Monthly Archives: May 2015

Feast of the 7 Fishes

Nationality: american
Age: 60
Occupation: teacher
Residence: denver
Performance Date: 4/18/15
Primary Language: English

Feast of the seven fishes is a traditional Italian meal made on Christmas Eve:

MG: “I learned about it from your Dad’s dad. They did it back in New Jersey and we tried to bring it in Colorado. Technically it’s the “feast of the seven fishes” and you’re supposed to have seven fish dishes, but we made some adaptations. Some of the dishes are real traditional. One was salted cod cause salted cod doesn’t go bad when you don’t refrigerate it. Pretty much every ancient civilization had a cod dish cause it didn’t go bad, it smells really bad though. So your grandpa would salt it for awhile and soak it in water and it’s revived and you can cook it. We also had roasted smelt and pickled herring, but no one liked it in Colorado. We had to get the cod flown in too. Back in New Jersey your grandpa would just go to the Italian deli but they don’t have those in Colorado really. We decided it was too much work when the only one who ate it was your dad. Your grandpa taught me how to make the dishes when I would go over when I was still in high school. He would be cooking for days, he would do everything himself. Me and you dad split the work for our version”

How did you change the traditional meal?

MG: “Well we added food for the people who don’t eat seafood. We added ham, eggplant parmesan and baked stuffed shells. But we still try to have seven types of fish, usually raw clams, baked stuffed clams, shimp momma leoni, lobster, king crab, scallops, green lip mussels and blake mussels.”

Who do you invite over for dinner?

MG:”Just family friends and family usually. We try to invite a lot of people because we make so much food. When your grandpa would do it they would invite all their friends, it was like a big party. It’s supposed to have a religious meaning but it was just a big party for their family so that’s what we try to do. It’s not religious at all. A lot of jews end up being there actually cause they don’t have anywhere to be on Christmas Eve”

This was a good example of how traditions can mobilize and adapt to new areas. Additionally, the fact that there was originally a religious connotation but the event could be celebrated without any religious aspect was interesting.

How Cold?

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 23, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant was a 19 year old male student who I chatted with during our Russian Modern Art class. He’s a Film and Television Production Major.

Joke

“There’s a Native American tribe and they just got a new chief. They ask the chief how much wood they should cut for the winter, but the new chief does not know how to contact the spirits and ask them how cold the winter will be. So he just tells his tribe to start cutting wood. Then he goes to the weather station and asks the man there whether it’s going to be a cold winter. “Oh yes,” the man says. Relieved, the chief goes back to the tribe and tells them to start cutting more wood. Then he goes back to the weather station and asks the weatherman again how cold the winter is going to be. “Very cold,” the weatherman assures him, so the chief goes back to the tribe and tells them to cut as much wood as they can carry. One final time, the chief decides to go back to the weather station, just to make sure. “Oh, it’s going to be the coldest winter in years! It’s going to be freezing!” the weatherman says. “But how do you know?” the chief prods. “Well,” the weatherman says, “The Indians are all cutting wood like crazy!'”

Collector: Where did you hear this joke?

Informant: This story was told to me by my girlfriend during lunch one day. We were telling jokes to one another, and she told me this one.

Collector: Why do you remember this joke in particular?

Informant: It’s funny how rigid systems of thought can become. In both cases, the weatherman’s case and the Indians’ case, they end up judging their general situation not on their own gut instinct or insight, but from what a pre-established system tells them they should think. The joke highlights the irony codependent systems of rigid thought, of which there are many in this world, can become.

I really couldn’t have explained this joke better myself, and it’s pretty much what I was thinking. It’s a joke based on stereotypes and the humor is found based on the performance of said stereotypes.

Dia de las Velitas

Nationality: Bogota, Colombia
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 22, 2015
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

My Informant was a 21 year old female who moved to the United States from Bogota, Colombia in 2004. She lives five houses down on my street.

Tradition:

On December 7th we celebrate this event called “Dia de la Velitas”, which is the start of the holiday season. What my family does is, we wait until it’s night time, then we each get a candle. As we light the candle, we make a wish and then set all of the candles on this plate, on the top part. We set the plate on the driveway, so it’s slanted down and then we just wait. We hang around and talk and watch the candles burning. I’m not sure if this is part of the regular tradition, but we play a sort of game with the wax. We wait until the candle wax starts to melt and run down the plate and the first candle to have its wax reach the bottom of its plate gets the wish. I mean, who’s candle that is has their wish come true. We make a fun night out of it, we make empanadas and drink soda and just mess around.

Collector: Has your family tradition changed at all since you moved here from Colombia?

Informant: Well, my family hasn’t, but it’s not the same.

Collector: How so?

Informant: In Colombia everyone participates, and I mean everyone. You see candles all over the city. People line the streets with them and some hang lanterns. Here, my family is the only one on our street who does it… we might even be the only people to do it for miles.

Collector: What does “Dia de las Velitas” translate to?

Informant: Day of the Candles.

Cultural traditions vary depending on location and contribute to the ethnic identities of people. As seen here, although my informant has moved away from the area where the traditional practice generally occurs, she and her family continue to perform according to their ethnic identity.

Easter Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 60
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Denver, Colorado
Performance Date: 4/18/15
Primary Language: English

What is the Easter Tradition:

MG: “Part of  the easter tradition is we used to do a scavenger hunt in the backyard with the traditional fake eggs. Then we’d go into the house and I put little signs from the easter bunny to look all over the house. I’d have little things hidden I thought the kids would like that weren’t too expensive, I’d usually go to Walgreens. I’d get coloring books and crayons, jumpropes, like a plastic bat and ball for Justin, things for the sand box. Oh! Also stuff I didn’t normally give you all the time, doritos and I got your brother that really sugary soda he used to always want. At each new spot there would be a little present and another note from the easter bunny telling you where to look next. The very last note always had a big easter basket with lots of candy, chocolate, peeps, stuff like that.

Where did you learn this tradition?

MG: “From Mandy the babysitter. She told me her families tradition, told me it was a part of their family and explained how to do it.

Why did you start doing it:

MG: “I just wanted to establish our own family traditions”

 

I thought this was an interesting example of folklore because it was passed from someone younger to someone older, which is opposite of how many people think folklore is spread. In this case Mandy, the younger babysitter, taught my mom her families tradition. It shows that as long as folklore is compelling and coming from a trustworthy source, it does not have to come from a person of great influence or power, like a parent telling a child.

MG’s response of why she started doing it was intriguing because she said she “wanted to establish [her] own family traditions” even though it was borrowing from another families traditions. Even though it wasn’t a unique practice, it was unique and new to her because no one in her family had ever done it. Therefore it was still considered a “new” and “unique” tradition even though it had been borrowed from another family.

Electric Smoke

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: Humboldt State University
Performance Date: April 18, 2015
Primary Language: English

Riddle

So if an electric train is traveling east and the wind is blowing north which direction is the smoke traveling?

 

Informant was a 19 year old male friend who is studying Engineering at Humboldt State University. He came home for the weekend and we exchanged riddles and stories, etc.

Collector: If it’s an electric train there’s no smoke.

Informant: Exactly! Damn, you is smart.

Collector: Thanks…so who told you this riddle? Or where’d you learn it from?

Informant: My dad told it to me. We were on the way to Las Vegas – I think it was a few years ago – and we got bored on the road. It’s kind of my go to riddle for whenever anyone wants to hear one.

Collector: Why?

Informant: I dunno, I guess just because it’s the only one I remember…and it’s about trains.

Collector: Wow. Did your dad tell it to you because he’s an engineer? Or does he just like trains too?

Informant: Maybe… Probably not. I mean – for the engineer part. He might like trains. I’m not sure.

I’m pretty sure that the reason this is the only riddle my friend can remember is attributed somehow to the fact that he loves engineering and anything electrical. It’s a love that runs in the family, apparently, and can be considered as something passed on from father to son.