Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

Jordan Almond Wedding Favor

Text:

There’s an Italian wedding custom where, as a wedding favor, a couple will place five candied almonds (called Jordan almonds) into a net mesh or piece of lace, tie it up with a bow, and put a tag on them with information about the wedding. The almond net will often be placed inside of something, such as a ceramic angel, a champagne glass, or a ceramic high heel shoe.
Each almond is supposed to have an individual meaning- representing five blessings of health, wealth, fertility, happiness, and longevity for the couple.

Context:

The informant is Roman Catholic, and grew up in the United States. She was exposed to the practice when she was younger and went to the weddings of her Italian family members, where these almonds were offered as party favors.

Analysis:

A common interpretation I’ve seen as to why Jordan almonds are given out at weddings is because they are shaped like eggs, and thus represent fertility. Their taste is also supposed to represent the state of married life, with the delicate balance of bitter and sweet reminding the couple how life can be a balance of both. Either way, this seems to be a form of homeopathic magic- attempting to bring about a desired result by mimicking said result through the ritual. In this case, the desired result is to either have a good balance of bitter and sweet moments in one’s life, or to have a fertile and bountiful marriage. There might be some symbolism in the objects the almonds are placed in as well, those being the shoe, champagne glass, and angel. The high heeled shoe and champagne glass can both be interpreted as representations of the “celebration” at the wedding and a part of the bride, while the angel is more comparable to the Christian aspect of Italian marriage customs. These objects, representing the liminal space that is the wedding ceremony itself, literally carry the blessings (the almonds) that the married couple will receive once this space is crossed.

“Can you go get some steam?”

Text:

When there’s a new person working at the pit lane of a racing track, there’s a hazing ritual that the new worker goes through where they’re asked to “get some steam” because they ran out. So, they’ll ask if anyone else has it, and when they ask a person they will usually send the newbie to the next lane, saying they have it. This continues until they reach the main lane, essentially. Sometimes, instead of needing to get “steam”, the newbie will have to get “a left handed screwdriver”, which once again, doesn’t exist because screwdrivers work with both hands.

Context:

The informant had a job in public relations and sponsor acquisition for a racing team.

Analysis:

Beyond being a simple practical joke, “getting steam” for a pit crew can be seen as a way of testing how a recruit reacts to and handles a future situation. While the team may not ask for steam in the future, they might ask for something else that is hard to find, or ask for something in a strange fashion. Being able to react to that information and find such an object is an important part of the job. Additionally, it fosters a sense of community between other members of the pit crews, as having a common joke that they can all be in on and trick new workers with serves as a way to strengthen the bond between the workers.

Snipe Hunt

Text:

The snipe hunt was a sort of hazing ritual for older boy scouts to conduct and younger boy scouts to take part in. The basic gist was that the scouts would go out at night in order to hunt a mythical creature called the “rocky mountain snipe” or “west coast snipe”, or any other similar name depending on who told the story and where it was told. Said creature was supposed to be a very fast flightless bird, with feathers along its backbone that would glow in the dark. To simulate this effect, the older scouts would break a glow stick, tie it to a black string and have it pulled by a scout wearing entirely black, who would pull the stick as fast as they could through the forest. The older scouts would react to the “snipe”, while the younger scouts would attempt to chase after and catch it.
One night, a kid caught the snipe and was “bit” by it. They applied a crushed up hostess fruit pie to simulate an allergic reaction- with the raspberry filling resembling blood.

Context:

The informant is a Scout Master for a Boy Scout Troop. Their account of the snipe hunt comes from when they were still a lower rank Boy Scout, with them first hunting the snipe as a younger scout before learning about and assisting in the hunt as an older scout.

Analysis:

The boy scouts as a whole is an organization heavily rooted in the wilderness and nature, and I believe that the snipe hunt is heavily connected to that. It feels like a way to encourage that association among younger scouts. While it is used as a practical joke by many people outside of the boy scouts, especially people who attend summer camp, it nonetheless feels like an encouragement to be curious about the natural world through a legendary creature. It also serves to establish the hierarchy of the boy scout troop, with the higher ranking, older scouts being the ones who lead the hunt and call out the snipe, and the younger, low ranked scouts being the ones who chase down the snipe and fail to catch it. When a scout finally learns the truth about the snipe hunt and gets to join in on the activity, they enter somewhat of a right of passage into the higher ranks of the troop as well.

Matzah Hunt

Text:

During Passover, the informant’s grandparents would hide two pieces of matzo (one for him, the other for his sister) that they would then search for. Sometimes, this would involve a game of “hot or cold”. If they found the pieces of matzo, they would get a bit of money as well.

Context:

The informant is not Jewish, but rather considers themself a mix of various ethnicity, citing Jewish as one, but mentioning that he was mostly Christian and Scottish, with a bit of Native American ancestry.

Analysis:

When looking further into the matzah hunt, I found out that there’s quite a bit of history and symbolism behind it. The bread is part of a group of three matzo, and the one that’s hidden is broken off from the middle one of the three pieces. It is then wrapped in a napkin and hidden somewhere in the house. In terms of symbolic importance, it’s referred to as either representing the sacrifice that was once offered at the temple in Jerusalem, which speaks to the historic and cultural importance of the activity. Alternatively, it can be seen as a way of representing how one must set aside a portion of what they own for the less fortunate. With such an important symbolic represented here, it’s interesting to see it applied to a game for children to play. Judging by the informant’s recollection of the event, I can’t imagine the player of this activity has much awareness of its importance. As a result, they just see it as a game they can earn something from if they win. Perhaps this can be seen as the way folk practices apply in different ways to different people. While the children see a fun game, the adults see a piece of symbolism that represents them as a people, and said children do not learn such symbolism until they are much older.

Birthday Noodles

Text:

The informant makes a special kind of noodles, often just called “birthday noodles” for their children and grandchildren. The most notable feature of these noodles is the noodles themselves- they’re supposed to be long noodles, meant to represent a long life. While she used to make the noodles by hand, the informant now just buys spaghetti or lo meij egg noodles.
As for the rest of the cooking process, the informant says to cut the meat small before sauteing it with corn starch, soy sauce, oil, and pepper. She also likes to put in a teaspoon of sake, and sometimes some teriyaki sauce. Two cups of cut vegetables, consisting of chinese cabbage, carrots, and fresh mushrooms are also sauteed with the meat.

Context:

The informant is a first generation Taiwanese American. She notes that she isn’t particularly superstitious.

Analysis:

Birthday noodles seem to be an example of homeopathic magic, and a rather simple one at that, with the long noodles representing a long life for the consumer. The informant talked a bit about why noodles are specifically used, as they are a very common kind of food found all across Asia, including China, Japan, and of course, Taiwan. There’s quite a long history with the dish, and this presence in culture, combined with the general ease and flexibility of obtaining the ingredients, makes for a meal that can be enjoyed by many regardless of class or wealth.