Monthly Archives: May 2011

Proverb

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: student at USC
Residence: Three Rivers, CA
Performance Date: April 20th, 2011
Primary Language: English

“A strawberry blossom does not moisten dry bread.”

The informant believes it means whatever is still is.  He elaborated by saying that you can’t fabricate it by adding anything.  Even if you add the strawberry blossom to dry bread, it only complicates it.  Does not fix the problem, it just adds to it.  Does not remember where he heard the phrase from.

I believe that this phrase is about reality.  You must make do with what you have and have patience.  A strawberry blossom will eventually become a strawberry and you can make a moist jam with the fruit, but until then you will have to wait or make do with dry bread.  I am sure this phrase could be substituted with any other dry blossom.  The proverb teller must have heard this phrase from a place where strawberries are abundant.   In a place where blueberries are plentiful it is likely that the phrase would talk about dry blue berry blossoms.

Danish Christmas Dance

Nationality: Danish
Age: 18
Occupation: Student at Copenhagen Business School
Residence: Copenhagen, Denmark
Performance Date: December 23rd, 2010
Primary Language: Danish
Language: Italian, English, Spanish

“In Denmark it’s tradition to get a Christmas tree, and after dinner, before we open our presents we sing a bunch of Christmas songs, and while we are singing the whole family/friends, whoever, hold hands and dance around the tree.

I learnt it at Christmas when I was really small, from my parents and the rest of the family, and I like it very much because it’s cozy and it brings everyone together, drifts attention from solely opening presents, which is purely materialistic. It means a lot to me, family bonding time.”

Eva talked very fondly of this Christmas experience in Denmark. She says she does it every year, though until now she has spent most of her Christmases in Rome, Italy. Though she was not surrounded by Danish experiences when younger, she says keeping traditions like this is what, she feels, makes her an authentic Danish person. Considering my experience with Danish people, I am not surprised that their traditions involve singing and dancing around. From the ones I have met, I find that Danish people are friendly, outgoing, and very fun loving. Eva’s family has almost become my family, and so I was extremely happy when I got to spend Christmas with them this past year. Experiencing this tradition first hand I couldn’t help but feel engulfed by both Christmas spirit and pure joy. I think that by holding hands you truly embrace the meaning of unity during Christmas, as well as the importance of family. By singing it shows the true symbolism of celebrating Christmas, which is of course celebrating the birth of Jesus. Considering that it is dancing around a tree, I see a little paganism in it. However I don’t know enough about the actual Christmas holiday versus Denmark’s pagan influences to decide whether it is part of Christmas that is perhaps more Pagan than Christian or whether it is this tradition that is perhaps more Pagan than Christian.

I was impressed by Eva’s insight regarding this tradition as drifting attention from the materialistic part, as sometimes I feel that for many children, Christmas tree equals presents, and here is a tradition, happily practiced since childhood, that adds another role to this beautiful tree, and this is a purely spiritual one, the togetherness.

This tradition is mentioned in a book, a journal of European Ethnology.

Pedersen, Marriane H. “Making Traditions in a New Society.” Ethnologia Europaea. Museum Tusculanum, 2007. 7. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

Danish Christmas Game

Nationality: Danish
Age: 18
Occupation: Student at Copenhagen Business School
Residence: Copenhagen, Denmark
Performance Date: December 23rd, 2010
Primary Language: Danish
Language: Italian, English, Spanish

“Then there is the almond gift game,

After we eat our Christmas dinner we usually eat a form of porridge with cherry sauce, it has bits of almonds in it, and only one whole almond in it. Whoever finds the whole almond when eating it, wins a present, which has been bought for the sole purpose of this game. Again I learnt it from my parents/family. I like it because it’s exciting to be eating and poof you find the almond! (Though my sister Nina always gets it…)It means a lot to me, because it’s part of a traditional Danish Christmas dinner, and I just love Danish tradition.”

Eva does not recall the first time she first participated in this food activity, but she says she believes she’s done it every year since birth. Eva spent most of her life in Rome, Italy, but she says that she spends every Christmas with Danish relatives and so the Danish traditions had been embraced in her home even though the family was in Italy. She believes the purpose of the game is solely another embracement of the holiday tradition of giving gifts during Christmas time.  She pondered if perhaps the reason was to keep the kids interested throughout the meal in order to have a stronger familial environment. However, she is not sure and so she just looks at it as a fond experience from her childhood that continues every year.

When I went to visit Eva and her family in Italy this year, it was during my winter break and so I was lucky enough to spend Christmas break and learn all of these traditions. This tradition came up during a conversation about our anticipation of Christmas day with the Danish relatives who had also come to visit. My interpretation of the game comes out of my own family’s tradition (and Jewish tradition in general) to play the game of the Afficoman, which happens in Passover. In this game a piece of Matzah (flattened bread that is specific for Passover) is hidden and at the end of the night the kids are all sent to look for it and whoever finds it wins a present. Since most Jewish traditions during Passover are related back to the Jewish people finding faith in God and being saved, I see the tradition of the almonds as one of finding yourself as a whole, perhaps through Christ seeing as it is a Christmas day tradition.

Beijing Rotten Tofu

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Residence: Redlands, CA
Performance Date: 4/26/2011
Primary Language: English
Language: chinese

Beijing rotted tofu
Manchurian traditional food. Partially fermented.

Summer before freshman year of high school in Beijing, at a very fancy restaurant, Eddie’s father convinced him to try this delicacy. Eddie tried it and gagged. Apparently he needed to wash out the taste with alcohol.

Eddie’s father really loved the rotten tofu, he genuinely though Eddie would enjoy it as much as he did. Because Eddie is American, he could not fully appreciate the rotten tofu. For him the symbolic value was not enough to cover up the fact that it really is just rotten food. His father has a stronger tie to the area, and may have even grown up eating this kind of delicacy, so to him, it tastes good.

Guido Hunting

Age: 18
Residence: Millburn, New Jersey
Performance Date: 1/7/2011
Primary Language: English

This game is only played at the Jersey shore, particularly Seaside Heights, NJ. Essentially, players are on the look-out for “guidos.” Every time one is spotted, the person who spots it gains a point. Whoever has the most points by the end of the day, wins. Extra points may be awarded for seeing a guido engaging in stereotypical guido behavior, like fist-pumping, or if they are seen with the female counter-part, a guidette.

A guido is a The Guido is an entirely American phenomena, with its epicenter in the New York/ New Jersey metropolitan area. Although most of its examples are of Italian-American descent, many times other non-descript Caucasians will follow suit in an attempt to achieve an identity- in fact any identity. The Guido is highly recognizable by his attention to muscular development, status symbols, and regional dialect. Guidos are fortunate in that they usually tend to be loyal to their heritage and cultures.

Kaity cannot specifically recall when or where she first encountered this game, but it has become a tradition to play every time she goes to the shore. I have played the game myself, and it is a great way to simultaneously celebrate and make fun of the “Jersey Shore” subculture. At once acknowledging the way the rest of the country sees New Jersey, and making it a part of our identity.