Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Pittsburgh Cookie Tables

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 22, 2012
Primary Language: English

James Santelli

Los Angeles, California

April 22, 2012

Folklore Type: Tradition

Informant Bio: James Santelli is my boyfriend. He is a twenty year old Broadcast Journalism major with a minor in Sports Media at the University of Southern California. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; he has lived there his whole life and is very proud of it. James is Catholic and has three siblings. He likes cookies.

Context: James’ sister Katherine got married right before this Spring Semester of 2012 started. I attended the wedding with him, and before I went we talked about what would happen during the wedding as I had never been to a Catholic wedding before. During this he mentioned how excited he was for the cookie tables. I had never heard of cookie tables before especially not at a wedding as I am an avid cake fan, and that is all people eat for dessert at an average Texas wedding. We got into a heated debate about cookies versus cake, in which he tried to explain to me the merits and tradition of the cookie tables. Much later, I asked him to re-explain the cookie tables to me.

 

Item:

J: So if you’re a Pittsburgher that’s having a wedding or you’re having your wedding in Pittsburgh you still usually have a wedding cake, but it’s a small cake. It’s not a huge cake, and instead of everybody having cake. They would have tables of cookies all different kinds of cookies. Your basic chocolate chip or sugar cookies, and then you have other ones, you know, peanut butter blossoms or snickerdoodles or pizzelles. All sorts of different kinds of cookies. So much so that at Katherine’s wedding (sister) What did it end up being? Like…ten cookies per person? And there were so many left at the end.

A: Oh my god. Boxes and boxes. Um all right, who makes the cookies?

J: The cookies are made by the family of the bride usually, a lot of it is done by the mother of the bride which is why my mom was working like almost (laughs) tirelessly making cookies in the few weeks before the wedding. (Still laughing) And like baking them and freezing them like all day, and then doing it another day. But she also got help from, you know, family friends that baked cookies as well. And, you know, cousins, sisters of my mom, or sisters in-law that baked some cookies themselves and froze them. And then it all has to get transported to the, to the site of the wedding reception.

A: Who does the transporting?

J: Uh, it depends on who can take them, like I know in this case my mom stored a lot of the cookies as much as the freezer can hold. And then Mrs. Bacala, our family friend, she like people would bring her the cookies, and she’d freeze as much as possible. And then some of them they would just order, and they would be catered. But I gotta think a majority of them were homemade.

A: Um, ok, um so it’s mostly like mother of the bride or like family of the bride I guess who pays for all of that?

J: Well their paying for the whole wedding anyway so they probably save money baking their own cookies rather than buying them.

(Portion of interview cut out and placed into Informant’s Analysis)

A: So when, when do you get to eat the cookies?

J: Get to eat the cookies after dinner unless you sneak some cookies before. It depends on if the like, if they bring out the cookies like right after dinner and place ‘em out on the tables, or the cookies are already sitting there. And you kinda know you shouldn’t eat them until after, but there are so many cookies so you gotta at least have one or two before dinner just to make a dent in them.

A: Is there not a cookie baron that gets mad at you (James laughs) for eating cookies too soon?

J: Nobody’s really guarding the cookie table (Alex laughs) so seriously. Everybody knows that those cookies have gotta get eaten, so it’s kind of with a wink and a nod that you (begins winking on every word) shouldn’t eat them before dinner.

 

Informant Analysis:

A: So how does the cookie table make you feel?

J: I like cookies! (laugh) So the cookie tables are definitely a plus in my book, and I also think it’s good because if you have just one wedding cake, and it’s the kinda cake that uh some guests may not really like they don’t really have a choice. They’re not eating the cake, but in the case of the cookie table then there are dozens of different kinds of cookies, myriad cookies. Even if you don’t like peanut butter cookies or whatever you’re bound to find a cookie that you like, and you can eat those for your dessert instead. Plus it’s just a Pittsburgh tradition to have cookie tables at your wedding. It’s something cool to have. The best guess (to how it started) is that it came from European immigrants, you know, either German, Polish, um Slovak, Irish, somebody that people are guessing that’s what they did in weddings back in the homeland. If they like didn’t have real big cakes. It was just people who were coming to the wedding but bringing cookies instead.

A: Ok, so it just stayed through tradition supposedly?

J: Probably. That’s what they guess.

A: And why do you think it’s still a thing today? Just because it’s…easy and tradition and..?

J: Well it kinda makes sense for me. It’s like I said to have the cookies that you have the variety of things, and I dunno it’s just Pittsburgh can be a very regionalistic place that obviously we’re all more nationalized and we have like wedding magazines that everybody reads all across the country. And like things that are the same amongst all weddings, but then you have things that are unique to the area that you live in. And just ‘cause they kinda develop that way, and if I’m a person that grows up and sees at all the weddings I go to that there are cookie tables that’ll probably continue when I get married or Kara (sister) gets married or Andrew (brother) gets married. And just passes down along that way.

 

Analysis: I agree with James about why the cookie tables are important to him and how they probably came into being a tradition. What is interesting is the fact that the mother of the bride is the one that makes all or the majority of the cookies. It is the mother’s matronly duty to prepare an important and beloved food item for the last time that her child will be seen as a child and in her care. A wedding is usually where a girl transitions from her family to creating a family of her own. The importance of the cookie tables seems to be a last attempt for a mother and other adult female figures to do something while the daughter of the bride is still acting as a child. The other aspect that connects to this mother and child mindset about the cookies is that people steal them before dinner. The common occurrence that almost acts as a joke refers back to the practice of children stealing cookies before dinner when they are not supposed to. Whether or not there was the same association between matrons and cookies among older European generations is unknown, but that association is alive today in early childhood and again in a Pittsburgh wedding.

Alex Williams

Los Angeles, California

University of Southern California

ANTH 333m   Spring 2012

Bullying Technique – Indian Rug Burn

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/15/12
Primary Language: English

While discussing childhood bullies with a group of my friends, a unique method of torture was brought up. As a child growing up, my friend experienced several types of physical bullying. Perhaps the most miserable of all, he told us was known as the “Indian Rug Burn”.

In case the reader is not familiar with this term, an Indian Rug Burn is inflicted as follows:

A bully grabs an unsuspecting shrimpy nerd by the arm, despite his desperate attempts to escape.

Said bully places both of his hands adjacent to one another on said nerd’s forearm.

When said bully has finished milking the pre-pain period, he tightens his grip, and twists each hand in opposite directions.

This causes immediate and terrible pain for said nerd.

While simple, Indian Rug Burns are effective in inflicting a large amount of pain on the victim in a very short period of time. From a folkloric perspective, it is interesting to consider two things:

  1. Why is this bullying technique called an “Indian Rug Burn”?
  2.  What makes this such a compelling method of torture?

To address these questions one at I time, I began by asking my friend from whom I originally collected the information. He replied that he was not sure where he first heard the term “Indian Rug Burn”, or when it was first done to him. He simply “Just knew what it was”. In response to the second question, he said that, as a former highly-bullied individual, the main reason for the popularity of Indian Rug Burns is that there is no accountability to the bully. It leaves no lasting marks on the victim, yet causes a great amount of pain. In addition, my friend said that it was a very common method of bullying, and therefore was difficult to trace back to a single source.

My personal take on the first question is perhaps a stretch, but possible nonetheless. We must consider the physical state of one’s forearm post-Indian Rug Burn. It is usually pretty red. Although 10 year-olds may not have known it, perhaps their actions reflected subjects (racism) that far exceeded their ages.  As we discussed in class, this is also found with the game of Bloody Mary and little girls. They do not yet have knowledge of their menstrual cycle, yet play a game that is directly tied to it.

Taiwanese Superstition – Dreams About Losing Teeth

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 1/28/12

My friend friend from home is of Taiwanese descent. She is insanely OCD about her teeth, and brushes them 5 times a day. I too am pretty concerned with my oral health, and after being friends for a few months, she began to pick up on it.

One day while we were chatting, I mentioned that the night before I had had a terrible dream about losing my teeth- not just one or two, but all of my teeth in a car accident. She stared at me and said, “that’s funny, my Dad would be really upset if I told him my boyfriend had such a dream”. She went on to explain,  “My Dad always told me that having dreams about losing teeth is extremely bad luck. He advised me to avoid people who have these dreams.”

It is interesting to contemplate the origins of this Taiwanese superstition. My friend had not read it anywhere, and neither had her father. Therefore, both had been informed of the superstition through the oral performances of others. Perhaps this superstition was originally created to stifle vanity? Or maybe it is a result of a more complicated cultural matrix of superstitions that combine around the pair of teeth and dreams.

USC Fountain Run

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Agent
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/26/12
Primary Language: English

I was slightly disappointed to hear professor Thompson being today’s lecture with a discussion of this USC tradition, as I was hoping to surprise him with a little bit of USC folklore. I think my insight into the tradition is still valuable regardless, as there are permutations from what we discussed in class.

First, I would like to share my first experience with the fountain run. Two years ago, as I was finishing up my Freshman year at USC, I was sitting in Leavey studying for an exam. As evening fell, I had the sole goal of finishing my work so I could party later that evening. 7, 8, and 9 P.M. passed slowly, then before I knew it, I heard cheering out on the McCarthy quad side of the building. I blew it off initially, but after a few minutes of its persistence had to join the several other kids standing at the window observing. When I got to the window, I was met with quite the sight to behold. Literally hundreds of students, all wearing bating suits, bikinis, and water-wings etc. were splashing around in the shallow pool out front.

I later learned that every year, the seniors all get intoxicated and run through all of USC’s many fountains the last Thursday of classes. What’s interesting is that every group of friends has its own sub-tradition of this larger USC tradition. For example, my friend’s fraternity typically puts a foam pit in their courtyard that night, and throws all of their seniors in it during their party. Another friend of mine’s sorority has all of the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors push the senior girls in shopping carts from fountain to fountain. In this sense, the tradition has evolved in complexity from its inception as a direct result of more and more people becoming involved.

Professor Thompson mentioned the final portion of this analysis in class today. To elaborate, this college tradition in fact serves as a valuable case study on the clash between institutions and folklore. When USC knows that its seniors will be running through fountains regardless of the school’s disapproval, the question appears: do we fight them, or do we join them? USC has elected the more diplomatic option of the two, and has taken great strides to make this treasured night as safe as possible. The school has drained, cleaned, and refilled all of the major fountains on campus, making tonight safer for everyone. This is a tactic that might be applied to other similar dynamics. Take the debate over legalization of narcotics in America, for example. Instead of trying to seek out all users and dealers of drugs in the country, might it be more effective to simply subsidize their safe production and distribution? This is an argument for a different time, but we can at least use this instance of folklore’s clash with an institution as a reference point for ways to constructively approach similar problems.

 

Norwegian Nursery Rhyme

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: ~70
Occupation: Painting Teacher
Residence: Altadena, CA
Performance Date: April 8, 2012
Primary Language: English

The informant related an activity she did with her children.

When I was a real little girl, My grandpa used to put me on his foot like this and hold my hand. [She crosses her legs at the knee and holds her hands at about knee level as though holding the hands of a toddler.] He was Norwegian and he would sing: “Ah ria ria runken. Hasta netta blunken” [phonetic transcription] [She mimes bouncing the child every other syllable.] I have know idea what it means.

I find it interesting that the informant remembers and passes on this piece of folklore despite not knowing even what it means because, even though she does not speak Norwegian, she is sentimentally attached to the rhyme.