Category Archives: Adulthood

Coming-of-age, courtship, marriage, weddings

Changing Teeth

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 23

Nationality: Chinese

Primary Language(s): Mandarin/Cantonese

Text

“So mine is when changing teeth as a child in Chinese families. This happened sometime around when I was in lower school (grade 1-3??). So basically when one of the upper teeth fell down, my family buried it underground for me to grow properly downward; vice versa, when one of the lower teeth fell down, my family threw it over the top of a building or ceiling for it to grow properly upward. It’s kind of a ritual of wishing a child to change teeth successfully and wishing nice-looking teeth after changing.”

Context

This informant is a classmate. She is from China but has been studying in the United States since High School.

Analysis

This ritual is practiced in the presence of change with the purpose of eliciting a positive outcome for the child’s future. It is a ‘coming of age’ ritual and a ‘transition rite’ (as defined by Arnold van Gennep) because it ritually marks the transition from childhood to adulthood (or rather, childhood to older childhood). This ritual also follows James George Frazer’s homeopathic Principle of Sympathetic Magic – the informant’s family buries teeth underground to promote downward growth and throws the teeth overtop structures to promote upward growth.

Two Weddings

It is apparently common for Nigerian immigrants to the U.S. to have two weddings when they get married: one here in the States, either in American traditional style or in hybridized cultural fashion, and one back in Nigeria, following (often pre-colonial) traditions of their tribes. 

For example, the Nigerian (Igbo) immigrant parents of Chika, a Bay Area native, had a typical “white wedding” in the U.S., and another in Nigeria during which his mom and dad “walked through his [dad’s] neighborhood with everyone playing music and dancing on the way to the ceremony.”

This practice makes complete sense in the context of ceremonial rites of passage like weddings being ritualized and performed publicly in order for transitions and new identities to be communicated to and recognized by community members. Being that Nigerian immigrants often have at least two international communities, each with their own cultural norms and social categories, it can be affirming of new relationships developing on the intersection of both to have two weddings.

Quinceanera Celebration

Informant Info:

  • Nationality: Mexican 
  • Residence: Los Angeles 
  • Primary language: English and Spanish 

Text:

E.S said, “In my culture, once a young girl turns 15 they have a big party that could be considered a rite of passage, it’s called a Quinceanera.” This party is meant to symbolize the transition from a young girl to a woman. In the party there are multiple traditional processes that really resemble that of a wedding. As E.S explained, you start with mass at a church, then at the party you have the father daughter dance, the taking off of the shoes and into heels, etc. In some parties, they’re given this porcelain doll that represents or encapsulates their childhood, and at the end they have a surprise dance that’s very entertaining. The quinces in Mexico are somewhat different from the fact that as they move from the church to the reception, the whole group/family parade through the street with a live mariachi to the venue. Sometimes the quinceanera is in a carriage or on a horse. The invite is also not very exclusive as the whole community is invited. E.S recalls one time she attended a Quince, “I once went to a quince in Mexico where we didn’t know anyone, we were complete strangers and they still fed us and treated us like family.” The party allows for community bonding and the celebration of womanhood!

Analysis:

I deeply resonated with E.S’s relation to Quinceaneras because it is a well known tradition and celebration in my culture as well. Quinceaneras are indeed a rite of passage because the whole purpose of the celebration is to acknowledge the young girl’s transition from that into womanhood. Since I was a child, I attended various Quinceaneras from family members and acquaintances. I agree with E.S in the fact that the celebration is pretty welcoming to everyone, even if you aren’t directly related to the young girl being celebrated. I also vividly remember the surprise dances at these Quinceaneras, and they are indeed one of the parts of the celebration everyone looks forward to seeing the most. The Quinceanera does the surprise dance with her Corte de Honor, which consists of Chambelanes and Damas. The father and daughter dance is very special, and it usually makes a lot of people very emotional. While this celebration is very fun, it is also deeply sentimental for everyone because the now young woman is no longer a little girl.

Haldi

Informant: SK

Ethnicity: Indian

Primary Language: English, Gujarati

Age: 24

Text: [SK] Indian weddings usually last a few days because of all the different ceremonies that take place. One of these rites is the Haldi ceremony, where family and close friends apply turmeric paste or water to the bride and groom to be. At my sister’s Haldi, we used water guns filled with turmeric water to drench her and her husband.

Context: The Haldi ceremony is a pre-wedding ritual practiced across most traditional Indian weddings. The informant noted that he participated in the Haldi ceremony at his sister’s wedding, as well as some of his cousins’ weddings. He mentioned that the ritual felt lighthearted and fun, but also made him emotional because it signaled the start of the wedding.

Analysis: Haldi ceremonies are rooted in the usage of turmeric, which plays an important role in Indian folk medicine. The plant is medicinally used for its antibacterial and antiseptic properties, but in many South Asian cultures, it is also believed to have the ability to cleanse one spiritually. Weddings are a transitory period, marking the shift from single to married life; purifying the bride and groom by applying turmeric paste or dousing them in turmeric water is a cultural practice intended to prepare them for the transition into this new era. Furthermore, the act of applying turmeric to the bride and groom is often turned into a lighthearted, candid act (as mentioned by the informant, who used water guns) as a preclude to the more serious main wedding ceremony. With only family and close friends being invited to take part in this celebration, the ritual also serves to strengthen familial bonds and other social relationships. 

EBIT

Earnings Before Interest in Taxes

Informant is an Accounting Major.

[So what does that (EBIT) mean?] It basically measures a company’s profitability and its calculated as the revenue minus the expenses but it does not include taxes or interest, it’s also known as operating profit. [What’s your relationship to this, this EBIT that you speak of?] (laughter) I am an accounting major, so therefor I have to look at a company’s EBIT and occasionally have to calculate it. It’s unfortunate, really. [Where did you first hear this, was it in a class-?] Yeah it was in my accounting class, BU8380 financial accounting I do NOT recommend anyone take that class, or any other accounting class (laughter). [Will it be that you’ll type it out or see it on a document-] I’ll see it, sometimes when people are talking about it, when it does come up, sometimes it’ll come up when you’re talking about companies profitability, yeah, that’s when it’ll come up. [Is this a term that is used more exclusively by accountants, or if you’re a business major and you hear EBIT you’ll know what someone’s talking about] Business majors should know [should know?] if they payed attention in class (laughter).

-Interview with Informant

The shortening of words is a longstanding practice. Humans are lazy by nature and so as time passes they will say and do things the easiest way they can. Often the way a person says a word changes as the vowel sound becomes the one easiest to make after the previous one in a word. For example the word for is often pronounced as “fer” in modern day, where as fifty years ago no one would have pronounced it that way. “Fer” is easier to say and more convenient than the defined “for”, so that’s how its said. Accountants are no exception to this. All of the different professions also have jargon, and whereas someone who is a Dornsife students probably would have no idea what EBIT was or even what it means once the words are said, a Vertibi student, or at least one that has taken an accounting course, would. The informant voiced a general dislike of their chosen study, which gives insight into the almost mandatory or inevitable nature of folklore. Despite their deep dislike of accounting, the informant cannot help but know the terms used frequently by accountants. Minor forms of folklore are often picked up without realizing or making a conscious effort to do so. When one frequently interacts with something or some group, they are bound to pick up the relevant lore.