Author Archives: Hunter Stomberg

No Bananas on Board

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Newport Beach
Performance Date: 4/17/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: n/a

Main Piece:

The following conversation is transcribed from a conversation between me (HS) and my friend/informant (LW).

HS: You have a very particular superstition regarding bananas on your sailboat is that true?

LW: Yeah. Ever since I started sailing when I was young my instructors have told me to never bring a banana with me when I sail.

HS: And why is that?

LW: They would always say that it was bad luck. Like for instance one time I remember my mom packed a banana in my lunch as a snack at one of my regattas and I took it out to eat. My instructor, although somewhat jokingly, told me to make sure I didn’t take it on my sabot because it was bad luck. Just small situations like that.

Background:

My informant is a friend from high school. He has been sailing sabots and CFJs since his childhood and is a member of one of the local yacht clubs in his area. He sailed for both his high school and his local yacht club.

Context:

My informant’s little brother had his coach and team over for a team dinner. The team coach told me about the superstition and my informant elaborated upon it.

Thoughts:

My immediate question to the superstition of bananas in boats was, why does this superstition exist? I found that there are a variety of proposed explanations for the superstition surround bananas. For instance, bananas give off a certain gas that causes other fruits to ripen and thus spoil faster. Perhaps these negative traits of bananas are what caused this superstition of bad luck to become commonplace amongst sailors. There are other explanations also, such as the fact that boats had to travel a lot faster in order to get their banana-filled payloads to their destinations before they spoiled, which prevented fishermen from being able to land the catches they were waiting for. I think that this superstition goes to show how reasonable grievances towards bananas that are now outdated have evolved into the superstitions that we still carry to this day.

Rice Pudding for Elves

Nationality: Danish, American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Newport Beach
Performance Date: 05/02/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Danish

The following conversation is transcribed from a conversation between me (HS) and my friend/informant (AB).

HS: So can you tell me a little bit about the special form of rice pudding that you leave out on Christmas eve?

AB: Yeah, so it’s a tradition that has been in my family for as long as I can remember. The technical term for it is Risengrød, and it is made by boiling rice and milk at a low temperature for a few hours and then you serve it with some cinnamon sugar and butter. It’s supposed to be the food of Santa’s elves and we eat it on Christmas Eve. And then on Christmas day, we have a version without cinnamon called Risalamande. It’s also a little more watery and you put cherry juice on top of it. Leaving out Risengrød for elves is basically the Danish version of leaving out cookies and milk to Santa.

Background:

My informant is one of my friends from high school. He immigrated to the United States from Denmark when he was 15 and still carries on many aspects of his Danish culture. He is fluent in Danish and English.

Context:

I was at my informant’s house with him, his sister, and his parents. They were happy to elaborate on some of their Danish traditions.

Thoughts:

I enjoyed getting to learn about the parallels between Danish and American culture. I thought that leaving cookies out for Santa was a tradition unique to the United States, and I believe it is, but it seems to be derived directly from Danish culture. This is just another example of how broad trends show themselves all throughout the realm of folklore, just with smaller, more nuanced iterations that reflect regional and cultural context.

For another version of the Risengrød tradition, see:

“A DANISH CHRISTMAS.” Scandinavian Press, vol. 15, no. 1, Scandinavian Press, 2008, p. 17–.

Layer Cakes

Nationality: Danish, American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Newport Beach
Performance Date: 05/02/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Danish

The following conversation is transcribed from a conversation between me (HS) and my friend/informant (AB).

HS: So you have a certain tradition regarding birthday cakes in Denmark, is that right?

AB: Yes that’s correct. We have something called layer cakes. The layers are split with jam and sometimes a sort of pudding in the middle as well. It is reserved mostly for birthdays.

Background:

My informant is one of my friends from high school. He immigrated to the United States from Denmark when he was 15 and still carries on many aspects of his Danish culture. He is fluent in Danish and English.

Context:

I was at my informant’s house with him, his sister, and his parents. They were happy to elaborate on some of their Danish traditions.

Thoughts:

My first thought that came to mind regarding the tradition of layered cakes in Danish culture was whether or not they put birthday candles on them. My curiosity regarding the dichotomy between Danish and American culture came into the limelight, and I found that they do. This led me to another question, though. Why do western cultures celebrate their birthdays with cake? Looking at this Danish tradition through the lens of this question made me realize that the celebration of birthdays with cake is the larger societal trend and that the Danish and American means of celebration are just derivatives of a larger cultural tradition.