Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

Family Christmas Recipe

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Manhattan Beach
Performance Date: 3/28/18
Primary Language: English

While talking to my friend Clayton, I asked if he had any specific meals that he looked forward to on any holidays or occasions with his family. His response was about a meal that he has every year on Christmas eve.

Clayton elaborated on this and said that, “On Christmas every year we do something called the ‘Feast of the Seven Fishes’ in Italy it is known as ‘The Vigil’. My grandparents came from Bologna, Italy. My grandparents home-make the seven seafood dishes every year and it is a similar recipe that their grandparents in Italy did every year on Christmas eve. It is one of my favorite meals, especially cause we only do this once a year, and this recipe has stayed similar across multiple generations”

 Background Info: Clayton is from Manhattan Beach, CA, but his grandparents are originally from Italy, and then moved to the states. Clayton knows of this traditional dish because he has been having this meal ever since he can remember on Christmas eve.

Context: Clayton told me about this tradition when I was talking to him before our class started, this was the first thing that he thought about when I asked him a question about if he had any traditional meals in his family.

Analysis: I had never heard about this type of meal, I have other friends who have roots in Italy and I asked them if they had heard of this and they said that they have. I guess it is a very common thing across many parts of central Italy. I think this is very interesting and reminded me of meals that I have on Hanukkah.

Swedish Christmas Meal

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: San Francisco
Performance Date: 3/28/18
Primary Language: English

My roommate Erik has ties to Sweden through his mother, who grew up there and still spends a lot of time out of the year there. While on the topic of holiday traditions, one that he found worthy of elaborating on was the meal that his mom makes every year at their family’s Christmas.

 

He told me that “Every year on Christmas my Mom, who’s from Stockholm Sweden, makes us her traditional meal which consists of smoked salmon, meatballs, potatoes, and we drink Julmust which is a traditional soft drink from Sweden— its normally only sold and bought around Christmas in Sweden. Something that my mom does specifically is make her homemade saffron buns that she learned from her mother, they are probably my favorite part of the meal.”

 

Background Info: This is something that Erik has learned and grown to love from his mother. Erik also sometimes spends Christmas in Sweden and gets a more traditional atmosphere for this meal. Other than that he gets to enjoy this family recipe in San Francisco where he resides.

 

Context: Me and Erik were talking at lunch when I asked him about any holiday traditions.

 

Analysis: I do not celebrate Christmas so it was interesting for me to hear more about traditions during meals that this holiday brings in Sweden. The closest comparison I can make again is my traditional meal experience that I have during Hanukkah.

Persian New Year Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle
Performance Date: 3/28/18
Primary Language: English

When talking to my friend Nigel whose whole family is Persian, he brought up a traditional ritual that is done during Persian new year, and touched on how his family does some things different and some things very traditional, namely, he talked about the Haft Seen Table.

 

I had Nigel talk about what this was because I never had heard of it, he explained that his family, “puts out a haft seen table, which is symbolic of the first day of spring. We put out different types of spices and objects such as garlic, wheat barley, lentil sprouts (that are growing in a dish to symbolize that spring is here), sweet pudding, dried Persian olives, as well as a gold fish in a glass bowl, these are all symbols of different things in the Persian culture. My grandparents usually use more of the traditional spices as the predominant parts of the haft seen table, and those are the things that I know of as very important just because that’s what my family has always followed. Every family usually does their own symbolic items on their table, as well as the traditional ones.”

 

Background Info: Nigel puts out a haft seen table every year during Persian New Year, and was explaining the symbolism of many objects on the table and how they are meant to celebrate the joy of spring. He learned this tradition from his parents and continues to practice this every spring.

 

Context: While walking to our class I talked to Nigel about the tradition of the haft seen table.

 

Analysis: I personally have very little knowledge about Persian New Year, so this was one part of the tradition that I was lucky enough to hear about. I continued to ask Nigel more about the basics of Persian New Year and I found out a lot about it. I am only personally familiar with Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year).

 

For another perspective on this tradition, as well as some explanations of the symbols, see

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/03/20/291443678/persians-celebrate-new-year-natures-rebirth-deliciously

Iraqi Wedding Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Florida
Performance Date: 3/28/18
Primary Language: English

Marc is one of my close friends, and I knew that his dad is from South Africa, and his mom is of Arab descent. With this in mind, I asked if he had any particular traditions at celebrations from either of these cultures. What he told me about what a dance that he has done at multiple Arab style weddings.

 

Marc said that, “At weddings we do something called a Dakbe line, this is pretty much when the whole wedding gets in a big line and does a traditional line dance from various Arab areas, this is usually done at weddings but also at other celebratory events. It’s one of my favorite things to do at these types of events. I learned this from my mom’s side of the family who is of Arab descent.”

 

Background Info: Marc’s father is from South Africa and his Mom’s parents are from an area near Iraq. Marc now lives in Florida, and attends many events every year that involve traditions and flavors of these two different backgrounds.

 

Context: Marc told me about this tradition while we were in his apartment hanging out during small talk.

 

Analysis: I personally have yet to attend a wedding, so I don’t know of any wedding traditions that I have seen in person. At bar mitzvahs, there is a similar type of line dance that Marc speaks of. What I found interesting was how this dance is done at other celebratory events as well because in my religion, this type of dance is only at specific events rather than multiple.

 

Iraqi Traditional Family Meal

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Florida
Performance Date: 3/28/18
Primary Language: English

Marc’s mother, as I said, is of Arab descent, so I had a feeling that his mom would have some traditional recipes that she has had passed down. Marc told me about a dish that his grandmother home-makes, and taught his mom, and something that Marc has at all family gatherings.

 

Marc told me about his family recipe for his favorite dish. “Its something that we usually eat whenever our family gets together. It’s called Hameth Kibbee ‘d Girsa. They are kind of similar to meat dumplings. The stuffing inside the dish is what my grandmother taught my mom, it has chopped meat, spices, and homemade vegetable sauce. You then can make the outer shell out of different types of wheat and then you stuff it with the center stuffing, making it almost like a dumpling or ball. My mom has added her own twist to the recipe trying different spices and stuffing, it is one of my favorite family meals”

 

Background Info: Marc explained how his mother makes this Iraqi dish almost at all family events, but she learned it from her mother who also helps make it at many events. It’s a rare dish, but one of his family’s favorite.

 

Context: Marc told me about this tradition while we were in his apartment hanging out during small talk.

 

Analysis: When Marc explained this dish, it did really sound like the Asian dish of dumplings, or shumai. He explained how it has a very middle eastern type of flavor, as opposed to a very fishy flavor like traditional dumplings. This sounded very good and diverse, and Marc’s mom promised to make them for me one day.