Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Hiding Valuables on St. Patrick’s Day

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“On St. Patrick’s Day, you hide all of your valuables. This is the day that the leprechauns come out and get revenge on people who have been bad for the previous year. It is kind of like Santa in the sense that you’re supposed to be good all year so that the leprechauns don’t have an incentive take your stuff.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

Leprechauns first emerged in Irish folklore in medieval times and have since been a staple of Irish culture everywhere. Leprechauns are said to enjoy playing practical jokes, such as stealing valuable items. Sometimes, leprechauns are believed to be fairies with evil spirits. However, this creature has developed into one that will steal your valuables on Saint Patrick’s Day only if you were bad the previous year. So, it is an incentive for younger children to be good year round so that their valuables aren’t “stolen”. My informant remembers that when she was younger, sometimes her parents would take something her or her siblings really loved if they were bad in the days leading up to Saint Patrick’s Day, only to blame it on the leprechauns. As she grew older, even though she stopped believing in leprechauns, her and her family would still hide some of their valuables just because it had become tradition.

Claddagh Ring

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“A Claddagh is a traditional Irish ring. It has two hands holding a heart with a crown on top of the heart. The hands represent friendship, the heart represents love, the crown represents loyalty. People wear it on their finger and if you are in a relationship, you wear it so that the point of the heart faces towards your wrist. This points towards the main vein in your arm that leads to your heart. If you are single, you wear the ring the opposite way. It is bad luck if you buy it for yourself and it’s supposed to be given to you by someone who will love you forever, so a very serious significant other or a parent.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant was given a Claddagh ring by her grandma when she turned 13 years old. Her older sister and younger sister were both given Claddagh rings when they turned 13 as well. It is a family tradition that has been passed down for ages. When a daughter turns 13 years old, the grandmother will give her a ring. It represents everlasting love and is supposed to remind the daughter that no matter what trials and tribulations love puts her through as she grows up, she will always have the love of her family.

Irish Travelers Blessing

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“There is an Irish blessing that is traditional to have somewhere inside of every Irish household. It says ‘May the road rise to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm on your face, and rain fall soft on your fields, and until we meet again, may Gold hold you in the palm of his hand’.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

This is a very popular traditional Irish blessing. Irish families keep this in their household so that it brings any visitors good will on their travels. Even when they leave their house themselves and go somewhere, it brings them good luck on their travels and brings them wishes for a safe return. The blessing is usually placed next to a door in the house, usually the front door, as this is where people leave the house through.

Straight Arms During Irish Dancing

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/10/13
Primary Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“Irish dancing dates back to before the English occupied Ireland. The English supposedly wouldn’t allow the Irish people to express their culture. So, they weren’t allowed to perform their Irish dance anymore. As a result, the Irish people would dance their traditional steps but leave their whole upper body and arms straight so that they could dance in their houses and the English soldiers walking by couldn’t tell that they were dancing. Sometimes, they would dance behind bars as well and nobody could tell because their upper body was so straight it looked like they were just walking around. So even now, in Irish dancing, when you compete, you get scored on how straight your upper body is. Feis means festival in traditional Gaelic. This is where Irish step dancing is usually performed nowadays.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant learned traditional Irish dance when she was 7 years old and competed and performed until she was 16 years old. She was always judged on how straight she could keep her upper body and arms and never really understood why until her mother explained it to her. From then on, she remembers that it was easier to keep them straight because in her mind, she imagined that she was in the days in which she could be prosecuted for moving her upper body too much. This is a great example of a circumstance in which the explanation behind a tradition gives it much more context and allows the person observing the tradition to be more personally invested.

Mikulás Day

Nationality: Hungarian
Age: 24
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/5/13
Primary Language: Hungarian
Language: English

MATERIAL

 

“In Hungary, we kind of have the presents or coal tradition you have in America, but it’s different. It actually is on December 6th, not December 25th, like in America. I mean, Christmas is on December 25th, but Santa Claus comes on December 6th. Our Santa Claus doesn’t live in the, uh, what is that place called – oh, the North Pole. He lives in Heaven. His name in Hungarian is Mikulás. Instead of the little people dwarfs, or I mean elves, he has Krampusz, who help the Santa Claus but only for the naughty children. To prepare for this night, children must clean their boots and place them into the window for Mikulás to see. If you are good, Mikulás will fill your boot with sweets and chocolates that night but if you are bad, the Krampusz will put a Virgács in your boot. A Virgács is a stick type thing made with a plant that is kind of hard and kind of soft, kind of like twigs but softer. I am not sure how to explain it in English. You can look it up online, there should be pictures. Anyways, there are strands of the plant held together with a handle and it is given to the bad children in their boots so their parents can spank them.”

 

ANALYSIS

 

My informant was born and raised in Hungary, only leaving for America when she was 17 years old. She has celebrated Mikulás Day, or Saint Nicholas Day, ever since she can remember. Her mom bought her a special pair of boots for the holiday when she was younger and she has used that pair even when it was clearly too small to fit her. She never actually wore these boots, considering it a special part of the holiday.

The reason that Hungarians celebrate this holiday on December 6th dates back to around 300 AD, when Saint Nicholas, a historic saint and Greek Bishop, lived in Turkey. He was known to secretly do good deeds, such as putting coins in the shoes of the people who left them out for him to wear. Saint Nicholas is said to have died on December 6th at an old age for the time, somewhere in his 70s. So, Mikulás Day is celebrated on the day of his death to remember and pay tribute to this kind-hearted saint. The Krampusz likely evolved just to give children an incentive to be good all year round so that they get sweets instead of a Virgács.

 

For another version of this tradition, view page 177 of this book:

Mocnay, Eugénia. Czech Phrasebook. Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 2001. Print.