Category Archives: Gestation, birth, and infancy

Generally up to the first year.

Claremont Colleges Birthday Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/22/18
Primary Language: English

Background information:

Throwing friends into the fountain on the day of their birthday has been a prank tradition for the span of several decades, and has become a birthday ritual for students at the five Claremont colleges. It is even noted on Claremont McKenna College’s website that the fountain at Flamson Plaza is a site that students visit to either study or to throw their friends into on their birthday.

Main Piece:

On the day of a friend’s birthday, it is a common tradition to throw that friend into a specific fountain at Claremont McKenna College. The fountain is located at Flamson Plaza and is in the middle the Claremont McKenna College campus. It is common for students from all five of the Claremont Consortium schools: Scripps College, Pomona College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, and Claremont McKenna College, to engage in this tradition. When it is a student’s birthday, friends of that student often barge into the student’s bedroom early in the morning, physically carry them over to the fountain at Flamson Plaza at Claremont McKenna College, and throw the student into the cold water as a sort of wake up to their birthday. When interviewing a friend of mine who was thrown into the fountain last year during her freshman year of college, she said that it was definitely one of the highlights of her time attending Claremont McKenna College. She said that this tradition was very unifying in the fact that this was a birthday ritual that was specific to the Claremont Colleges and made her feel that she was a part of the college community. My friend stated that even though this is a small tradition, it has a large impact on how an individual relates to the community at the Claremont Colleges and reaffirms the fact that a student’s friends care about them and want to celebrate their birthday.

 

Personal thoughts:

Throughout my time at Scripps College during my freshman year of college, I found that this was a specific tradition that peaked my interest. I would constantly see people being thrown into the ice-cold water of the fountains at Flamson Plaza and think that is was very entertaining. I would often think that it looks very entertaining to someone watching, but must be relatively burdensome for the student being abruptly woken up and thrown into the cold water in the morning of their birthday. As such, my friends at Scripps College knew that I did not want to be thrown into the fountain on my birthday and always joked that they would throw me into the fountain but never did, to my relief!

Easter Eggs

Nationality: Armenian
Age: 56
Performance Date: 04/08/18

In Aleppo, when I was growing up, we didn’t have fancy egg coloring kits. What we would use to dye our Easter eggs was skin of red onions. There weren’t a ton of colors… there was only red. There’s a reason for that. During the crucifixion of Christ, Mary had an egg in her shall. While she witnessed her son bleeding out on the cross she cried. Her tears mixed with the blood of Christ blended and colored the egg she carried. The color red represents Jesus’ blood. Also the hard shell of the egg is a sign of the tomb in which Jesus was encapsulated and as you break the egg you release Jesus from the tomb as He resurrected.

My grandmother would boil the eggs on either Good Friday or the Saturday after along with the skin of red onions. I would stand next to her and watch her peel the onions and put it in the boiling water. After the eggs were boiled they were removed and cooled and then we would put them on a platter. We put them in the living room… we didn’t have a family room… sometimes we put them on the dining room table. When guests would come, we would sit around the table and greet each other in the Easter tradition. One person would say “Krisdos haryal i merelots,” which means Christ is risen from the dead. One would reply, “Orhnyal e harutyun’ Krisdosi,” which means blessed is the resurrection of Christ.

We would leave the eggs overnight till Easter morning. I always got to be the one who carried the plate from the kitchen to the dining room table… it’s not much but it was my role. Then we would fight the eggs. My uncle would come… when he was born, Easter was very close to his birthday so they named him Harout after the Armenian word for resurrection, haroutune. In American his name is Harry. I fought the most eggs with him. I won most of the egg fights… I don’t know if they let me win or if I won off of merit but either way… I won.

My Thoughts:

I never knew there was a reason behind dying eggs. It’s interesting how now there are many different ways to dye eggs. Companies have monetized a religious tradition. I suppose that’s the case with many holidays though including Christmas, Valentines Day, and Hanukkah.

Belly Button Story

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“My mom kept me and my sister’s umbilical cord stump and put it together in a box. Apparently this means that we will have a good relationship in the future.”

The informant was born in Taipei, and grew up in Shanghai. The informant’s mother heard this from her mother.

After thoughts:

Baby Surrounded by Symbolic Items

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“There’s a tradition in China for a baby’s first birthday. The baby is surrounded by items such as a stethoscope, a spatula, a book, money, a tape measure, etc…” The baby is then encouraged to choose one of the items. Whatever item the child picks up would symbolize his/her future. So if the child chooses a spatula, then it means that he/she will be a chef.”

The informant was born in Taipei, and grew up in Shanghai.

After thoughts: Many other cultures have similar traditions. Armenian parents celebrate this ceremony called Agra Hadig. Similarly, Dol is a Korean tradition that celebrate the first birthday of a baby and blesses the child with a prosperous future. In the past, death rates for children were high, so this was an important milestone for the whole family and wishes a long life and fortune for the baby.

The Golden Dragon

Nationality: Korean
Age: 18
Occupation: College Freshman
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/13/17
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: What is being performed?

Informant: Folk belief by Crystal Soojung Choi

When a Korean mother becomes pregnant with a son, she has a dream that a golden dragon appears to her.

 

Interviewer: What is the background information about the performance? Why do you know or like this piece? Where or who did you learn it from?

Informant: My dad told me this story because my grandmother (his mom) had that dream when she was pregnant with my dad. I really like this story because of the mystical qualities surrounding it.

 

Interviewer: What country and what region of that country are you from?

 

Informant: I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but my dad was born and raised in the Boseon area of South Korea.

 

Interviewer: Do you belong to a specific religious or social sub group that tells this story?

 

Informant: It’s a dream that Korean mothers have when pregnant with a son so I suppose it is prevalent in Korean families.

 

Interviewer:  Where did you first hear the story?

 

Informant: From my father before I went to sleep one night.

 

Interviewer: What do you think the origins of this story might be?

 

Informant: It could be part of the values of royal families in older generations that a son was desired for offspring and thus, they were welcomed as a precious treasure before and after birth.

 

Interviewer: What does it mean to you?

 

Informant: With the appearance of the golden dragon, it could show how precious a child is in a family and that they are treasured and loved.

 

Context of the performance– conversation with a classmate

 

Thoughts about the piece– Other portents of sons include dreaming of cows, tigers, snakes and pigs but dragons are the luckiest. Daughters are symbolized in dreams by flowers, jewelry and other delicate objects. More Korean dream interpretation here: koreancultureblog.com/2015/03/17/try-the-korean-way-of-dream-interpretation/