Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

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. 

40 Days After Death

“We do it because [the soul of someone has passed away recently] wanders around for 40 days before they settle on where they want to go. That’s why we pray to help them find their way to Heaven to because they don’t know where they are.” 

As a Filipino-Catholic, my family has many rituals that we perform at different life events. One of the most recent ones that my family has performed is the “40 days after death” prayer ritual we perform after a family member has passed away. For the first 9 days after the person has passed, my family comes together to pray the rosary together and recite the Novena for the Dead. After that, it’s usually the older relatives and those closest to the recently deceased who continue to pray the rosary daily, leading up to the final day when everyone comes together again to repeat the ritual one last time. 

The contents of this ritual are very heavy and the environment is usually quite solemn when this happens. However, when talking to my mom about it, she then started talking about how my whole family only comes together for weddings and funerals. These types of life events provide enough of a reason for people to reshuffle their busy schedules to come out and partake in the event. She then proceeded to talk about the fun memories with cousins that she doesn’t really hang out with and the dinners that occur after the prayer is done. It made me think about my own memories with this prayer, and how I also have had fond memories with my cousins and relatives that I didn’t meet until that time. Ironically, thinking back to these heavily sad periods of time where my family had lost someone, my mom and I first remember the memories of our family coming together for this person and to take part in this ritual. This 40 day of death ritual is ironically something that brings me a bit of happiness and community in a dark time, and I love my family for keeping that tradition alive for I believe that this familial togetherness is something that we value strongly. 

Always shave your hair so it grows faster?

AGE

51

Date of performance

4/30/25

Language

English

Nationality

American

Occupation

Business Owner

Primary Language

Arabic

Residence

San Diego, CA

Ritual: Shaving a baby’s head once they grow hair so it can grow back faster and healthier

Context + Text: The individual is my father and has told me the story of when I first started to grow hair, they immediately cut it all off because they believed it would grow back faster and healthier. “You know, it seems a little odd, but hair rituals have been a part of my culture for so long, some parents combine this with letting their kids grow unibrows because they believe it’s bad luck to cut that”. He explained further that while it may not have ever proven to work, as much of his family including himself are all bald men, he said that it’s been such a long tradition there’s no way they stop it now. According to him, the ritual went as far back as his grandfather, and he tells me that it is something I have to do when I have kids. The ritual does not only apply to men, as even the baby girls are shaven bald so that their hair can be healthier. He believes it is a little funny that it only works on the women, as they always grow long healthy hair while the men are going bald by 30. 

Analysis: The idea of shaving hair so that it can grow back faster and thicker has been adopted and transformed in so many different ways. Growing up, I had always learned that if you shave your beard with a razor, it will lead to thicker and quicker hair growth. Some of my friends took it as far as to shave even when they had no beard, so they could ‘cut their skin’ and promote hair growth. There are no scientific reasons for any of these rituals, but if we can convince ourselves that it does work, then we will believe that it works. A large part in the belief for these hair rituals is especially due to the lack of science that was around for this individual when he was in Iraq. There was never anything to disprove the idea that a bald baby would have the best hair, so the ritual was continued for generations as no one wanted to be considered an outcast. While I may not believe that this ritual plays a true role in hair growth, I may fall into still participating in this with my future children simply due to the fear of breaking the chain. 

Fanbases and their crazy superstitions

AGE

23

Date of performance

4/30/25

Language

English

Nationality

American

Occupation

PHD Student

Primary Language

Aramaic

Residence

San Diego, CA

Superstition: Every time I watch my favorite NFL team; I have to wear my pajama pants with my Lamar Jackson jersey

Context + Text: The informant is my brother. He is a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, an NFL team, and has been a fan for over 10 years now. When he was younger, he always believed that he had to wear his special jersey in order for his team to win. Now that he has gotten a bunch of Ravens gear over the years, he has increased his superstition. He has a new rule that he must wear his Ravens pajama pants and his Lamar Jackson jersey, the QB of the team. “You know I never took this superstition that seriously until we lost a super important game to a really bad team”. The situation took place in the playoffs when the Ravens were projected to win by more than 10 points but ended up losing the game. “Since then, I have taken it super seriously, I can’t have my team lose badly like this again”. Unfortunately for my brother, his superstition does not always work, as his team has failed to make a championship in over 12 years. However, they have gotten closer every year, and he believes that his actions have played a role in that.

Analysis: Sports superstitions have been around for decades, whether it be from the fans or the actual players themselves. Many famous athletes have discussed how they wear the same pair of underwear every game they play, because it makes them feel lucky and more “in the zone”. These superstitions are based on how the player performs or how the fan believes his team performed for that game and believe replicating the exact situation will lead to the same result. For the fans, these superstitions help them feel like play a true role in the team’s performance. “Every time I wear this jersey we win”, is something every sports fan has heard, and is it important to note the “we” from the fan, even though he is not on the team he believes he won because of his actions. Superstitions aren’t always negative and sometimes can be used to bring a sense of community as seen here.