Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

Santa Lucia/Swedish Christmas Traditions

Nationality: United States
Age: 53
Occupation: College Professor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/24/2018
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

 

The following was recorded from the Participant. They are marked as PG. I am marked as DG.

 

PG: Every Christmas on like, I think it was December 6th something like that, the uhh the daughter in the house would put on a ring of candles on her head and bring in breakfast to the mom, and it was Santa Lucia day, which frankly I didn’t know much about, but we did it every Christmas. It was a Swedish tradition, and I learned it from my mom. Another one is we opened our presents the night before Christmas. She swore it was a tradition! She might have just been impatient. And every year I try to get you guys to do it but you always say no (laughs).

 

 

Context:

 

The conversation was recorded while sitting on a patio in Glendora, CA. The sun is setting and a group of us are sitting around all sharing folklore. The context for the tradition is that these are to be performed in the house of the family. The Santa Lucia one is performed in the morning, by the daughter, and the gift tradition was performed in the living room.

 

Background:

 

The interviewee is a 53-year-old father of two, who is married. He grew up in Los Angeles, before moving around, and finally ending up back in Los Angeles. He was raised by his mother alone, who is from Sweden. He comes from a religious background.

 

Analysis:

 

This is a tradition from Sweden. I find it interesting because although the interviewee’s mother is from Sweden, PG was born in America, so his only experience with Swedish traditions has been the same few that have been carried over by his mother from Sweden. These are not traditions that have been passed down to his children, showing the power of region for folklore. These traditions are fascinating because they are strictly part of the Swedish culture–it’s not like a more popular folklore item that is seen in most places by most cultures.

 

For another version of the Saint Lucia tradition, see Lucia Morning in Sweden by Ewa Rydaker (2014).

Noche Buena

Nationality: United States
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Northern California. Currently residing in Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 04/13/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog, Spanish

Main Piece:

 

The following was recorded from the Participant. They are marked as BDV. I am marked as DG.

 

BDV: Ok, so instead of, like, doing the whole ‘opening presents on Christmas day morning’ sort of thing, I guess its Pilipino tradition to sort of, um, so you go to mass the night before and it’s called Noche Buena-I don’t know if the mass is but I think the tradition itself is, the entire tradition is-and then you have, before mass you go to dinner as a family and then church, because most Filipino’s are Catholic….um, and after that is when you come home and open presents and it’s like 2:00 AM of the next morning rather than, like, ‘Christmas Day, Christmas Day’. And then, like, all the kids go out into the street and play with their presents in the middle of the night. It’s kind of odd…I’m not sure if anyone, other cultures do it but, yeah.

 

DG: Who did you learn this from, your parents?

 

BDV: Mmhmm, my mom told me. ‘Cause, originally, like, since my dad is third generation, we are pretty Americanized so we usually wait ‘til the next morning, but ever since my dad left my family, and my mom has been reverting back to old culture. So now starting this year we’ve started doing this whole ‘Noche Buena’ thing.

 

Context:

 

The conversation was recorded while sitting outside of a coffee shop at the University of Southern California. The tradition itself was held within a church, and then at home, every Christmas season.

 

Background:

 

The student was born and raised in Northern California. She is a sophomore at the University of Southern California. She is the fourth generation to grow up in America, but is Filipino. She speaks several languages, with English being her native language.

 

Analysis:

 

I found this piece incredibly interesting because it’s similar to one that I’ve heard from my half-Swedish father, where they open the presents on Christmas Eve. However, they don’t go to mass first (at least in his version). The reason it was so interesting was because it showed me the different sorts of oicotypes for this item-different religions and cultures have the same tradition. Additionally, I found it interesting that the family of the interviewee really only started doing this tradition after a split in the family-this shows how folklore ties us back to our roots in a time we might need them.

Filipino New Year

Nationality: United States
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Northern California. Currently residing in Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 04/13/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog, Spanish

Main Piece:

 

The following was recorded from the Participant. They are marked as BDV. I am marked as DG.

 

BDV: Oh yeah, so my mom has a lot about New Years that were passed down to her by her mom. It’s really weird, um, one of them is that when the clock strikes midnight at the New Year, all your pockets have to be full, um, of coins, and they can’t be like dollar bills it has to be coins because its good luck. And another one that when the clocks strikes midnight, all the lights in your house have to be off. That one doesn’t make as much sense as the coins but…

 

 

Context:

 

The conversation was recorded while sitting outside of a coffee shop at the University of Southern California. The tradition itself was upheld at midnight every year on December 31st. The lights tradition would be held at your home, while the coin tradition could be held anywhere.

 

Background:

 

The student was born and raised in Northern California. She is a sophomore at the University of Southern California. She is the fourth generation to grow up in America, but is Filipino. She speaks several languages, with English being her native language.

 

Analysis:

 

I liked this tradition although I would have liked to have known more about what each tradition is supposed to bring. I would think that having coins means you’ll have a prosperous year ahead of you, but much like the interviewee, I’m unsure of what turning the lights out. I would assume it’s a superstition about luck. Although I have no such traditions in my own life, I’ve heard about other New Year’s traditions being enacted that symbolize luck or good fortune for the upcoming year. Although the New Year is a man-made construct, different cultures still create ideas about what brings luck for the upcoming period, and what heralds in the new year positively.

SABADO DE GLORIA

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angelez
Performance Date: 04/19/2018
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Tradition

Sabado de Gloria is  whole week or two weeks I believe. This tradition is from Jerez, Zacatecas Mexico. It’s dedicated to Holy Week, Everyday is a different day for a religion which is Catholicism and dedicated to Jesus Christ. It is Special to my pueblo because its a special pueblo   its considered a magic pueblo. And do do it because I like the relay JustFab is turned into like a little Advanced more like you can go out and have fun and do the bunch of like musicians and stuff like that. People from all parts of Mexico come over and enjoy all of the festivities like a carnival in the fair. You can ride horses in different parts of the city either a bunch of music and decisions it gets really crowded they have pinatas which is like symbols of the different  disciples. When one of the disciples Betrayed Jesus He hung himself so it’s a representation of bringing the disciple  in piece. They turned it into a positive thing but have a religious meaning behind it. Sacrifices to remember him and his sacrifice for us.

My family is involved with the fair they sell alcohol they sell food and tacos and one of my uncles has a ranch of horses so they will take their horses and start making them dance and dress all coach cultural and with traditional suits.  The dances are tamborazo and banda. The guys dress in Charro suits and the girls  where  traditional dresses but different because they like to ride horses. On fridays they have a reenactment of jesus carrying the cross all the way to church and everyone goes into church and celebrate. Sabado de gloria is a mix of culture and relgion of Jerez Zacatecas

 

Background info

Since the informant is from here he really feels close to this event from his hometown because he goes every year to celebrate it with his family and brings him closer to his culture and his religion. This tradition that happens is very important to that specific town and it makes him feel proud of where he’s from and that part of Mexico. This event is really meaningful to him not just because he gets to be close to his hometown but also to celebrate with everybody from the town and get to know them as well.

 

Context

Sabado de gloria is huge in zacatecas and has elongated because it has become very touristy

According to a cultural website “ hundreds of riders travel the main streets of the city proudly wearing the charro suit and inviting women to ride their horses and take a walk. The importance of this party is such, that you can find riding or in some tapanco to personalities of the political or artistic life of national level that adorn us with their presence.”

 

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DAY OF THE DEAD IN OAXACA

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 04/22/2018
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: english

TRADITION

For Day of the Dead my country celebrates a lot like the movie “Coco” We go out and get the cemeteries and place a bunch of the orange flowers all over and we have a bunch of altars in each Cemetery to celebrate the Day of the Dead. We put out flowers guiding are dead family members to us so they can come and celebrate. We also do believe that putting the picture up in the altar allows them to come into the world of the living for that night and celebrate with us. There is a lot of singing and dancing that happens as well. The Day of the Dead is a huge thing in my country of Oaxaca and it is very meaningful to that country because it brings them closer to they’re dead family members. In a way we are keeping them alive by putting the picture up in the altar which is a lot like the movie “Coco” For my family we always put up all my grandparents pictures on the Altar and put a lot of sweet bread and things like that to honor the Dead.

 

Background

The story or tradition is very important to the informant because it brings them closer to their family on the Day of the Dead. Instead of feeling sorrow for their loved ones they celebrate and bring them to the living world to see how much they’ve grown and be close to them in a way. Day of the Dead is very important to this informant and meaningful because she gets to go back to Mexico and see all of her relatives and also in a way see all of our dead relatives and Cemetery by putting up their pictures in the altar she feels closer to them more than just looking at their head Stone.

 

Context

In the new Disney movie Pixar movie Coco this is seen and it’s very interesting how serious they take this and how the movie brought it to life . Is tradition is now widespread because of the movie and these folkloric tails and I might even start putting up an altar for my loved ones because I would love them for them to cross over as well