Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays and holiday traditions

Fiesta Days in Vacaville

Text:

So I understand that you have a festival in your hometown. Do you want to talk about that?

Yeah, so it’s called the Fiesta Days parade, or it’s a Fiesta Days. Just the Fiesta Days. It’s a festival in late May every year in Vacaville and what happens is basically it starts off with this parade of, I don’t know, like, 30 different, probably more like 50, different bands, floats, just anything can be included. Like cool cars, anything like that can go through the main street of the town in this parade. And everybody from the community kind of comes out for it and watches it. It’s a great way for everyone to come together.

What’s kind of the theme of the celebration or are the floats themed? How did it arise?

I honestly don’t know too much about the history. But the theme is mostly… It’s kind of like Mexican-adjacent. It’s why it’s called the Fiesta Days. Honestly, not too many of the floats really like followed that theme. A lot of marching bands are from local high schools and middle schools and it’s more like the spectacle of all of it all, but I guess the general theme of it would be Mexican. There’s Mexican food, trucks and stuff. And then they have some, you know, like, I don’t know, mariachi bands and things that will play sometimes. Yeah.

How long have he lived in Bacaville? 

I’ve lived there. Well, I lived there my entire life before coming to USC.

Did your parents live there at all for like any period of time? 

They…Not without me.

So do you know how long, like, at least, like, people have celebrated this in Bacaville or? 

Um, man. I honestly am not sure, but I think it’s a pretty longstanding tradition. I’d say it probably dates back to at least the 80s. 

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Context:

The interviewee is discussing a festival he has seen since his childhood that takes place in his hometown of Vacaville. The festival is associated with a certain time and space within the year, always within late May, signaling the ceremonial switch from spring into summer. The celebration is ethnic in nature, although not exclusively, and not binding to the participants.

My Interpretation:

I think this is a classic example of a naturally arising community-based festival that celebrates a period of transition between two periods of the year. The nature of the event is interesting, as it is called “Fiesta Days” basically just meaning “party days,” but it doesn’t lean too heavily into its latin tilt nor require participants to dress a certain way, speak Spanish, or theme their floats entirely with a Latin American theme. The inclusion of “cool cars” and other items make the event seem like a celebration of wealth and status within the community, while also feeding everyone and displaying creativity through the floats.

Porch Concerts on Mardi Gras

Age: 23

Hey, so I understand that you have a specific tradition surrounding Mardi Gras. Do you wanna tell me about it?

Yeah, so every Mardi Gras on the second Saturday, it’s Endymion and that parade usually takes place in mid city, so a different part of town from where we live. We’re usually right on the parade route, but for this one, we’re a little far and it’s a little less convenient to go watch the parades. 

So for the past several years, we’ve been doing a porch concert where we get numerous local musicians to set up and play on the porch and invite the whole neighborhood to come out and it’s usually a pretty good time. We end up getting, probably 100 people boiling a bunch of crawfish and stuff.

So as far as contacting local musicians and any of that stuff, how did this idea originate? Was it your dad’s idea or, you know, how do you think it came to be? 

Honestly, it was my parents drinking on the porch with their musician friends and then just kind of everybody hanging out and playing and then thinking, you know, this would be really cool if we made a party out of it and that’s kind of how it ended up being born.

Do you think that this is something that is very New Orleans, like, could only really happen there? Do you think this is something that is kind of a result of the place that you’re from or that your parents live and drink on the porch? 

Yeah, I think it’s pretty specific to New Orleans because there isn’t really a time where there are so many people just walking about on the street, so many people available on a weekend because on that weekend, like, honestly, those two weeks, your only plans are Mardi Gras. So I think it’d be harder to bring people together. And also just the access to musicians.  There’s so many in the city and so many that you’re just going to end up being friends with. So I think that closeness makes it easier, but, but yeah, I mean, I’m sure you could have a successful porch concert anywhere.

Context:

This celebration takes place in New Orleans during Mardi Gras celebrations. The origin of them celebrating this way has root in the immensely social nature of the culture surrounding New Orleans, mixed with how all-encompassing the celebration of Mardi Gras is in their lives. The little festival they hold is a sub-festival of a larger celebration and tradition, but with the same elements—musicians, drinking, etc.

My Interpretation:

This seems to be a festival that was born out of the unique circumstances of living in New Orleans, mixed with the convenience of not having to venture so far to celebrate Mardi Gras. The micro-festival is a natural offshoot of the main event.

Feeding Birthday Cake

AGE: 21

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 4/19

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: Canadian 

OCCUPATION: Student 

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: Westlake Village 

Text

Interviewer: What’s a tradition you and your family have done during the holidays or certain celebrations?

SA: “One small but meaningful tradition in my family happens during birthdays. I only recently learned that this is an Indian thing–but the person whose birthday it is feeds cake to the people closest to them, and they get fed cake by those same people. It’s a simple act but deeply rooted in affection and closeness.”

Interpretation

A lot of the rituals, superstitions, and other traditions that SA had described to me in her family and her culture surround concepts of love, devotion, and affection. I think it’s so beautiful that there are so many distinct rituals that surround the concept of love and adoration. The only rituals or traditions I can think of at the moment in American society is either Valentine’s Day or someone’s anniversary. But on the topic of birthday rituals, in Korean culture it’s typical that the person’s family will make them birthday soup. The next chance I get to interview SA, I would love her to expand on how she found out it was an Indian tradition and whether she would like to continue this tradition with her family in the future. Since it involves cake, did this tradition begin as the modern world developed or has cake replaced something else used in the past? Either way, what a beautiful and familial tradition.

Christmas Eve Festival: A Jewish Family’s Holiday Celebration in Northern California

Nationality: American
Age: 63
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Alameda, California
Language: English

Informant Information:

Age: 63

Date of Performance: 2/18/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Retired

Primary Language: English

Residence: Alameda, California

Text

“I grew up in the East Bay, and we didn’t have any family here except my immediate family. The rest lived on the East Coast. For Christmas Eve, we celebrated with, I think, five different families. Every year, it was always the same. My parents were in charge of bringing mulled wine, which is hot wine that you make by buying a gallon of cheap wine and heating it up with a cinnamon stick and raisins. It would warm up, and the flavors would mix together. I don’t know why that was the drink for our family to bring every year, but each family had to bring the same thing every year. Then, there was this amazing crocodile bread we had to bring. It was probably about three feet long, and there was a bakery in Berkeley that made this bread once a year for Christmas Eve. The bread had an open mouth, a long body, a tail, and frosting for teeth, eyes, and nostrils—it looked like a crocodile! That bread was the special Christmas food we always brought. We would go to a house in Oakland that was decked out with Christmas decorations, and the hostess, who hadn’t been raised with Christmas traditions, still threw a big Christmas party. She would bake endless types of Christmas cookies—so many different kinds! There was always a big ham, and after we ate, we’d sing the same Christmas carols every year. There were five different families, and people came from all sorts of places. Someone played guitar, and my dad, who didn’t have the best singing voice—our parents were Jewish—knew every Christmas carol ever written! He knew every single verse. We think it was because they sang Christmas carols in schools, or it could be because there were so many Irish people in his hometown on the East Coast, and they probably taught him the songs. But he loved Christmas carols—he loved everything about Christmas!”

Context:

For the informant, Christmas Eve was not just a holiday—it was an annual festival of community, food, and music. Growing up in the East Bay with most of her family on the East Coast, her family would celebrate Christmas Eve with five different families, creating a diverse, multicultural gathering. This festive evening was packed with an array of unique foods and drinks, and every family contributed to the event. Among the distinctive offerings were mulled wine sweet, warming, and aromatic and the ever-popular crocodile bread from a Berkeley bakery, which added a whimsical touch to the festivities.

The gathering was an immersive celebration of tradition. The event took place in a house in Oakland that was elaborately decorated for Christmas, creating a magical atmosphere for all the guests. Despite the hostess not being raised with Christmas traditions, she embraced the celebration with enthusiasm, baking a variety of cookies and ensuring the spirit of Christmas filled the home. The annual singing of Christmas carols, led by the informant’s father, was the heart of the festival. Though their parents were Jewish, the informant’s family had adopted this holiday celebration, seamlessly blending cultural and familial practices to create a unique tradition that persisted for years.

Analysis

This Christmas Eve celebration embodied the essence of a festive community gathering. More than just a holiday meal, it was an annual ritual where food, music, and tradition blended to create a joyful experience. The mulled wine and crocodile bread became emblematic of this celebration—a fusion of local flavors and whimsical traditions that felt both festive and personal. These foods carried a sense of belonging, offering a taste of Northern California’s regional character and the informant’s own family’s unique take on the holiday.

The Christmas carol singing, led by the informant’s father, turned this gathering into a communal festival, where even those with no formal musical training became part of the celebration. The ritual of singing carols deeply familiar to the informant’s father due to his East Coast upbringing added a layer of cultural continuity, connecting their family’s present-day traditions with his childhood memories. This annual event wasn’t just about food or carols; it was a coming together of families from different backgrounds, all participating in the festive spirit and creating their own hybrid celebration of Christmas.

What stands out about this tradition is the blending of cultural influences. The informant’s Jewish family adopted aspects of a Christian holiday, transforming it into a vibrant, inter-generational festival that created new customs that reflected the informant’s family’s diverse community and personal history. This tradition illustrates the power of food, music, and togetherness to shape a family’s identity and how rituals evolve and adapt to new contexts, reinforcing the importance of community and connection during the holiday season.

California Lemon Ritual: Visiting Family On The East Coast

Nationality: American
Age: 63
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Alameda, California

Informant Information

Age: 63

Date of Performance: 2/18/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Retired

Primary Language: English

Residence: Alameda, California

Text

“If you grew up in California and all your family lives on the East Coast, you grow a lemon tree. When you visit family there, you bring lemons because it’s very exotic because you can’t grow lemons on the East Coast. You put them in a bag and then pack them in your suitcase. Eventually, some family members began visiting us on the West Coast when they got older, and they’d pick their own lemons from our lemon tree. I have a lemon tree in my backyard as a present for my husband because he’s from the South, and you also can’t grow lemons there.”

Context

The informant was born and raised in California, while her extended family remained on the East Coast. Her parents were originally from the East Coast, and she made frequent visits throughout her life. As part of those visits, she carried a seemingly simple but meaningful gift — fresh California lemons. This act became ritualized within her family, rooted in the regional differences in agriculture and climate. Lemons, while technically possible to grow in parts of the East and South, are far more common and thriving in California’s mild climate. In colder or more humid regions, lemon trees are vulnerable to environmental damage and rarely flourish.

For her family, receiving these lemons symbolized a piece of California, a vibrant, fragrant token of the West Coast lifestyle. When family members later visited her in California, they cherished the opportunity to pick lemons from her tree themselves. The ritual became a two-way cultural exchange, a reflection of rootedness and connection to place. Later, she planted a lemon tree in her own backyard as a housewarming gift to her Southern-born husband, making the tree not only a familial tradition but also a personal and romantic gesture.

Analysis

This lemon-gifting ritual illustrates how everyday items can carry deep cultural and emotional meaning, especially across geographic boundaries. What begins as a practical act of bringing fresh produce to family transforms into a ritual that marks identity, nostalgia, and care. The lemon tree functions as a living symbol of California, and its fruit becomes a physical expression of home, warmth, and abundance.

The act of transporting lemons across coasts shows the significance of regional differences in agricultural production while also emphasizing how natural resources can become symbolic commodities in family relationships. The ritual communicates more than just gift-giving. It speaks to the longing for home, the pride in one’s origin, and the desire to share that with loved ones who live far away. Furthermore, the informant’s continuation of the tradition by planting her own tree and offering it as a gift to her husband reflects how rituals evolve to include new meanings. The lemon tree is now both a bridge to her past and a symbol of unity in her marriage, showing how folklore adapts to new contexts while preserving its emotional roots.