Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

High School Senior Class Tradition

Nationality: Mexican; Slovenian; American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 20, 2011
Primary Language: English

A classmate informed me of the following tradition at her high school: “It’s a tradition for the graduating senior class at my high school in Virginia to get a wall – every person gets to write on it, who is a part of the class. There are only about 70 seniors every year, and the wall in painted a background color for them. People usually put significant quotes, and it’s always done at the end of the year. Started in cafeteria, and has moved to halls and stairways … but always on the walls of the hall or stairway. People in school are very close – the school goes from 6th-12th grade with only 600 total students…it’s an alternative to others in the area. It also promotes the arts, and is, or feels much more relaxed. It makes sense that, uh, what would be considered defacement is encouraged. It’s a way of remembering the previous classes – it’s inspiring.”

I agree with the idea of this tradition being inspiring and performed as a way of remembering those who came before you. Likewise, it is a means of preserving where you have been for those writing on the wall. Borrowing Van Gennup’s idea of rituals and “liminal stages,” this fits within the notion of the liminality of ending high school and commencement. It is a beginning and an ending, the conclusion of childhood with the onset of being an adult and all that is encompassed with it. Very often this time of an individual’s life is celebrated, and this example provides one more of the many ways in which group identity plays a part of the process. As the informant mentioned, it is a small school, everyone knows each other, and the writing on the wall is not only tolerated, but encouraged by the school’s administration. This definitely showcases one of the defining qualities of folklore, that of letting people know to which group they belong. Those who write on the wall know they have been part of this school, they will leave a part of themselves with the school, and the younger students see these textual memories throughout the year as a reminder of who they are and who they will be upon their graduation.

Military Ritual – Blood Stripes

Nationality: American
Age: 29
Occupation: Treasury Dept., ex-military
Residence: Austin, Texas
Performance Date: April 2011
Primary Language: English

Military – Marine Corps – Promotion Ritual/Ceremony/Tradition

“In the Marines, blood stripes are red stripes you get when you are promoted to Corporal as an NCO. At the same time, when people congratulate you they shake your hand and hit your rank insignia, which can make you bleed because the back of the insignia hasn’t been put on yet… so it goes along with the blood stripes. And they say that the blood stripes are from the Mexican American war in memory of those lost in battle. I think they go together because, in a way, when they hit you, you’re feeling the pain and blood of the Marines that were lost in the Mexican American War… so it’s like a connection to them, to the past.”

I agree with the informant’s analysis of this ritual/tradition. It seems likely that in an organization so reliant on camaraderie, like the military, this connection to the past would be important. According to the informant, the Marines that fought in the Mexican American war were considered especially courageous. By associating themselves with these past Marines, the new Marines are allying themselves with ideals of courage, while paying a sort of homage to their history. Traditions such as this seem to be formative when it comes to identity, and the military places much importance on a sense of common identity among service members. In effect, this ceremony where they are hit on their insignia ties them to their fellow Marines that are being promoted at the same time, but also to the Marines of the past, creating a camaraderie and commonality that spans generations of Marines.

Hardcore folk dancing

Nationality: Italian,
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: White Planes NY
Performance Date: 20 April 2011
Primary Language: English

Unwritten rules to hardcore concerts

  1. Don’t wear the tshirt of the band you are seeing
  2. When a mosh pit is being started clear off as many people as possible
  3. When standing around a mosh pit keep your hands in front of your face
  4. When someone falls down in the pit pick them up as quickly as possible
  5. Purposely hitting someone is looked down upon but accidents happen.

Tristan likes these concerts because everyone knows these rules and looks out for each other. This makes the concert a place where Tristan feels very comfortable and connects him to the music. Tristan says he’s not scared of getting hit or trampled, getting hit comes with the territory and he trusts the crowd to protect him. Tristan will continue hardcore dancing and actively participating in that subculture.

Tristan’s unwritten rules are important to him because he is passing on the traditional dancing associated with the hardcore genre. This is a classic example of folk dancing and folk customs. This type of dancing is a communal experience in which everyone swings punches while looking out for each other. If you observe this type of dance, as an outsider it would look like everyone was drunk, and fighting. To an insider, the display is an amazing expression of the music. The dancing represents the rage that the music conveys.

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34th St. Los Angele CA

Rolling an East Coast blunt

Nationality: Irish, German
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: White Planes NY
Performance Date: 20 April 2011
Primary Language: English

Irish, Italian

English

18, student

White Planes, NY

20 April 2011

Rolling an East Coast Blunt

Step 1: throw what you got in any way towards the weed fund

Step 2: buy a Game cigar

Step 3: lick outside of cigar

Step 4: separate inner leaf from the outer leaf

Step 5: Split open the inner and gut the cigar

Step 6: Rip off the cancer strip (glue strip)

Step 7: insert weed and roll inner like you would a joint

Step 8: Lick the outer leaf and roll the inner into the outer along the vein of the leaf in an L shape

Step 9: Bite off the excess leaf

Step 10: Smoke in order: whoever rolled, whoever threw, highest rank, the wolves

Tristan learned to roll a cigar from his two friends Hiro and Schreck taught Tristan this process as part of an initiation into their friends group. In the process, Tristan said he broke four cigars his first time. Unlike the Midwest swisher style, this east coast method is strictly followed and held to the highest regard. Tristan smokes up to five blunts with his friends per day and he says it’s the time when he feels most relaxed and connected to his friends.

This style is unique to the east coast smoking culture. To both the Midwest and the East, “rolling a blunt” is the same but the way its done varies from culture to culture. Smoking has been part of folklore since it was created: the jargon, the traditions and the techniques that go into smoking have been passed down for years. Tristan describes rolling the blunt very passionately which testifies to his deep seeded attachment to smoking. The way he expresses his adoration makes smoking blunts essential to ones existence.  Examples of smoking blunts can be seen throughout pop culture and in literature as well. Characters like Cheech and Chong have been smoking blunts and uniting people for years.

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34th St. Los Angele CA

New Year’s Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 64
Occupation: Attorney at Law
Residence: Gilford, New Hampshire
Performance Date: April 23, 2011
Primary Language: English

“Pop-Pop whose uh yeah was Grandma J’s father when he was uh…uh I don’t know he was uh he was definitely a child uh his—his father had him jump, uh get up on a table and and jump at at midnight when the new century, you know the year 1900 happened. And so so when when the year 2000 happened you know we were in Santa Barbara and that’s where we jumped off the uh th-th-the water breaker there and that’s where Henry’s friend you know turned his ankle or whatever. [collector interjection: “Oh, yeah, I remember that”] Yeah bu-but it was it was like we were jumping into the new century uh like Pop-Pop had. He always would talk about that so—so that’s sort of like a family story.”

My informant tells this story every year on New Years Eve, December 31st, before the clock strikes midnight, chiming in the New Year. He tells this story both to remember the positive family experience in the year 2000 and also to remember his Grandfather fondly. When he presented the tradition to his family in 2000, he hoped that by practicing the tradition his family would feel connected to their past. He also sees the tradition as an expression of excitement for the New Year. He says that the family participates in the tradition at the turn of the century, rather than every New Year, because this is a heightened moment of excitement; the future and the positive changes it can bring feel larger in this moment than any other New Year. Younger members of his family, however, have expanded the tradition and now jump off of tables every New Year’s Eve, when they are all together.

I agree with my informant that the jumping off of a table at New Year expresses excitement for the year to come. I only add that it also reflects a future oriented perspective. The family’s intense excitement for the future, as symbolized by the jump, and their movement forward suggest a desire to move into the future because it will be better than the past. The tradition does also unify the family members, which might explain why the younger members who live far away from each other participate in the tradition every year.