Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays and holiday traditions

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.

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.