Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

“Two bears in a shower…”

Nationality: African-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 30, 2014
Primary Language: English

The Joke:

Two bears are taking a shower. One of the bears asks the other, “Hey do you have any soap?” The other replies, “No soap…radio.”

Analysis:

“The joke is,” the informant said, “that it’s not really a joke. It doesn’t make any sense. But if you’re in a group of people and you and a few buddies are in on the joke together, one of you says the joke and everyone else just needs to laugh as if it’s the funniest thing ever. No one else is going to get it. They’re going to be really confused and then from there…it just gets funnier. It’s beautiful.”

Collector: Where did you learn it?

Informant: On a retreat I went on last year, during the drive up, two of the guys [who were older members] in my car did it to us. I had heard similar jokes before, so I picked up on it and started laughing, too. But the two other girls that were in the car had no idea and got really pissed. And even after we explained it to them, that it’s not supposed to make any sense, they didn’t find it funny at all.

 

I think this “joke,” or rather meta-joke (in which the joke aren’t the words but rather the situation of performance that becomes the joke) beautifully exemplifies the use of prank in liminal space. This retreat that the informant attended, he later explained, was a new members retreat to get the new members situated in the group. Ironically, while the intention of the retreat is to integrate additional people into community, the older members in fact alienated some of them. The informant, however, having figured out the joke earned a kind of place among the “big boys.” When asked if the joke was enacted intentionally as a bonding/alienating experience, the informant clarified that it probably wasn’t. Rather it may have just been an irresponsible prank in which the potential consequences hadn’t been fully recognized prior to enacting it on that nature of a retreat. Nevertheless, the experience illustrates a tension that lies between old members and the new: those who are in on the joke and those who are not. And if you happen to be new and yet somehow in on the joke, then you have only affirmed that you belonged in the group all along, even prior to having joined.

This type of prank emphasizes the binaries that establish identity: the “us” and “them” distinction, the “us” presumably being the originals.

The Quest for a Left-Hand Smoke Shifter: A Boyscout’s Mission

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: Government Contractor
Residence: Vienna, Virginia
Performance Date: 3/18/2014
Primary Language: English

My father grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, on the St. John’s River. He was born into a large, traditional Southern family, and raised with a rough-and-rally mindset.

Informant :

“When I was a little kid, from when I was maybe 7 to 11, every summer I went on camping trips with my boyscout troop. Now these trips weren’t just my troop – all the troops in my school would go to the same place up in the Carolina mountains for a week or two. We did a lot of fishing, hiking, boating – that sort of thing. So every evening around dusk, the boys in the older troops would send us younger ones off in search of a ‘left-hand smoke shifter’ that would theoretically shift all the smoke to the left side of the fire pit. Supposedly it was this wooden wing-like contraption – it didn’t really make any sense at the time that something like that would just be laying somewhere out in the woods but they described it to us in great detail and every night we would trek through the woods in search of the thing and every night when we came back without it, we would all sit around the fire pit roasting dogs and such and whenever smoke would blow into an older boys face on the ‘right side’ of the fire circle they would whoop on us. Which was stupid because, first of all, of course no such device exists and second of all there’s really no right or left side of a circular pit when you think about it but we were little kids! When all the older boys and leaders and everyone you look up to tells you to go bring back the thing or else you’re gonna go try and find the darned thing!

Another kind of tradition in the troop was the snipe – this flying bird-like creature thing that was really rare and if you captured would supposedly bring you good luck… Actually I don’t think they ever really told us what it would do, but they had us all believing that if we found the thing everything would be hunky-dory dandy. It wasn’t really like the left-hand smoke shifter though cause they wouldn’t send us off looking for it, we’d just kinda keep an eye out for one when we were out hiking or canoeing or whatever. I quit boy scouts not long after that – not because of that, but anyways… it wasn’t til a year or so later I found out the whole thing was a hoax. I really wasn’t that upset about it when I found out. I think we knew at the time they had us out on a wild goose chase, but no one would say it. Those were some of my best memories from being a kid, running around with my friends in those woods.”

Analysis:

Although this tradition of troops sending young boys off into the woods in search of legendary objects and creatures may simply seem like a cruel hazing-type prank, these missions seem to reinforce the values that are fundamental to the entire boy scout organization. The boy scout law, which my dad would often list off throughout my childhood, goes: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. As well as fortifying those values in demanding their success, respect for those in charge, woodsmanship and a sense of adventure seemed to come out of the nightly concentrated search for the invented object.

I thought the difference in approach between the left-hand smoke shifter and the snipe was interesting. The search for the left-hand smoke shifter seems as though it was an impossible mission given to the young boys that was designed to foster bonding between them, much as college fraternities’ hazing activities are meant to do with the pledges. The legendary snipe, however, seemed more like a symbol of hope that drove the boys to continue pushing forward through their outdoor activities despite any fatigue or despair.

The entire trip served as a rite of passage; my dad described a vast separation between the boys in the older troops and the younger boys who were tricked and tasked with fantastical missions. Though he quit the scouts before receiving whatever achievement allowed one to be considered a ‘true’ enough scout to be ‘in’ on the secret of the snipe and the left-hand smoke shifter, he seemed to value the time spent with his friends searching for the legendary snipe and left-hand smoke shifter over the actual reality of the things. Had he stuck around just a little longer, he would have soon learned the secret of the left-hand smoke shifter and become a full-fledged member of the troops in the eyes of the older boys. Or who knows, maybe he would’ve found that snipe.

“So yeah, you could say drama kids are pretty superstitious.”

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Vienna, Virginia
Performance Date: 3/20/2014
Primary Language: English

Erin, my little sister, is a senior at James Madison High School where she has participated in the drama department since her freshman year. Along with the universal ‘Macbeth’ superstitions of the general theater world, her high school’s department has its own set of practices and superstitions surrounding shows and opening night in particular. In preparing for their upcoming spring musical, she shared with me many of the rituals that are an inherent part of Madison’s drama department.

 

Informant:

” Well, first of all, there’s no bows before opening night. Like you know at the end of the show people bow in a specific order? You can’t practice that order until the night before ‘cause until then we’re ‘not ready’. But that’s like an everywhere theatre thing – not just Madison. But stuff that’s MadDrama specific? Before every show we have this thing called ‘circle’. We hold pinkies and talk about our feelings. No, no, seriously, we sit in a circle and link pinkies and everyone goes around and shares their memories about preparing for the show and all the time spent together and shit. It’s a lot of telling people they’re the funniest person they’ve ever met, which is cool I guess. After that we pick someone to tell the legend of the old man, which is kind of strange and I can never remember it right, which is why I’m never the one to tell it. After that we pray to St. Genesis, who’s the patron saint of theater. He’s on this little gray pendant that someone always loses and then someone always has to find before showtime. The chanted/shouted phrase is “St. Genesis pray for us, one, two, three FUCKKKK.” It’s sort of a contest who can hold ‘fuck’ out the longest. It’s really nothing to do with St. Genesis, it’s just so if we mess up we don’t curse on stage. Then later during “break a leg” circle which is the lamer, Henderson (drama teacher) sponsored circle we cross our hands right over left and hold hands and send a squeeze pulse through the entire cast for bonding and unity and all those happy things so yeah, you could say drama kids are pretty superstitious.”

 

Analysis:

I have never participated in a theatrical production, so I can only imagine the buildup and stress that surrounds opening night. I imagine it’s similar to taking finals in college – a whole semester’s worth of preparation for an hour or two where you have to prove that you can do it, or where you fail. Many of the rituals my sister described seem to serve as both a comfortable distraction from the inevitable nervousness and as a manner of building up good vibes between the cast members right before the show. The pinky-circle where everyone shares good memories from all the rehearsals serves as a way to shake nerves by laughing at funny memories, but more importantly the multitude of stories also serve as a reminder that they did rehearse every day for the past couple of months, that they are prepared. The losing and finding of the St. Genesis pendant similarly serves as a distraction: if the cast is too busy hastily searching for the pendant before the curtain rises, they won’t be sitting around worrying about forgetting lines or about missing dance steps. The cursing-contest is probably extremely cathartic for whatever pent-up nerves are still present, and following that with the final hand-squeeze circle replaces those nerves with more happy feelings and excitement. 

The Old Man and the Children who Flew

Nationality: South African
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Vienna, Virginia
Performance Date: 3/20/2014
Primary Language: English
Language: Afrikkans

Shannon is a senior at James Madison High School, a friend of my little sister’s, and also has participated in the drama department there since freshman year. She was able to relay to me the legend of the Old Man, which my sister described as an inherent part to the pre-show rituals.

 

Informant:

A long long time ago there was a little fishing village by the sea. It was a beautiful little village. They didn’t have very many belongings, but they had loving families and food to eat and that was enough. While the Mothers and Fathers worked on their boats and in the fields and around their little homes, all the children went to school. All the children went to see the wisest old man of the village. The children loved the Old Man. He taught them everything. They learned about the bugs and the birds and the sun and the moon and stars, the trees and the rain and the sea. He taught them how to make a fire and tie their knots and how to fish and he taught them how to love. He taught them about how to love and respect each other, and he taught them how to respect themselves. And all the children loved and respected and trusted the old man. One day, the wise old man gathered the children very early in the morning, and they set out into the forest. They hiked for miles. Finally, just before sunrise, they reached the high cliffs that overlooked the little village and the very big ocean. “Come closer” the old man said, as he stood at the edge of the cliff. “We’re scared” the children said. The Old Man insisted “Come here! Come closer, look out over the edge!” The children shuffled closer to the edge and peered down the cliff. Their fishing village looked so small from up there, and the ocean looked so big, crashing against the giant cliffs with each wave. Eyes wide, the children held each other, scared. “Alright” the old man said. “Now jump.” The children said “What? what do you mean, jump! We CAN’T jump, we’ll die!!!” The old man slowly shook his head. “No” he said. “If you jump…you will fly.” The children looked at each other, trembling, holding each other. “Trust me.” The old man said. And since the children loved him, they trusted him. So they jumped…and they flew. —Fly tonight

 

Analysis:

While this story is only a fragment, it serves an important part of the Madison Drama department’s overall pre-show ritual. Shannon made no claim to any explicit symbolism in the story, but the analogies are apparent. The Old Man represents the department’s drama teacher Mr. Henderson who is, in fact, an old man who has taught at the school for years. Jumping off the cliff represents the major transition from rehearsal to the first performance: while the drama teacher has taught them everything he knows and has done his best to prepare them for the performance, once the curtain rolls back on opening night the kids have to trust each other and ‘jump’ free from his guidance. The story is told before opening night in order to quell pre-show jitters by inspiring confidence in each other and all the hard work that they have put into the performance.

After relaying the legend, Shannon told me a little about its evolution within the drama department, which was perhaps even more folkloric than the story itself. She said, “It’s supposed to be orally passed down, but in the four years that I’ve been here it kept changing, getting worse. We only tell it twice a year and not all of the kids participate every time. So I wrote it down. So that it’d be told the right way.”

While the original intent of the story was to pass this legend down through oral tradition in order to create a sense of unity within the drama department by only sharing it with those involved, the modern mindset of one ‘true’ author creating one ‘true’ story had Shannon believing that the inevitable variations that arose from the oral passage were a ‘false’ version. I thought it was funny that she described these variations of the ‘true’ story as making it “worse” and that putting the story down on paper, to her, would solve the issue. This, in general, is reflective of the mindset of the modern era, one that has been changing as we move further and further into the Digital Age. 

King Cake

Nationality: USA
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 5/1/14
Primary Language: English

King Cake

            “We in Louisiana have a big celebration right before lent which we call Mardi Gras. A big part of the celebration is to eat king cake. The king cake is in the shape of a crown and it has a little plastic baby which essentially represents baby Jesus. The cool thing about it is that back in school, if you got the baby Jesus, you were celebrity for the day. In lunch everyone would hover around you. Back at home though, who ever got the baby Jesus, was in charge of bringing the next king cake, but it also mean that they would gain good luck… I don’t really know how this originated I just remember that we celebrated this all the time back at home. Everyone in the city celebrated this, in schools, at home, and even on the streets. I just know that I grew up with this tradition and that’s why I had king cake when Mardi Gras was happening back at home. I guess I’ve just grown accustomed to it.”

My informant was born and raised in Louisiana, New Orleans. She recently moved to Los Angeles, California to attend USC. Therefore, since tis move was fairly recent, she still shows signs of high attachment to her former place of birth. Most of the traditions she is accustomed to have not necessarily been directly taught, but more so been a part of her daily life that she considers them as something normal in an everyday situation. Furthermore, she does not really know about the exact root of the traditions she’s been brought up onto, all she knows is that they are there, they have been there for quite some time now and they will continue to be practiced.

I found this tradition quite interesting especially when analyzing it with my own recollections. This is because my culture also practices this tradition but during different times. In other words, the same king cake used in Louisiana, is also used in Mexico, except it’s called a rosca; in Louisiana, this is celebrated right before lent and in Mexico, this is celebrated in the first week of January. The concept is all the same; there are a couple of plastic babies put into the bread which represent baby Jesus, and in both traditions, whoever gets the piece of bread with the baby Jesus is in charge of bringing then next bread to the gathering. Also, in both traditions, the person who gets the baby Jesus is then said to gain good luck. This similarity is interesting because it serves to explain how there is multiplicity for certain traditions who one may think are very original to one specific location when in actuality, many cultures practice the same thing but perhaps at different times as was in this case. Overall, knowing this can bring people of different backgrounds together. Personally speaking I now feel like I have more in common with my informant than I did before.