Category Archives: general

Moroccan Mint Tea Ritual

Text:

“In Morocco, mint tea ritual is one of the most special ceremony that occurs every day in households. My mom and aunts used to tell me funny stories about babajudu [ grandpa], a sit down mint tea gathering. Every day, not only babajudu prepared the tea in very elaborate manner but also, he had a special way how he drank his tea. The tea is prepared in a traditional crafted teapot with beautiful engravings and served in small glass cups with colorful decorations served on top of a silver artisanal tray.  He would sat in front of lowered legs table with the ingredients to make the most tasty tea with fresh rinsed mint leaves, gunpowder (dried green tea leaves), broken sugar loaf and hot water. First, he would put in the pot a table spoon of the gunpowder and rise it quickly with boiling hot water to remove its bitterness. He would pour it  in empty cup that would be disregarded. He would add a large handful of fresh mint leaves, sugar loaf, than he would pour hot water on top of all the ingredients. After a few minutes, he would stir the mixture and taste it to see if more sugar or fresh mint leaves needed to make sure it had just the perfect flavor . He would serve the tea from very high point, which allows it to be aerate and unveil all its aromas. It took almost an hour for making the tea and savouring it.  He loved to press the glass of tea on his forehead to feel it warmth treating it as if it was a sacred object.”

Context:

“Preparing and serving cup of tea is not just boiling water and adding green tea, fresh mint and sugar, but it it is ceremonial art that is passed from generation to generation. Not only, it is  an old tradition of hospitality but it is deeply rooted in every day’s family life. The tea can be sipped at any time of the day to finish a meal. It is also served in special events like wedding ceremonies, a birth or even other predicaments like funerals.  This ritual is a cultural phenomenon that brings families and people together not only in happy times, but also in  sad times  to show respect and honored guests.”

Analysis:

This is an example of ICH (intangible cultural heritage), meaning that it is traditions that are passed to the next generation. This ritual was passed down to me in a passive way when my mom and my family took me to Moroccan restaurants to have the tea prepared for us. Occasionally though, my family would cook some dishes at home, and I would make the tea myself. It is a ritual which is a form of greeting in a lot of Moroccan households, which didn’t happen as much in America since we didn’t have guests often. That is what differentiates Moroccan and American culture – people would be able to more freely stay at anyone’s house in Morocco compared to America, exemplified through this ritual. Since rituals symbolize a right of passage for individuals, mint tea represents this as it is always served at events such as weddings. Its sweet and energizing quality are always fit for greetings and celebrations.

Baba Yaga – A medicine woman

Name: Katya

Text: “Baba yaga is a slavic witch that lives in the woods and i heard about her growing up cuz i had a russian nanny.She lives in the woods and is known to have a house that has chicken legs on it which I always really loved as an image and she kind of represents this very powerful woman figure that I think a lot of people do fear but when you really dig into the fairy tales about her she really is a healing witch and I remember learning about her having like all these potions and what I didn’t realize at the time is that she’s basically like an herbal medicine practice practitioner so I feel like Baba Yaga is really cool and I heard since then that basically every Eastern European country has some version of Baba Yaga but she has like a bunch of different names so her reach is far and I feel like there’s something about her as a character that really resonates with people definitely really resonated with me . 

Context:

Where did u learn it from?

Like I feel like as a kid I don’t know exactly where but my nanny would read me Bedtime Stories and stuff like that so I must have been then 

where was your where is your Nanny from?

 She’s from Kazakhstan but her ancestry is Russian 

how do you think people use it? 

I feel like she’s a symbol for a very powerful mother figure “

Analysis:

This is a tale. This is because Baba Yaga has chicken feet and we understand as humans we cannot have that. This genre is often used to make things more child-like and fantasy related. There has been a history of labeling powerful women figures into negative connotations such as witches, and to this informant, represents the mother. Baba Yaga is feared, coming from the notion of a woman having power. Thus, they have created her into a tale that depicts her as fake and as something that is dangerous (as a traveling witch with chicken feet, who in other versions eat children). When my informant mentioned there is a version of her in every Eastern European country, it further emphasizes that this is a tale as it spreads easily.  It also proves to have had a great impact on individuals, especially children, as they pass it down when they grow up. In other tales, Baba Yaga was a donor figure, but in Katya’s telling she mentions how Baba Yaga had negative connotations to many. This highlights that despite what is widely known, the individual could have their own spin on it which illustrates the multiplicity and variation of meaning on the individual scale – i.e. instead of seeing a witch, she sees a positive alternate healing figure.

Birthday Butter

  • Ritual as described by the informant: Every year on a family member’s birthday, we all take turns putting butter on the birthday person’s nose to help you “slide” through the year! 
  • Context: They never thought twice about this and it’s a tradition that has been in their family for 3-4 generations now.
  • My interpretation: CL is from Memphis, and I wonder if this has to do with her families history in the southwest. Additionally, she is half Korean. It may be a way to instill a new tradition given a new way of family in America. 

Wishing on eyelashes

Text:

HT reports that he uses eyelashes to make wishes.

“When I find an eyelash on my cheek, I swipe it up with my finger, make a wish, and blow on it.”

When asked what the rules are for this ritual, HT responded with the following:

“You have to keep the wish to yourself. You have to blow it off your finger, it won’t work if it’s still stuck to you. My dad told me that there’s a game you have to play as well, if you notice someone else has lost an eyelash, you hold it between your pointer and your thumb and ask them to guess which finger it’s stuck to. If they get it right, then they get to make a wish. If they get it wrong, then you get to make a wish. But, you have to make a wish for that person, not for yourself. I don’t really do it that way, I just make a wish with the eyelash.”

When asked where he picked up the ritual, HT responded:

“From my parents. When there was an eyelash on my cheek, my mom would say that I get to make a wish, so I just kinda made the connection from there. Other than my dad explaining the game you can play with it, no one really explained it beyond that. I used to kind of pick my eyes for eyelashes, but my mom made me stop that by telling me I wouldn’t get to make a wish if I forced it that way.”

When asked what he likes to wish for and if there are any limits to the kinds of wishes you can make, HT responded:

“I can’t tell you what I wished for cause then it won’t come true. But no, I don’t think there’s any limit to what you can wish for. I guess it is just an eyelash, so you probably can’t ask for anything big, like winning the lottery or something. I don’t know, I just wish for little things here and there.”

Context:

HT is a twenty-four year old man, a recent college graduate, who is currently living at home with his parents. This the response that he gave when he asked to tell me about any good luck charms that he has.

Analysis:

By making a wish and blowing an eyelash away, HT engages in a form of sympathetic magic, where the act of performing a ritualistic action is believed to influence real-world outcomes. In one sense, the practice is a form of homeopathic magic, where the act of blowing the eyelash, which has been imbued with the wish, can be put out into the universe, a magic act that takes the wish from the mind of an individual and into the physical world. The size of the eyelash also seems to have some correlation with the size of the wish that one can make. In another sense, this is a form of contagious magic, wherein a smaller part of his body, his eyelash, will be able to affect the world and he affected in return. Since the eyelash was once physically connected to him, the magic that happens with it/to it will impact him as well. HT’s father’s explanation of the game that involves the eyelashes adds another layer to the ritual’s complexity. The game involves a form of reciprocity, where the eyelash has the opportunity to grant a wish to another person. However, this wish has limits, as it still must pertain to the person that the eyelash came from. It’s possible that the invention of this rule could be a modern adaptation, a way of taking the sting out of someone losing their wish by losing the game. The game elevates the ritual of making wishes with eyelashes by infusing it with interactive elements (albeit voluntry ones, by HT’s admission) and reinforcing its communal significance within the group.

Oranges in Christmas Stockings

Text:

“Growing up, my mother used to put oranges in my stockings and now it’s something I do with my kids as well,” says CR.

When asked the reason for oranges in the stocking, CR responded:

“Honestly, I had no idea why growing up. I thought it was maybe just to make the stocking look fuller. I looked it up a few years ago and remember that oranges were a big deal during the Great Depression since they were rare. I think it’s also supposed to represent good fortune and bags of gold. I liked doing it just because it’s what I remembered my mother doing for me and thought it was nice to get something other than just a ton of candy.”

Context:

CR is a sixty year old acting teacher. Originally from Virginia, she moved to LA when she was eighteen and has lived in various areas of the San Fernando Valley. This is the response she gave when asked if she has any favorite holiday traditions.

Analysis:

CR’s decision to continue the tradition of putting oranges in stockings for Christmas with her own children highlights the enduring power of familial customs and the desire to connect with one’s heritage. By passing down the practice of placing oranges in stockings, CR not only honors her own upbringing but also imparts a sense of cultural continuity and shared experience with her children. Her rationalization that the oranges were meant to make the stocking look fuller demonstrates how folk practices, even once divorced from their original meaning, can continue to be passed down, since people will assume there is some rationale behind the practice and come to their own conclusions. Her curiosity at one point prompts her to investigate if there is a reason beyond the one she has come up with, but seems to have little bearing on her fondness for the practice; as she says, she does it because her mother did it for her.