Sephardic Rosh Hashanah Sedar

Nationality: American
Age: 46
Occupation: Rabbi
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/15/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew

The informant is Rabbi, working at a temple based in Los Angeles. She explains her religious journey and how meeting her husband and learning his own practices made an impact both on her life and religious beliefs and traditions.

  • So my husband is Sephardic, and so we have this whole ritual around the New Year that has all of these symbolic foods, and is something that without the ceremony is kind of, our Jewish New Year wouldn’t really have the same feeling to it.
  • So, I grew up in a pretty reform family in Cincinnati Ohio, and we were observant but not really I wouldn’t say very ritually bound; we didn’t keep kosher, we didn’t observe a lot o the Jewish commandments, but one thing that was really important to my family was Shabbat and the Jewish holidays. So I was always really into Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and Purim and all of that stuff. And when I was a young adult living in Israel, and I started seeing the man who has become my husband, he comes from a Sephardic background. So something that was so interesting was that I had been celebrating holidays in a certain pretty much my, my whole life and never really considered that there were different way of embracing Judaism because in Cincinnati we were just really not so exposed to other types of Judaism. So when I met my husband, actually the first time that I spent time with his family was on the Jewish New Year, on the first night of Rosh Hashanah and before we had our big New Years meal, there was a ceremony and symbolic foods that were set up all around the table and um I had never heard of it before, I had never experienced it before, so I was full of a lot of questions. Basically what I learned about the whole Sephardic tradition of having a Sedar for Rosh Hashanah is that they are very into the symbolic nature of food. So you have the saying ‘you are what you eat’ um and in the Jewish sense, the symbolic foods, you ingest the types of blessings and the types of direction you want your New Year to take. So some of the items that would be eaten traditionally would be carrots… like a, a carrot and the blessing over it would be that God should ordain for us a good judgment in the year to come, and you eat the carrot and the word is Gevurah or geburah (גבורה) which is the same word as judgment, so its like you’re ingesting a good judgment. There is the apples dipped in honey and thats so that you have a sweet and a happy New Year. You eat pomegranates and the blessing for that is that you should be as multitudinous in your acts of kindness and mitzvoth as many as there are seeds in the pomegranate. One of the weirdest blessings that kind of… that took me a while to wrap my head around literally is that there is a… a hope that we should be at the head of the year and not at the tail, so there is a goats head *laughs* that is a part of the Sedar, and in my husbands family they took that really really literally and at the time, I was a vegetarian *laughs again* so on the table was this like… you know this like overcooked goats head and they served the tongue and my hebrew was not very good at the time and my husband, well he wasn’t my husband at the time, said well you know its just a little muscle and you have to eat it so that the blessing is that we will be at the head of the year and not at the tail… and that was kind of my first experience with the Sephardic Sedar and I think that as I continued to grow in my own Jewish practice and really kind of learn more about the non Ashkenazic but Sephardic traditions I find them to be umm… much more ritualistic and much more superstitious and much more concerned with having your house in a certain order and having certain foods that show that your intentions for this Jewish rituals are really of a very evolved kind of commitment. And the Sedar around Rosh Hashanah, every time that we have it now, we  have different blessings that we’ve folded in and my boys, they certainly know all the traditional ones, but every once in awhile we’ll come up with some new blessings like uhh… last year my kids added celery with raisins so that everyone who ate it would have a ‘raise-in’ their salary and that was something that they thought was really cute, and it actually went over pretty well. But when put around the table with apples and honey, and pomegranates, and we don’t do a lambs head because that’s where I draw the line, we do a fish head, and I’m, I’m, okay with that, it’s a little bit of a you know a shift in the tradition, but knowing that his parents still have the goats head on the table, I’m good just knowing that someone out there has a goats head on their table and they are perhaps thinking about us. Its pretty umm, for me, especially as I grow older and as my kids grow older, its a really nice tradition, so I think that for them, knowing that we’re doing it, that their grandparents did it and are doing it, that their aunts and uncles are doing it, that so many other people in the world are putting this good energy into the world for a New Year thats full of blessings and full of all good things, makes them feel really connected and really proud of their Jewish practice.
  • Yeah and I started keeping kosher when I was in graduate school, actually when I was living in India umm and so for me it was kind of more my own personal and Jewish evolution. I think that when I knew that I was going to become a Rabbi, I kind of wanted to have more experience with Judaism but it was so meaningful for me that a lot of it stuck. So fortunately my family has been lovely and embracing and enthusiastic about the way we live our lives and they’re pretty committed Jews themselves so yeah it works out pretty nicely. 

ANALYSIS:

Occasionally when people are married, they adopt their loved one’s religion, traditions, beliefs or customs. I found this piece particularly interesting because upon becoming closer to her significant other, the informant was able to learn and expand on her knowledge of her own religion. I also found it intriguing that they were able to take his customs and transform them within their family to create their own new traditions.

Bulgarian Name Day

Nationality: Bulgarian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicagp
Performance Date: 4/3/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Bulgarian
The informant is a 20 year old male who moved from Bulgaria to Chicago as a child. He tells me about a name day tradition that he continues to celebrate even living in the US, and how he feels it’s an important part of his culture and life.
Name day is a celebration for your name and is celebrated just like a birthday. Mine is January 7th because it correlated with my name. Name days comes from the Orthodox Christian religion and its saints. The Orthodox calendar is full of days devoted to different saints. In the past, when Christianity was establishing itself as a main religion in Bulgaria, people began giving their children the same names as the saints from this calendar. People believed that the child named after a certain saint will be looked after and blessed by him/her. Over time, people started celebrating the day kind of like a birthday!I learned about it through my family and it has been a tradition to celebrate it every year, even though we have stopped following many other traditions since we moved from Bulgaria to the US. My family celebrates it by giving decently small gifts or money to the person who’s name were celebrating, and in return the person either buys cake or prepares dinner. Other families go out to restaurants or bars but my family prefers to keep it intimate. Not every name has a date for celebration, only certain common slavic names like mine; Ivan. Celebrating means a lot to my family and we continue to do it every year because it makes us proud to follow traditions from the country were from (Bulgaria).
ANALYSIS:
The informant spoke about these name days as if it were a second birthday. He explained that as a kid he would look forward to it just as much as he would his actual birthday and received gifts and attention all the same. I found this piece interesting because I have really never heard of people having a special day like this each year besides a birthday. It is very common for people to celebrate different days and occasions of coming of age, but this seems to be considered just as important as a birthday each year. I also think that having a whole day dedicated to you because of your name might offer an extra sense of pride and connection for people to their names.

Amici

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/12/16
Primary Language: English

 

  • Since joining Phi Kappa Psi in the fall of 2015, we sing this song every Monday night before we begin eating. We all stand up and form a big circle linking linking our shoulders, kind of like a big huddle that you would see at a football game or something. We do a little sway back and forth as we sing and then once we are done we can eat. This song is important to me because it signifies the long lasting friendships that I have formed in the fraternity. Singing this song makes me really feel like I am part of something bigger, because people in different Phi Psi chapters are singing it all over the country, and have been for years. I first had to  learn the song before I became an active member of the house. One of our house mottos is “continuing our friendships until death”, which is emphasized in the lyrics “Amici, usque ad aras” which means “Friendship ongoing until death”. I think it’s very interesting that if I were to meet other Phi Kappa Psi brothers from different schools, they know all the same stuff that has been passed down and we immediately share a bond. Knowing how strong my bond is with my friends that I have made here is truly inspiring and the elements of loyalty expressed in a song that we sing together weekly, lead me to believe that I really will be close with my brothers for the rest of my life. 
  • Lyrics to Amici
    (“Friendship”)
    Our strong band can ne’er be broken
    Formed in ole Phi Psi
    Far surpassing wealth unspoken
    Sealed by friendship’s tieChorus:
    Amici, usque ad aras
    (“Friendship, ongoing until death”)
    Deep graven on each heart
    Shall be found unwav’ring true
    When we from life shall partCollege life at best is passing
    Gliding swiftly by — Then
    Let us pledge in word and action
    Love for old Phi Psi
  • For more information see video of Brothers from California Gamma, California Beta and California Iota join one another to sing Amici.
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWxWXQl16vo

ANALYSIS:

Being a part of a the greek community myself, i share the feeling of belonging and community that comes along with learning a song that is special to your chapter yet has been passed down within the house for many many years.

Turkey Wishbone

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/10/16
Primary Language: English

The informant is a 21 year old male, studying in New York. He recounts his memories of a game he used to play with his family.

me: can you tell me a little bit about this tradition?

When we were little and we used to have turkey, when we would get to the wishbone and we would take the wishbone and dry it in the oven… dry it in the oven to dry it out… and then two people would take each end of the wishbone and pull in opposite directions and it would break, oh and the wishbone is shaped like a Y, I’m pretty sure its the sternum, and whomever umm got the bigger piece would get to make a wish, like when it’s broken, the bottom of the Y would end up only on one side and so one person would get that and the other person wouldn’t.

me: do you have a specific memory of doing this?

not a specific memory, but we used to always make rotisserie turkey, like it used to be a family thing, we made the marinade and made the turkey and everyone helped with something. It was something that we did pretty often. When I think about it I remember how much fun we used to have seeing who would get the wishbone in their food and then all the suspense while it was drying, and then the person who got the wishbone would get to picj who they wanted to pull on the other side, and that was always really hard because I have a ton of siblings and also my parents really loved to play too. And early on it was fun because with any superstition like that, you want to be the one who gets to make the wish and later on it was fun because of the tradition.

ANALYSIS:

Having participated in this tradition myself, I feel very connected to this piece. It is very common for everyone but especially kids to look for any and all ways to make wishes, ie eyelashes, shooting stars, specific times on the clock. This wish holding belief is especially fun in that it requires suspense and a bit of a game!

Loy Kratong

Nationality: Australian/Irish
Age: 54
Occupation: Marine Consultant
Residence: Malaysia
Performance Date: 4/10/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Thai
Loy Kratong is Thai for “Float Lotus-Raft” and has been a Thai tradition for centuries. We celebrate it in the 12th month of the traditional Thai lunar calendar – usually falling sometime in November. The term Loi means ‘to float’ and “Krathong” means a lotus shaped vessel that is made of banana leaves. The Krathong is decorated with flowers, candles and incense sticks and we can also put some coins in it. It’s The festival traces its origin to the Hindu festival of Dipawali which is celebrated in India. Originally, it was celebrated as a thanksgiving ceremony to River Ganges, however, the Buddhists of Thailand adapted the festival to honour the Lord Buddha. The candle raft (Krathong) is floated on the top of any water body as a mark of respect to the Buddha. It’s important because when we push it out it carries with it all the sins, grievances and angst of the person floating it, thereby offering an opportunity to get rid of the old bullshit and begin a new life in a much better manner. Some cut their fingernails and hair and put it in the raft as a symbol of breaking away with all negative aspects of oneself. I bite my fingernails so it’s tough for me. Hair = no worries.
The floating of the raft is also a way to give respect and thanks to the Goddess of water, Phra Mae Khongkha. It is also supposed to bring good luck.
When I got to Thailand in 1987 it was one of the first Thai festivals I saw from the boat I was on. Anchored in Surin Beach it was amazing to sit and watch all night as thousands of people floated their Kratongs out into the ocean with candles. Beautiful sight. Big mess on the beach in the morning but the Thai’s now use Banana cross-sections to float rather than Polystyrene floats – for environmental reasons. Which is much better.  ​
​I love it because we can get rid of all our old ‘bad luck’ or relationships or resentments and start fresh again to live the way we ‘should’.
I learned about this From all my Thai friends when I started working in Thailand in 87.
I used to scoff at it a bit in the early days thinking ‘these guys are soft in the head’ to believe this nonsense but over the years life wears you down and you realize that there are so many things in this universe that remain unseen and unexplained and I can’t ever grasp them all – so why is this nonsense? Maybe it’s true – whatever it is – 60 million people believe in it – so there’s some sort of congregation of the entire nation’s universal subconscious mind on that night and maybe that’s what gives it so much power to the Thai’s themselves. They care not what anyone thinks – they believe it and all do it (almost religiously) – I mean it’s almost unheard of ‘not’ to float your own ‘kratong’ because you may bring bad luck to yourself this way. I remember one year I didn’t have one to float by late afternoon and everyone at work got into a fluff over it and tools were down until ‘the boss’ had his Kratong to float. All the hostesses got together and made me a huge one that was so exquisitely decorated and it was about a metre around. ​
Did you teach your kids the song about it?
Yes – because it’s one of the great Thai children’s songs and everyone sings it on Loy Kratong day and night and it’s a perfect song for young children to learn to be part of Thai culture.
Because they were all born in Thailand and although they’re not Thai by DNA they are Thai by upbringing and should know all about the culture of their birth. ​
ANALYSIS:
I enjoy that the informant was able to learn and become personally connected with a piece of folklore that belonged to a culture and country that he integrated himself into as a young adult.