Background:

The informant is my Uncle. He was born in the Philippines and came to the United States when he was twelve. He went to Hollywood High School and after he attended chiropractic school. He enjoys watching basketball and is also on the verge of retiring from work. 

Informant: 

Every Easter Sunday since I was a kid I would wake up at exactly 8:00 AM, get out of bed and start jumping as high as I can. I got the practice from my dad. The belief is that if you do this religiously every Easter Sunday at 8:00 AM you will grow taller than you normally would be. The symbolism behind jumping for joy at 8 is in relation to jumping for joy when Jesus rose from the dead at 8. It was a common practice not just for the kids but even for adults. My parents, aunts, and uncles participated too when I was growing up. I did it for the simple fact that I wanted to be able to dunk in basketball. I introduced it to your older cousins and the one that actually kept up with it and did it every Easter grew to be 6’6. The other two never did it and they’re 5’11 and 5’6. So I guess you can say it works huh? (laughs)

Analysis: 

This is a fun ritual in my eyes and also a pretty cool incentive to get up and celebrate the holiday. I remember participating in it when I was younger. Nowadays though it’s kind of hard to get me up at 8:00AM on a Sunday morning. I also think it is pretty amazing how my cousin who kept up with the ritual grew to be what we consider a giant in our family. 6’6 is no joke. Who knows maybe if I kept at it I’d be 6’6 instead of 6 feet. Rituals are often passed down from generation to generation. Maybe I’ll continue this with my kids in the future.