Author Archives: Jennifer Chen

Hungarian Sprinkling Day

Nationality: Hungarian
Age: 24
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/5/13
Primary Language: Hungarian
Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“You celebrate Easter just on Sunday in America, right? We celebrate Easter for two days in Hungary, Sunday and Monday. On Easter Monday, there is a thing called sprinkling. Usually all of the males in the family will visit all of the females in their family or in the neighborhood. They will go up women and tell them poems about sprinkling, sometimes not so appropriate poems, and asking if they can water the girls like a flower. Smaller boys will sometimes throw water on the girls because it is more fun. The girls want to show themselves off as popular and to have more water thrown on them or more cologne sprayed on them to show that a lot of boys like them. The older men mostly will just spray the women with cologne to symbolize the sprinkling. By the end of the day, the women will most likely smell of a lot of different cologne. The women will cook for 3 or 4 days leading up Monday to prepare to feed the men that day.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant was born in Hungary and lived there until she was 17 years old. She remembers vividly celebrating the Easter holidays with the sprinkling just as much as Americans associate their childhood Easters with decorating eggs and going on an Easter egg hunt. She remembers that as a child, it was just a fun day where boys could splash girls with water and the girls would feel special to receive the attention. As she grew older, it turned into almost a shy flirting mechanism, where the boys would spray the girls they liked with their cologne. It was always remembered as a joyous occasion.

This Hungarian holiday has many subliminal connotations. The poems that the boys read to the girls asking if they can water them like a flower represent fertility. Watering a flower is like preparing a woman for childbirth. Then, when males spray the women with their cologne, it represents them marking their territory. It also perhaps shows that the Hungarian culture is a patriarchal one, since males can spray their cologne on as many women as they want, whereas the women don’t really have a say in who sprays them. In return, the women even cook for days on end to feed the men who spray them that day, so as to thank them for blessing them with their cologne and attention.

Straight Arms During Irish Dancing

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“Irish dancing dates back to before the English occupied Ireland. The English supposedly wouldn’t allow the Irish people to express their culture. So, they weren’t allowed to perform their Irish dance anymore. As a result, the Irish people would dance their traditional steps but leave their whole upper body and arms straight so that they could dance in their houses and the English soldiers walking by couldn’t tell that they were dancing. Sometimes, they would dance behind bars as well and nobody could tell because their upper body was so straight it looked like they were just walking around. So even now, in Irish dancing, when you compete, you get scored on how straight your upper body is. Feis means festival in traditional Gaelic. This is where Irish step dancing is usually performed nowadays.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant learned traditional Irish dance when she was 7 years old and competed and performed until she was 16 years old. She was always judged on how straight she could keep her upper body and arms and never really understood why until her mother explained it to her. From then on, she remembers that it was easier to keep them straight because in her mind, she imagined that she was in the days in which she could be prosecuted for moving her upper body too much. This is a great example of a circumstance in which the explanation behind a tradition gives it much more context and allows the person observing the tradition to be more personally invested.

Irish Travelers Blessing

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“There is an Irish blessing that is traditional to have somewhere inside of every Irish household. It says ‘May the road rise to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm on your face, and rain fall soft on your fields, and until we meet again, may Gold hold you in the palm of his hand’.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

This is a very popular traditional Irish blessing. Irish families keep this in their household so that it brings any visitors good will on their travels. Even when they leave their house themselves and go somewhere, it brings them good luck on their travels and brings them wishes for a safe return. The blessing is usually placed next to a door in the house, usually the front door, as this is where people leave the house through.

Claddagh Ring

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“A Claddagh is a traditional Irish ring. It has two hands holding a heart with a crown on top of the heart. The hands represent friendship, the heart represents love, the crown represents loyalty. People wear it on their finger and if you are in a relationship, you wear it so that the point of the heart faces towards your wrist. This points towards the main vein in your arm that leads to your heart. If you are single, you wear the ring the opposite way. It is bad luck if you buy it for yourself and it’s supposed to be given to you by someone who will love you forever, so a very serious significant other or a parent.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant was given a Claddagh ring by her grandma when she turned 13 years old. Her older sister and younger sister were both given Claddagh rings when they turned 13 as well. It is a family tradition that has been passed down for ages. When a daughter turns 13 years old, the grandmother will give her a ring. It represents everlasting love and is supposed to remind the daughter that no matter what trials and tribulations love puts her through as she grows up, she will always have the love of her family.

Hiding Valuables on St. Patrick’s Day

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“On St. Patrick’s Day, you hide all of your valuables. This is the day that the leprechauns come out and get revenge on people who have been bad for the previous year. It is kind of like Santa in the sense that you’re supposed to be good all year so that the leprechauns don’t have an incentive take your stuff.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

Leprechauns first emerged in Irish folklore in medieval times and have since been a staple of Irish culture everywhere. Leprechauns are said to enjoy playing practical jokes, such as stealing valuable items. Sometimes, leprechauns are believed to be fairies with evil spirits. However, this creature has developed into one that will steal your valuables on Saint Patrick’s Day only if you were bad the previous year. So, it is an incentive for younger children to be good year round so that their valuables aren’t “stolen”. My informant remembers that when she was younger, sometimes her parents would take something her or her siblings really loved if they were bad in the days leading up to Saint Patrick’s Day, only to blame it on the leprechauns. As she grew older, even though she stopped believing in leprechauns, her and her family would still hide some of their valuables just because it had become tradition.