Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Cigars on Graduation Day

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mexico City
Performance Date: 04/19/17
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Informant: Sebastian Williamson. 21 years old. Born in Mexico. My brother and USC student.

Informant:“Sophomore year of high school I went to a boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire. One of the traditions at St. Paul’s is that when the seniors graduate they smoke cigars on the lawn after receiving their diplomas. I had never seen this ritual before. I remember seeing the seniors smoking cigars with their fellow graduates, taking pictures with their parents, and showing off their diplomas. A friend explained to me that the father buys the cigar—usually an expensive one—to signify a rite of passage into adulthood. Some of the teachers are not too happy with this tradition as smoking is prohibited on campus, yet this tradition is an exception. It has been such an old tradition in boarding schools that the administration accepts it. It is really a symbol of maturity and the next chapter in one’s life. I left boarding school after that year and finished high school in Mexico. When I graduated, I actually decided to smoke a cigar. Even though I was only at St. Paul’s school for one year, I wanted to bring a part of that experience to my graduation in Mexico. HA! What’s funny is that the school’s principal told me I couldn’t smoke so I just took several pictures.”

Thoughts: The cigar ritual at boarding schools is very traditional and old. Just like my brother, I went to boarding school but actually graduated from there. After receiving my diploma, I went to the lawn and smoked a cigar with my friends. This tradition of smoking cigars after graduation is a good example of a ritual done in order to enter into adulthood. Interestingly, my father didn’t buy me the cigar as I never told him about the tradition so I had to find an extra one from a friend. My brothers experience is really unique. His decision to smoke the cigar in Mexico was more about wanting to keep in touch with his boarding school tradition and I thought it was a great idea. In Mexico, since this tradition does not exist it makes sense that the administration got mad.

Deerfield Evensong

Nationality: Senegal
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Brussels
Performance Date: 04/23/17
Primary Language: French
Language: English

Informant: Mamy Mbaye. 20 years old. From Senegal, attended Deerfield Academy (a boarding school in MA) with me. Student at Pomona College.

Collector: “What was your favorite part about Deerfield?”

Informant: “One of my favorite experiences at Deerfield was singing the Deerfield Evensong.

Collector: “Could you explain the experience as if I didn’t attend the school with you?”

 

Informant: “Of course! Okay, so at Deerfield, all the students and faculty gather for a sit down formal dinner every Sunday. We have assigned tables and the table is made up of ten students from every grade as well as one faculty member. Once dinner is over, the dean announces on the microphone to “please rise for the evensong.” A faculty member plays the piano and we all stand-up and sing in unison. The second to last verse is reserved for seniors and all the other students join in for the last verse. Once the song is over we all clap and leave the dinning hall. This song is very meaningful to me because it was part of my life for three formative years. When I was a senior during my last Sunday dinner, I cried while singing the senior verse. This song is so much more than a shared experience. It truly emphasizes my love for Deerfield. I really have such fond memories from there and I will forever cherish that bond.”

Song:

Words by Richard Warren Hatch
Music by Ralph Herrick Oatley

“Far beyond each western mountain
Gleam the fires of dying day;
Softly from each hidden fountain
Flows the river on its way.

All the valley lies in splendor
Hushed before the coming night;
From a hundred ancient windows
Flashes back the sunset’s light.

Now the meadow-wind’s soft whisper
Stirs the old elm’s silhouette,
Bends each leafy tower above us,
Caught in evening’s dusky net.

Now the day is done with striving;
Let the heart hold memory bright;
Soon these halls and fields we’re leaving—
Raise we song before the night.

Senior Verse:

Let the circling night be softened
By the ember’s last faint glow;
In the firelight we will gather
Bound by song before we go.

Deerfield Days are days of glory,
Memory lives in every one;
Let no other name be spoken
Till the even-hour is done.”

Thoughts: Mamy and I graduated from Deerfield at the same time. As she mentions, this song is very meaningful in our lives. I didn’t cry while singing the senior verse, but it was a very emotional experience to sing it one last time. The song is beautifully written and encompasses the shared spirit of pride.

Biz- Fraternity Folklore

Nationality: U.S.A.
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago
Performance Date: 04/25/17
Primary Language: English

Informant: Jimmy Lonergan. 21 years old. From Chicago. Student at USC and member of a fraternity.

Informant:  “When I pledged a fraternity, we were told by the older members in the house we weren’t allowed to say the number ‘5.’  Instead of saying the number ‘5’ we had to say ‘Biz.’ For example: “It’s Biz o’clock, I have Biz siblings, etc. The origins of Biz is actually a very funny story. There is a popular drinking game called beer die. The game involves four people standing on opposite sides of the table. There are two beer cups at each corner and a player throws up a die in the air, attempting to hit the opponents side of the table. The die is supposed to bounce off and the opponent has to catch it. If the die does not leave the table, the die lands on a number. If it lands on 5 then the team who threw the die has to drink because in the game, the number 5 is forbidden so.

Collector: “So why BIZ?”

Informant: “So this alumnus from the fraternity whom I never met decided that because the number 5 is forbidden in the game, he would say ‘BIZ’ instead. I don’t remember why he chose BIZ specifically. Since then, it has become a part of my fraternity culture. In the fraternity, BIZ has become part of the everyday vocabulary. When someone forgets the rule, for example, people humorously scream BIZ at them!

Thoughts: This fraternity lore is very interesting. It is fairly recent and it is crazy that one individual literally created the custom of saying BIZ instead of 5. Since pledges follow most orders, it comes as no surprise that Biz would quickly replace 5 in their vocabulary.

Fraternity Song

Nationality: USA
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago
Performance Date: 04/25/17
Primary Language: English

Informant: Jimmy Lonergan. 21 years old. From Chicago. Student at USC and member of a fraternity.

“When I joined a fraternity this song really spoke to the values I hope to live and abide by. When I came to USC, I really wanted to join a fraternity due to the powerful experience of brotherhood. I come from a big family—five siblings—and I really wanted to have brothers throughout my college career. We sing this song after Monday Dinner and during chapter, all the brothers stand in a circle, lock their arms together, and sing in unison while moving from side to side:

Our strong band can ne’er be broken

Formed in ole Phi Psi

Far surpassing wealth unspoken

Sealed by friendship’s tie

Chorus:

Amici, usque ad aras

(“Friendship, ongoing until death”)

Deep graven on each heart

Shall be found unwav’ring true

When we from life shall part

 

College life at best is passing

Gliding swiftly by

Let us pledge in word and action

Love for old Phi Psi”

 

Thoughts: The lyrics really emphasize the importance of friendship, pledging, brotherhood, and a sacred bond. Truly, a fraternity tries to emulate these values and as Jimmy said it is the brotherhood that drew him to the fraternity. This fraternity song reminds me of the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence, it says: “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Fraternities are very old American organizations whose founders were inspired by the same values this country was founded upon. Truly, the song encapsulates a similar sentiment that is portrayed in the Declaration of Independence.

Paying for Pearls Superstition

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Stay-at-Home Mother
Residence: Yonkers, New york
Performance Date: March 14, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: The informant is Janet, a fifty-six-year-old woman from Yonkers, New York. She has lived in the Bronx and Westchester County, New York throughout her entire life. She is of Italian descent, is married, and has two children.

Context of the Performance: We sat next to each other on a couch in the living room of her house in Yonkers, New York over my spring break from college.

Original Script:

Informant: I learned that you cannot give pearls as a gift, not even anything that contains a pearl. Pearls represent tears, meaning sadness, so if you give someone something with pearls, they must give you money in compensation, even if it as little as a penny. Then, it’s like they purchased the pearls from you and did not receive them as a gift. My mother taught me this at home when I was a teenager when she gave me a piece of jewelry with pearls. She asked me for a penny.

Interviewer: Why is this piece of folklore important to you?

Informant: This piece of folklore is important to me because I don’t want tears brought into my life because I associate crying with something bad happening in my life. I also don’t want this to happen to others. I am very superstitious, so I feel better and safer following this tradition, even though none of my friends had heard of this.


Personal Thoughts: I think that this piece is interesting because I had never heard of something like this. Providing compensation for a gift is unusual, and I have never participated in anything like that. I also like this tradition because while it requires the receiver to provide money, it promotes the selflessness of the giver. The receiver must only provide a single penny, and the giver is not only giving a gift but also looking out for the the luck of the receiver.