Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Washington’s Hill

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 3:33 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Birnkrant, 6th floor hallway.

Informant’s first encounter w/ folklore: Early childhood

When Folklore is Performed: National Holidays, such as July 4th

 

Transcript:

“In New Jersey, my town is Chatham. It doesn’t have a super long history, but it has a decent history. In our town, it’s split into a borough and a township. All through the borough there are little plaques around saying, “This person is here, this person is there.” Near my town is Springfield, and during the revolutionary war, there’s the battle of Springfield and there’s this one big hill where apparently George Washington stood and watched the battle of Springfield from the top of this hill. Now it’s weird because the hill’s a graveyard, but every year people do go their, look out over the field and think about what could have been. It’s weird, because the hill has a really good view of New York, one of the best. Now, every year people will go there and look on 9/11, and they’ll shoot the two beams of light that are supposed to be the towers and the hill takes on a new meaning.”

 

For my informant’s town, this hill serves as a way to reflect upon both a proud and a tragic part of their American heritage and history. It allows the young and the old to stand in the same spot as Washington and see how the America that he saw has formed over the years.

Kung Hei Fat Choy, “Fat Boy”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 24th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 24th, 5:20 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Early Childhood w/ Family

When Folklore is Performed: Every Chinese New Year

 

Transcript:

“So I’m third generation Chinese, and every Chinese New Year, it’s been a tradition in my family to say Kung Hei Fat Choy, which is the traditional Chinese New Year greeting, but we say Kung Hei Fat Choy Fat Boy! And this has been going on ever since my ancestors came over from America, and a large part of it goes down to how during Chinese New Year we eat a lot of food, and I think in China being on the bigger side, or fat, signifies wealth because you can afford to eat food and become fate. So, Kung Hei Fat Choy is our response to that, because we don’t want to become fat!”

 

This saying has been passed down throughout the informant’s family since immigrating to the United States, and provides a comedic variation upon the original New Year greeting. In creating such a variant, the informant’s family is able to bridge a gap between the two different cultures, such as the believed relationship between body size and wealth, and retain their own unique identity while doing so.

The Spanking Branch

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 20th
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 20th, 6:22 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Early childhood w/ Dad

When Folklore is Performed: At family gatherings.

 

Transcript:

“So when my dad was like 10 his mom used to keep a willow branch on top of their fridge that she used to spank him and his siblings. One morning when they came home from school, she was upset because it had been snapped in half. She asked each of the kids one at a time and no one admitted to it, so she grabbed another branch and spanked them all. Then when my grandpa got home from work, he noticed that the kids were all upset at the dinner table. He asked what the problem was. My grandma explained that one of them was lying about breaking her stick, and my grandpa laughed. “Oh, I broke that this morning when I decided to grab a bite of ice cream for breakfast”

 

The informant claims that this story is often brought out at family gatherings, and is embellished a little bit more with the various siblings’ own spins on the tale. Despite the individual flourishings, the moral remains the same: while people get older, such as the informant’s grandfather, it does not mean that the youth ever has to go away. It’s fitting, then, that the informant’s dad’s siblings all relay this story while enjoying themselves and having a good time with their family, remembering some of the “older days” while still maintaining their own youth.

“Margarita and Brigeta”

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 21st
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 21st, 4:50 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Very Early childhood, one of her earliest memories

When Folklore is Performed: At night with children or grandchildren.

 

Transcript:

My mom used to tell my this story about two princesses, Margarita and Brigeta, who were mermaids with human parents who lived in a castle with indoor moats. The mermaids grew up and fell in love with human princes who wanted them to be humans too, so they went to their aunt Yolanda and asked for legs, because she could grant them one wish. But Yolanda misheard them and granted them shake and bake chicken legs as their one wish instead. They cleared up the misunderstanding, but it was too late. When the mermaids told the princes, they were sad, but they got married anyways because the princes loved them for who they were. And they all ate lots of chicken legs at their huge double wedding and lived happily ever after in the castle with indoor moats!

 

This is a story that the informant’s mother’s parents would tell her and her siblings when they were children, and have continued to pass it down with every new generation by simply switching out the names and the curse that they receive. In doing so, each generation continues to pass down their take on an important lesson in love, while doing so in a way that is easily understood by children.

The Orchestra Pit

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Student Housing
Performance Date: April 21st
Primary Language: English

Contextual Information

Time of Interview: April 21st, 4:53 p.m.

Location of Interview: Interior of Informant’s Room, Arts and Humanities

Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Freshman Year of Private High school

When Folklore is performed: Amongst freshman theater students at Informant’s High school

 

Transcript:

“In high school theatre, everyone was convinced that the seniors our freshman year had sex in the orchestra pit and on every couch, even though our crew of theatre nerds was intensely prude and had no evidence whatsoever. But whenever we went down to the pit we all freaked out about accidentally touching dried bodily fluids and catching an STD. In our defense, the pit was dark and dirty, so the idea that the upperclassmen had lots of sex down there isn’t entirely unproven. Or the kids who were two and three years older than us just liked to make up stories about people having sex in the pit and the green room!”

 

The transition between junior high and high school can often be a jarring one. Homework is increased, the race for college begins, and the dating scene finally becomes a reality. With so much change occurring, one often needs some event or story to celebrate the passing of such a liminal period. Fortunately for my informant, her theater crew was more than willing to oblige.