Tag Archives: celebration

Money Spraying

Text:

“People will come forth and spray them with money to show love and support — and oftentimes, if it is something like a service of songs, it’s also financial support in a time of need. So essentially, the celebrants are just dancing in the middle, and then people will come with dollar bills or sometimes five-dollar bills. Typically, it’s small amounts because what matters most during this act of celebration is that there are a lot of bills on the floor. People essentially shower the celebrants with money.”

Context:

The informant is a 21-year-old of Nigerian descent who recounted a money spray at her own graduation party. A common practice in Nigerian celebrations, especially those with Yoruba and Igbo roots, is for guests to dance up to the person being honored and press or toss currency against them as a blessing and a show of collective support. She recalled the experience as joyful and deeply validating, noting that the loving words accompanying the spray added a layer of emotional richness that far surpassed the monetary value of the act itself.

Analysis:
Money spraying is a cross between material gifting and ritualized blessing — economically meaningful, and symbolically prophetic all at once. The bills are not for the practical transfer of wealth. Their value is in their accumulation and display. A floor covered with money is a visual statement of the collective love, communal investment in the future of the person being honored, and the strength of the social network surrounding them. This is consistent with what folklorists refer to as “gift folklore”: exchanges in which the social relationship enacted and reaffirmed is more important than the object given. For the diaspora, where Nigerian and American cultures coexist, the money spray also serves as an assertion of ethnic identity, a way to mark a celebration as uniquely Nigerian, even when it occurs far from its place of origin.

Igbo Kwenu

Text:

“I’ve noticed it’s really popular in moments of gatherings, especially in moments of sorrow, or in a time where encouragement and bravery are really needed, or just when there’s a lot of difficult energy around — it’s just a way to rally and show support. It usually starts with a male of some sort, and he’ll say it, and then people will join in little by little, and by the time he repeats it for the last time, the whole crowd has said it: Igbo Kwenu.”

Context:


Igbo Kwenu is used as a rallying call at a variety of communal occasions — funerals, graduations and celebrations, the informant said. She first learned it from her Nigerian family, but has seen it used by older people in the community and children of immigrants in the United States. She recited this to her at her school graduation, to encourage her and lift her spirits. “Igbo Kwenu” goes beyond a literal translation, as she stressed that this would not fully capture its meaning, and it serves as an invocation of the collective Igbo identity and resilience.

Analysis:


Igbo Kwenu is a call-and-response oral tradition that ritually builds community in real time. The stacking structure — one voice, then another, until the whole crowd is joining in — is a manifestation of the social solidarity the phrase is meant to celebrate. It is not only expressive but performative in the folkloristic sense – to say it together is to act together. The phrase’s most versatile quality is that it can move across emotional registers; it can be used in grief and in joy, in crisis and in triumph. Its primary function is not to name a particular feeling but to invoke the community itself as a source of strength and support. This versatility is especially important to the diasporic life events in Igbo communities. Igbo Kwenu becomes a folk performance on the move, one that proclaims cultural identity and group belonging in any context.

First Communion

Age: 22

Text:
“At my First Communion, they took us up to the practice ceremony with all of our parents upstairs in the church. We had to practice eating the communion, representing the body of christ, and drinking the wine, representing the blood of christ, and we drank the wine. I remember saying, this is so gross really loudly, and my parents got so mad at me. The actual day was really fun. We got to wear our dresses and take pictures outside the church. It meant that I was growing up, and it was a really important milestone for my religion.

Context:
A Catholic girl from Phoenix discussing her First Communion, a coming of age ritual in Catholicism, and what it meant to her.

Analysis:
Her First Communion Served as a signifying moment in her religion, marking the moment that she’s growing up. It took preparation and practice because of how significant it is. She remembers the act vividly, specifically noting that wearing a pretty dress was an exciting part of the event. It’s also interesting how children remember moments of stress, even over moments of pure excitement.

Bengali New Year – Pohela Boishakh

Age: 25

Date Collected 4/21/2026

Context:

A good friend of mine, who immigrated with his family from Bangladesh for college, told me about the Bengali New Year celebration, “Pohela Boishakh” or পহেলা বৈশাখ. He told me about the general celebration and how his family’s celebrations differed from the norm.

Text:

On April 14th, “my family wakes up, we dress in red or white, and eat this fermented rice, mashed potatoes, and hilsa fish.” He explained to me that he thinks the white represents purity, and red represents joy or energy. But to him, the colors really symbolize the spirit of the new year and the celebration of Bangladesh. He tells me that breakfast typically consists of mashed foods, lots of vegetables, and starches, with a single piece of hilsa fish. He explained that the Hilsa fish is Bangladesh’s national fish and a cultural icon. When he was young, his family taught him that’s the way things are done, but he never really questioned it until he came to America and learned about our traditions. He explained that as he got older, his family stopped making the fermented rice (which would actually get you a bit drunk). For them, it was just a tradition that his parents wanted to pass down to him and his sister, “kind of like hunting for easter eggs.”

After the breakfast, the celebration isn’t over. They move to the streets, painted red and white. Parades go through the streets and people celebrate kind of like a big picnic. He explained it was “similar to the Marty Gras,” but without all the alcohol or debauchery. But a similar level of excitement, fun, celebrations and an almost parade like atmosphere. His celebration was quite different from those in the big cities, where they used parade floats and giant symbolic animal heads. In the countryside, things were simpler, and people would set up around the grass at parks and visit each other’s setups. It was a time for old friends to connect. He mentioned his dad’s old soccer friends had a spot at a local park they would revisit every year. Lunch continued the excitement and festivities with street food or barbecue-style setups. The countryside differed from the city in that the focus was on building community rather than on the nation or on symbolic ideas.

The celebration would continue throughout the day and into the night; families return home and enjoy an intimate family meal with fish, lentils, and, of course, rice. He explained that typically, the women would stay back or leave the celebrations early to cook and prepare the family dinner. Sometimes they would be able to take rotations, but unlikely. He explained that in his family, most of the cooking was done the night before, so there was maybe like an hour of work to do, and he would return home to help his mom and sister cook. To him, the festival was patriotic and a way to unite as a community, to remember his identity and beliefs, and honor his family and traditions.

Analysis:

The story was very interesting to me; it sounds similar to the festivals and events I’m familiar with, but at the same time, so different. The rice and a single slice of fish remind me of an almost religious practice because it is so specific and symbolic. But the practice is regional, not religious; people in India, including West Bengal, also celebrate it. I found it funny because my friend is a devout Muslim who refuses to drink when we go out. So, his telling me that the fermented rice got him buzzed had me feeling betrayed. But, he told me that “it’s nothing and doesn’t count as a sin.” This was very interesting and makes me think that aspects of the celebration, like the fermented rice must predate the country’s Islamic influence.

In addition, the meal seems to be a symbolic fresh start to the year. The rice and slice of fish are humble and could represent a simple style of living, or starting the year humbly. The fish, also the national fish of Bangladesh, suggests that including fish conveys national pride and recognition of the country.

My friend also mentioned a lot of details that he wasn’t sure about some of the traditions. He knew what they were and how to do them, but he never really considered why. They were just his way of life. His normal. It wasn’t until he experienced new cultures in coming to America that he began to think about why.

In addition the traditions aren’t static, they adapt. Fir instance he joined his mom and sister in cooking, and as he’s grown older, they no longer eat the rice. This just goes to show how traditions can change over time. As other cultures and norms change, some traditions might be viewed as less important, childish, or outdated, and may be cut or replaced by new traditions.

The costumes (red and white clothing) serve to show who is participating in the holiday. They serve as a physical representation of membership in the folk group, community, and celebration. They have symbolic significance, but my friend didn’t focus on the colors’ meaning. What mattered to him was that the colors represented Bangladesh and, more specifically, the country’s holiday. The same could be said about the hilsa fish and fermented rice. The meaning of each individual piece might not be significant or known to every participant, but the larger cultural meaning of being Bangladeshi and “in” on the tradition is where the meaning lies.

I also found that Dhaka’s procession, animal floats and general celebration style is protected under UNESCO, but not the holiday itself.

After moving to LA, he and his family had to change their traditions even more. He said that the celebrations are fragmented. Despite the large Bangladeshi population in K-town, it seems most celebrations are held at home and don’t last as long as they do back home. This shows how, as cultures and ideas spread to new communities, they must change and adapt to those communities. It seems the Bengali population in K-town is not unified yet to come together as a community and celebrate. But, it could also be because K-town isn’t “home.” His family just immigrated fairly recently, so they don’t have the same communal bonds they had back home. So that could be a factor as well. In LA, the family becomes the folk group, whereas back home, it was the community or even the nation as a whole.

USC NROTC Dining In

TEXT

At the end of the spring semester, USC’s Naval ROTC has an yearly celebration event called dining in, where midshipmen (ROTC students) wear their formal dress white uniforms and enjoy a nice, catered dinner at an off-campus venue to celebrate the end of the semester and their hard work. The highlight of the celebration are the “skits” and “roasts”, in which midshipman are allowed to address the entire room to make jokes or call out fellow students. Any individual that is found “guilty” of what they are being called out for, violate celebration customs, or make a joke/skit that the room deems unfunny, are required to drink out of “the grog”, a disgusting drink created from blending and mixing a variety of drinks, food, and condiments.

CONTEXT

This informant is a 20 year old USC sophomore studying aerospace engineering. In addition, he is a part of the USC Naval ROTC battalion and hopes to be a submarine officer after he graduates. His relationship to this celebration is that he is someone who takes part in this celebration, and he first learned about this celebration last year from an older NROTC member when he was a freshman. He recounts that he was cautioned to not go on stage and make a joke, as anyone that addresses the entire room will eventually be forced to drink out of the grog. The informant explains that he looks forward to the event every year not only for the good food, but also the fun jokes and skits, and the fact that this is the one event they are allowed to wear their dress whites, which he believes looks cool and gives him “aura”.

ANALYSIS

This yearly ritual from the USC NROTC folk group functions as not only a celebration for the end of the school year, but also a way to reinforce group identity through formal uniforms that invoke military pride, a shared dinner, and skits/performances that are based around inside jokes that only midshipmen and staff would be able to understand. In addition, with NROTC and its different classes/ranks based on the midshipman’s academic year, dining in provides a unique opportunity where this hierarchy is temporarily challenged from midshipman being allowed to make a joke about another midshipman regardless of rank. However, with this strict hierarchy being the backbone of structure in the military, the punishment drink grog and specific celebration customs/rules continue to maintain a sense of order, ensuring the core values of the military are always maintained.