Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays and holiday traditions

Christmas Ritual

Age: 23

informant: “For Christmas, we read ‘The Night Before Christmas,’ and we used to like, throw, what was it? There was a thingy we would put in a bag and mash up and throw in the yard. We would call it Reindeer Food, and then [my siblings and I] would act out the story of Jesus being born.”

context: My roommate is from Rome, Georgia, and has a lot of holiday rituals that they celebrate with their family. The reenactment of Jesus’ birth was done with a nativity scene; they did not actually physically act out Jesus’ birth. My roommate, unfortunately, could not remember what they put in the bag they called reindeer food for Christmas, but did recall that they did this ritual every year when they were a child.

Analysis: This is a ritual performance, performed by both parents and children for a holiday. This is also religious folklore, since the stories of the Bible, specifically Jesus birth, is acted out and turned into a live performance using a Nativity scene. It reinforces spiritual identity, because the informant’s family is very religious, and identify as Christian. Although it is very widely socially accepted, I still think it’s interesting how intertwined this holiday and religion are, even with folkloric figures like Jesus and Santa Claus. The meaning of Christmas can change based on the folk lens you’re looking through, for example, people who are not religious may celebrate Santa more on the holiday, and more religious families may celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Lunar New Year Superstition

Age: 23

JL: “My Mom texted me today, ‘Hello my daughter and son. It’s Chinese New Year so you don’t have to sweep or take out the trash.'”

Context: This is from one of my roommates, who is Chinese American. She celebrates the Chinese New Year with her family every year. This was a text from her mom to her family group chat, which includes her father and brother. It is a Chinese superstition that if you sweep on the Lunar New Year, you sweep away all your good luck. If you take out the trash, you are throwing away prosperity as you enter the New Year.

Analysis: This superstition is a Chinese folk belief, combined with a calendar ritual relating to Lunar New Year. Like many other cultures folklore, this one relates the idea of good and bad luck with specific rituals. Functionally, not participating in these chores reinforces cultural identity, and also reinforces Chinese social values of prosperity and luck. I also think that the fact this was shared over text demonstrates how folklore adapts over time. Many years ago, this may have been an in person face to face conversation, but in the year 2026, people have found other ways to communicate and connect with one another in order to spread knowledge and information. Overall, this tradition helps create a sense of certainty when the future may be uncertain, especially at the start of a new year.

Vietnamese New Year Celebration “Tet” Traditions

Context:

My informant is a 56-year-old woman of Vietnamese descent. She was born and raised in Vietnam, and immigrated to the United States when she was young. She was raised Buddhist, surrounded by Vietnamese culture and traditions, passed down from the generations of her family.

Text:

In Vietnamese culture, lunar new year is celebrated with a celebration called Tết. This celebration is often multiple days long.

The first day of Tết starts on the day before the start of lunar new year on New Year’s Eve. You are supposed to cook food and offer it to the altar to bring home your ancestors for the New Year. Her mom also waits for midnight to come and offer food and pray to the ancestors. The family also visits temple to ring in the New Year at midnight. 

On the second day of Tết, New Year’s Day, the family would cook food to offer to the altar again to send off the ancestors. Prayers are also involved. They again visit a temple to pray for a good, healthy year. 

On the last day of Tết, they visit families and relatives, to offer good wishes and give red money envelopes to younger children and young adults. It is also encouraged to visit ancestors at their gravesites to wish them well.

The celebrations and activities might go on for longer, but the three days are considered Tết.

Analysis:

Tết combines many forms of folklore together such as ritual, superstition, and material folklore. There is the ritual of going to temple, to cooking, and visiting family on specific days every year. There are also the superstitions of what day to do each action in order to bring prosperity and good luck into their homes in the new year. Then the food and red envelopes are material folklore that they use to bring wealth and prosperity.

Sukkot – Jewish Holiday

Context:

My informant is a 20-year-old student at the University of Southern California. She currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri, but she has also lived on the East Coast. She grew up Jewish, attending Yeshiva, Jewish School.

Text:

“Every year at my temple we’d celebrate a holiday called Sukkot. It’s celebrated for a week and is, I believe a type of harvest festival in the Jewish faith. We celebrate by building a sukkah, a type of outdoor hut, and sing certain songs and do activities. We’d also all take turns shaking a luluv and etrog but I’m not sure what they represent.”

I asked, “What are a luluv and etrog?”

She replies that she doesn’t really know what they are. She describes them as a this yellow fruit object and green leaves.

Analysis:

This holiday seems to be a staple in the Jewish faith since it is a repeated festival that happens annually. They celebrate with music and building new creations. From what I learned, I assume that this is a festival holds a lot of meaning in the faith since it is a repeated event, surrounded by community.

Chinese New Year – Chun Lian Good Luck

Context:

The informant grew up in a Taiwanese household in the Bay Area. He grew up always celebrating Chinese New Year, a holiday that occurs every February. The holiday celebrates the start of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Text:

“For Chinese New Year, we have, like, a red sheet of paper with Chinese calligraphy on it called Chun Lian. We stick it on the outside of our door, to ward off like evil and also brings in good luck as well.”

I asked, “Is this something that you’ve always done, like, on Chinese New Year.”

“Yeah, like, we did it always growing up.”

“So you just learned it from my parents?”

“Yes, I learned it from my parents.”

Analysis:

From what I know about Chinese New Year, many of the traditions, foods, and decorations all revolve around bringing in good luck for the new lunar new year and getting rid of all of the bad luck. This tradition does not seem to be any different. The red also seems to be a prominent theme is getting rid of the bad luck, and in tandem with the calligraphy, they are able to ring in the Chinese New Year with prosperity.