Author Archives: Kirsten Talbot

Folding Money

Nationality: American (German, Irish, French Descent)
Age: 57
Occupation: Former financial analyst, homemaker
Residence: Del Mar, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2012
Primary Language: English

“My Grandma McLain had a superstition about folding her money. And she believed if you folded it in half that you would always have money. And that’s something I’ve always done with my money ever since I was a little kid. Never bothered to look up that, uh, belief. I don’t know what the origin was, um, I don’t know if it’s an old German belief, or superstition.”

This is a classic example of superstition gone rampant. An idea that someone upheld that was then passed on to someone else, but with no one really knowing its origin or whether there is any real sound reason behind it.

Family Dinner

Nationality: American (Jewish and Italian Heritage)
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA and Texas
Performance Date: April 25, 2012
Primary Language: English

“As a family, we always have family dinners. So, we set up every, like, it’s pretty much without fail we have a family dinner every night. And it’s literally like three tables put up, um, in a row cuz there’s so many people.”

 

“Haha shout at everyone across the table.”

 

“It’s basically like Hogwarts dinner every night. No, you really don’t even talk to the people at the other end of the table cuz they’re too far away. It’s that, it’s that big of an ordeal basically.”

 

“Is this during Hanukkah or just in general?”

 

“No, just in general when we’re living at home.”

 

“Who cooks all these gigantic dinners?”

 

“Yeah all these home-cooked dinners. Uh, my stepmom.”

 

“That’s quite an ordeal. Like, think of all that.”

“Yeah, she’s a good cook. It’s just like, I guess it’s just like making bigger portions, ya know.”

 

 

The family dinner, a simple pastime, but one that I think is immensely important and the easiest way for us future-oriented, fast-paced Americans to stay connected to family. Though I’m sure that many families don’t regularly have sit-down, family dinners. It can be a sad reflection on how far removed we often are from our family, our personal subculture.

Menorahs at Hanukkah

Nationality: American (Jewish and Italian Heritage)
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA and Texas
Performance Date: April 25, 2012
Primary Language: English

 

“During Hanukkah, we all, everyone in our family has our own menorah to light. And it’s kind of unusual cuz we have so many people in our family so we’ll literally have, like, 12 menorahs out. Huge fire hazard if you think about it. Like 12 menorahs on the last night. There’s eight candles on each, or nine candles on each menorah, there’s like a hundred candles, um, getting lit around our house. A huge fire hazard, but we still do it.”

 

“Wait why do you guys do one for each person?”

 

“So we each have one to light. So we don’t have to take turns or whatever.”

 

“Do other people do that or is it just our family?”

 

“Probably, I mean it’s just unusual cuz we have a big family and a ton of menorahs.”

 

 

I think that keeping with holiday and cultural traditions is important, but at the same time it also seems that the evolution of these customs ensures their longstanding survival. By adjusting to the current era, they are not lost and forgotten entirely, merely edited.

Sukkot

Nationality: American (Jewish and Italian Heritage)
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA and Texas
Performance Date: April 25, 2012
Primary Language: English

“So Sukkot is a Jewish holiday. It’s basically were you celebrate the harvest and there’s a whole ton of traditions, um, that go along with it.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like, um, we shake this, um, we shake something called the Lulav. I don’t really know what that symbolizes but it’s kind of fun. Um, it’s basically we put together some grains in a fruit and we hold it and you shake it in different directions.”

 

“How do you out that in a fruit haha?”

“I don’t know, it’s like a, the lemon thing is called a (proged?). I don’t know if you eat it or what. But anyway, the family tradition we do is um its like a mitzvah to sleep under the stars during the holiday. So, we basically, as a family build this structure outside of our home in the back yard, um, and we, uh, decorate it with lights and a harvest kind of decorations. Like fruit and whatnot. And we sleep outside at night.”

 

“When is it?”

 

“Around October.”

Sukkot, a festival celebrating the harvest, from this perspective, provides an amusing look at how some traditions may continue to be observed but lose their historical background and understanding for their observers.

Irish Drum – Bodhran

Nationality: American (British and Irish Descent)
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Williamsburg, VA
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

“Music is a big deal, um, in my family. Particularly Irish music.”

 

“Mhm.”

 

“Um, my uncle plays the bodhran, or I guess both of my uncles do.”

 

“I’m not sure if my grandmother’s family. They were like a working family so I don’t they would have, like, sat down and, I don’t know, maybe they would have, um, just played for fun or whatever in the evenings. Um, but, um, yeah as long as I can remember they’ve come around at Christmastime and that drum comes out, or both the drums come out depending on how many brothers bring the drums haha. And uh, so they sit there and play for hours an hours.”

 

“Well that’s cool. So is it during a specific holiday or just whenever they come?”

 

“Just whenever they come around to visit.”

 

“The rowdy Irish come to town.”

 

“Oh yes, the rowdy Irish and the Guinness come out or Smithwick’s.”

 

“So did they, where did they learn that from? Like did they…”

 

“I think it was all by ear, I think, I don’t think it was any kind of professional training.”

 

“But did they, like, learn that in Ireland?”

 

“I don’t think so, um. My grandma and grandpa immigrated in the 1950s, um, and then, like, my mom and her brothers were raised in Cincinnati. I think it was just, like, listening to Irish music over the years and picking it up from there.”

This is an interesting, unique cultural find since there probably aren’t that many people in America who are familiar with such an old world cultural item. I doubt very few have ever even heard of the instrument, but it’s a great way for traditional Irish culture to be spread beyond its tiny land boundary.