Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Paschal Greeting – Greek Orthodox

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Dana Point, California
Performance Date: 4/10/17
Primary Language: English

“Because I’m Greek Orthodox, we have a service the night before Easter. What we do is, the priest turns off all the lights in the church and then we have candles. And we say ‘Christ has risen and truly he has risen’ in like eight different languages. ‘Khristos Anesti. Alithos Anesti. Christ has risen. Truly he has risen.’* and all these different forms of languages for about an hour and a half. It’s just a symbolized of I think inclusivity. We just wear our church clothes. Like my mom always says, ‘Dress as though you’re going to God’s house.’ Everyone is in more ‘happier’ colors since it’s Easter”

My informant is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church. She is deeply connected to her church and still practices her religion faithfully. I thought it was interesting to hear how her family celebrates Easter because I personally am Presbyterian, which is a branch of Christianity. We only celebrate Palm Sunday and Good Friday prior to Easter. I have never heard of a celebration being held the night before Easter. This service is referred to as the Paschal Greeting in Greek Orthodox custom. I really liked the idea of chanting “Christ has risen and truly he has risen” in multiple languages as a representation of inclusivity. However, I will admit having to do that for an hour and half seems extremely tedious. My informant on the other hand seemed enthusiastic about the ritual, proving her patience and loyalty to God.

 

Jewish Funeral

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Boca Raton, Florida
Performance Date: 4/20/17
Primary Language: English

My informant is African-American and is from Boca Raton, Florida. Her family practices Judaism, so she explained to me a part of their funeral ritual:

“We do this thing called Shiva. Basically it’s like you sit in your house and people bring you food. It happens for seven days, so it’s like a week of mourning. People come by whenever and they bring all sorts of food as a way to say sorry. It includes friends and family. It’s like, if you’re Jewish you just know that they’re going to have a Shiva, so you should stop by and bring them food. Usually there’s a lot of people there because once someone passes away usually the mourning house will get a lot of visitors. It’s kind of like a.. not like a social like you go there to socialize. But you go there and you’re eating a little and chatting. You could stop by and there’s no one there.”

As we’ve learned in class, death is a rite of passage. It is a transitional process where the deceased moves from the living world to the world of the dead. According to my informant it sounded like shivas are not entirely somber and grim, but have some light-heartedness to it as well. From other funeral rituals I’ve heard of, it seems like the gathering of people is the most shared attribute regardless of whether or not it is to mourn together or reminisce and celebrate the life of the deceased.

Yellow String

Nationality: USA
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 5th, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“The informant wears a yellow string tied around her wrist. It was given by her mom for luck.”

After thoughts: The strings are called blessing cords and used in Buddhism practice. In the traditional practice, the Lama ties a knot in the cord and blows a mantra into it which makes a blessing. This allows you to take your teacher with you wherever you go. This is similar to many other religious traditions where the teacher is associated with spiritual blessings. They are meant to touch your body and purify any negative mantras.

Baby Surrounded by Symbolic Items

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“There’s a tradition in China for a baby’s first birthday. The baby is surrounded by items such as a stethoscope, a spatula, a book, money, a tape measure, etc…” The baby is then encouraged to choose one of the items. Whatever item the child picks up would symbolize his/her future. So if the child chooses a spatula, then it means that he/she will be a chef.”

The informant was born in Taipei, and grew up in Shanghai.

After thoughts: Many other cultures have similar traditions. Armenian parents celebrate this ceremony called Agra Hadig. Similarly, Dol is a Korean tradition that celebrate the first birthday of a baby and blesses the child with a prosperous future. In the past, death rates for children were high, so this was an important milestone for the whole family and wishes a long life and fortune for the baby.

A Life Lesson

Nationality: Singapore
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 5th, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Singaporean, Chinese

“Okay so I remember when we played volleyball back in high school and the other team served into the net we were always told “to not celebrate the other teams failures” because that shows our character.” Like celebrating over something they messed up isn’t something we should do…we should celebrate something that we did well and worked for.”

After thoughts: It’s very easy to get caught up with winning but it’s important to not forget values. This is similar to many motifs on “character” which includes the many qualities and characteristics of a person. Character is much more than just reputation, but instead is what we want others to see.