Transcription:

Informant: “The second tradition…uh…is eating Chinese food on Boxing day. And so…I think the tradition started several years ago…when…we didn’t…so there was some- I was young so I don’t remember very well- there was some dinner fiasco…on Boxing Day and everyone decided to get- to eat out…or to order in, more specifically. But because it was Boxing Day a lot of restaurants were closed. And it’s possible that this was Christmas Eve too. I’m not entirely sure but the tradition now is on Boxing Day.”

Interviewer: “And when is Boxing Day?”

Informant : “I think it’s the day after Christmas. But uh…so allthe places- a lot of restaurants closed and so we had to look far and wide for a restaurant and there was a Chinese restaurant that was open. So we just decided to order…a Chinese feast in. And so now the tradition is to eat Chinese takeout on Boxing Day cuz…the joke is that it comes in boxes. Chinese takeout comes in boxes so…it’s kind of a joke and it’s a fun tradition. It’s a lot of you know….it’s good Chinese food.”

Summary:

There is a tradition in the Wierzbicki family of getting Chinese Food on Boxing Day. It started when some event happened(unknown to the informant) that spoiled the dinner for that day (Or possibly Christmas Eve). They then ended up going to a Chinese restaurant since that was once of the few places open that day. Now, every year on boxing day the family eats Chinese food. This tradition is one that isn’t just specific to the Wierzbickis. A similar event happens in A Christmas Story where the family’s food is eaten by dogs so they start eating Chinese food for Christmas dinner instead.

Transcription:

Informant: “And then my third one (tradition), my favorite, which is also Chrsitmas…uh and many many years ago my father gave his mother, for Christmas, a book about Ed Gein, the serial killer. And he gave it to her cuz he was a Wisconsin based serial killer and they all lived in Wisconsin. Um and the book was a biography and there were pictures of his house that some of the-that some crime investigator had taken. There were pictures of…if you don’t know, Ed Gein is the serial killer who Hannibal Lector is based off of. There are a lot of famous pop culture serial cultures based off of him because he makes…furniture and clothing and stuff out of his humans, out of his victims. So he has like human skin lampshades and stuff uh… and there are pictures in the book of human corpses just strung up. Uh and severed heads and stuff. [Inaudible]…more like a big cow carcass. Yeah um…he got caught and that’s why they have pictures but there was a book about him and my dad gave it to his mother for Christmas and she thought it was absolutely revolting…and hated it so…the next year, sheee squirted a little bit of ketchup on it, to look like blood, and gave it back to him. Uh…now the ketchup is dried so it’s just kinda like a… a long brownish stain on the book but every year a new person gets the book. And there’s been repeats because it’s been so many years but every year a person gets a book as a surprise and people have tried to trick them by wrapping it in a small package that’s wrapped in a bigger box so they don’t know it’s the book. Uh but there are some rules that go with this tradition. One, you’re not allowed to get it until you’re 18…cuz there’re dead bodies in it. Though I actually got it earlier than 18 years old and my sister was very upset because she was older than me and she hadn’t gotten it yet. But she got it last year so it’s nice. Um…and then the other rule is that you cannot give it to our Aunt Mary or potentially anyone in her family because she claims that if she ever gets it, she will just throw it away, thus ending the tradition and we don’t want that. So she does not get it and yeah it’s it’s it’s fun. It’s fun to see who gets it and taking care of it and I was very honored to get it because it really felt like it was kinda my true real initiation into the Wierzbicki Family. It made me feel like part of the family.”

Summary:

In the Wierzbicki family, there’s a tradition of giving and receiving an Ed Gein biographical book. It started when the informant’s father gifted the book to his mother. Disgusted by the book, she gifted it back to him with fake blood splotches the next Christmas. Thus began the tradition of regifting the book every Christmas. However, the book can’t be gifted to minors or the informant’s Aunt Mary. Despite this, the informant received the book before turning 18. This seems like a fun and harmless tradition. It’s interesting to see how one small event like giving a present can blossom into such a big family tradition.

Transcription:

Interviewer: “Do you have any interesting or weird family traditions?”

Informant: “We have some like recipe insert that we’ll always make. Like we’ll typically make uh… gumbo on New Years and every month our family will try to meet up for family days just cuz everybody…there’s a lot of us and the family tree is kinda confusing so they just keep everyone on the same trend and have like monthly meetups where everyone is there. They’ll say ‘Oh let’s meet up at my grandparent’s house’ and then ‘okay great’. That’s the most of it. There’s…yeah that’s pretty much it.”

Interviewer: “Is it a special type of gumbo?”

Informant: “Well the tricky part is I don’t actually know what’s in the gumbo. My grandma’s the only one that knows the recipe and we’ve tried to get her to tell us and she’ll stand there and make it with us but she won’t like let us write it down or anything so…I guess so yeah. It’s a special pot of gumbo.”

Interviewer: “Okay…what is gumbo exactly?”

Informant: “Gumbo is…it’s a southern dish that’s sorta like a soup and so the thing that makes gumbo unique is you throw in a whole bunch of different like ingredients. You’ll put in shrimp, you’ll put in sausage,chicken,crab. Pretty much any meat that you got. It’s kinda like how the tradition started back in slavery where you like made soup out of whatever sort of meat you had and since then they were like ‘ah this is actually pretty good. Let’s keep doing this now that we can like pick what meat we get’. They kinda started picking and choosing what goes in there and so…in our pot we do shrimp, and crab, and some chicken, sausage. I think that’s it? Yeah that’s in there.

Interviewer: “And how long has the gumbo tradition been going on?”

Informant: “Uhh years…and I don’t really know but they used to live in Louisiana before they moved out here and so our grandparents made it and I’m not sure who made it before them but it’s been a long way going. I don’t know if the recipe has changed much over the year but I know they’ve been cooking it forever.”

Interviewer: “And does your grandmother intend to pass it on eventually?”

Informant: “Uh…I mean eventually. I don’t think she wants to per say because she kinda likes the idea of having something to do. Like ‘it’s my pot of gumbo and I want to make it’ and every now and then we’ll try to have her explain bits and parts of it to us and…like my mom kinda knows it but she doesn’t really like cooking that much so we’re trying to get my sister to learn it since she’s kinda like the cook of the house. Otherwise…I’m not much of a cook so…I’m just trying to remember the basics of it so in case I’m like ‘shoot I need to make a pot of gumbo’, I can figure it out.”

Interviewer: “How much do you know about how to make it?”

Informant: “Hmm I know like the basics and I know the end game, and I know the stuff that goes in. It’s more like the amounts she puts in and the stuff to make the broth that’s the tricky part. I don’t know cuz it’s still a soup so I know the meat and stuff but I don’t know what parts you need for the broth and how long to cook it and that kinda stuff yet.”

Summary:

The informant’s family gathers together monthly. However, during New Years gatherings they all eat gumbo cooked by his grandmother. This gumbo is a special recipe that only she knows and hasn’t completely told to anyone else yet. It’s likely that later on, the informant’s sister will learn the recipe in order to uphold the tradition. I would like to try the gumbo myself. It sounds delicious.