Category Archives: Rituals, festivals, holidays

Greek Easter

Nationality: American - (Greek Cypriot/German/Argentinian)
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: Friday April 22nd, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Greek, Mandarin

A is an 18-year-old woman. She is currently studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. She considers her nationality to be American, but more specifically she is one quarter Greek Cypriote, one quarter German and half Argentinian. that being said, she strongly identifies with her Greek roots. She is fluent in both English and Greek, and is currently learning Mandarin.

A: I have a fun Easter family tradition.

Me: Yeah?

A: It’s kind of Greek Easter thing, but after you paint the eggs you put them in the refrigerator, and after you have Easter dinner, everybody pulls out the eggs, they’re all different colors, you choose an egg of your favorite color, and then you fight each other’s eggs. So you like, you’ll each have an egg and then you like crack it, and whichever egg cracks, loses. And like you do this with different family members until at the end one person is left with an un-cracked egg.

Me: Do they win something?

A: They win like god luck for Easter.

Me: So you pick the one that you painted? Or does someone paint all of the eggs and you choose from those?

A: For me it was always like somebody painted all of them and you picked the one that you want, which for me, I always tried to pick the coldest egg, ’cause it was like the hardest egg. Yeah. I won a lot them when I was younger. So, yeah, that was fun.

A talks about a family tradition which they do every year on Greek Easter. She has fond memories of the tradition as she won many times growing up, also because she laughed and smiled a lot in her interview. Though she does not live in Greece, or more specifically Cyprus, where her grandparents live, she still celebrates the Greek traditions that have been passed down though her family.

Mother’s Day and Lilac Festival

Nationality: Black American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: Friday April 22nd, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

M is a 20-year-old black woman. She is currently double majoring in NGO’s and Social Change and Communications at the University of Southern California. M grew up in Boston, MA but currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. M primarily speaks English, but she is also fluent in Spanish.

M: My mom always gets the day off and we always go to the Lilac Festival on Mother’s day, ’cause it happens at the same time.

Me: Aww.

M: It’s like, we have the Arboretum in Boston, and there’s like, all these lilacs get planted and they all bloom like almost, like on command on Mother’s day. So, when we were kids, my dad would always take us to the Arboretum and give my mom the day to herself.

Me: But now your mom goes with you?

M: Hmm? Oh, yeah.

Mother’s day definitely means a good deal to M and her family. They have an annual tradition that they go to the Lilac Festival at the Arboretum in Boston every year to celebrate the day. Though the tradition has changed a small bit from giving their mother the day to herself to having he come long with them, it is still a good way to celebrate her and she still gets a nice day of relaxation. It is common to just send your mother a card and or gift to celebrate the day, but M and her siblings carry on the tradition of spending the day with their mom and showing her their appreciation by reserving the day for her, even after they have moved out.

Easter Egg Hunting with Siblings

Nationality: Black American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: Friday Aprill 22nd, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

M is a 20-year-old black female who is currently double majoring in NGO’s and Social Change and Communications at the University of Southern California. M grew up in Boston, MA but currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. M primarily speaks English, but she is also fluent in Spanish.

Me: Does your family have any fun holiday traditions?

M: Um. We are aggressive when it comes to Easter baskets. My mom is really happy that my brother aren’t home for Easter anymore because, I think she though she could like stop when I like reached 16, and she had the Easter baskets like out on the table, like you know, like we always do the hunt and then go to church, but she left them out on the table and we came downstairs and we were very upset and we told her she had to hide them, so she did, unfortunately very aggressively. And we didn’t even find them before church, so we had to go, we still didn’t have our baskets, and then it took us another hour and a half to find them when we got home. She was really annoyed. she was like, you’re ll adults you don’t need these, and my sister was…my sister to be fair was only 12, so she was like I am not an adult at all, like I want mine hidden. Then when my mom hid hers, my brother was like I’m only 14 and she was like ok. Then I was like, you can’t hide theirs and not mine. And then that’s when she was like, alright, these bitches… Yeah.

M talks about an annual family tradition of her mom hiding their Easter baskets and candy for her and her two siblings. Their mom thought that when they reached a certain age, that she could stop hiding the eggs, but the children all wanted to keep the tradition going. There was a sense of maturing and distancing from old childhood memories and games that the kids did not yet want to let go of, and so they continued the tradition until they moved out of the house. Not only was the Easter basket hunt fun for the kids, and kept their childhood spirit alive, but it was more time spent with siblings bonding and working together to find their baskets. They will likely carry on the tradition when they have children as it meant so much to them growing up.

Invisible Bench – Skit

Nationality: American- Irish Descent
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pacific Palisades, CA
Performance Date: 4-24-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Mary McGeagh is my 15 year old younger sister. She is now a freshman in High School and attending Catholic school her entire life. She is an avid volleyball player and enjoys spending time with friends and going to the beach. She lives with my parents in Pacific Palisades, California and has since she was born. She comes from Irish, German, Jewish, and Swedish roots but mainly was exposed to the cultures of the Irish, Catholics, and Jewish people. She attended a summer camp from the age of 5 to the age of 12 that has many interesting folk tales and traditions. The camp is pretty much run off of its lore and it is what makes it so unique. She carries the lore of St. Matthews Day Camp to this day.

Mary said that a skit is commonly ran on stage in front of everybody and is called the “Invisible Bench,” And it goes like this:

“1 Person squats as if he was sitting on and invisible bench. Then a group of campers come up to him/her and asks what they are doing. The camper replies, “Sitting on the invisible bench, come join!” so the join and proceed to squat as if they were sitting on the bench. This occurrence happens over ad over until there is one camper left and the ‘bench’ is full. The remaining camper walks up and asks what the group is doing. The group answers as such. Then, that camper who asked the question says, “But the invisible bench is over there.” And proceeds to point off into the distance. After this, the campers who are squatting,  look down and fall to the ground because they are not sitting on anything.”

This Skit has been performed for almost 50 years and is an integral part of the folklore of the camp. It is a simple way to make campers laugh, even if they know the end result. It is not known where the skit originated from, but it has been a skit for a long time and is something that all campers in history of the camp have been exposed too at least once.

This skit is very funny and plays off the irony of the initial situation that there is such thing as an invisible bench. Of course, there is no such thing, but this is what makes the performance so funny. It is a performance that contributes to the overall morale and spirit of the camp. It is random and goofy and makes little sense, but that is why it has lasted so long. It holds the aspect of irony that does not limit to age groups. All people can understand it, and all people find it funny or at least clever.

St. Matthews Day Camp – Closing Song

Nationality: American- Irish Descent
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pacific Palisades, California
Performance Date: 4-24-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Mary McGeagh is my 15 year old younger sister. She is now a freshman in High School and attending Catholic school her entire life. She is an avid volleyball player and enjoys spending time with friends and going to the beach. She lives with my parents in Pacific Palisades, California and has since she was born. She comes from Irish, German, Jewish, and Swedish roots but mainly was exposed to the cultures of the Irish, Catholics, and Jewish people. She attended a summer camp from the age of 5 to the age of 12 that has many interesting folk tales and traditions. The camp is pretty much run off of its lore and it is what makes it so unique. She carries the lore of St. Matthews Day Camp to this day.

 

Mary sang: “Saint Matthew’s Day Camp, Saint Matthew’s Day Camp, Scooo-ba-dee-doo, Scooo-ba-dee-doo. Swimming an Hiking, Takes to my liking, Scooo-ba-dee-doo, Scooo-ba-dee-doo, It’s the grooviest camp there is so much to it, all you got to do is get right to it, I like camp and I really want to stamp, for Saint Matthew’s Day Camp. HAZAHHHH!”

This particular song is sung at the closing of every camp day of Saint Matthew’s Day Camp. It is tradition that this is always the last thing sang or said before the campers are sent out for carpool to be picked up by their parents. It is a song that encompasses activities performed regularly at camp and also brings to the table the goofy atmosphere that the camp provides to its campers. The song is companied by a ritual dance that goes along with it. The dance has incredible goofy gestures but my sister could not remember them. This is sung by all campers and staff of any age and allows for everyone to acknowledge that another day of camp has passed. Its a fun-loving way to say good-bye until tomorrow and show appreciation for what the camp does to all people involved.

I am a counselor and was a camper at this camp, and this song has extreme sentimental value. I will remember this song for the rest of my life and it brings me joy every time I sing it. I see that my fellow counselors, my sister, and all campers that I see love and appreciate this song so much. It sums up the overall themes and values that the camp hold and bring together an array of different cultures. It is a beautiful thing and I am glad that my sister brought it up to me as being a genuinely folklore tradition.

Annotation: An example of how the camp is run is shown in this link: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EVCRqjSDw4