Author Archives: mmschwar@usc.edu

Swedish Christmas Meal

My roommate Erik has ties to Sweden through his mother, who grew up there and still spends a lot of time out of the year there. While on the topic of holiday traditions, one that he found worthy of elaborating on was the meal that his mom makes every year at their family’s Christmas.

 

He told me that “Every year on Christmas my Mom, who’s from Stockholm Sweden, makes us her traditional meal which consists of smoked salmon, meatballs, potatoes, and we drink Julmust which is a traditional soft drink from Sweden— its normally only sold and bought around Christmas in Sweden. Something that my mom does specifically is make her homemade saffron buns that she learned from her mother, they are probably my favorite part of the meal.”

 

Background Info: This is something that Erik has learned and grown to love from his mother. Erik also sometimes spends Christmas in Sweden and gets a more traditional atmosphere for this meal. Other than that he gets to enjoy this family recipe in San Francisco where he resides.

 

Context: Me and Erik were talking at lunch when I asked him about any holiday traditions.

 

Analysis: I do not celebrate Christmas so it was interesting for me to hear more about traditions during meals that this holiday brings in Sweden. The closest comparison I can make again is my traditional meal experience that I have during Hanukkah.

Proverb

When talking to my dad, I asked if he had any slogans that his dad or grandfather always would say to him. When I asked this question, he quickly responded with a proverb passed down to him from his father.

 

The proverb that was told to me was “Be free from the tyranny of second causes”

 

 

Background Info: My dad, and his dad, both are always telling me quotes, slogans, and things that they use to shape their everyday lives. This one in particular means that you cannot blame things that happen in your life on anything external from yourself, everything that happens is a result of what you’ve brought upon yourself.

 

Context: My dad told me this proverb while at our family Passover dinner.

 

Analysis: My dad always has proverbs to tell me for all struggles and aspects of my everyday life, this is one that I love a lot and something that he follows every day in his life. When you make a mistake, you have to accept that it was your wrong doing, and that you need to not blame anything but yourself for this, you can then take it step by step from there in figuring out the next steps of whatever situation you are in. This is a proverb that I will hold with me for the rest of my life.

Song/Initiation

I asked a fellow classmate if she had any songs that she knew of as a tradition in any parts of her life. She told me about a song that one had to learn in order to be initiated onto the theatre team at her high school. It was a variation of the song Lean on Me, with added words that acted as puns for each line end, they would do this before every show, and you had to know the song if you wanted to be in the show.

 

Greer said that the song went, “Lean on me (yeah)

When you’re not strong (weak)

And I’ll be your friend (high five) 

I’ll help you carry on 

for (five)

It won’t be long (short)

Til I’m gonna need (elbow)

Somebody to lean on”

 

Background Info: This short variation of Lean on Me was something that Greer had to learn to become initiated into her theatre program, and something that she had to teach grades below her. This was a comforting song that they sang before shows to cool their nerves and recognize that they all had each other’s backs during the show.

 

Context: I learned about this tradition while at coffee with Greer, we both shared stories about certain traditions, and songs that we were familiar with or were a part of throughout our lives.

 

Analysis: I thought this was interesting because it was both a song and a type of initiation. I think them adding small chants at the end of each line as puns brought people together in a fun way, and she said it was something that she looked forward to in each show. I personally don’t have any type of song or tradition similar to this so I thought it was very cool.

 

Jewelry as part of initiation

When talking to one of my roommates Braxton, I asked if he had any sort of initiation type things associated with his family.

 

Braxton said that, “Every man in my family on my dad’s side, including me and my brother, when they turn 16 get a necklace that has our family crest and a Swan on it.” (Pictured Below)

 

 

Background Info: Braxton is originally from Pittsburgh and now lives in Los Angeles. I always see him wearing this and never knew what it was, but Braxton made it clear to me that when a man in the family received this necklace he was “initiated” into the manhood club in the Swann family tree. It is something that goes back in many generations.

 

Context: I asked Braxton about this while talking to our class in a conversation about family initiations.

 

Analysis: I think this is a very cool way to integrate a sense of initiation and belonging to a group in a family, Braxton knew that he was going to get this necklace when he turned 16 so he had something to look forward to. I think I want to integrate something similar in my family and be the one to start it because I love this idea.Screen Shot 2018-04-10 at 3.05.24 PM

Family/Life Cycle Tradition

 

I asked one of my roommates Kyle if there was anything that he could think of in the theme of things being passed down in his family. He immediately mentioned something that has been going on in his family for a long time

 

Kyle said that, “The oldest living male in the family gets my great-great grandfather’s gold pocket watch. When the person who has it passes away, the next male gets it. My grandpa has it right now, so when he dies my father will get it, and when he dies I will get the pocket watch. Its something that will continue to be a tradition in my family”

 

 

Background Info: Kyle said that this is a tradition started by his great-great grandfather who wanted to keep something special going along the life cycle of the male generations of the Messinger family. It is a small gold pocket watch that his great-great grandfather would always carry around since he was a child. Kyle thinks this is a very special tradition in his family and knows how important it is to keep the legacy going when it comes his time to own the watch.

 

Context: Kyle told me about this during dinner at our fraternity house.

 

Analysis: I think this is a very cool tradition in Kyle’s family. It reminds me of something that is done on my Mom’s side of the family—similar thing except it is a necklace that my grandmother wears that was given to her by her mother. I think having a family life cycle type tradition like this is very important to have.