Category Archives: Festival

An American Easter

Nationality: American
Residence: Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Primary Language: English
Language: Some French proficiency

An American Easter:

D.S.: OK, a real popular family holiday has always been Easter, for us. Historically, we always started out the morning with an Easter hunt for the kids, and we kind of started a family tradition years ago, of getting the See’s Candy chocolate bunnies, uh, for the kids, at which time the kids would rip off the ears, and add milk to the chocolate bunny, shake it, and make chocolate milk. So that’s always been kind of a tradition for everyone to rip the ears off to make chocolate milk inside the chocolate bunny, and then everybody goes to church, and we usually have a meal with everyone after for the rest of the afternoon.

 

Easter is a significant holiday for most Americans, as well as many others around the world, and D.S. shares her experiences from childhood, in addition to her present customs regarding the holiday. It is in her point of view celebrated as a very Christian holiday, yet the old Germanic pre-Christian practices concerning Easter are also understood and observed, but for her in a way that is very commonly seen as fun for most Americans, not having to do with any spiritual significance. It is done much in the same way that Santa Claus is represented in Christmas.

Trading Kandi

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 27
Occupation: Student/Taxi-Driver
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/2015
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English, French

“Trading kandi is part of rave culture. I don’t know how it started, but you know those edible candy bracelets? I think that’s how the custom started. I think people started abusing the candy bracelet trend of the 90’s and replaced them with drugs. Because of that, people started recreating these “drug bracelets” with actual beads to make them safer. I think after that, trading kandi became a thing. And candy is spelled k-a-n-d-i. Kandi is the actual bead bracelet just so you know….But yeah, so anyway, the custom evolved as just a way to say ‘thank you’ to a person you’ve met at a rave, like to say ‘hey, you’re cool I like you.’ When you give a bracelet to someone, you’re sort of giving a part of yourself. Some of your happiness. The bracelets kind of represent ‘you’ because you made it…But anyway, what you do is you go up to someone and say ‘hey you wana trade kandi?’ And if the other person is cool with that, then each person makes a peace sign with their fingers. Then you make a heart with the hands of each person…like this…Then you hold hands again as a sign of “unity.” And then you actually lock hands with the other person, say “respect” and the person with the kandi slides off the bracelet from their hand directly onto the other persons. After that, you hug. And that is trading Kandi.”

Context/Analysis: The informant first heard about the rave custom of trading kandi at his first rave. While he was waiting for his friend who was in the bathroom, this girl asked him if he had kandi. He said no, thinking she was looking for ecstasy pills. When he realized that was not the case, the girl showed him the process of how to trade kandi, and he received his first rave bracelet. The informant still has his first piece of kandi, indicating how significant it is to him. He informed that it felt nice to be connected to a complete stranger. He felt welcomed at the rave and has fallen in love with them since then. He has been going to raves for 5 years now. Ultimately, this custom is a ritual of initiation for people who have just been introduced to raving. Once you perform the ritual, the “newbie” raver has crossed a liminal and has been symbolically accepted into the rave culture.

 

Body painting at the fair

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/22/2015
Primary Language: English

My informant is a regular attendant of the Oregon Country Fair. The Oregon Country Fair is an annual non-profit craft fair held in Eugine Oregon held on the second weekend of July. In its inception it was known as the Oregon Renaissance Faire,  however in 1977 it changed its name to better reflect what it represented. At the start of every day there is a booth of painters near the entrance of the fair who offer to pain the chests and faces of anyone who desires to have their body painted. While the face paints are just for fun, the body or chest painting serves a much more important purpose to regular attendants of the fair. According to my informant, serious female fairgoers are “almost expected to paint their chest.” This is not a mandatory thing for women who attend the fair to do, but it is a culturally accepted and encouraged action” and that “when you see a women walking around the figure 8 (the fairground) without a shirt and a painted chest you know that they are a part of the community.” The significance of the body paint, however, is much deeper than it may seem at first glance. It is much more than a simple declaration of your Oregon Country Fair experience. Rather, it is actually meant to be a metaphor for fertility. When I asked my informant on the meaning behind the painting he revealed that “while it doesn’t mean much to me, to the people who do the paintings, this ritual is a celebration of fertility. [The painters] sometimes get very particular about this and usually will not paint men or young girl’s bodies because, well they cannot [birth a child].” Because of this, the paintings are almost always some type of flower placed in a shape that “look a lot like ovaries.”

This ritual is interesting because it is both not mandatory and seemingly out of place in a summer modern American fair. Fertility rituals often are performed in the spring during religious events, but the Oregon Country Fair is a community run fair taking place in the middle of summer. I believe that this implies that this tradition was not inherent to the fair but rather was brought to it. This notion is reinforced by the fact that the body painting is a part of, but not a central event of the fair. Usually if there was a sort of fertility ritual at a community gathering, it would be integral to the experience, but at the Oregon Country Fair it seems to be a well respected afterthought. Furthermore, at least from what I gathered from my informant, the Oregon Country Fair is in no way advertised of or talked about as a fertility festival.  I think that this shows that at the Oregon Country Fair, people are free to bring and repeat traditions from other cultures even if they do not necessarily have anything to do with the fair itself. If I were to go to the fair, I would assume that this painting is just one example of many such rituals performed at, but not integral to, the Oregon Country Fair.

The Sweep

Nationality: America
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/22/2015
Primary Language: English

The informant is a regular attendant of the Oregon Country Fair. The Oregon Country Fair is an annual non-profit craft fair held in Eugine Oregon held on the second weekend of July. In its inception it was known as the Oregon Renaissance Faire,  however in 1977 it changed its name to better reflect what it represented. The informant told me about a ritualized event that happens every night at the fair which he calls The Sweep. The Sweep is an event that happens at 7pm on the Friday and Saturday of the fair. During the sweep a group of guards link arms and walk around the fairground kicking everyone who does not work for the fair out of the area. The name “The Sweep” comes from the sweeping formation the guards walk in as they tell people to leave. This serves two purposes. First, it signifies that the fair is closed to the public. Second, it lets the workers know that the fair is now theirs for the rest of the night. This marks a transformation period in the culture of the fairground. The informant stated that “the real fair doesn’t begin until after the sweep. Thats when everything important happens.” This is because after the public leaves, the people who work at the fair are able to interact freely without having to “keep it respectable for the families and children that go there during the day.” The informant stated that after the sweep “the fair transforms into much more of a tight-knit hippie festival.” The Sweep also serves a very special purpose to the people who are working at the fair for the first time. According to the informant, your first Sweep is “the moment you truly become a part of the community. Its like truly being a part of the fair for the first item. After staying through your first sweep you realize that everyone [working at the fair] wants to look out for each other and be a community.”

This ritual is really interesting as it seems to be the primary thing that separates fair goers from the people who live at and work at the fair. The way the formation described it made it seem like a truly transformative event that completely changes the environment of the entire fairground. Additionally, it functions as an initiation ritual for those who may have been fairgoers in the past who are now working for and as a result seeing what the informant called “the real fair” for the first time. Its of note that even the guards buy into this ritual opting to link hands and literally sweep the fairground in order to ensure that the attendants of the fair leave. In a way, this ritual symbolizes the transfer of power. During the day, before the sweep, the fairground belongs to visitors but after the sweep, it is given back to the people who work there.

The Oregon Country Fair’s endless drumcircle.

My informant is a regular attendant of the Oregon Country Fair. The Oregon Country Fair is an annual non-profit craft fair held in Eugine Oregon held on the second weekend of July. In its inception it was known as the Oregon Renaissance Faire,  however in 1977 it changed its name to better reflect what it represented. One thing to know before reading this is that the fairground is in the shape of a large figure eight. At the center of this figure eight, where all the paths collide, there is always a drum circle going. This drum circle starts at the beginning of the fair and does not end until the fair is over. Even at night, when most people are sound asleep, a few designated people stay up to continue the drum circle. While there are a few people required to stay and keep the drum circle going at all times, it is generally an open communal experience. People are free to join (assuming they have a drum) and leave the circle whenever they please. My informant participated in this drum circle last year and was ecstatic to talk about how important it is to the Oregon Country Fair experience. The first thing he immediately mentioned when asked about the drum circle is that “it represents the heartbeat of the entire fair.” He said that because of its central location, “the drum circle is the central landmark of the fair. If you ever want to meet up with somebody but do not know where they are, you will meet up at the drum circle. It is easy to get find no matter where in the fair you are.”

When asked about what playing in the circle is like my informant revealed that “it really puts you in a trance. You suddenly feel like you are connected with everybody in the circle. And because so many people join and leave that circle you kind of get to know a little bit of everyone. At least rhythmically.” He went on to talk about how the drum circle was one of the most fun moments of his Oregon Country Fair experience last year and repeatedly stressed how integral it was to the experience. In many ways, this drum circle is very shamanistic and resembles how some people will beat a drum while performing rituals in order to enter a more trance-like state. The difference lies in the scale. Rather than an individual using a drum to help enter a trance-like state, the Oregon Country Fair has a drum circle to help the entire community enter a more trance like state. I’m sure that is why this specific tradition was so important to my informant. The drum circle existing at the center of the fair must be a powerful way to incorporate a trance state on a larger scale. If I were to go to the Oregon Country Fair to research this further I am sure that I would find many other attendants who feel as strongly about the importance of the drum circle as my informant.