Category Archives: Life cycle

Grandma’s Indian Food

Nationality: United States
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text: “Whenever I visit my grandma’s house in Seattle, she always makes a plethora of my favorite Indian foods. She will begin cooking several hours before we even arrive as the dough has to be made by hand. She makes traditional north Indian foods such as aloo sabzi (broken potatoes), raita (yogurt sauce), gulab jamun (syrup dough balls), and pooris (a ball of fried dough used as a vessel for everything else). Despite how she is feeling or when we get there, she always has food waiting.”


Context: This ritual was shared by the informant, D, during a discussion about family and food traditions. D emphasized how her grandmother in Seattle consistently prepares traditional Indian dishes whenever they visit. D shared how even when her grandma isn’t feeling her best, she always cooks, making the experience a meaningful act of love and care. 

Analysis: This is a food-centered ritual that reflects themes of hospitay and cultural continuity. By cooking traditional Indian food, especially labor-intensive dishes like pooris, D’s grandmother is both expressing her love and maintaining the family’s cultural identity. Given that she will prepare the food regardless of circumstances, this ritual turns food into a symbolic gesture of love that further strengthens familial bonds. This example shows how culinary traditions can help both deepen familial relationships and also preserve heritage. 

Halloween Costumes

Nationality: United States
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text: “Ever since I was little, I have always dressed up for halloween. When I was a little kid, it was always something fun like Rapunzel or Dorothy. As I have gotten older, I have put more effort into more creative and funny costumes, often matching with my friends. Even now I still dress up, just this last Halloween my friends and I all dressed up as the Powerpuff Girls. Even though I’m not trick-or-treating and often going out with friends, I always have to be in costume for Halloween.”

Context: This ritual was shared by the informant, N, during a conversation about holiday traditions that continue into adulthood. N explained that regardless of her age she will always continue wearing a costume for Halloween. While wearing a costume may seem rather simple, it helps set Halloween apart from a regular day. N also noted that the process of planning a costume often involves friends, adding a social element to the tradition. To N, this ritual is less about trick or treating and more about the feeling of celebration and self expression.

Analysis: This is an example of a calendar-based ritual tied to seasonal celebration and self-expression. In the U.S., dressing up for Halloween is quite common and allows individuals to express their identity through costume. For children, it often represents imagination and fantasy, while for teens and adults it becomes more of a creative and social outlet. The continuation of this ritual into adulthood shows how folk traditions can evolve with age. As N grew, she didn’t abandon this ritual but instead adapted it to fit her changing identity.

Jewish Funeral/Death/Graveyard Rituals/Traditions

Nationality: Israeli-American
Age: 17
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Bellevue, Washington
Language: English

Text:

Jewish funerals don’t use coffins and instead the body is just buried in the ground. The purpose of this is to return the body to the ground where it came from. Gravestones are lying down on the ground over the body. The ten commandments on two stones are placed where the head of the person would be. The graves all face Jerusalem. There is a lit candle at the back of the grave that symbolizes their soul. For seven days after the death (called the shiva), the entire family sits in the house of the deceased. They don’t work and don’t cook but just share stories of the person. The door is meant to always be open so that neighbors can come in to bring food and hear stories. The full mourning period is thirty days where there are other restrictions such as not shaving.

For graveyards, you always have to exit in a different way than how you entered, otherwise the spirits will follow you out. When someone visits a grave, they find a rock to leave as a gift to the deceased.

Context:

The informant is from an Orthodox Jewish family. They heard a lot of these traditions/rituals from their parents and the community around them or from visiting the graves of their family members. The Informant said they haven’t experienced a shiva before but that they regret missing it for their recently deceased grandmother. The informant likes the concept of the shiva because it is a celebration of life and remembering a person rather than being sad. They also like the graveyard ritual of leaving a different way than how you entered because it is fun, not because they believe in ghosts. The informant said that as a kid, they would paint rocks to gift to their deceased family members as a way to commemorate the things they remembered about the person.

Analysis:

The placement of gravestones on top of the body could be interpreted as them keeping the person in the ground. As the culture also is afraid of spirits following a person out of a graveyard then it is not impossible that there could also be a fear of someone rising out of the ground. Putting the person in the ground without a coffin and pointing them towards Jerusalem likely both have religious significance. A person might not be able to rest in Jewish culture unless they have no barrier between them and the Earth. Jerusalem is the promised land to Jewish people so pointing them towards the most significant place within the religion might be to help the spirit back to there in death.

The shiva is a community building event. By creating an expectation for a family to not work or cook, it forces neighbors to come by and support them. Leaving the door open means that everyone is welcome. Community has to come together in times of mourning and it makes it impossible for someone to grieve alone or for someone to die without community remembrance. The shiva is also a time for celebration rather than just sadness. Remembering a person by talking about stories and good memories helps people to feel a sense of resolution rather than tragedy. The seven day period blocks out specific time that is meant for mourning/celebration, giving the community time to process rather than forcing people to move on without working through their emotions. The longer thirty day mourning period likely acts as a reminder of who has been lost and honoring their death through daily actions. The informant felt like they had missed out on part of the mourning process because they missed a shiva, showing its importance for the processing of emotions in family members of the deceased.

Leaving a rock on the grave of someone deceased acts as a way to leave them a gift as well as a way to keep them in your mind. The visitor is meant to find the rock as they go to visit a person’s grave so they have to think about the person and what they might want. The informant mentioned how they found this to be a fun tradition, especially as a child, as it was a way to engage with death through memory and love rather than grief.

Leaving the graveyard in a different way than how you entered is an example of apotropaic magic as well as a prohibitive action. Entering and exiting the same way could bring on something bad but by changing something when you exit, you protect yourself from harm. Death is a scary concept so many people would want to protect themselves from harm while leaving a place that is full of it.

Filipino Wedding Cord

Age: 35
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Yorba Linda, CA
Language: English

Text

“When I got married, I included the Filipino wedding cord ritual. Not everyone at the wedding had heard of it, so I made sure we included a note in the program and had the officiant explain it too. It’s one of the traditional wedding customs in Filipino Catholic ceremonies, along with the veil and coins rituals.

The cord, or yugal, is typically a large decorative loop; it is usually made of silk or a rosary and shaped into a figure eight. This shape symbolizes infinity, endless love, and commitment. During the ceremony, two people called cord sponsors, who are usually a married couple chosen by the bride and groom, to drape the cord over the couple’s shoulders. 

One loop goes around the groom and the other around the bride. Then it rests gently across both of us, physically connecting us.

This is done after the vows and rings. It’s used to represent unity and the idea from that moment forward, we’re bound together not just legally or emotionally but also spiritually and communally too. 

In traditional Filipino culture, marriage isn’t just about the two people. It is also about the families, community, and even the ancestors who came before. The yugal is a visual symbol of that commitment. It says: we’re in this together, and we’re surrounded by support.”

Context

This narrative was shared by a Filipino American woman based in Southern California who recently got married and chose to include the yugal (wedding cord) ritual as a part of he wedding ceremony. The informant is second-generation, with her parents who immigrated from the Philippines. She explains that while she grew up seeing photos and hearing about traditional Filipino Catholic wedding customs, this was her first time directly participating in the ritual. She saw it as a meaningful way to connect with her cultural heritage and to educate non-Filipino guests attending her wedding.

She chose to have the officiant explain the ritual aloud during the ceremony and also included a brief description in the wedding program, since many guests were unfamiliar with Filipino customs. Her interpretation of the ritual highlights the spiritual, communal, and intergenerational dimensions of Filipino marriage traditions. To her, the yugal represents more than a decorative act. It visually affirms the idea that marriage is a bond supported by family, faith, and history.

My interpretation

The Filipino wedding cord ritual, also known as the yugal, is a traditional practice commonly performed during Filipino Catholic weddings. It is one of three primary unity rituals, alongside the veil and coin ceremonies, that serve as material and symbolic expressions of marriage as a sacred, communal, and culturally grounded institution. 

The yugal ritual is best understood as a life-cycle ritual and a form of performative tradition. It marks a moment of transition in the couple’s identity, not only as individuals becoming legally married, but as members of a broader cultural and familial system. Rituals like these are symbolically special acts that represent continuity with the past while actively shaping present social identity. In this way, the wedding cord ritual is not just decorative since it functions as a symbolic performance of cultural values, particularly those around unity, family, commitment, and faith.

The yugal also demonstrates the vernacular dimensions of religion. While it is part of Catholic wedding ceremonies, it is not a universal church practice and is instead deeply embedded in Filipino cultural contexts. It shows how religious expression can be shaped by folk practices passed down through community knowledge, rather than dictated by official religious institutions. This aligns with folklorist definitions of vernacular religion, which is a lived religious experience expressed through tradition, objects, and ritual enacted by ordinary people.

The cord ritual is also an example of intangible cultural heritage (ICH,) which is a form of tradition that is not a fixed artifact but a recurring, dynamic practice. Its meaning is carried through action, symbolism, and intergenerational participation rather than text or formal canon. However, as it becomes more frequently included in diasporic weddings (in this case, a Filipino American wedding), it also raises questions about heritage vs folklore. When the ritual is scripted into programs or explained to unfamiliar audiences, it edges closer to heritagization.

Debut (18th Birthday)

Nationality: Filipino American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cerritos, CA

Text 

“When I turned 18, I had a debut. It is basically a Filipino coming-of-age celebration. It’s like a quinceañera but at 18. For Filipinos, it’s a big deal. Turning 18 means you’re entering adulthood, so you’re presented to your family and community with all the grace and glamor of a princess. 

The most memorable part of my debut was the 18 roses and 18 candles.

The 18 Roses are dances. 18 men, usually dads, cousins, and guy friends, each danced with me one by one. They handed me a rose and sometimes say a short message. It can get pretty emotional.

The 18 Candles are when 18 girls or women light a candle and give a short speech about me. Some speeches were funny, and others were mini love letters from my closest friends. It was a way of seeing myself through the eyes of people who had known me my whole life, and it really stuck with me. 

I didn’t grow up in the Philippines, but doing the debut made me feel connected to that part of me.”

Context 

The informant is a second-generation daughter who celebrated her debut at age 18 with a full program including traditional elements like 18 Roses and 18 Candles. She emphasized that while she was raised in the United States, the debut helped her feel connected to her Filipino heritage. 

My interpretation 

The debut functions as a coming-of-age rite that is both performative and symbolic. In folkloristic terms, it marks a liminal moment, a passage from girlhood into adult social identity that is celebrated through structured ritual acts. 

The debut reinforces intergenerational values, especially within diasporic settings where tradition must be actively chosen and adapted. The event also serves as a space of collective storytelling as speeches and dances become public affirmations of the debutante’s identity, relationships, and future. Through these performances, the community participates in shaping the celebrant’s transition, offering both affirmation and expectation.