Author Archives: crbrowne

Golu/Kolu Festival

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, Washington
Performance Date: Monday, April 25th, 2016
Language: Tamil, then English

“There is this festival called the Kolu Festival (or Golu not sure) … it is essentially an open house where you display your trinkets and your collections and you have a bunch of friends together and it is really fun. Just because there is a bunch of people in your house so growing up like all of the kids would go upstairs and have our own party and I mean I would always got to put my Lego collection on display.”

 

Do you know the background story to this festival/holiday?

“All I remember of it is it was just a lot of the little statues and stuff were figure heads of Hindu gods, it was a welcoming festival for the gods. It was something to be happy about if you were Hindu, I don’t remember it now, go me haha. It was fun because there were always a lot of people and a lot of good food.”

 

Talk a little more about the food:

“Mostly traditionally South Indian food because it (not sure if it was a South Indian festival) but my family is South Indian. As I started to like North Indian food more, they would make that more and more. There is a very flat pancake called dosa and usually have that with a variety of sauces or sometimes soups they both go well. There is a lot of lentil-based dishes like daal that is pretty common for my family at least. Mainly because my dad liked it a lot. So I mean that was the food I had growing up. Vegetable rich and very rice based. A lot of different types of rices thrown in.

 

When did this event usually take place?

“Usually in October if I recall correctly. Usually over a couple weekends, sometimes another family would host.”

 

Who usually participles in Kolu?

“Everybody. In all families, an entire family coming over. Like other families and we would go to other families houses too. Or whatever they were hosting. But I mean usually you would split up into different groups.”

 

What do you see as the significance of this event?

“Honestly it was just a good time for everyone to get together. And when I was little I would get to stay up late.”

 

Analysis:

This festival represents the unification and bringing together of an Indian community through the celebration of food and objects. I think that the informant’s experience is primarily based around the food and enjoyment he had as a child. The separation between the children and the adults in the Kolu Festival potentially signifies the generation gap in the way the festival was traditionally celebrated. I think this celebration was a joyous time in Indian culture because families got to display their worship symbols and be brought together.

 

For more information on the Golu/Kolu Festival and other ways it is celebrated, please visit:

http://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/navratri-golu-festival-in-south-india_1471996.html

Sankar, Gayatri. “Navratri Special: Golu Festival in South India.” Zee News. N.p., 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.

Never Sleeping With Hands Crossed

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago, Illinois
Performance Date: Tuesday, April 19th, 2016
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“Never sleep with my hands crossed over my chest. She [informant’s mom] would think Death would think I was dead by accident and take you away. And I would die. My mom was an intense old lady.”

 

In what situation would you hear this story?

“Right before bed because it was the most comfortable way I would fall asleep.”

 

Was there a way to counteract having your hands crossed?

“My mom would just move my hands apart [when he was asleep]. Maybe her mom told me. My mom was pretty superstitious. She was really religious. She believed in an afterlife and karma and was afraid we would be mistaken for some reason or another. That’s about it. She was the only one to believe.”

 

Analysis:

I think this superstition represents the informant’s, and his family’s, beliefs in death. According to the informant, death has the ability to take life whenever it believes someone has passed, and potentially when the person is not actually dead. This story also represents the fear in mistakes.

“The next thing you know, you won’t know nothing.”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Hosé, California
Performance Date: Wednesday, April 20th, 2016
Primary Language: English

“The next thing you know, you won’t know nothing.”

 

“Well I think it just a saying. My dad taught me this saying and you kind of just say it as a joke. You don’t really understand what is happing in life. You don’t know what is going to happen next. You don’t know what the situation, go with the flow kind of thing.”

 

“Um, most of the time, its just mostly be like remember for instance, if I were just talking about some random problem that I had in my life, and he wouldn’t know what to tell me if it would be boy related, … it kinda of just there to make things more light hearted. Don’t stress the small stuff. Like everything is just going to come around.”

 

 

What is your reaction when he would say this proverb?

“A nostalgia thing, just like of makes me feel more sound about things, that is true, just a family thing.”

 

 

When did you first hear it?

“First heard about it when I was five or six. Just my dad says it. Dad’s dad, its my grandpas but I learned it from my dad because he passed away”

 

Analysis:

I agree with the informant that this proverb means that events in life should be taken light heartedly. The future is never clear and as soon as we know it, everything can and will change. I also agree that this is a piece of advice given when other advice is hard to understand. I think it is interesting to note that the informant relates this proverb to nostalgic time with her father.

The Oyster Casserole

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: Therapist
Residence: New York City
Performance Date: Sunday, April 17th
Primary Language: English

So the food I would like to talk about is a casserole that my grandmother used to make and she only made it on special occasions: Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. And it was her domain, like no matter where we celebrated the holiday; she was the one who made this dish. And it was an oyster casserole. Don’t make that face it is really good. I can taste it now. It’s an oyster casserole. That reflects – I grew up in Maryland and so the Chesapeake Bay is the body of water where I grew up. And like the Chesapeake Bay is known for seafood. And oysters are one of the biggest crops of the Chesapeake Bay: oysters, blue crabs, and rockfish. Those are the three main like crops or whatever from the Chesapeake Bay. So like when I grew up, life revolved around the water. We always ate a lot of seafood. Seafood was like our way to be connected to our environment. And like you would eat oysters fried, raw, in casserole, baked, like they were really popular. So Grandma Boyd, I don’t know if she developed the recipe but it was like her secret recipe. Um so it was a secret recipe, it reflects our family’s heritage of the Chesapeake Bay.

And actually, I remember when I was little, Pop Pop [Mona’s father] and I would go, my dad and I would go, to the seafood place and buy the raw oysters for the casserole. We would go buy and bring it home and she would make the casseroles. She would make two big ones, two big casseroles. And she would um bring them and bake them at the house wherever the dinner was. And then everyone would, it was very coveted, everyone would fight over the oysters. Everyone wanted more than one helping. There would be all this good food, but everyone wanted to hog the oysters. And basically, all they are is layers of pan with crushed up cracker crumbs, salt pepper, butter, and chunks of butter, and she would lay the oysters on it, and another layer of cracker crumbs and more layers of oysters and break crumbs. Oh my goodness it is so good you can’t even image. She knew would how to make them just right.

 

When did you first experience/hear about the tradition?

Probably when like I want to say 1968 when I was eight years old. I remember they became more popular as the years went on. Like within the family. People just knew how good they were. Like you couldn’t have a holiday meal without the oysters. It wouldn’t have been a prober meal. Grandma’s oysters.

 

What was your grandma’s name?

Ella Louise Boyd – we called her Louise.

 

Who typically took part in this tradition?

Me, and mom and dad, Aunt Liz and Uncle Carl, Grandma Boyd, um and usually Uncle Mike and Aunt Pam, Brittney and Amy my cousins, and anybody’s family who was around. Sometimes Uncle Dan, sometimes Uncle Bob and his wife Francie. Sometimes cousin Trace, my cousin Donna and her husband Earl.

 

What do you see as the significance or role of tradition in your family?

Its like just a very, it’s a comfort food. Some families mashed potatoes or turkey is the comfort food, the oyster casserole was the comfort food.

 

And when exactly would this tradition appear?

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. It wasn’t ever made any other time. We always used to eat steamed crabs. That’s a whole other business though.

 

Analysis:

This tradition represents more than just a comfort food for the informant’s family. The oyster casserole seems to unite her family during the holiday season, giving them a delicious meal to celebrate around. The informant is clearly very involved in this tradition because she has grown up taking part in it from a young age. The oyster casserole also enables the informant to really take part in her family’s culture because her and her father collect the oysters themselves. It is unique that this tradition also unites the family back to their environment. The oysters represent both her family’s unity but also the local traditions of the Chesapeake Bay.