to walk on it, especially on game days. And especially when we played our rivals, Los Gatos High School. It’s right in the middle of the quad. It’s supposed to be bad luck if you step on it. I’m not really sure if it works or not but I never stepped on it just in case. Also I never played sports but I still didn’t do it.”

My participant is not an athletic person and did not participate in athletics in high school. I found it intriguing that despite her lack of interest or involvement in sports she still subscribed to the superstitions associated with her high school mascot. I was also surprised that it was bad luck to step on the falcon when it was located in such a public place as the school quad since it would be an easy mistake for pedestrians to make.

Kicking the Flag Pole

“When USC students go to football games, as they head off of campus they kick the flagpoles on the edge of campus. It’s suppose to be for good luck. It’s supposed to help the team win. I heard about it when I was at orientation and the guide pointed at the poles and told us that ‘All the students kick theese poles on the way to the Collesium.’ It’s like a superstition thing. I have done it once during freshman year when I went to a game and sure enough when I did it I saw tons of other people doing it too. It’s definitely caught on.”

As a fellow student at USC I know this tradition to be true. It is interesting to note that this was taught during the orientation process to the university. During orientation at USC students are not only taught official protocols of the university but they are also taught about the unofficial culture of the campus, through an official medium. The kicking of the flag pole could even be considered a ‘right of passage’ for students attending football games. As if only the true fans and devoted students partake in this good luck ritual. This tradition is not only to ensure success for the football team during the game, but also an initiation into true fandom.

Los Cabezudos y Gigantes

“All the people in my village in Avila meet at the ‘Plaza de Ayuntamiento’ (City Hall). After we set off fireworks and when they finish the ‘Cabezudos’ start running and chasing after the people with branches and they hit the people. These ‘Cabezudos’ are first and then in the back are the ‘Gigantes’ (Giants) with the town band.  If you want to get chased you go to the front of the procession and if you want to be safe you go to the back with the giants and the band. This happens in the morning and then at night they do another thing. It’s called ‘Toro de Fuego’ (Fire Bull). One man puts a still structure with a bull form and in the horns they put ‘corre calles’ or ‘bengalas’ (light sticks, type of fireworks). When they fall off the horn the fireworks dance around the street on their own, like a type of rocket. This is a festival in my town and is less known than Sen Fermines.”

 

When does this festival take place?:

“The festival starts the 15th of July to about the 30th of July. The festival happens once a year and celebrates the saint of our town, San Pedro. ”

What are some other things that you guys do during the town festival?:

“There’s no school during this time because it’s summer. During any other summer night it would be normal to see lots of young people out on the street. But during the festival all ages and types of people are out on the street celebrating. A group sets up a stage and there are concerts and performances every night.”

Do you know how or who build the Cabezudos or Gigantes?:

“‘Cabezudos’ are big, plastic heads. I think they buy some and other, smaller ones they make. The same people who wear them during the procession either make or buy their own heads.”

 

The direct translation for “cabezudo” is an adjective meaning headstrong. But within the context of this festival the term is used as a noun for the large-headed characters that are a part of the parade. The direct translation for “gigantes” is giant. In the town festival these accompany the ‘cabezudos’ and are similar caricatures but are giant in height.

Upon further research I learned that the “cabezudos y gigantes” tradition is not isolated to the informants hometown of Avila. These characters are present in the parades of the patron saint festivals of many towns throughout Spain and now even in Latin America. The most famous example of them is from the patron saint festivals of San Fermin, known as ‘San Fermines’, as the participant had mentioned. Most town throughout Spain include them as a part of their parades, but not all do.

Semester at Sea- Neptune Day

“There alot of weird traditons on ships. The one I will tell you about is called Neptune Day. Back in the day sailing was really hard, people died all the time, it was real smelly, your chances of making it off the ship were slim. Ships are hard. Seaman….hahaha, had this tradition that when you cross the equator, ‘Woo hoo! You’ve survived!’ It’s a big feat because most people don’t. Clearly this is the future, we wouldn’t die, things didn’t really smell for us, but we still kept tradition. I was there as a student, but for the people who actually run the ship this tradition is really important and we do it to honor them. And it’s just fun. There’s 600 people on a ship and sometimes you just need things to do so you plan an activity for a bunch of college kids. On my ship we did this, they do it every voyage, but we crossed the Equator and the Prime Meridian at the same time, so 0’0″. Normally when you cross the Equator you go from a ‘slimy scally wag’ to a ‘shellback’. But because we also crossed at the Prime Meridian we became ’emerald shellbacks.’ So we were at the heart of the world. And everyone is really excited and it’s this whole big thing. We have a pool on the ship; you jump into a pool of fish guts. And then you get doused with salt and then you kiss a fish. Our dean, this prestigious guy, paints himself green and is King Trident. He shakes your hand after you get out of the pool, get doused in salt and kiss the fish. And all the teachers dress up, they come out as a parade, and are kind of creepy. There were some kids on the ship too, the teachers kids and they get to dress up too. The students dress up too though, like war paint. Also some people shave their heads. A lot of guys do it. Some girls did it too and gave their hair to Locks of Love. Everyone  watches and cheers you on as you do it. I think it’s from back in the day that people would get lice and needed to shave their heads on ships. And ya that’s pretty much it. It’s a fun day. It’s supposed to be like you’ve earned your ‘sea legs’ after being on the course. I did not shave my head; I’m an actor so I can’t do that. I did shave my friends head though. But I did do the fish guts, salt thing. You didn’t HAVE to do that, but you like kinda did.”

This festival is particularly interesting because it draws on ancient traditions of the sea but also incorporates modern additions, like giving the shaved hair to charities. Upon doing a little more research I discovered that ‘shellbacks’ is meant to mean ‘Sons of Neptune’ and another variant on ‘slimy scally wag’ is (slimy) polywogs. There are historical records going back as far as the early 1800’s describing this ritual of crossing the equator as performed on Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian ships. My participant experienced this tradition while on an academic experience but it is also performed by many naval groups in the United States and Russia. As Captain Robert Fitzroy noted it “was beneficial for moral.” This ritual seemed to have been a really positive and fun experience for my friend. She remembered it fondly and it seemed like one of the most memorable experience she had while on her trip.