Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays and holiday traditions

Twelve Grapes, Twelve Wishes: A Central American New Year’s Ritual

Nationality: American
Age: 31
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California

Informant Information

Age: 31

Date of Performance: 04/18/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Text

“It’s basically just a New Year’s tradition that, growing up, my mom always did. I thought it was just something unique to my family, but later I realized that a lot of families actually do it, especially Central American ones. My parents are Salvadoran, but I also know Guatemalan and Mexican families that do this too. So basically, for New Year’s Eve going into New Year’s Day, you get 12 grapes, and you eat them right at midnight, at 12:00 AM. Each grape represents a wish for the new year. It’s one wish for each month, 12 months, 12 grapes. Every year we do it, hoping those wishes come true.”

Context

The informant first learned this tradition from her mother when she was around 7 years old, which was around the time she learned to write. Her mother included a writing element in the ritual, having her write each wish down on a piece of paper as she ate each grape. This additional step not only reinforced the intention behind each wish but also allowed her to reflect on her aspirations later in the year and see whether they had come true. Writing the wishes gave the ritual a deeper sense of meaning and permanence. The informant originally believed the ritual was exclusive to her household, but she later discovered it was a widespread cultural practice shared by many Central American communities.

Analysis

The practice of eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight is a well-known New Year’s ritual in many Latinx communities, rooted in Spanish and Latin American cultural traditions. In the informant’s experience, the ritual serves as a bridge between personal belief and cultural heritage. What began as a family custom reveals itself to be part of a larger collective identity that transcends borders.

Her family’s unique addition of writing down the wishes transforms the ritual into both an oral and written tradition. This adaptation highlights how folklore evolves over time and reflects the values and practices of individual families within broader cultural norms. Writing down the wishes adds an intentional, reflective dimension to the practice, reinforcing ideas of goal setting and emotional renewal. The ritual embodies hope, aspiration, and the human desire for a better future, encapsulated in a symbolic and communal act.

Dragon Boat Festival

“Every year, in China or whoever celebrates [the Dragon Boat Festival], people ride on boats and eat Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).” 

The Dragon Boat festival is celebrated mainly by people from China on the fifth day of the Lunar month. The holiday was created to celebrates a former prime minister of China, Qinyuan because he had committed suicide by jumping into the river. After his death, the people of China decided to dump a lot of zongzi into the river so the fish would eat the dumplings and not his body. My friend had mentioned that he did not really participate in this holiday other than eating the food, but he knows about it though his schooling in Taiwan. 

When I asked my Taiwanese friend about any rituals or traditions that he celebrated, I had expected one that I would have at least heard of such as the Lunar New Year festival or Mid-Autumn festival. I was intrigued when this was the first one that he thought to tell me. Although I know he didn’t put too much thought into, the decision to share this event with me made me realize how much of his culture I really don’t know, despite having knowing him and both of our closest Chinese friends for years. I also thought it was interesting that he had limited knowledge about this festival. He had never really participated other than knowing what the event is for and eating the zongzi. It made me wonder about how other people celebrate the event, and the variation in how people celebrate events are in general. 

Judaism Round Foods

Age – 20
Language – English
Nationality – American
Occupation – Student
Primary Language – English
Residence – Long Island, New York

Text: “In the Jewish religion, we use round foods to symbolize the cyclical process of life and renewal at lifecycle celebrations and events. Some examples include hard-boiled eggs or round challah bread. During Rosh Hashanah, we eat round challah bread to symbolize the nature of life. During Passover, hard-boiled eggs are served to represent life and renewal.”

Context: The informant describes how certain round foods are used in Jewish religious practices to symbolize life and renewal. They mention specific examples like round challah bread during Rosh Hashanah and hard-boiled eggs during Passover. These foods are used during holidays, and the round shape is a meaningful symbol within the Jewish tradition.

Analysis: This tradition of using round foods highlights how folklore can be carried symbolically in specific religion’s food. The round shape represents a cycle, suggesting that life is infinite. Rosh Hashanah’s round challah bread focuses on life as a whole, while the hard-boiled eggs during Passover signify rebirth. These traditions show how food in particular plays an important role in life’s cycles and during religious celebrations.

Golden Eggs, Ham, and the “Easter Feeling”

Text

Every Easter, our entire extended family gathers at my grandmother’s house. There was never a formal reason–my grandma told me, “It just sort of ended up that way.” What began as a casual decision eventually solidified into tradition.

My Grandma recalled one of her favorite parts, “you kids would sprint through the backyard and living room for the Easter egg hunt. I loved it…” “…I always laughed at the fact that even though there were dozens of eggs filled with chocolate, you were all focused on the same thing: the ‘golden eggs…’” The golden eggs are indeed funny, there were always three of them–shiny, oversized plastic eggs that each held a five-dollar bill. We, as kids, didn’t really understand the value of five dollars back then. What mattered was the rarity. The golden eggs were sacred. We fought over them like little archaeologists hunting treasure, more excited by the idea of “winning” than by what was inside.

Later in the day, we’d all sit down for Easter dinner, always centered around a glazed ham. My grandma told me that it came from her father–“He always made a ham for Easter.” What she added, without ever needing to say so out loud, was the practice of everyone bringing something to the table. As the guest list grew each year, so did the variety of dishes. The potluck-style meal grew naturally out of necessity, but it came to define our Easter just as much as the egg hunt.

This last Easter was different. There was no egg hunt–there hasn’t been for a few years now–and the gathering wasn’t at Grandma’s house. Her home was damaged in the LA fires, and fewer people were able to come. Still, my grandma told me, “It still felt like Easter… There was family. There was laughter. And there was ham.”

Context

This tradition was expanded upon to me by my grandmother, who reflected fondly on years of hosting Easter at her home. She admitted that it wasn’t originally her intention to become the family’s “Easter matriarch”–it just happened. Over time, her home became the default gathering spot, and rituals formed naturally around that consistency.

She described the joy of watching us as children during the egg hunts, laughing at how seriously we took the hunt for the golden eggs. Though she couldn’t recall when or why that part of the tradition started, it clearly took on a life of its own. The money inside the eggs was never the point–it was the prestige, the shimmer, the chase. Something she[and I] looks back on now with warm nostalgia.

The dinner evolved more deliberately. She explained that her father always served ham on Easter, and when she began hosting, she continued that tradition. Over time, guests began bringing dishes of their own. She never asked them to–it just became understood. In her words, “It was never about telling people what to bring. It just made sense.” The gathering grew, the table expanded, and Easter became an informal but deeply rooted expression of our family’s thread that ties us all together.

Even after being unable to enter her home[thankfully not burnt down], and despite the changing logistics and attendance, she expressed a deep certainty: the “Easter feeling” had nothing to do with eggs or décor. It was about presence, food, and connection.

Analysis

This entry illustrates how informal rituals, when repeated and emotionally reinforced, evolve into meaningful family folklore. What began as a loose gathering became tradition through consistency and emotional investment. The Easter egg hunt, the golden eggs, and the communal meal are all ritualized behaviors that define Easter–not by religious observance, but by shared memory and performance.

The “golden egg” tradition, though not rooted in ancient folklore, mirrors folkloric patterns–assigning symbolic value to a rare object and embedding it in a playful competition. As with many children’s traditions, the meaning wasn’t in the literal reward, but in the emotional significance, the role-playing, and the storytelling that followed. It reflects how children interact with tradition through symbolism, scarcity, and status–concepts that resonate across many cultural customs.

Similarly, the evolution of the Easter meal highlights adaptive ritual: how tradition grows through informal negotiation. The potluck-style dinner wasn’t dictated–it arose organically, responding to shifting family size and resources. This mirrors how many communal folk practices begin: organically, in response to need, but later sustained by emotional investment.

The somewhat loss of the family home due to the LA fires introduces another layer: how tradition persists even in the absence of its physical setting. My grandmother’s insistence that “it still felt like Easter” reveals a truth about folklore–it’s less about place or object, and more about feeling, continuity, and presence. Even stripped of its original setting, the tradition held. And that endurance–the “Easter feeling”–is the most folkloric element of all.

Green Toilet Water & Leprechaun Traps: A St. Patrick’s Day Home Ritual

Text
Every St. Patrick’s Day, my informant’s family embraced a quirky tradition that transformed their house into a playful leprechaun hideout. When he was a child, he would wake up to find all the toilet water in the house dyed bright green. Sometimes the milk in the fridge was green too. The explanation? “The leprechauns must have peed in the toilet!” his parents told him, turning what might seem odd or gross into a magical sign of leprechaun mischief.

Beyond the household pranks, his school also took part in the fun. In elementary school, he and his classmates were encouraged to build “leprechaun traps,” small craft projects designed to catch the elusive creatures and, hopefully, earn a share of their gold. He remembers one trap in particular: “I painted it green, gave it a rainbow, and included a miniature pot of gold filled with plastic coins.” The traps were never successful–leprechauns, after all, are notoriously tricky–but they added to the sense of enchantment that surrounded the holiday each year.

Context
My informant recalled these traditions as part of his early childhood, especially between the ages of 5 and 9. He explained that the green toilet water and milk were surprises that would appear the morning of March 17th–small, imaginative gestures from his parents meant to keep the magic of the holiday alive. Though the tradition wasn’t linked to any religious or cultural identity in his household, it functioned as an annual burst of fun, one that made St. Patrick’s Day feel special even without a major family gathering or party.

At school, the leprechaun traps were an institutionalized form of holiday play, guided by teachers who framed it as a creative art activity. While the traps themselves were never functional, the idea that something magical might have visited the classroom overnight added an element of suspense and wonder. Though my informant no longer celebrates the holiday in the same way, these memories stood out as defining childhood moments–both silly and strangely memorable.

Analysis
This home custom illustrates how American families often adapt holidays like St. Patrick’s Day into playful, child-centered rituals that rely heavily on imagination, mischief, and material transformation. Though St. Patrick’s Day is originally rooted in Irish Catholic tradition, its contemporary celebration in the U.S.–particularly among non-Irish families–often takes the form of secular, creative play.

The dyed toilet water and milk represent a kind of “domesticated folklore,” where parents intentionally alter everyday environments to encourage a suspension of disbelief. The joke that “leprechauns have green pee” serves both as an explanation and a storytelling device, keeping the legend alive in absurd, humorous form. This aligns with broader traditions of holiday trickery, such as the Tooth Fairy leaving glitter or Santa eating cookies–actions that bridge folklore with parental performance.

The leprechaun traps, meanwhile, connect to a form of children’s ritualized play that blends belief with craft. These projects teach children to imagine, to hope for magical outcomes, and to participate in a shared cultural game–even if they know the payoff is imaginary. In this way, the practice reinforces values like creativity, humor, and seasonal anticipation, all while fostering a sense of community through parallel rituals at home and school.

Ultimately, this custom demonstrates that even informal, low-stakes traditions can hold deep folkloric meaning. They reflect how modern families re-enchant the everyday, turning plumbing and plastic coins into touchpoints for wonder, bonding, and shared memory.