Author Archives: Matthieu Munoz

Posadas-religious tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/14/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My informant is a student who has very deep connections to her hispanic culture. She shared with me a tradition she celebrated in her childhood during family trips to Mexico. She also elaborated on the specific divergences and alterations to this ritual.

Informant:

“I would spend a lot of months of the year in Mexico. So I was present for religious celebrations and holidays.In Mexico I would celebrate posadas where the children would play St. Joseph and St. Mary and they would sing the posadas like they do here at our church. but the St. Mary would be on top of an actual donkey.”

She explained to me that in Mexico, the Posadas is a yearly tradition in which people dress up as Joseph and Mary from the biblical narrative and go to each house in the neighborhood. They would then ask if there is a spare room in which  they can stay, recreating the events before the biblical nativity story. This ritual would last 9 days, until Christmas eve. At the culmination of the 9 days, there would be a celebration at the end.

My Analysis:

What I got out of my informant’s story was that this tradition is extremely tied to religion. In re-enacting the biblical story, they are able to become closer to their beliefs as they play the part for over a week. In addition, it is also meant to foster until and togetherness as the folk ritual involves the entire community co-operating together in the reenactment. Finally, the ritual creates anticipation, as the entire community repeats it in the build up until Christmas eve.

“Lo Que mas se Presume, menos se tiene”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/14/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My informant is a student who has very deep connections to her hispanic culture. She shared with me a proverb passed down to her from her mother. She also explained the meaning of the phrase to me, and what it meant.

Informant: A saying my mom says often is ” Lo que mas se presume, menos se tiene” Which translates to something like… The more you show off the less you have. ” She says it when ppl want to show off that they have a better car or a bigger party but maybe in reality theses ppl that show off feel depress and lonely”

Analysis:

My analysis of this proverb is that it is a direct moral lesson, to warn children against greed. The object is to instruct them to be happy with what they have, and not to desire for more then they have. In addition, it is also a warning that merely owning more possessions will not lead to happiness, but is just a substitute for it. Without meaningful companionship, it is extremely possibly in my view that someone may end up feeling unfulfilled.

Quinceaneras

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/14/2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My informant is a student with deep connections to her hispanic culture. During her teenage years she would go on several family trips to Mexico in which she participated in or witnessed folklore.  She shared with her recollection of her Quinceneara, which is a Mexican right of passage celebrating a woman’s transition into Adulthood. She explained the traditions of the Quinceneara and what it meant to her:

Informant:

“in Hispanic culture it is supposed to symbolize the transition from girl to women and I disagreed with that. I believe that at 15 you are pretty much a child and I did not feel confortable throwing a party to kiss goodbye my childhood. But yeah a quinceanera in Hispanic culture is supposed to celebrate that a girl is becoming a grown up. That was something that overwhelmed me as a 14 year old.

I did celebrate that (The Quinceneara) in Mexico. I had a trio that sang the mananitas for me then we went to mass and had a celebration in a reception. We did have live music and I had the doll that quinceaneras get and I danced the vals with whom ever wanted to dance with me.”

My analysis:

The Quincenearas are a cultural initiation ritual intended to transition a person from a girl into a woman.  As my informant told me, it signals the end of childhood, which not all persons going through the ritual may want. From talking to my informant, I gathered that at that age, she was not exactly sure about the cultural implicationsHowever, the transition to adulthood is a part of life that is unavoidable, and in this ritual the woman’s entire family and friends celebrate that together to mark this distinction.

Christmas Tamales and Thanksgiving Beans-Mexican food traditions.

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/12/2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My Informant is a student who has ties to her hispanic heritage. She shared a piece of her cultural heritage with me, involving a traditional food related to her heritage that she and her family ate during the holidays.

Informant:

She described to me the family tradition of baking tamales on Christmas.

“Every year my family bakes tamales on Christmas. Its a special family recipe, only family and friends know it. The recipe was passed down from my Grandmother to the current generation. The recipe involves steaming the tamales with banana leaves.”

“She also described to me that the family has a tradition of making beans on Thanksgiving.
“My family makes beans on Thanksgiving, its a family recipe. It has been passed down from generation to generation, I think it started with my Grandmother as well. It started I think in the 80’s, and we have done it this way ever since. We make it with Chorizo, and the beans are specially made in a style called ‘frijoles de la joya.’ which means ‘beans right out of the pot’.”

My Analysis:

My initial thoughts are that these meals are a means by which my informant’s family infuses holidays with a direct tie in to their heritage. It may also serve as a means to foster unity, and forge closer social bonds with friends and family. The mentioning of a family recipe may potentially indicate possible variations in the recipe over time as it is passed down from generation to generation. I also believe that the annual nature of both recipes transforms the recipe from a simple addition into a yearly ritual which creates anticipation.

Easter Egg Hunt

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: Systems Analysts
Residence: Alhambra, California
Performance Date: 4/03/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My informant for this piece is my aunt, who performed the easter egg hunt when she came over for Easter. During my childhood, my family used to hold easter egg hunts, although we have since stopped the practice. This easter however, she made an attempt to resume this tradition. 

Informant/Description of event:

During my childood, my family would hide plastic easter eggs in the backyard and I would attempt to find them. However, as my sister and I grew up, we no longer practiced this tradition. I remember that usually my parents would place coins or candy in the eggs. Sometimes there were special eggs that would have larger amounts of money or maybe a few more candy.

This year, my Aunt decided to attempt to revive this tradition by staging an Easter Egg hunt for us. She hid some plastic eggs in our living room, and told us to attempt to look for them.  These eggs also had some coins in them, as well as small candies. When we had found the eggs, she hid them again, although this time it was easier for us to find them due to us knowing the hiding spaces. My aunt also attempted variation in this ritual by hiding items such as small boxes during the easter egg hunt which were filled similarly to the eggs.

My Analysis:

I believe that the context of this was an attempt to revive an old family tradition that my family no longer practiced now that we had grown out of it. My takeaway is that this easter egg hunt also attempted to evoke feelings of closeness and togetherness that evolved out of previous iterations of this familial tradition.As a childhood ritual it did bring back memories of my childhood, and I guess reminded me of this ritual that I no longer do, and probably will not repeat next year.