Category Archives: general

German wedding tradition

Nationality: German
Age: 52
Occupation: Engineer
Residence: California
Performance Date: 5/5/20
Primary Language: German
Language: Russian, English

Context: My informant is a 52 year old German immigrant. He grew up in East Germany and went to university in the Soviet Union and currently resides in California. He will be referred to as “H”.

Main piece: We have this tradition, and we did this for our wedding by the way, where wedding guests get a bunch of porcelain plates and smash them on the ground. Then the new groom and bride have to clean up all the bits of broken glass together, kinda to show that they can work through any problem together. I think it’s really sweet.

Background: My informant is German and was married in Germany in his hometown in the Harz region.

Notes: This reminds of breaking glass in Jewish weddings, although I’m sure the significance behind that action is different than in this context. Breaking things in the context of a wedding seems subversive, as most symbolism in weddings comes from an idea of unity and wholeness. But the logic behind this particular tradition is for a couple to demonstrate an ability to overcome hardships in their new lives together.

German Birthday tradition

Nationality: German
Age: 52
Occupation: Engineer
Residence: California
Performance Date: 5/5/20
Primary Language: German
Language: Russian, English

Context: My informant is a 52 year old German immigrant. He grew up in East Germany and went to university in the Soviet Union and currently resides in California. He will be referred to as “H”.

Main piece: When we were kids, we would play this game at birthday parties. Everyone would sit in a circle at a table. In front of one person would be a pair of gloves, a hat, a scarf, a chocolate bar, and a fork and knife. The person on their right would have two die. Basically, whoever had the chocolate bar and everything in front of them would have to put on the hat, scarf, and gloves and try to eat as much of the chocolate bar with a fork and knife before the other person rolled two sixes. If they did, then the die and the chocolate bar and everything else would be passed to their right. The goal was to eat as much of the chocolate bar as possible, which is hard to do when you have to use a fork and knife. Lots of fun.

Background: This is something my informant would do during his childhood birthday parties and the birthday parties of his friends and family. He grew up in the Harz region of Germany, located towards the center of the country.

Notes: This seems like a great game with high stakes that relies on luck and speed. It also places value on confectionary goods, like chocolate.

Bad luck inside the house

Nationality: Ukrainian
Age: 52
Occupation: Journalist
Residence: California
Performance Date: 5/5/20
Primary Language: Russian
Language: German, English

Context: My informant is a Ukrainian immigrant who grew up in the Soviet Union, lived in East Germany, and currently resides in California. This piece of folklore comes from personal experience. She will be referred to as “L”.

Main piece: Whistling inside the house is extremely bad luck. We will lose money. Also if birds get into the house, that is an omen that someone will soon die.

Background: My informant grew up extremely superstitious. She is also an immigrant, and finds that continuing these superstitions is a way of preserving culture in her new home.

Notes: I think this fear comes from this idea of bad things invading the sanctity of the home. It’s no secret that birds can carry disease, I’m sure there are some connections to birds and death (ravens as a symbol of death?). Whistling could perhaps be a sign that one isn’t paying attention to their wealth, meaning it could be stolen away.

Curbs and Fertility

Nationality: Ukraine
Age: 52
Occupation: Journalist
Residence: Santa Monica
Performance Date: 5/5/20
Primary Language: Russian
Language: German, English

Context: My informant is a Ukrainian immigrant who grew up in the Soviet Union, lived in East Germany, and currently resides in California. Her folklore is an old wives’ tale.

Main piece: Young women should never sit on a cold sidewalk or curb. If they do, they will be infertile and never have babies! The coldness of the curb “freezes” your eggs and you won’t be able to have babies!

Background: My informant was told this from older women in her community. She grew up in a military village and then in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. She also frequently visited relatives who lived on farms deep in the countryside.

Notes: I would personally be interested to see when this old wives’ tale came about. It is possible that this originated from rural people who created myths about urbanized communities to scare young people into leaving the countryside. This tale feels like it also has its roots in trying to get young women to act more “ladylike”, therefore discouraging them from sitting on curbsides. Fear of infertility seems like an effective method to get young women to fall in line, so to speak.

Chinese Proverb for a Struggling Student

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 17
Occupation: student
Residence: Franklin Park, IL
Performance Date: 4.2.20
Primary Language: English


Background: Below is a conversation about a proverb that the informant was told at the start of her academic journey at a competitive math and science boarding school. Two years later, she still holds the proverb near to her heart and uses it as motivation for her all-nighters. 

Main Piece:

Informant: I was struggling in excel with my workload and my math teacher told me a chinese proverb that helped. He basically said, the proverb goes like this like, “20 years ago was the best time to plant the tree, but the second best time to plant a tree is right now.

Interviewer: What does that mean?

Informant: Basically saying that you know you should have started this thing, a WHILE ago, but now that you haven’t done it you know that in the past that was the best time to start it. But, you haven’t so the best time to start it, again, is right now. And I think that works well cause like I’d procrastinate a lot on homework and then I’d be stressed like there’s no way I can finish this. And it’s like well yeah you should’ve started it 6 hours ago, but — you didn’t. So, the best time to start it is right now. 

Interviewer: Tell me about this teacher

Informant: He was half Chinese, his mother uh— actually I don’t know which region, but she spoke Cantonese not Mandarin. And his father was from Kentucky, he was Black. He was really understanding. Not judgemental, he knew that waiting til the last minute was punishment enough.

Context: This conversation occurred over a FaceTime call where I asked the informant if she had any sayings or proverbs she liked. She instantly told me this. The conversation was casual, but very relatable as we both lived out our shared experience of procrastination and all-nighters.

My thoughts: It was interesting to find out that this was one of those sayings that keeps the informant pushing through some tough times. It felt very personal to know that this has become a mantra for her. I also found it interesting and quite touching that she resonates so wholeheartedly will a proverb from a culture that is not her own. I feels that not only the proverb was given to her, but a kindness and genuine motivation from her teacher was transferred as well.