Background: The informant is my mother, who is a third generation Irish immigrant from Bridgeport, CT. She learned the tradition from her parents and observed it multiple times at her four brother’s weddings. Context: The piece was collected in a casual, in person interview, inside the informant’s home. Piece: The following is a summary of… Continue Reading »
Text: Informant: If you are knitting or if you know how to knit, you’re allowed to knit things for your friends and your family, but you can’t knit something for your significant other unless you’re really really sure that they’re the one. When you knit something for your significant other it symbolizes that the relationship… Continue Reading »
NA: Ok so there is this holiday called Karva Chauth and you have to fast for your husband’s long life all day until you see the moon and then you have to do this weird thing and nobody knows why you do this but like you take a flour sifter and you hold it up… Continue Reading »
Context: The collector asked the informant (as MD) for some Shanghainese folklores. The informant is the mother of the collector. MD: You know, when a couple in relationship want to make sure parents from each side agree with their marriage, they will visit the woman’s mother. When it is the first visit for the… Continue Reading »
Main Piece QJ: “Can it be a dirty joke?” Collector: “Yes.” QJ: “A lot of the jokes I grew up with are kind of dirty…most Polish ones are…I think one that my grandfather would say asks what is long and hard that a Polish bride gets on her wedding night?” Collector: “What?” QJ: “A new… Continue Reading »