Author Archives: Nicole Rapatan

Grandma’s house for the holidays

“Kay like a tradition for my family is, like the holidays, like Christmas Day, a family tradition is we always meet at my grandma’s house. It doesn’t matter where you live, whether you’re from out of state, everybody goes there. It’s the WHOLE family, that’s been a tradition forever. As far as other holidays go, those are like kinda optional, it’s not like a big deal. Easter Sunday is another one; you don’t have to go to church, but you have to be at my grandma’s house.

We eat a lot of food there, and there are usually like 3 groups – one group that is like the highly successful who look down on the others, you know, the second group smokes like a lot of marijuana, and then there are the older people who sit and gossip about the church. Kay then when we eat, it’s always always always fried chicken, greens, cornbread, and sometimes there’s potato salad, but that’s like more 4th of July. When we were younger, we would play, me and my cousins, hopscotch and boardgames like Monopoly though we of course don’t do that anymore. I also like there to joke with people.”

Americans put great emphasis on the holiday picture of family, an image that resembles a Norman Rockwell painting. For the informant’s holidays, family is the whole picture, and grandma’s house is the traditional framework. The informant also described how the family is split into parts, with people of different statuses and ages dividing themselves from each other. The tradition of meeting every year, in spite of personal differences then, seems more compulsory then instead of renewed want. At the same time, however, like how the informant said, the holiday does not necessarily need to be about religion or what the holiday may have originally represented; for these Americans, the holiday is purely about family, whether they feel united or not, and going to any physical length to be together.

Russian itch joke

“Okay, my dad tells me a lot of Russian jokes, but he just told me this one yesterday over the phone and it’s silly, but it made me laugh.

When your right hand itches, it means you’re gonna meet someone.

When your left hand itches, it means you’re gonna get some money.

When your nose itches, it means you’re gonna drink.

When your back itches, it means you’re gonna take a shower.”

The informant told me that Russians are generally very superstitious and believe in evil omens. This is a joke that plays off a natural condition, making the person who itches take something small and make it into a sign. Meeting someone or getting some money seem like pretty common fortunes across cultures, but the 3rd line about drinking seems to play off the stereotype that Russian people like to and are willing to drink a lot. The joke turns on the belief in signs though at the end with the punchline that the person just needs to take a shower, which is the most physically logical solution to the itching.

Russian death custom

“In Russia, when someone dies, you leave an empty spot at the table. Then you pour one shot glass of vodka and put a piece of bread over the glass. This makes it like they’re still with you and you’re still making room for them in your home.”

Like the informant said, after death, the deceased person still is a part of the lives of the living. The people remember the person through leaving food, which is inherently is meant to sustain you physically, though in case it sustains the person spiritually. According to PBS, the bread on top of the glass is black, and its a ‘reversal of the traditional Russian custom of breaking black bread when meeting someone for the first time.’ Therefore, though the living are temporarily memorializing the dead with the food, they are also saying goodbye for the last time.

Citation: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/onourownterms/articles/cultural.html

Bulgarian winter fortunes

“Okay, in Bulgaria they make Banitsa, which is this pastry made from phyllo and butter. I think there’s also eggs and cheese but I’m not sure. Anyway, in the Banitsa during the holidays, we put individually wrapped fortunes into the dough and then bake it. The fortunes are usually personally made by members of the family, and they’re supposed to be good fortunes like financial success or being happy or good health or love and other stuff. One time when I was younger, I put fortunes that wished bad luck as a joke, and I got in trouble and my parents were not happy.”

The wishes of good fortune and goodwill come heavily into play around the holiday season. The fact that people make fortunes for other people that they personally know is a way I believe to show that compassion for your fellow man, family member or friends. This ritual is taken seriously though as there are consequences for even jokingly putting bad wishes as my informant learned. It is another way of how even small traditions like food need to be reinforced and done properly repeatedly through generations.

Bulgarian round loaf of bread

“So in Bulgaria, usually around the holidays like Christmas Eve, they make this round loaf of bread that has designs on top of it. There can be different designs, but typically, it’s a cross, especially if you’re religious. So they bake a coin into the bread. Then, the family or the people at the table or whoever split the bread into things, like usually things that you own first like your car, your house, your cow, and this is for the good fortune for those things. Then you give pieces of bread to the family members and whoever gets the coin gets good luck for the year.”

In Bulgaria, New Year is a time to wish for good fortune to the existing possessions that you have. This may mean that Bulgarian people are grateful for what they have, and only wish for things to inherently stay well. Coins symbolize wealth and financial success, which in some circles boils down to success. Dividing the bread shares that chance of success with loved ones.