Tag Archives: feast

Boodle Fight

Text: 

I: Sometimes, when we had a lot of family over for a gathering, we would prepare a boodle fight. My aunt would lay down some banana leaves on the table and the food would just pile on. Rice, seafood, pancit, beef and pork. And there were no dishes, no utensils. You eat with your hands. Just family sharing a meal. Oh, and a lot of napkins.

Context:

The informant is 48, and was born and raised in the United States, and whose parents were born and raised in the Philippines. This wasn’t a feast that happened often, but also wasn’t necessarily exclusive to special occasions. Whenever there were many family members in the house, a lot of food was prepared so that everyone would eat. Rather than being a meal that celebrated a certain occasion, it was a time for family members to share a meal while also catching up on each other’s lives.

Analysis:

The “boodle fight”, also known as the kamayan by some Filipinos, refers both to the communal feast and the act of eating with your hands. The term “boodle fight” specifically, comes from American military slang that was used to describe contraband food. According to sources, the kamayan was an indigenous Filipino practice that existed before pre-colonization. Though it was continually practiced through Spanish occupation, it was during American military occupation that the practice was suppressed due to forced conversion of American standards and etiquette. The resurgence of the kamayan in Filipino households, especially those in Filipino-American households, marks a conscience return to Filipino cultural roots, with the tradition being passed down from family member to family member, without the threat of American confirmation or suppression. The commercialized version of the boodle fight, now available as an option in some modern Filipino-American restaurants, continues this tradition and also extends it to people outside the cultural group as a meal shared amongst friends.

Funeral Headbands

Context:

H is a pre-med Biology major at USC who grew up in Vancouver, Washington. His parents immigrated to the US from Vietnam.

Text:

H: “For funerals, you have to visit every day for the first week after the funeral and then once a week for seven weeks. And then, on the hundredth day since the funeral, everybody comes back to the temple. It’s like, the biggest day for them (the dead). You pray for them, wish them well at the temple. The hundredth day is when you have everybody together and you have a big feast. You have these white headbands that you wear and on the hundredth day, they chop off the headband.”

Analysis:

Since H was raised in a Viet-American household, he and his family’s celebration of weddings is similar to an Irish wake funeral, but also adds cultural specificity to Viet customs. For example, it is common in Irish funerals to throw a party on the deceased’s behalf, not only as a celebration of the deceased when they were alive but as a re-engineering of the domineering sorrow of a funeral. H’s feast on the hundredth day pays homage to the one who died without inviting negative emotions into the celebration of the individual.

Funerals are a liminal space, as Von Gennup puts it, lingering between the stages of life and death in a person’s existence on Earth. Rather than using funerals as a chance to mourn, H and Irish funeral traditions connect with members of their community and pray for safety into the next part of existing for the dead. This acceptance of death, the massive respect and commitment to the dead after the funeral, seems cultural, as does the white headbands and time. There is an acceptance of death as time marches on, not a denying of it. Rather, H’s family seems to come to terms that nothing can get in the way of death but glimmers for an appreciation of life and the one the once dead led.

Apple Harvesting with the Family

Background: The informant is a 55 year old mother of three who was born in Pennsylvania. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois. She moved to Chicago when she was 28 years old. She lived in Pennsylvania until she was 10 years old, but would go back every year to visit her grandmother. Her grandmother lived in a small Pennsylvania town in a house surrounded by an apple orchard.

Context: The context was the story was shared over the phone, brought up during a discussion about foods. The informant seemed happy to share old stories.

Text:

TC: I’m reminded of, when I was growing up, my grandmother lived in a big house surrounded by a huge amount of apple trees, basically an apple orchard. Whenever the apples came into season, the entire family and some neighbors would come over and pick all the apples. After we were done, my grandmother would make apple cider by herself, that’s why I love apple cider to this day. Oh, also, all of us would help her make plain doughnuts. You know, that’s why I always order plain doughnuts whenever we’re out at a doughnut shop. All together, we would feast on a meal of apple cider and doughnuts. 

Me: So, you did this every single year?

TC: Yes. I remember, even when some of us started moving away, my grandmother would still continue on the harvest. She would make her apple cider and doughnuts and share them with whoever was there with her… I forgot to mention, my grandparents were farmers, which was why they had many many trees on their property. They owned a huge area of land and it was the center, or the focal, point of where my family would gather.

Analysis

Informant: She views the tradition fondly as a time of her childhood. She didn’t think much of the roots but was focused on it being a time of familial gathering and a feast of sweets.

Mine: The family gathering together to pick the apples is reminiscent of old harvest traditions and festivals. It’s an excuse for everyone to gather together and bond through mutual work. Typically, whenever the harvest would be done in the past, apple cider would always be prepared and a feast would be waiting at home for the farmers. Given that the informant’s grandparents were farmers, they were likely aware of this tradition, even if they didn’t explicitly tell their family members. The meaning behind the cider and doughnuts didn’t matter, it was only needed to share time with family – it served as a gathering place. To this day, apple orchards are still used as a prime gathering place, many times field trips used as outings or friends go apple picking as an activity. Typically, sweets and apple cider are still served, emphasizing that while the tradition has changed in terms of farmers gathering the harvest of the year, it still remains to be a community event. 

To see another version, TIM STONESIFER. (2009). Celebrating an apple tradition The National Apple Harvest Festival begins this weekend. 1–.

Setting an extra plate during Christmas

Content and Context:
Informant -“I remember my mother did this several times. At the Christmas meal, my mother would set an extra seat and an extra place setting. Now the tradition is in case someone shows up, but I always associated it with the people who weren’t with us. That’s how I like to think of it.”

JK – “The people who aren’t with us. Does that mean people who have died or people who just aren’t there?”

Informant – “Either way. When I say prayers at home now, I always add that I ask god to take care of those who aren’t with us. That means your dead grandparents and those who are away.”

JK – “Did the Christmas tradition lead to this added prayer?”

Informant – “Maybe the thought did. Not consciously. It just seemed to me that our meals couldn’t possible be complete without recognizing the absence of those who couldn’t possibly be there.”

Analysis:
It’s interesting that the informant did not carry the tradition forward, but rather his interpretation of the ritual. While his mother wanted to be prepared for unexpected guests, the informant wanted a reminder of guests that weren’t coming.

Dropping cutlery brings guests

Content:
Informant – “If you are handling cutlery…flatware…if you drop a fork you can expect a visit from a woman. If you drop a knife, expect a man. If you drop a spoon, expect a child. And if you drop a bunch of silverware expect a bunch of people”

Context:
Informant – “I heard it from my mother. It’s just a superstition. I never felt that it was true. Although, you know, it could be that, when you are setting formal tables and all, it’s for feast days. And if you drop something during feast time, you are expecting people anyways. Sort of a self fulfilling thing.”

Analysis:
The association with knives and men is probably intentional (men are traditionally the warriors). And young children are usually spoon fed, so that association also makes sense. I’m not sure why women are linked to forks. It could just be the only item left.