Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays and holiday traditions

Waiting for the Kings

Nationality: American/Ecuadorian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Washington, DC
Language: English

TEXT: “ In my household, we celebrate both Christmas and Three Kings Day. We don’t open presents on Christmas day, instead, we wait until January 6th. It’s a holiday that my family has celebrated for generations, even if it means I have to wait to open presents. It’s considered a Christian holiday and is celebrated in both of my parents’ home countries, as well as some of my friends from school and people in my community.”

CONTEXT: This tradition was shared by the informant, A.J, during an interview about holiday customs that are somewhat different from mainstream practices. A.J explained that instead of opening presents on December 25th, their family celebrates Three Kings Day on January 6th, following a tradition passed down through generations. This Christian holiday, also known as Día de los 3 Reyes, is celebrated in both of A.J’s parents’ home countries and is also familiar to others in A.J’s community. Even though the wait to open presents is longer, it’s a meaningful tradition that connects them to their cultural and religious roots.

ANALYSIS: This is an example of a culturally specific holiday ritual that reflects both religious belief and heritage. While Christmas is widely celebrated in the U.S. with gift-giving on December 25th, Three Kings Day holds special importance in many Latin American and Spanish-speaking cultures. Celebrating it shows how immigrant families and multicultural households preserve their traditions while living in a different cultural setting. For A.J, the celebration is not just about receiving gifts but a way to honor family history, cultural identity, and share that experience with others in their community.

Grandma’s Singing Teeth

Age: 23

Story: “Growing up, I had this insane birthday tradition that my grandma would do every single year, for all of my siblings. And brace yourself, cause honestly it’s extremely weird. But growing up, I think honestly, for as long as I can remember, after we sang “Happy Birthday” my grandma, who wore fake dentures, would take out her teeth and make them sing “Happy Birthday” AGAIN. It wasn’t until after she was done singing with her fake teeth that we were allowed to eat cake and celebrate. It was honestly really embarrassing anytime I had a birthday party, because I was afraid my friends would think my family was weird … and honestly we are. But since my grandma has passed, I miss the days she would make me laugh and she would sing with her dentures. For a few years, my mom bought those fake chattering teeth and we sang with those. I would like to start doing that again.”

Analysis: This story is the epitome of how even the most unconventional and wackiest rituals can have such significant meaning. This person’s account of their grandmother’s quirky birthday tradition demonstrates how humor and repetition can turn an ordinary moment into a memorable rite of passage. While the tradition may have felt embarrassing in childhood, it has since taken on a lot of weight as a symbol of familial ties and connection to the past. From a folkloric perspective, this tradition blends oral performance with material culture, showing how objects can become vessels of meaning and memory. The story also touches on the intergenerational passing on of rituals, how the narrator’s family adapted the tradition after the grandmother’s passing, keeping her spirit alive through the toy chattering teeth. I interpret this to be such a sweet tradition, and coming from experience, I know how important and special it is to have a fun-loving memory of family members that have passed, so I love how this tradition has grown for this person. Ultimately, this tradition reveals how homegrown rituals can function as intimate forms of cultural expression, bringing together families, and showing the strength of a tradition.

The Power of Chowder

Age: 24

Story: “Every year, my family and I look forward to Chowderfest on Long Beach Island like it’s a holiday. Chowderfest is an annual festival in LBI, NJ every October, where the local businesses who sell clam chowder compete to see who has the best red, white, and recently lobster bisque on the Island. It’s one of our favorite traditions, and we’ve been going for as long as I can remember. We wake up early, bundle up in cozy (and sometimes matching) sweatshirts, and head to the festival ready to taste all the different chowders. My parents are always between the red and the white chowders, but honestly, I only like the white. It’s not just about the soup, though, the music, the local vendors, and the energy of the crowd is what makes Chowderfest so special to me. We run into the same families every year, and we always swap recommendations for the best booths, and stock up on sweatshirts with the new festival logo. For us, Chowderfest isn’t just an event, it’s a reminder of everything we love about being together, about the shore, and about making time for joy, even when life gets busy. It’s a little tradition with a big heart, and I couldn’t imagine the Fall without it.”

Analysis: This story captures the cultural and folkloric richness of Chowderfest as a regional tradition deeply ingrained in both family routine and community identity. Festivals like Chowderfest function as modern-day rituals, bringing people together through shared experiences and collective memory. This person’s vivid recollection of matching sweatshirts, friendly rivalries over chowder flavors, and encounters with other families illustrates how such events create a sense of community and belonging. Folklorically, the festival serves as a space for the performance of regional identity, celebrating local east coast foods (clam chowder and lobster bisque), supporting small businesses, and reinforcing communal bonds. These elements transform the event from a food competition into a site of cultural storytelling. The narrator’s attachment to the tradition also reveals the emotional ties to maintaining family rituals, which is a true testament to the power that rituals, festivals, and traditions may have. I think there is something so strong and special about regional communities and their ties to each other. I know myself, I have a huge tie to my hometown, and it’s due to festivals like Chowderfest, that I can feel so connected to the people that live around me. I equate this feeling to being a fan of a sports team who just won big, it’s a lot of love for people you barely know.

Family Christmas Tradition

Age: 19

Story: “Every year my family always has the same Christmas tradition. On Christmas Eve, we go to my grandma’s house, we decorate cookies, and we open gifts. This is a day where all of my family gets together, even the family from out of Washington, and we can finally see each other after many months. Another layer of this tradition is that we open gifts from youngest to oldest. So, this past year, my 2 year old niece opened her presents first, and we ended with my 93 year old grandfather. Then, we head back home, open some more gifts, and finally leave cookies out for Santa. The next morning, we wake up, and there’s some more gifts to be opened, and there’s always board games for our entire family to play. I know this isn’t a super unique or special tradition, but it’s special to me, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Analysis: This story beautifully shows how even widely practiced holiday rituals, like decorating cookies and exchanging gifts can hold deep personal and cultural significance. From a cultural standpoint, the repetition of familiar activities like leaving cookies for Santa or playing board games the next morning contributes to the everlasting traditions that many families share during Christmas. I know that this person doesn’t say that they think this experience is unique to them, but something I’ve always found is that family traditions, no matter how widely practiced, are always unique, always different, and always special.

Free Hot Cocoa!

Age: 19

Story: “There’s this tradition my family and I started doing a couple of years ago during Christmas time, and it’s something that involves the entire neighborhood back home, so it’s super sweet. But essentially, there’s this one house that lives down the street and they have this little window on their front porch, and every night of the week before Christmas, they leave their window open and put up a sign that says “Free Hot Cocoa!” So, one day, my dad and I were walking our dog, we passed the sign, and we thought we oughta take advantage of this free hot chocolate situation. We ended up bringing our entire family back, and now every year, we go back to this house and we get some hot chocolate. We actually even started to create a relationship with the older man and woman that live there, and my dad mows their lawn in the summer.”

Analysis: This person’s experience reflects how everyday spaces, like a neighbor’s front porch, can be transformed into the most memorable and special of places. The tradition started just from a casual walk, but it grew into an annual outing that now holds a lot of value for this person’s family and reinforces a sense of belonging within their community. What I really love here is the evolving relationship between this person’s family and the couple who offers the cocoa. It’s so cool to see how a simple act of kindness, like giving out free hot chocolate around the holidays, can evolve into a beautiful relationship, where this person’s dad now mows their lawn.