Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays and holiday traditions

A Lucky New Year

“At the beginning of every new year, my mom and dad put an item related to school in front of Ganesha to bless my brother and I for the year to come”

At the beginning of each year, their parents pray and place an item, usually dealing with education, in front of Ganesha, one of the most worshipped Hindu deities or gods. In Hinduism, Ganesha is associated with success and removes obstacles in one’s life. This is done to bring blessings to the kids for the new year and to bring success and well-being into their lives. For her, her mother places textbooks and a student ID in front of Ganesha. Education is considered to be extremely sacred in Indian culture, specifically for her family. Education, and objects pertaining to it, are symbolic of her whole life “in the eyes of Ganesha” and seen as a sacred pursuit, thus the obstacles on this path will be removed. She also emphasized that it is a ritual and tradition she will carry on for her own family as well.

My first interpretation of this tradition was that it would bring good luck and success into their educational journey, and while that has an aspect, it also encompasses practically their entire life, rather than just the education portion. Due to the importance that education has in Indian religion, it can be seen as one of the more important factors to put blessings into. This ritual was learned through the Hindu culture, demonstrating that something like textbooks can be considered a folklore object, and the act of placing them as a gift for a deity is a folklore practice passed down through families and communities. While folklore is often word of mouth stories and myths, it can intersect with religion and the culture that surrounds it, in this case Indian culture. This practice connects her and her family to their heritage just as folklore intends to do, additionally with the prayers spoken by the parents have been passed down through their ancestors, continuing on today.

Elementary School Christmas Craft

Text:

A snowman ornament made in elementary school out of paper; the ornament is in the shape of a snowman and is filled with white, shredded up paper (to simulate snow) and hung on the students’ Christmas trees at home.

Context:

The informant made this ornament in his elementary school over Christmas time. The ornament was a traditional craft to make in his school over the holidays, and the students all made their own versions of it to bring home to their families. The informant still has his crafted snowman ornament now, over a decade later, and it is a very treasured possession to his family as a craft that he made for them years ago in school.

Analysis:

Crafting ornaments like the informant’s snowman is very common in elementary schools whose students widely celebrate Christmas. In these schools, it is very traditional that ornaments/other decorations are crafted for the students’ families. The popularity of taking class time to make ornaments as such for holidays in so many elementary schools exemplifies our inclination toward celebration, festivity, and togetherness, because using class time to make them teaches the students to prioritize such festivity. Schools where ornament making is done like to look forward to the milestones of big Holiday seasons (i.e. Winter, Summer) to break up the normalcy of the rest of the school year, and add variety into their normal lessons. After all, so many American students nostalgically look back at the early 2000’s in elementary school the day before Winter break – the hot cocoa, apple cider, and gift exchanges were some of the best memories of elementary school for so many of us. Taking up all of the class time necessary to have these moments of celebration and crafting of holiday decorations, like ornaments, is the perfect example of our inclination toward the excitement of festivity.

Capirotada Cultural Dish

Informant Info:

  • Nationality: Mexican
  • Age: 50
  • Residence: Los Angeles 
  • Primary language: Spanish 
  • Relationship: mother 

Text: 

Capirotada(cultural food) 

Context:

EP explained to me the cultural and religious significance of the traditional Mexican capirotada dish. The capirotada dish is made during a specific season, as EP says, “la temporada de cuaresma.” Cuaresma is basically the Lenten period, in which Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter occur. She views this period of time in which she prepares for the death and the resurrection of Jesus by fasting and making this cultural dish. She learned this traditional dish from her mother who would make it during the Lenten period. EP goes into depth on the ingredients of the Capirotada, “La canela, clavo, y piloncillo se cuece, y así se hace la miel que se pone arriba de todos los ingredientes antes de hornear.” She first makes a sort of sweet juice/syrup to put on top of the ingredients. The ingredients consist of: white bolillo bread, tortillas, bananas, apples, queso fresco, raisins, prunes, viznaga, different types of nuts and dried fruits, etc. She said that you put the syrup that was made prior on top of all the ingredients and then you can bake it. 

Analysis:

Capirotada is made in different ways, and it also depends on the preference of the person making the dish. Not everyone will make it the same; each person has their own touch. I have grown up eating capirotada as well, but when I would ask other people if they had tried or heard of it before, they would say no. It is a dish that is not as commonly made or known. When I was younger, I always thought it wasn’t something I wanted to eat, but as I grew older I learned to appreciate and actually love to eat the dish. While the capirotada might not look as physically appealing as other desserts, it is truly delicious and holds a special place in our Mexican culture.

The Christmas Pickle

The Christmas Pickle. I learned about this Christmas tradition for the first time from one of my friends. To quote her explanation, “Every Christmas we use the same pickle ornament, usually my dad hides it in the tree, and whoever finds it on Christmas day gets to open a present first.” It’s a fun tradition that she has been doing ever since she was a little girl. She says that it didn’t start until her sister was at their neighbor’s for a Christmas party and took one of the ornaments, a pickle. It was later explained to her family by the same neighbors of the tradition and they have done it ever since. The tradition itself apparently comes from a story of a German-American prisoner who was taken prisoner during the Civil War. Starving, he begged a guard to give him one last pickle before he died. The pity pickle gave him the mental and physical strength to live on. This story is much harsher than its Christmas counterpart but nonetheless displays a sense of fortune and luck through a pickle.

Gasparilla

Context: The informant JE is a recent graduate of a college in the city of Tampa, Florida. Not being from there, the informant made it very clear that they tried extra hard to make sure they followed and learned all the traditions of the area. JE stated that they felt in doing this they would have both a better experience living there and also meet lots of new people.

Tradition: Every year in Tampa there is a festival, Gasparilla, which the informant stated was basically just a big pirate festival across the city, celebrating the history of Tampa. The informant said it was a huge deal in the area, and they partook in the event every single year that they lived in the city.

Analysis: The informant constantly emphasized how important the event was to the city, and subsequently all of their college friends. While in the end it seems a bit like a giant excuse to party, the fact the city keeps the tradition as an extremely big deal is tremendous to see. The city because of festival and its “pirate” history has really leaned into this cultural aspect, even naming one of their professional sports teams after pirates. City identities such as this create an extremely fun and connected culture for the residents, and more cities should lean more into their history to have a unique culture.