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Diwali Celebration

Nationality: Indian
Age: 68
Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Residence: Carlisle, MA
Performance Date: 3/19/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Gujarati, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, French

Informant Bio: Informant is my father.  He was born in Mumbai, India and moved to the U.S . when he was 22.  He still remembers many of the poems and songs from his childhood.  He is fluent in over five languages and provides the original folklore and translations below.

 

Context: I was interviewing the informant about childhood traditions, rituals, songs sung and tales performed.

 

 

Item: “As a kid growing up one of my favorite, perhaps my most favorite holiday was Diwali, or Devali.  We waited for that holiday for months, and, uh, preparations were all around us, you know, my mother used to be busy for months making sweets and goodies that could be shared with family and friends during the holidays.  It actually was a great time of the year weather-wise; we had our half-yearly exams in the schools just before the Diwali vacation so we were more relaxed for the three-four week holiday across schools and colleges across the country.  No matter where you went people would be preparing or anticipating Diwali.

 

One of the things I enjoyed most as a kid was going to different sweet and gift shops with my dad.  You’d be buying custom packages of sweets and you could pick and choose what you wanted in the box.  One of the things I enjoyed the most was that you were allowed to taste everything in the shop.  I really enjoyed this process especially since we would never normally buy these kinds of things.  I’d give my suggestion to my dad and he would listen and agree – this was my bonding time with my dad.  These boxes were decorated extensively and wrapped, and we would then go to different peoples homes where he would give them the gifts with me by his side.  I would shake hands with the people and greet them, wish them ‘Happy Diwali’, and in general have a very pleasant experience and be able to meet different people and see new places.  Most of these people were my father’s business associates or people who’d done him favors throughout the year.  He remembered most of the people who he felt he owed something.  The gifts were a way to give back and everyone accepted gifts at this time.

 

Diwali is, uh, in some sense a religious holiday depending on the religion that you follow.  India has a lot of religions and lots of uh, variety of people with backgrounds, ethnicity and culture, but somehow all people celebrated this particular holiday.  Rich and poor, Hindu and not Hindu, children and adults all participated.  It’s like Christmas in the U.S. in that you cannot move around without being touched by the holiday.  Growing up, Diwali was not commercialized like Christmas is in the U.S. however.  Diwali is when businessmen closed their fiscal year and represents the start of the new year based on the Lunar calendar.  There is no consensus on the exact calendar so Diwali is celebrated at different times throughout the country (sometimes a day or two ahead or behind other places).  It falls on the last month of the year (in the no moon phase of the lunar calendar).

 

The festival itself is five to six days long, and in some parts of the country it stretches to fifteen days.  It usually falls somewhere in October or November.  Uh, mainly most of the people celebrate five days.  The first day is called ‘Dhanteres’ meaning the thirteenth day of the lunar calendar on the no moon side.  Dhan means ‘wealth’ and, that’s the day that businessmen especially would worship their books, and sort-of be thankful for the good year that they’ve had, and, uh that’s a big celebration and right after that there are some sweets and other things that are distributed.  Bonuses are given out to employees and it is a very happy day for most people.  They worship the books and wealth because in Indian culture wealth is not taboo; the pursuit of wealth is considered part of every person’s endeavor.  It is believed that if you are wealthy or if the goddess of wealth has bestowed her blessings on you, it just means you are being rewarded for your good deeds in the past life.  If you continue doing good deeds, you will be rewarded in the future life if stuff isn’t working out right now.

 

The following day is called “Kali Chaudus”, with Kali meaning evil, occurring on the fourteenth day of the lunar cycle in which the evil is won over by goodness.  It is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil.

 

Then comes the Diwali, which is, uh, on the day of the New Moon.  The way the festivities work is that all throughout these holidays people wear nice clothes with the women dressing up.  On that particular day of Diwali there are feasts all over the place.  This is the thing that people really look forward to.  How do people spend months preparing for this?  Girls and older women especially would adorn the entrances to their homes with what is called ‘rangoli’ right outside the door on the side.  They would make dry paints on the floor itself and go in different designs with some of them getting really elaborate, making different shapes.  Basically this is all to welcome visitors that they would be expecting in the holidays.  It reaches a point where regionally people may have competitions among the amateur artists in which the best rangoli is chosen.  The other thing that children were involved with, and this probably didn’t happen throughout the country but did in the area I grew up, was the people in the neighborhood would get together and setup in one of the building compounds that is fenced off.  It would be a 20 feet by 20 feet area in which they’d make different sculptures, statues, a water dam, or maybe scientific experiments.  This would be strung together in an elaborate showing and people would come visit and provide feedback, criticize or admire the work that was done.  You always wanted to put on the best show, it was kind of like show and tell in that you wanted to show the best stuff possible.  There would be more regional competitions which sort of brought out the competitive spirits and different kind of activity that you don’t get involved with during the year or normal school days.  I, as a kid, spent a lot of time trying to come up with ideas and putting these things together.

 

One of the big things during this time is firecrackers.  There were no restrictions about lighting them up.  They were freely available in stores, in fact this was a boom time for all the small shops that carried them.  Surprisingly, there were very few accidents where people got hurt.  I lit up a ton of firecrackers (and everyone else did too).  Every morning, starting around 4/5AM until 8/9AM you’d hear firecrackers and then again at night from 7PM to midnight.  This went on in every street in every corner of the city.  Yes it was noisy, but this was Diwali so people were celebrating so people would expect it and get used to it.

 

The other thing that would happen was just before Diwali people would decorate their homes with different lights, after all this is the festival of lights.  So, they would have electric bulbs sort of strung together in different patterns, decorative lights, and also some, uh, lanterns that are hand-made and oil burning flame.  These lanterns would be all over the place and people would make very elaborate shapes and be artistic with the light.  It looked beautiful; wherever you turned, you saw lights and the celebration, and that was Diwali.

 

This went on and on.  The day after Diwali, businessmen would worship the goddess of wealth and start their books for the new year.  There was no money exchanged but orders would be placed so it was sort of a big start for the new year.  People would be very joyous and contracts would be exchanged.

 

The next day is considered New Year’s Day according to the Hindu calendar.  That morning, people would get up early both children and adults.  They would wear their best clothes that they saved/planned to wear.  People would go out to friends and relatives’ houses, teachers, doctors and dentists houses and would knock on their doors and wish them happy new year.  They would be invited in and would take a little bit of snacks and sweets and went from home to home and place to place.  This would go on for almost a whole day.

 

The following day, the second day of the year, is called “Bhaibeej” or brother’s day.  Sisters would invite their brothers and their family to come to their home for dinner, and, uh the brother would bring some special gift for the sister and sort of vow to protect her that no harm would come to her that year.  That basically would end the Diwali.  Some parts of the country would have extra days of a Mini Diwali celebration with the same festivities on a smaller scale continue.

 

Analysis: Diwali represents the triumph of brightness over darkness and good over evil.  The festival legend surrounds the return of Lord Rama from a fourteen year exile.  He was fighting the demon king Ravana and succeeded.  People lit a path of oil lamps for Lord Rama and his family to follow back to their palace.  This would be an extraordinarily happy time that calls for celebration, as Diwali does.

 

Highly illuminated homes signify a connection to the skies and heavens; people are trying to show respect while also garnering a connection with the heavens for the attainment of wealth, happiness and prosperity (all associated with light).  The use of firecrackers helps call attention to the heavens of humans and their happy expressions.  The significance of light could also be investigated on an internal level.  We want avoid being consumed by darkness, but instead exude the light so that we can make the world around us a better place, achieve illumination of the soul and be closer to the heavens.

 

Interviewer Note: I included some pictures of the rangoli and Diwali celebrations in the attachment labeled ‘Diwali Pictures.docx”.


Chinese New Year in a Taiwanese-American home

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 21, 13
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin Chinese

“It’s just my nuclear family that’s here in America. So it’s my mom, my dad, sister, and me. So ‘family’ constitutes as, you know, those four and then just anyone who’s Taiwanese that we see, they’re considered family. So for Chinese New Year gatherings, we would gather together with like–probably like six other families, and we would do Chinese things.

So what we do as Taiwanese Americans… Normally you get together with every part of your family–like, mom’s, dad’s sides. But again, we’re just the four of us. So we just gather with these other families who are also just here by themselves. Um. So we all get together in one of our houses, like every year, we go to a different person’s house.

And, uh…there’s really no structure to it. Because I was a kid, so you know, you sit at the kids’ table, and then, um… So there’s food, there’s a lot of food. My family’s vegetarian…that’s–that’s the whole Buddhist part. So there’s…we go for the vegetarian option. But then the other families aren’t all Buddhist, so um…they…usually order take out. So part of it they cook, the other part is like, ‘too lazy, might as well just order.’

Um. And so, we usually just go and get food. And then the adults hang out upstairs and we hang out in the basement–like the lounge slash TV–wherever the TV is, the kids gravitate towards. So we play, like, video games.

And then there’s the transition after dinner, like when most people are done eating. Then we take turns, family by family, where you sit–the mom and dad on chairs, like in the lounge. And then you have the kids kind of sit and bow in front of them, and they kind of like–this is where you, like, ask for the red envelope. Where you have to earn it.

Which is–so, in Chinese New Year culture, you have the parents–I don’t know why we do this–the parents give a gift of monetary value in the form of a red envelope to the children. Um. Oh God, I don’t even know why. It’s probably–it’s a sense of good luck, and fortune. It means–it’s a metaphor for something. I don’t know what it is. I’m sure there’s a whole ritual for it, in China or Taiwan, but it’s like distilled down into, like: ‘Okay, the parents sit here. Okay, uh, ask for your red envelopes. In Chinese! In the broken Chinese that you have.’

And so you do that. And then there’s some hugging. And then, like…Asian families are a lot less vocal, about their emotions. It’s like, the love is just insinuated, like, “Oh yeah, I make food for you every night. I love you.” But here, it’s like, kinda awkward. You kinda wanna say it, but then it’s like… So. That happens. It’s, like, awkward. And, like…yeah.

So then each family does that. Oh, and when we were really young? They had us perform before that. So, like, there’d be a violin performance, and then another violin performance. And I think that’s about all we did. And then as we got older, it was just–go straight for it. Everyone just got too lazy.

And then after that, we would go back to eating and playing video games. And then cake. Because we would meet, like, once a month. So it was like, ‘Okay, all the–the January birthdays!’ and there would be a giant cake with candles on it. And you’d blow that out, and then we’d eat cake. And then play video games until our parents told us we had to go.

And that was Chinese New Year.

And all the other holidays seemed to be the same basic structure. Video games, some awkward ceremony…and cake.”

My informant moved to the US when he was five years old. He belongs to a Taiwanese-American Buddhist family, and he was very adamant about the fact that they were neither Taiwanese nor American, but a combination of the two. Because of this, he seemed unsure if the way that his family celebrates the Chinese New Year was “traditional” or bore any resemblance to the way other families celebrate the holiday.
The combination of the traditional (the red envelope ceremony – red for luck) and the modern (the kids all playing video games) seems to be the norm for many immigrant families. In my informant’s description of his Chinese New Year, it is evident that, as he explained, his family is both Taiwanese and American.
I found his aside about the way that his family shows love very interesting. They are tight-knit and obviously love each other, but as he describes it, it is much more demonstrative than stated outright. After all, what can be more loving than feeding your kids every day?

Fiesta, Santa Barbara

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/13
Primary Language: English

Informant: “So, Fiesta’s a cool thing in Santa Barbara that it’s, like, this week in August where the entire town just agrees that they just wanna get really drunk and everyone’s like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ Um, I think they have a couple of events that’s meant to celebrate our Spanish history because we were founded by Saint Barbara or… (scoffs)

I think it’s meant to celebrate becoming sort of the town that it is today so, and celebrating our Spanish tradition, so a lot of people will, like, just go to all the bars and get really drunk because that’s how they interpret Fiesta, um, And it’s always really funny because State Street, like, our big street, is just filled with confetti and als— cause, do you know what cascarones are? They’re these– the eggs that they hollow out and then they fill with confetti. So they’re hollowed out confetti eggs and you crack– you are supposed to crack them in your hands, this is a lesson I learned, you crack them in your hand and then you just go like this (he rubs the palm of his hand in a circle on the top of his head) and put it on people’s hair. And there’s confettis everywhere so State Street is just littered in confetti because it falls everywhere, like, Starbucks, ugh– over the summer, so much confetti to sweep up, disaster. It turns into a disaster zone over the summer. But if you crack the eggs without cracking them in your hand first, like you just try to put it on people’s heads, the shells are a lot harder than you think and they’ll just… hurt people. So that’s an important thing. But cascarones are a huge thing. And then we have a lot of flamenco dancing that goes on which is amazing. Um, yeah, it’s, like, some of the biggest flamencoing stuff goes on in Santa Barbara, outside of Spain, um, and, yeah. They have all of this, like, the spirit of the fiesta which goes to one of the young flamenco dancers and there’s this whole culture there that I never even knew about. Um and a lot of traditions about flamencoists and stuff which is really cool, um, but one thing I found really interesting about Fiesta is how mixed it got with the Mexican culture because of, just of, our city has kind of a, uh, em, decently sized Mexican population so there’s always, like, mariachi bands playing and stuff which isn’t at all related to Spain. I mean, like, it’s Latin America versus Spain so, like, there’s a really interesting confused mix of, like, Mexican versus Spanish culture and everyone just kind of accepts it. Which, like, the analyst inside of me is just, like, I wonder what’s significant about that about globalization, about, like, people wearing sombreros and thinking, like, you know this is a Spanish thing versus, like, a Mexican thing so that, that was always, like, something I’ve gotten into as I got older. Because as a kid it was like ‘Confetti, hey!’ and now I’m just, like, what are the implications now of, like, this mixed culture. Um, but for the most part, like, it’s pretty Spanish and we celebrate, like, we have streets called, we have a street called De La Guerra which translates into, like, ‘from the war.’ Uh, and that’s a pretty historic street for us and that turns into kind of like a little market with lots of Spanish food being served and, um, it’s a big, it’s a big just part– it’s a week of party; it’s amazing. So. That’s I guess sort of a tradition… And drunk people knock on lots of people’s doors and ask to use their bathrooms. That’s what my friend hates about Fiesta. Constant music, constant drunk people…”

Lavelle: “Trying to use your bathrooms?”

Informant: “Trying to use your bathrooms.”

Lavelle: “That’s really funny.”

Informant: “Yeah, pretty brazen.”

My informant is a native of Santa Barbara, California and he has been aware of the celebration of Fiesta for many years. He enjoyed it innocently as a child and it’s always been a tradition he looks forward to during the summer. My informant loves Santa Barbara and the traditions the community has. My informant has also begun to question some of the practices that are accepted at Fiesta, the drunken escapades most specifically. Also, my informant is interested in learning more about how Mexican culture was infused into this Spanish tradition.

Quinceañera

Nationality: Mexican, German
Age: 20
Occupation: Studeny
Residence: Quartz Hill, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Quinceañeras are celebrations in hispanic cultures when a girl becomes a woman at quince años, or fifteen years old. Marcea had a quinceañera of her own, in which I participated as a dama. She explained the traditions of of the quince and what it meant to her.

 

This tradition has gone back hundreds of years, and is this Hispanic equivalent of a Sweet 16 in American culture.

The participants of a quince have unique names and functions. The girl being celebrated is named the Quinceañera. Her court is a group of damas (girls) and chambelanes (boys). The court is usually made up of fourteen damas and fifteen chambelanes. Altogether there are fifteen couples, symbolizing her age. Marcea’s court had less couples, instead they had six. This is a group of the Quinceañera’s friends and family members, generally under the age of 20. Some members of the court can be very young, not even gone through puberty yet. Marcea said that the demographic for courts skews younger, partly because the Quinceañera’s closest friends and family are usually around her age. She made the parallel to bridesmaids and groomsmen, which are generally the same age as the bride and groom. In a quince, the court symbolizes youthfulness and the process of maturation. They help to present the Quinceañera to the world.

The Quinceañera’s godparents, aunts and uncles are called padriños and padriñas who act as donors and contribute to the celebration. Padrinos and padrinas are also present at Hispanic weddings. The donors are the individuals that will guide the Quinceañera in her adult life. It is not an official declaration of future involvement in the Quinceañera’s life; however, as it is usually the family who guides the girl, it is usually the family who act as padrino and padrina. Since hispanic families tend to be large, this can cover a large price of the celebration. Sometimes there is just one, sometimes there is a couple for every aspect of the celebration. Typically, a couple will sponsor one aspect of the quince. For example, one aunt and uncle will pay for the limousine, another for the cake, so on and so forth. There is a special dance for these couples during the celebration. Marcea herself didn’t have any padrinos or padrinas for her quince. She appreciates the advice her family gives her throughout her life, but there was no formal representation of this in her celebration.

There are traditionally two parts to each quince- a church ceremony which lasts about an hour and a party which can last of hours afterwards. As a large portion of the Hispanic population is involved with the Catholic Church, the religious ceremony is a large part of most quinces. Marcea did not have a church ceremony as part of her quince, because she hadn’t had her communion yet, so the priest would not bless her. However, Marcea was able to describe the process to me. Usually, parents, godparents and the court are part of the church ceremony. They give the Quinceañera her gifts- rosaries, a tiara and a bouquet that is left on the alter of the Virgin Mary to pay tribute. It is a time of thanksgiving for life and womanhood.

Usually court arrives to the party in a limousine, often sponsored by a padrino and padrina. There is generally a large room with a dance floor and a dj, giving the guests plenty of opportunity to dance, which Marcea says her family loves to do, as well as providing space for the traditional dances that will take place. In addition there is a slideshow featuring the Quinceañera playing in the background.

During the party, one of the traditions is the changing of the shoe. Marcea described this as “ a pretty popular tradition that people usually keep,” emphasizing its importance within the celebration. At the beginning of the night, the Quinceañera wears flats. Her dad changes her shoes from flats to heels, symbolizing her development from a little girl into a woman. Marcea prepared beforehand and marked with a marker the hole that her dad had to use to fasten the shoe, revealing the weight of the moment and her desire for nothing to go wrong. Afterwards, the father and daughter dance together. At this time, her father is supposed to recognize her as a mature woman. Marcea identified this time as one of the most emotional for the men of the family.

Then the father hands his daughter to her chambelane, a sign of his respect for her maturity. The dance proceeds, with the Quinceañera and her court. Marcea isn’t aware of any symbolism in the courts dances, besides entertainment and fun. Courts tend to take dance lessons for a year to a year and a half before the quince. Marcea and her court took dance lessons for about four months beforehand. There is a formal dance, which was the waltz for Marcea’s quince, and the baile sorpresa, which included cumbia, hip hop and the hustle. The songs we danced to were by Rihanna, Selena and Chris Brown. Usually the baile sorpresa is salsa or cumbia; however, Marcea’s quince had a mixture of diverse dances.

Although Marcea didn’t participate in this tradition, at some quinces the Quinceañera is given the responsibilities of a woman within the celebration itself. She is responsible for speeches, cake cutting and even service. While watching videos online to brainstorm for dress ideas, Marcea saw girls serving their padrinos.

The dress is usually white, symbolizing purity at the coming of age. Recently girls have been wearing pastel colored dresses. They are usually large ballgowns. There are never trains on these dresses, because the style is reserved for weddings.

 

 

The whole event is centered around the Quinceañera. It symbolizes the transition from a girl to a woman, with all the responsibilities it entails. There are many aspects of the event which I was not able to include, as it is a vast celebration. The tradition is documented in the award-winning film Quinceañera, which juxtaposes the purity and extravagance of the celebration with pregnancy, poverty and the trials of everyday life.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451176/

Castells (Human Tower)

Nationality: Spanish
Age: 35
Occupation: Spanish Professor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“The other manifestation of our culture that I really like is Castells, which are human towers. And again, the tradition is passed in between the families, because it is a very risky tradition, as they all stand on each other’s shoulders, and, um, the very young kids go all the way to the top, you know and it could be as high as eight or nine levels. So you either grow up inside that tradition and you understand why you’re doing it and you believe in why you’re doing it or there is no way anyone is going to allow their kids to go all the way up there because it is risky. But it also is a very…unique group. People who belong to Castell have been part of it for a many many generations, and again it was forbidden during Franco’s time but they found a way to continue and preserve their own tradition of Castells and they were getting together, you know, secretly, and practicing. And again, after Franco died there has been a renewal and an effort by the government to bring it back.”

Informant Analysis: “Um, I do like Castells very much that although different towns have their different groups and they have different colors, and they take pride in their colors and in their group, in order to make Castell you have to have a huge base that supports the top. What I particularly like from this tradition is even though you belong to another team, if someone is trying to accomplish a very high tower and they need manpower or, you know, power in the base, everyone pitches in, no matter what team you belong to. I think it really represents the union of the Cataluñans as a group, because everyone participates and can be part of it”

Analysis: Castells is a huge event for everyone involved, but it seems that those who are actually forming the human towers capture the most attention and have the biggest job. Despite the focus on the “stars” of the event, the unification element seems very important for this ritual, not only because many different groups of people come together, but also because it brought people together at a darker time in Spain when Franco was ruling. The fact that this tradition survived along with the others the informant describes points to the commitment to sustaining the culture of Spain, even when they had to do it in secret.