Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Holiday Tradition – Jewish

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Brooklyn, NY
Performance Date: March 21, 2008
Primary Language: English

Religious Holiday Tradition

The Passover Seder – Jewish

My dad’s Jewish family observed this tradition during the mid 1900s. The Passover Seder is a very ritualized Jewish dinner during the first two nights of Passover. The first born, oldest male child of the family, my dad’s older brother, would read holy scripts while the family ate at designated times. Certain things were to be eaten during certain parts of the script. For example, bitter herbs were eaten during the bitter parts of the story.

There were strict rules— nobody could be sitting straight at the table, all must be leaning. For the more religious families, this process could take many hours. The more casual families, like my dad’s, would take shortcuts and skip parts of the script.

My dad remembers this ritual as very tedious. He used to get bored and extremely hungry while listening to the script. However, he enjoyed the hunt for a hidden matzah (unleavened bread) after the meal, because the person who discovered it would get a prize.

Other foods eaten during the traditional Seder include: Charoset, a mixture of chopped nuts, wine, cinnamon, and apples, which symbolizes mortar the Jews used for bricks; Karpas, a vegetable dipped in salt water to symbolize tears; Maror, bitter vegetables eaten to symbolize the bitterness of slavery; and matzah, the traditional unleavened bread symbolizing the poor man’s food. The scripts are from the Haggadah, a book which tells of the Jewish exodus from Egypt.

While I can understand that this tradition can be extremely lengthy and dull, especially for children, it seems very integral to the Jewish religion. Because my family does not recognize any strict religious traditions like this, hearing about the Passover Seder was intriguing. I find it to be a creative and respectful way to commemorate the suffering of one’s ancestors.

Holiday Tradition/Ritual – Japan

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cypress, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

Holiday Traditions/ Rituals

Japanese New Year

On the Japanese New Year, Dana said all the food has some kind of meaning to it. Each year, her grandmother puts together big circle trays with seven different foods on it. The black beans are supposed to bring good health for the coming year. The black seaweed brings happiness. Bamboo brings luck. As for the rest, Dana cannot remember the purpose but does recall that the other foods are supposed to clean out the eater’s systm.

For breakfast, Dana and her family make a soup called Ozonu. First they make mochi by pounding sticky rice into mounds. The broth is made with vegetables. After adding the mochi to the broth, it melts. During the rest of the day, they eat sushi and Mochiko chicken, which is fried with a batter and soy sauce.

Mochi is a big deal on Japanese New Year, because it is only to be made on three days: the 28th, the 20th, or the 31st. Because the number 29 is unlucky in Japanese culture, the mochi cannot be made on that day. The first batch of mochi is offered to their ancestors. They make a large mochi and put two smaller ones on top. On top of this, they put tangerines, with one leaf. Dana is unsure why they do this. The whole thing is left for a couple of days and then thrown out. She enjoys this holiday very much and enjoys sharing the food with her friends who don’t celebrate the Japanese New Year.

This celebration is very detail and ritual-oriented. After doing further research into the significance of the stacked mochi and orange, it seems the purpose has been lost over the years and is now done solely out of tradition. However, many of the other rituals and traditions have very distinct functions.

I like how food is used to bring people together, symbolize a good, healthy life and to make offerings to ancestors. This holiday seems very family-oriented.

Holiday Tradition – China

Nationality: Chinese-American, Mexican-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Holiday Traditions

Chinese New Year/Traditions, Red Envelopes

Marissa described the Chinese New Year as a very family-oriented holiday, celebrating the beginning of a new year. Every year, a close friend or relative of hers has a party consisting of a big meal and a variety of little traditions.

The biggest tradition is when the older generation gives the younger generation red envelopes with money inside. Marissa said the amount depends on the person giving it and his or her relation to the recipients. The closer you are to a person, the more money will be inside the envelope. She has seen a range of everything from one dollar to $20. The reason behind this tradition is simply to kickoff a person’s good fortune for the upcoming year, she said.

In order to receive a red envelope, you must say (in Cantonese) “Kung hei fat choi,” which loosely translates to “Congratulations and be prosperous” in English.

Red is an important color on this holiday. People, decorations, and the envelopes are all adorned with red, as it is the color of good fortune and happiness

The meal consists of the typical traditional Chinese dishes of meat, vegetables and rice. Marissa also mentioned that sweets play an important role, and there is always a tray of candies, mooncakes (pastry), mochi (pounded rice balls), and crackers, though she can’t remember why or what they mean.

Because Marissa grew up with this tradition, she often does not know the meaning behind certain things. However, she said she truly enjoys it.

The Chinese New Year is a widely publicized occasion that is a good example of how foreign celebrations can become assimilated into a different culture entirely. I was taught the Chinese New Year traditions in my California elementary school, for example.

Annotation:

Bae, Hyun J. New Clothes For New Year’s Day. South Korea: Kane Miller Book Pub, 2007.

Holiday Cuisine – Russia

Nationality: Russian-American
Age: 55
Occupation: Professor
Residence: New York
Performance Date: April 10, 2008
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English

Easter Food Tradition

Kulich and Pasha – Russia

On Easter, my mom would go to church and have a big Russian feast with her family. The traditional Russian dessert is kulich and pasha

Kulich is a cake baked for a long time in a coffee can. It is marked by its characteristic sweet dough made with egg yolks, sugar, and candied fruit. Her mother used to spend a long time kneading, punching, and letting the dough rise. After it baked, they would take it to the Russian Orthodox Church and have it blessed by the priest. On top of the kulich, they would write the Russian letters for “HB,” which stood for “Christ has Risen” in Russian.

They ate the kulich with the sweet spread, pasha, served on top. It was made out of cottage cheese, egg yolks, sugar, and raisins. Like the kulich, the pasha took a long time to prepare—it had to sit in the refrigerator for a week or two in a mold. They would pile bricks on top of it to drain the water.

My mom told me that the tradition surrounding kulich and pasha was very social. The community would go around and visit the different families, tasting each other’s recipes. Each family had its own secret recipe with an ingredient nobody outside the family knew. My mom’s family used saffron in their kulich. Afterwards, all the old ladies would sit together and gossip about the recipes, debating over which ones they liked. When I asked her how she felt about the kulich and pasha, she said they were delicious and suggested making them again soon despite the hard work.

I would definitely like to participate in this food tradition. It’s interesting how it starts off just with the family and by the end of Easter, becomes a community event.

The sheer length of time and amount of work put into making this dessert is probably what makes it so special. It also seems very rewarding to be able to show it off to other families after all the hard work.

Ritual – Japan

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cypress, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

Coming-of-Age Ritual

Japanese Coming-of-Age for Girls

Dana said in her Japanese family, when a girl begins menstruating, red beans and rice are prepared and eaten to celebrate her transition into womanhood. She said this is a widespread Japanese tradition, and that her family has been doing this “forever.”

The red beans stain the rice a pink color, which Dana said might be symbolic. Everyone in the family has to have a bit of it. When asked what she thought about this ritual, she said, “It’s really awkward.” Some people in her family who aren’t as traditional, her Aunt for example, use peas instead of red beans.

This kind of blatant recognition of womanhood is not prevalent in American society. There are no widespread rituals in response to a girl’s transition into womanhood. In fact, it is kept very quiet. I assume in Japan, the transition of girls into women is a much bigger and more serious celebration, and isn’t at all “awkward.”

In other cultures, it is common to recognize this transition—Jewish bat mitzvahs, for example. In the United States, the topic of menstruation and new womanhood is sensitive—almost taboo. Perhaps this American influence on the Japanese ritual is what makes it “awkward.”