Author Archives: Benjamin Goff

Irish Funerary Traditions in an American Family

Age: 19

Text:

Hello A, do you have any end-of-life celebrations or just traditions that your family does? I understand you have something for your mom’s side.

Hi, yes.  Good afternoon. So on my mom’s side, for a traditional ceremony, we call it celebrations of life, a tradition for us to be cremated and then, after the play, the bagpipes at the funeral, followed by family-given obituaries and the like. You know the normal stuff. Then your ashes are usually scattered around a place that you are quite fond of, usually, for my family, it’s somewhere around the water. But yes, Ben, thank you for your interview time. 

Would you like this to happen to you at the end of your life, or is it significant to you? I mean, have you seen multiple funerals where this happens?

Yes, it’s quite typical for where I’m from, and especially within my family. I want this when I pass: to be cremated and have the bagpipes played and have my ashes scattered in the ocean.  So, of course.

Do you know where this tradition allegedly came from or when it started in your family?

My greatest hunch is that it came from when my family was residing in Galeium, Ireland. It goes along with the bagpipes and also close connections to the sea. They are very much a seafaring people from that part of the Western coast of Ireland. Thank you.

Context:

End of life celebrations involving the scattering of ones ashes are a traditional form of cremation/celebration from Norse and Gaelic cultures. The practices following Americans who immigrated to the US over 150 years ago (in the case of A’s family) show just how enduring many of these practices are. A also discusses the strong connection to the sea that many families who leave proximally to it in the northeast have. These enduring connections are reminiscent of the traditions of their Irish forefathers, who also felt a spiritual connection to the sea, the same reason that their end-of-life celebrations occurred there.

My interpretation:

These are traditions that are passed down from person to person in these families. It is in major life events that we return most to our traditions and the perceived heritage that we link ownership to, and so it makes sense that these traditions have passed from person to person in these settings. The connection that Alex made to his Irish ancestry is interesting, as it also displays that he is aware of where his family is allegedly from inside of Ireland. Americans, especially those of European ancestry, often seem to wish to find some understanding of which part of that continent their family’s blood originates from, mostly because Americans of European descent in the US have little to no ethnic identity.

“Collectivism Day”

Age: 23

Interview:

I understand your family has some special politically charged traditions centered around the Fourth of July, could you expand on that?

My dad is a first-generation college student; his father immigrated here from Croatia during the reign of the USSR. My dad has a lot of the same views as my grandpa, who believed the USSR was just doing communism wrong. As a revolt, somewhat, I guess, somewhat as a welcome to the American people, my grandfather passed down a version of celebrating “Collectivism Day” as opposed to the usual Independence Day.

I understand, too the number “four” is significant to your grandfather wanting to start this tradition, why?

So my grandfather was convinced the four great bringers of communism and Marxism were Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin, and himself.

Not Marx?

Not Marx. Frankly, toward the end of his life, Grandpa got into numerology and into the “out-there” aspects of spiritualism, and so while originally the idea of the four started as a personal goal, he eventually saw it as more of a prophecy where on a particular Fourth of July he would lead the revolution.

So let’s talk about the actual day, what do you do to celebrate?

Grandpa wanted the day to appeal to Americans, and so he borrowed a lot of iconography and traditions, for instance, the hot dog swap, where we’d make a bunch, but to emphasize collectivism, we’d cut them into 5-6 pieces, and then everyone would give away all of their pieces but one and still eventually be left with a whole hot dog with swapped pieces from every other party present. In the typical sort of fashion where when you’re little you don’t get how Santa works, I didn’t really understand the significance of the hot dog swap; I just thought it was sort of a fun thing. The collectivist message was lost on my six-year-old brain.

Do you plan on passing this tradition down to your kids?

I do, but there are certain parts of the holiday I might not continue… like the choosing of the Kulak.

What is that?

Eh…I don’t really want to talk about it. (Interviewee seemed uncomfortable by the question.)

That’s okay! Is there anything else you want to share?

At the very least, Collectivism Day will be a way for my children to connect with their heritage. At the most, Collectivism Day could be the domino that topples the American Empire as we know it. Who is to say?

Context:

F is discussing a tradition within his family that is a recently immigrated Czech family in the Bay Area. The tradition mixes the elements of the grandfather’s exposure to communism in USSR-controlled Czechoslovakia with American food and nationalistic celebrations. The celebration takes place on the traditional American holiday of the Fourth of July, but runs counter to the celebration, even serving as a protest.

My interpretation:

This is an interesting blend of a lot of folklore elements with an American twist. There are elements of prophecy, superstition, counter-hegemonic behavior, and straining to keep a sense of tradition within a family structure uprooted by the move to another country. I think this tradition is a little bit of the grandfather straining for identity in a place that doesn’t conform to his ideology.

Fiesta Days in Vacaville

Text:

So I understand that you have a festival in your hometown. Do you want to talk about that?

Yeah, so it’s called the Fiesta Days parade, or it’s a Fiesta Days. Just the Fiesta Days. It’s a festival in late May every year in Vacaville and what happens is basically it starts off with this parade of, I don’t know, like, 30 different, probably more like 50, different bands, floats, just anything can be included. Like cool cars, anything like that can go through the main street of the town in this parade. And everybody from the community kind of comes out for it and watches it. It’s a great way for everyone to come together.

What’s kind of the theme of the celebration or are the floats themed? How did it arise?

I honestly don’t know too much about the history. But the theme is mostly… It’s kind of like Mexican-adjacent. It’s why it’s called the Fiesta Days. Honestly, not too many of the floats really like followed that theme. A lot of marching bands are from local high schools and middle schools and it’s more like the spectacle of all of it all, but I guess the general theme of it would be Mexican. There’s Mexican food, trucks and stuff. And then they have some, you know, like, I don’t know, mariachi bands and things that will play sometimes. Yeah.

How long have he lived in Bacaville? 

I’ve lived there. Well, I lived there my entire life before coming to USC.

Did your parents live there at all for like any period of time? 

They…Not without me.

So do you know how long, like, at least, like, people have celebrated this in Bacaville or? 

Um, man. I honestly am not sure, but I think it’s a pretty longstanding tradition. I’d say it probably dates back to at least the 80s. 

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Context:

The interviewee is discussing a festival he has seen since his childhood that takes place in his hometown of Vacaville. The festival is associated with a certain time and space within the year, always within late May, signaling the ceremonial switch from spring into summer. The celebration is ethnic in nature, although not exclusively, and not binding to the participants.

My Interpretation:

I think this is a classic example of a naturally arising community-based festival that celebrates a period of transition between two periods of the year. The nature of the event is interesting, as it is called “Fiesta Days” basically just meaning “party days,” but it doesn’t lean too heavily into its latin tilt nor require participants to dress a certain way, speak Spanish, or theme their floats entirely with a Latin American theme. The inclusion of “cool cars” and other items make the event seem like a celebration of wealth and status within the community, while also feeding everyone and displaying creativity through the floats.

Porch Concerts on Mardi Gras

Age: 23

Hey, so I understand that you have a specific tradition surrounding Mardi Gras. Do you wanna tell me about it?

Yeah, so every Mardi Gras on the second Saturday, it’s Endymion and that parade usually takes place in mid city, so a different part of town from where we live. We’re usually right on the parade route, but for this one, we’re a little far and it’s a little less convenient to go watch the parades. 

So for the past several years, we’ve been doing a porch concert where we get numerous local musicians to set up and play on the porch and invite the whole neighborhood to come out and it’s usually a pretty good time. We end up getting, probably 100 people boiling a bunch of crawfish and stuff.

So as far as contacting local musicians and any of that stuff, how did this idea originate? Was it your dad’s idea or, you know, how do you think it came to be? 

Honestly, it was my parents drinking on the porch with their musician friends and then just kind of everybody hanging out and playing and then thinking, you know, this would be really cool if we made a party out of it and that’s kind of how it ended up being born.

Do you think that this is something that is very New Orleans, like, could only really happen there? Do you think this is something that is kind of a result of the place that you’re from or that your parents live and drink on the porch? 

Yeah, I think it’s pretty specific to New Orleans because there isn’t really a time where there are so many people just walking about on the street, so many people available on a weekend because on that weekend, like, honestly, those two weeks, your only plans are Mardi Gras. So I think it’d be harder to bring people together. And also just the access to musicians.  There’s so many in the city and so many that you’re just going to end up being friends with. So I think that closeness makes it easier, but, but yeah, I mean, I’m sure you could have a successful porch concert anywhere.

Context:

This celebration takes place in New Orleans during Mardi Gras celebrations. The origin of them celebrating this way has root in the immensely social nature of the culture surrounding New Orleans, mixed with how all-encompassing the celebration of Mardi Gras is in their lives. The little festival they hold is a sub-festival of a larger celebration and tradition, but with the same elements—musicians, drinking, etc.

My Interpretation:

This seems to be a festival that was born out of the unique circumstances of living in New Orleans, mixed with the convenience of not having to venture so far to celebrate Mardi Gras. The micro-festival is a natural offshoot of the main event.

A Ghost at SUNY Buffalo

Text

Tell me your ghost story:

Was in pharmacy school, in the early 90s, 1994ish. I had just rented a very small apt, in an old house. I was in the upstairs apartment. My room was really small, had space to walk in, my bed, inches, and then the window and the wall. There was no room between the bed and the window for people. One night early in my time there I was sleeping but then I woke up in the middle of the night. I look toward the window side of my room and there is somebody standing there, so real to me that I sat up and said “Hey!” The person was a very small in stature woman, dressed in black mid 1800s mourning garb with a veil, lacy, everything. She was standing there, regarding me. The feeling was like she understood I was a new tenant and she was taking my measure. After a little she disappeared, maybe a minute or so.

Were you paralyzed in fear?

To me it felt like a realization it wasn’t an intruder was positive, and then I had a few moments of getting that feeling. She wasn’t threatening, wasn’t there to scare me, it just felt like she was seeing who she was sharing her apartment with.

Part B:

At the time I had two cats, Punky and Sophie. I was sitting in my couch studying one afternoon. I had put a bag on a chair, and it had been there for a while. All of a sudden it starts to crinkle, and it could’ve been plastic fatigue or something but I was looking at it, and I said out loud “Please don’t do that, you’re scaring me.” Immediately after, it stopped.

Was there anything else that happened in the apartment?

It sometimes felt like the cats were watching something that wasn’t there.

Your version of the house in the 80s:

That house had bad spirits in it, evil ones for sure. Always had a not good feeling. There were two incidencies I remember. I used to have a big typewriter and I must’ve been home from college in my freshman year, my mom and dad were divorced. My dad stayed in that house. One night, middle of the night, the typewriter gets pushed over and clunks against the wall. The feeling was, “Something did that.” It was just “Woah,” and I was wide awake and then eventually I went back to sleep.

There was another night when my dad was dating Kathy and my brother Jason wasn’t there, so I was home alone, my dad and Kathy had gone to the movies. I went to bed. Sometime in the night I’m in bed and I hear distinct footsteps coming up the stairs. I thought, “Oh they came here.” I get out of bed, flip on the lights, and there’s nobody and nothing. There was a pit in my stomach. I remember feeling such relief at the thought of them being home, I hated that house alone, and that is how sure I was I heard someone home.

There was no fear with the spirit you saw, but one felt malevolent?

I never thought about that, but really it’s because you get a feeling. It’s like when you meet someone and the sense you get as to whether they’re positive or not, and maybe it’s the same with spirits.

Context

This is my mother’s story about a spirit she saw while in pharmacy school. Interestingly enough, she had a similar ghostly experience, that being a figure in old clothes standing over her while she was sleeping, to the one her mom had ten years earlier. While doing this interview I realized they had never discussed that, so they didn’t realize there was a throughline to both of them. My mother’s interpretation of the events we got into during the questions, but suffice to say the experience wasn’t negative for her with the ghost in pharmacy school. Her story about the malevolent spirit in the 80s absolutely was negative, but I only snuck that in as a matter of recordkeeping.

My interpretation

The similarities between this story and her mother’s story of ghostly encounters (especially when they had never discussed it) is fascinating. The collection of this folklore and the theorizing of its origins makes it important, but more than anything, the multiple perspectives of the same event is important as well. I was careful to not ask leading questions to either of them about the experiences they both shared, which made it all the more interesting when they would bring up similar details in stories they hadn’t discussed with one another. I think my mother truly did see something hovering next to her bed that night, and that it is plausibly unexplainable. I think she did hear footsteps clamping up the stairs while home alone and see nothing once she opened that door. The world of spirits and apparitions is not one usually discussed, which makes the collections of these stories have all the more value.