Category Archives: Material

Sfingi Donuts on St. Joseph’s Day

Background: N is an American of part Sicilian descent who remembers his family celebrating St. Joseph’s day by making traditional Sicilian donuts, or Sfingi, every year.

St. Joseph’s Day, the patron saint of Sicily, is celebrated on March 19th to celebrate the life and legacy of the Catholic saint. According to legend, Sicilians prayed to St. Joseph for relief during an extreme famine and drought. Once he provided them with bountiful crops and rainfall, they promised him a day of devotion in return for his good graces. The festivities usually revolve around a large meatless feast due to its occurrence during Lent.

Text:

Interviewer: “What are Sfingi and how do you make them?”

N: “Sfingi are uh fried dough balls made from flour, sugar, eggs and like ricotta cheese…usually topped with powdered sugar too… I’ve never actually made them, usually just my grandma or mom does…”

Interviewer: “Why did your family choose to make Sfingi for St. Joseph’s day as apposed to any other dessert?”

N: “I don’t know, I suppose because it’s a pretty traditional Sicilian dessert, as far as I know… St. Joseph’s is huge for Sicilians since he’s like the patron saint”

Interviewer: “Do you think they’re the best Sicilian dessert?”

N: “They’re a little too sweet for my taste… but I liked it a lot as a kid”

Analysis:

As reflected in N’s family, sweets like Sfingi are commonplace in St. Joseph’s day feasts and celebrations. The indulgence of a treat like Sfingi can reflect the indulgence that St. Joseph offered the Sicilians in their time of need. Sfingi are a celebration of Sicilian culture and a sign of gratitute to the sweet blessings granted from God and their beloved patron saint. Lent, broadly, is meant to be a time of fasting and abstinence from the luxuries of everyday life. In contrast, St. Joseph’s day stands apart from the rest of lent due to its celebratory festivities of feasting and indulgence. The holiday’s place on the liturgical calendar represents how God’s love can fulfill and serve his followers even in times of great despair and famine.

Christmas Punch

Context:

M, 56, is from Mexico; he was born and raised in Tijuana but spent a great part of his youth in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. M has been living in Cabo for over 30 and has owned a clothing store there for just as long. He told me of a Christmas tradition he developed on his own in which he makes punch and hands it out to the people that visit his store.

Text:

I’m going to tell you about the punch that I make every year on December 24th, back home in Cabo San Lucas. Since the early 90s, I began the tradition of offering a drink, punch, which is a Mexican beverage. Every Christmas Eve from noon to nightfall, I give every customer that passes by my store a cup of freshly made hot punch. I do this because it is a Mexican tradition to make Christmas punch, but I also got this idea from my aunts in the U.S. that have a tradition of making apple cider and distributing it at winter holiday events. In Mexico, we don’t do apple cider, but we do have punch, which is similar enough. It is also a demonstration of gratitude and a marketing tactic for my customers. This punch is mostly made of tropical fruits, many of them endemic to Mexico. Some of the ingredients I use are guavas, apples, oranges, pears, sugar cane, tamarind, tejocotes, piloncillo, cinnamon, hibiscus, etc. To make this punch I use a 5–8-gallon pot and boil water, then I add all the ingredients and let it simmer for half an hour. Once all the fruit essence is infused, I add piloncillo to my liking to sweeten the punch. Then it is ready to serve. I know many cultures have their version of a hot fruity drink for the winter; America has apple cider and Europe has Vin Chaud or Gluhwein, but in Mexico we have punch, plus, it’s non-alcoholic. I think this tradition is tied up with many other environmental elements such as the decorations, the cheerfulness, the Christmas carols and music, and the smells; all together they make Christmas more like Christmas. I think the Christmas spirit is about generosity which is why it is so special to give things to people who don’t expect them.

Analysis:

This holiday tradition shows how a larger and more common tradition can be adopted and altered so it can be performed differently by various individuals. This tradition, even though it may appear a simple marketing strategy is more than that, it has been 30 years in the making; it is a ritual that remains unchanged for the most part after nearly three decades. This Christmas tradition is a way of sharing and giving back to a community as a token of appreciation; food and drinks are essential ways of engaging with a community, especially during a holiday that emphasizes the importance of generosity. It is folkloric because of its conception and ritualization; it was inspired by different influences and was coined to fit the needs and intentions of a specific person. This tradition is tied with many other elements to create a truly magical time that triggers nearly all the senses to ensure an emotive and compelling festivity such as Christmas.

Día de Muertos

Context:

F, 18, is a Mexican student at USC. He is from Ciudad Juarez, a city in Mexico that borders El Paso, Texas. F told me about the Mexican festival called Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead.

Text:

Every November 2nd, I celebrate with my family a popular Mexican tradition called “Día de Muertos”. This day is celebrated to remember the people that have passed away. We put together an altar in which we include pictures of the people we remember along with objects that reminds us of them. An example is that we put a picture of my grandfather and a book as he loved reading. This tradition helps us stay in touch with our loved ones and remember that they are with us every step of the way.

Analysis:

Día de Muertos is a traditional Mexican festival that happens yearly on November 2nd. It aligns with many other death-related celebrations such as All Souls Day or Halloween because of the life cycle calendar. Many cultures celebrate death around fall and winter, as they symbolize death and the end of a cycle. Then, in spring, the cycle starts anew and begins with fertility and birth celebrations. In this tradition, it is believed that the Day of the Dead is a liminal period in which the dead can visit their living relatives, this liminal period creates a space for magic and festivities that fit outside of the norm. In this traditional festival, people leave objects that the deceased enjoyed during their lifetime on the altar, so they can take joy in them once more.

Chinese Lunar New Year

Context:

A, 18, is a student at USC. He is a French citizen of Chinese descent; he told me about how his family celebrated Lunar New Year when he visited China. He told me he grew up in France, so he seldom celebrated this tradition, only when he was in China back when he was young.  

Text:

Chinese Lunar New Year is celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice, so it’s usually around the end of January or the beginning of February. Every Lunar New Year is about a different zodiac animal, this is the year of the rabbit (2023). We usually wear red or red clothes and use traditional Chinese red paper lamps. We also put up fish posters to symbolize wealth in China, we put them on walls and doors to bring good fortune. We eat dumplings and blow-up firecrackers and fireworks.

Analysis:

Chinese Lunar New Year is a very common celebration among the Chinese diaspora throughout the world. It celebrates the New Year, and just like many other cultures, it lines up with the life cycle calendar beginning with spring (birth) and ending in winter (death). It is a liminal time between two cycles, so it is a magical time outside of the norm filled with superstitions, feasts, and celebrations. This festival is annually celebrated, as one might assume by its name; however, contrastively to the Solar year and Gregorian Calendar, this festival aligns with the Lunar Calendar, which is why it is on a different day every year. The rituals and superstitions that are celebrated during this festival often are practiced to bring good luck; similar to most cultures around the world that also have “good fortune” superstitions during their new year celebrations as well.

Crawfish Festival

Text (festival/traditional food)

“The Crawfish festival is a classic festival we’ve all been to growing up since it has carnival rides, games, and good food you can only really find in the south.”

Context 

My informant was born and raised in Texas and has been to the festival with family and friends numerous times since they were a child.

Q: “What is the crawfish festival?”

A: “The crawfish festival is a festival usually celebrated in southern states and includes carnival games, vendors, crawfish, and other southern comfort foods. It’s basically a celebration of southern culture and hospitality where people come together and appreciate community and popular southern delicacies.

Analysis 

The Crawfish Festival is popular in Louisiana, Texas, and other southern states for both locals and visitors to come together, enjoy, and commemorate southern culinary traditions not typically found in regions outside of the south. Crawfish isn’t the only traditional culinary form available at the festival, there also includes crawfish, étouffée, jambalaya, and more. These traditional foods are all part of Cajun and Creole cuisine. Crawfish are popular in Creole cuisine as they are abundantly found in the south, étouffée is a roux including crawfish and other seafood topped over rice, and jambalaya is another rice-based dish including sausage, chicken, and seafood typically served at large gatherings. People of all backgrounds and cultures travel to the south to participate in the Crawfish Festival as this is a way for cultural heritage and culinary lore to be spread and enjoyed across various communities. Seafood and dark meat products were major food sources for enslaved African Americans. This cuisine is a reflection of various influences and factors representative of a larger cultural identity in African American communities. Appadurai discusses the cultural significance of cultural cuisines in asserting cultural identity and representations of class hierarchies. These southern foods commonly eaten by enslaved African Americans, is an acknowledgment of African American resistance to slavery while embracing cultural customs predominately seen in the southern United States. This is representative of how culinary lore and recipes move where people don’t as they assert a cultural identity and exemplify resistance to the impacts of colonialism.