Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

Splitting Xmas: Heritage and Tradition for the Eve and Day of Christmas

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Age: 24

Text: MF – “Christmas in my family is different because we split it into two days to represent both sides of my grandparents’ culture. Since my grandparents come from different backgrounds, they made it work so they could both spend time with their families while still being together. Because of that, Christmas Eve is centered around Mexican culture, and Christmas Day is more traditional American.”

MF – “On Christmas Eve, everything is focused on Mexican food and traditions. We usually have dishes like tamales, chili relleno, enchiladas, rice, beans, and other homemade foods that take time to prepare. A lot of the cooking starts earlier in the day, especially with tamales since those require prepping the masa, making the filling, wrapping them in corn husks, and steaming them. Chili rellenos involve roasting and peeling the peppers, stuffing them, battering, and frying them. Our enchiladas are a little different too. Instead of making them individually, my grandmother makes them in a big pan so there is more for everyone, which makes it feel even more like a shared family meal. It is more of a warm, cultural, family-centered night where everyone is eating, talking, and enjoying being together. Christmas Eve is also when the whole family exchanges gifts with each other, so it feels more like a big group celebration.”

MF – “Then Christmas morning is completely different. It shifts into a more traditional American-style Christmas. That is when it becomes more personal, where my parents give us our gifts (Under the tree for us when we wake up). We also have foods like ham, mashed potatoes, and other classic dishes. It feels more like what you would typically see in movies, with everyone gathered together, opening presents, and relaxing. The most important part of this holiday for me is definitely the food and being around family. The food brings everyone together, but it is the time spent with family that really makes it meaningful for me.”

Context: MF and their family each year break up Christmas into two separate days, where Christmas Eve is used to represent and celebrate their Mexican heritage and culture, and the latter day, Christmas Day proper, is to celebrate Americanized Christmas as is shown in pop culture and around the United States. The largest distinction between these two days would be the food that is made and consumed on the respective days, as well as the aura around the celebration itself.

Analysis: While being centered around a calendrical holiday, MF and their family made this truly their own ritual by the deviation of form, now having this repetition annually for them and their family. Taking a pre-existing holiday and molding it by one’s own community or folk group to align more with their vision, whether it be to express shared gift giving and family time, honoring the traditions of their Hispanic heritage with the food and style of family time but also celebrating the holiday as is done traditionally on the day itself. Within MF’s family, there really isn’t a Christmas Eve, but two separate holidays to treasure and cherish each side of their family. Through the communal act of making and eating food together, giving gifts throughout the whole family, or the traditional “ham, mashed potatoes, and other classic dishes,” lend the power of one’s own folk group, the rituals, traditions, holidays, and the foodways that fuel them to create something truly beautiful and unique.

Feast, Festival, and Fur – The rituals of a furcon

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Age: 27

Text: Interviewer – “When was the first time you heard of a furry convention?”

JP – “I’ve for sure sure known about them since I was younger but I didn’t really think positively about them until years later. I was a bit of an edgelord back in the day.”

Interviewer – “Have you been to one before or many?”

JP – “I’ve been to the same one, TFF, or Texas Furry Fiesta for 3 years as of now. So a couple times, I’d say.”

Interviewer – “What has been some notable elements of these, some highlights that you get excited about when traveling and going to these conventions?”

JP – “To me, the Artist Alley, a large room in the convention center where tons of different artists are posted up to sell their merchandise, get commissions in person, or advertise. It’s super cool. Besides that, the various community events that TFF has have been the highlights for me.”

Interviewer – “What rituals do you feel are active elements of every furcon, or you feel should be a part of them if not?”

JP – “Fursuiting for sure, and while it’s unnecessary I particularly have fun playing a bit of a character. I have 2 different suits, so I’m able to change up the characters I go as, which adds to the fun of it all since a lot of other people are doing the same. Some conventions even have events to show off all of the different attendees suits! Though despite it being a very integral thing, it’s still unnecessary and one doesn’t need a suit in order to attend.”

Interviewer – “What’s been your most memorable or best memory in the fandom or at a furcon?”

JP – “As far as my best memory, it would prolly be my first con just getting to spend time with some friends and having the opportunity to explore the city with them.”

Context: Similar to other fandom based conventions, a “furcon” is just that, a convention for furries or fans of the furry community to gather, go to panels, buy art, and be a meeting point for friends who would usually be online to meet up in person. When talking to JP about his involvement within the fandom, since I knew he recently went to Texas Furry Fiesta, I wanted to delve in and ask about the folk practices done at this kind of event, as I know other conventions akin to comicons have their cosplays, panels, celebrity features, and art galleries.

Analysis: Furries are one of the fandoms that have such deep cultural ties to industries, popular culture, media, and their own complex traditions, rites, and rituals. One of said rites of passage is attending a furry convention, or a furcon for short. Aside from this rite of passage, many traditional events occur, some mentioned by JP. These would include the sharing of community folk art at the artist’s alley, a dance competition, showing off the hard work and craft of fursuit makers by featuring your own, as well as being a pseudo-pilgrimage for a friend group all within the fandom to meet up. A furcon is a multi-faceted treasure trove of lore for all of those who attend, their passions, and particular interests in their characters, how they present themselves, and the boundless memories, activities, and events at their disposal.

Nicaraguan Duendes “Elves”

Age: 74

Text

Informant: “When me and my brother were younger, we sometimes went to a farm with our grandparents and dad. At night, we used to sit in the back of a pickup truck as adults drove, and when we were sitting there, we saw little kids following us. I told the adults that I saw little kids following us on the road, but they were running really fast. They were running at the speed of the truck. Only me and my brother saw them but none of the adults could see them. My grandparents and dad asked what the kids looked like so we described them as little kids with a red hat and backwards feet. The adults told me that they were elves. I tried reaching my hand out to grab the elves and the adults told me not to do that and I couldn’t reach my hand out to grab them because they were elves and they took children.”

Context:

The informant was born and raised in Nicaragua until they moved to the U.S. at 16 years old. When the informant was young, they rode on the bed of a pickup truck with their brother. One night, they saw elves following them and tried reaching out to grab them but failed. When they told their dad and grandpa, they were advised not to reach out for them because they could grab and steal them.

Analysis:

The story is unique in the sense that it’s not a common one told to children across an area. It is a personal experience, or a memorate. This reminds me of Lydia Hamessley’s “A Resisting Performance…” where she describes murder ballads being told in first-person perspective. I think folklore becomes more interesting when you’re hearing the stories directly from the source. It provides details that can get left out or aren’t shared when someone else is retelling the story.

Kaal Pudpe Sign of Respect

Age: 20

Text:

Informant: “This is included in what me and my brother do in my culture. It’s something that is a sign of respect, it’s called “kaal pudpe” and it means “touching the feet.” So you touch the feet of your elders. If you were my elder, when I would first see you, I would say “How are you?” and I would go like this” (gestures touching feet). “It’s respecting the wisdom that they have and it’s always a married elder.”

Interviewer: “So if they’re not married, you wouldn’t do that to them?”

Informant: “No, you don’t have to. There’s a lot of people around my age but then the minute they got married, you’re supposed to, technically. It’s a lot of things as well as a greeting when you enter someone’s house, as a sign of respect.”

Context:

The informant is from Karnataka, a state in India. In their culture, they view elders as wise and are highly respected. Married couples are also seen viewed highly. As young people, to show respect for them, they’ll touch their feet as a form of greeting.

Analysis:

In many cultures, aging isn’t seen as a negative, but rather, a positive. The elderly are seen as wise and more knowledgeable. Young ones are encouraged to respect elders because they lack life experience and can learn from them. Countries like Karnataka create these traditional ways of young ones showing respect by touching their elders’ feet. This ritual is repeated through generations and acts a way of socializing across the culture and holding people in high regard. In Chapter 5 of ‘Living Folklore’ by Sims and Stephens, they expand on this thought and share how “traditions associated with objects, customs, or rituals…may sometimes emerge into narratives and form an important part of a group’s identity.” This functionalist ritual validates the culture and sets a certain expectation that everyone must follow.

Paper Heart

Age: 20

Text:

Informant: “I’m used to doing this with gum wrappers mainly, that’s what we used to do in middle school. You take a rectangle and you first make it a square and then you fold it diagonally so it’s a triangle on each side. You do that twice. You bring one of the points of the outside to the middle and then you bring the other one to the other side. Instead of bringing it to the middle you bring it to the other side and the point in the middle of the triangle that you just made. Then you fold it up using the two points of the end of that trapezoid to bring it up into the middle. It looks sort of like a heart but not really. I was always taught you flip it around and make it look more heart like by rounding out the edges. It’s a heart. They look prettier when they’re made out of foil because they’re cute and tiny.”

Context:

The informant attended high school in America and learned how to make a handmade paper heart out of gum wrappers and paper. It’s a type of origami as there are many steps on how to properly form the paper to get the desired result. They were taught by their middle school friends and exchanged them with classmates.

Analysis:

Traditionally, children and teens make hearts out of gum wrappers. They fall under the material folklore as they’re a physical object and handmade. It can be made in class with resources that people often have on them. After they’re made, they’re typically traded amongst friends, acting as “gifts,” and multiple can be made. I think females are the primary producers of these fun, origami-like pieces that are traded with friends. This connects to my idea of it being a feminist approach because there’s an element of collaboration in making one for a friend and knowing that you will likely receive one. There’s also a process and method to making sure you’re following all the steps properly to produce the right result.