Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Pig recipe

Nationality: Irish, German
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Evanston, IL
Performance Date: 25 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: French

German, Irish

French, English

19, student

Evanston, Il

25 April 2011

Roast pig recipe

Pig

Seasoning

Fire

Time

Beer

Every year at one Northwester tailgate, Zach’s Dad has a pig roast and it is an incredible experience. The recipe is a family treasure, and is passed down only in death. Zach likes the pig roasts because his family and friends unite around the table for s “drunken pre-game fiesta” and they gorge themselves on the pork. The recipe is simple and to the point and yet the taste is amazing. Zach tenderly describes the crunch of the skin and the succulent fat.

This recipe, while seriously lacking, is how Zach sees his pig roasts. The ingredients are simple but the tradition is sacred. Everyone gathers around, Zach’s dad is at his rightful place tending the barbeque, and they eagerly watch the pig turn on the spit. This is a folk recipe and a folk custom because it happens in many cultures before games or to celebrate special occasions. The recipe has been handed down and this joke recipe is the answer Zach’s family always gives when people ask for the secret. In other circles, the way the pig gets roasted varies but this recipe is a tradition that Zach’s family will not part with.

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34th St. Los Angele CA

Tombstone Chopsticks- Chinese Custom

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: 4/14/11
Primary Language: English

“In general, a Chinese custom.  When your eating out of a bowl and you want to stop eating.  You can’t leave your chopsticks in a bowl. Its rude and bad luck because it looks like a tombstone.  So you have to rest them on the edges of the top of the bowl or in the chopstick holder.”

The informant heard this when she was studying abroad in Beijing, China.  She was with her Chinese language partner.  The custom is commonly known and people are brought up know this.  She says that she only would follow the custom to be polite and make the people feel comfortable but did not believe it to be true in any way.

Chinese culture has a lot of customs and superstitions regarding death.  I would never think it to be superstitious to leave my chopsticks in a bowl, but many Chinese would see that as a bad practice. The concept of death transcends into a majority of Chinese folkloric practices.  I find this to be very interesting because I feel like eating and chopsticks has nothing to do with tombstones and death.  But, this is a superstition passed down from generation to generation and people do not want bad luck.

Russian Easter Food Way

Nationality: American; Russian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Clovis, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 24, 2011
Primary Language: English

I went to my grandfather’s house for an Easter celebration this year, and my cousin brought his girlfriend, whose parents are from Russia, to meet the family. She brought a desert bread loaf, topped with a drizzle of frosting and powdered sugar and garnished with two hard-boiled (non-colored) eggs, to give to my grandparents. I asked her more about the gift, and the following is her response: “It’s a Russian tradition to bake lots of kulich and on Easter, go and give them away to neighbors, friends, relatives, or exchange for theirs. My mom knows how to make it – I don’t…I don’t even know why the eggs are added to it…but yeah, she does this every year and made this one for me to bring here since I am meeting everyone…I guess it’s to make a good impression (laughs). But I guess it represents being just a good person during Easter and caring for your neighbors and friends…a way of keeping peace and good relations among the people around you.”

Her analyses of the tradition makes, and I would only expand on it to show why such a gift, presented in this way and at this time, would make people happy to receive it. Traditionally, Easter falls within the life cycle analysis of the cyclical calendar year. It is during the spring, a time of fertility and flowers blossoming. The entire season and Easter specifically symbolize reproduction and preparation for marriage and procreation. This can be seen with the fact that “Easter” is derived from “estrus,” or a female dog’s heat cycle. Moreover, “estrogen,” and the ancient Goddesses Esther and Astarte are highly connected with the underlying currents of this celebration. Thus, the kulich exchange with the all-important eggs is a symbolic way of ensuring that your friends and neighbors will be blessed with fertility and reproductive abundance. The eggs represent life, the woman’s ability to reproduce, and arguably the male’s testes (as there are two presented with the bread). In this way, one is helping and showing concern for the reproductive life of their friends, family, and neighbors.

folk yoga

Nationality: Black, Japanese, Mexican
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Houston, TX
Performance Date: 20 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

Ethnicity: ½ black, ¼ Mexican, ¼ Japanese

Spanish, English

18, Student

Houston, TX

20 April 28, 2011

Mai Ling performed her family yoga ritual. As she performed the maneuver she called out the positions in order: Downward Dog, to Forward Bend, Arch back, come up, hands on knees, extend back, rise up, hands on hip, Sun salutation 1, hands touch over your head, arms stretch straight up, elbows extend, exhale bring your hands to your heart, lean back, enter bridge pose, hold it for two breaths, kick up into head or hand stand, hold it for a minute, come down, child’s, cat/cow for six breathes, one vinyasa and you’re done.

This small yoga routine is how Mai Ling starts her day every morning. Mai Ling has two aunts who teach yoga one in San Diego and one in Austin and she learned this family progression from them. This sequence is fairly advanced and it took Mai Ling a long time to master it. She looks forward to family reunions when she practice the routine with the adults. She believes the tradition is the best way to start the morning rejuvenated and relaxed. She does the poses with care and grace, as she releases energy into each pose. Her focus is amazing and emphasizes her connection to her practice and the tradition.

This is an example of folk customs and a new category-folk yoga. These positions were strung together generations ago and have remained in Mai Ling’s family. The way they are passed down and the natural variations within the family make it a piece of their folklore. Mai Ling intends to continue the tradition and pass the yoga lesson on, to her kids.

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34th St. Los Angele CA

Tradition/Foodways – Thanksgiving Dressing

Nationality: American
Age: 74
Occupation: retired
Residence: Marble Falls, Texas
Performance Date: March 2011
Primary Language: English

Thanksgiving Tradition/Foodway – American

“I have a grinder that we use once a year to make the Thanksgiving dressing. I helped my father make it when I was little.. so, um, he left it to me when he died. When I started making it my sons would help me and we use the same grinder, and now my grandson helps his father and I do it. So when I go to the happy hunting grounds, I will leave the grinder to him. The traditional part is, uh, that the boys come to the house and stay over the night before Thanksgiving. We get up very early in the morning, before the sun, and grind the ingredients together. And we always do it outside because it’s messy, and we attach the grinder to a table. We mix the boiled onions and stale bread together with the grinder. And another thing is that the bread has to be really stale.. I start that part two days before we grind. I put the bread out two days before and flip them every once in awhile to get them really stale. The day before Thanksgiving I peel and boil the onions. Then the boys come, we get up early, and grind the bread and onions with seasonings, eggs, and butter.. and then stuff the turkey. There is no recipe.. we just do it by taste. You know when it’s done because of the taste. This has been going on for six generations at least.. it started in Manchester, England, where my father’s ancestors are from. I don’t think there is any real reason behind which child it gets passed to, but it usually alternates genders every generation…with the exception of this one. It’s like ‘the gender switch.’ My dad was the forth child of ten, so there’s no real reason it was him.. I guess he just showed interest.. like I did over my brother. The grinder is still in the same box from when it was bought in the early 1900’s. I think this is just a way to pass down our heritage… a way for the adults to teach their kids about our ancestry.”

I agree with the informant’s analysis for the reason behind this tradition. It teaches children how to cook and uphold ancestral traditions that have been passed down for generations. It contributes to their perceptions of cultural identity, but also teaches them about the turkey tradition that comes with Thanksgiving. The only inconsistency I noticed with this tradition is that it supposedly began in England, yet it is in celebration of a decidedly American holiday: Thanksgiving. I mentioned this to the informant, and she seemed a little confused, as though she had never thought about it. She came off as a little defensive, as though I was questioning the validity of her story. She responded that the dressing recipe has been passed down from her ancestors in England, but that it was adapted to the American Thanksgiving tradition. I’m not sure how valid this is, as I’m not quite sure how much turkey they eat in England. I highly doubt they ate much turkey in England six generations ago, at least not enough to justify a custom such as this one. Nonetheless, this tradition is obviously extremely important to the informant, as is the story that goes along with it. It provides a method of connecting generations of family members, which after all, is the point of traditions such as this.