Tag Archives: celebration

Golden Birthdays

Text:

S: “A golden birthday is the year you turn the same age as your birthday”

Context:

My sister turned 17 this year, and she told me that it was her golden birthday. She then explained that a golden birthday is the birthday when you turn the age of the day you were born on. For example, my sister was born on the 17th and she turned 17 years old.

Analysis:

A “golden birthday” is a form of folk speech used especially by kids. I remember hearing others at school excitedly talking about their golden birthday. It was believed that your “golden year,” the year you’re the age of your birthday, was suppose to be one of good luck. As I’ve gotten older, I haven’t heard it used or discussed much, leading me to believe that it is primarily an “esoteric” – insider’s – form of communication amongst children. I remember always being a little sad that my golden birthday is when I turn 30 – it felt very far away for a child, and I wanted to be a part of the community, an insider.

Mud Night

Folklore:
Holding a Mud Night where a desert, called mud, is served and enjoyed by the family.

Context:
Informant described a tradition from her grandma who held Mud Nights. The night would be delineated through the desert served, mud. Informant described Mud as a chocolate pudding like desert with oreo cookies crushed on top. Also, she noted that looking up mud on the internet to describe the desert, but found they didn’t look similar with the photos found online. The night was special to the informant’s mother who experienced it throughout her childhood and even into adult years, mentioning she returned home during college for some of these events. Informant experienced a few as a young child. The informant noted even though they didn’t particularly like the desert the thing that was special about the Mud Nights were the gathering of the family. Talking with the informant they noted there wasn’t a clear knowledge on who started the tradition.

Analysis:
The celebration seems to be used as a experience from elder to child to help create a shared experience for the family. With the history and variation, it is a special celebration to bring connection between the elders and the youth. Informant noted it was specifically a tradition her grandmother stewarded and continued. It emphasized the importance of family and communicated values of care and joy with its members and participants.

Sausage

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Morris Plains, NJ, USA
Language: English

It is a men-only post-show tradition that was invented at the local high school theater and celebrated between grade meshing as well as the seniors’ final shows. 

“I didn’t join theater till my sophomore year which had [J] and [C] as the ring leaders of the seniors. They introduced me and the freshman to sausage. It was crazy at first, but a ton of fun. There’s the song sausage, but its cool because there are a lot of singers who have their own verses that all end with ‘but I still get sausage’. All the seniors make their own verses and we[all the male members of theater] all jump around and have fun in there. For closing night, both guys and girls come in and all the seniors get a voice. We would also put a freshman in a safe and bang a beat on it as like an initiation. It was a fun thing to look forward to.”

The ritual reminds me of a fraternity initiation(with less danger). They all sing and jump around in an exclusively male space, singing a song that is an allusion to sex. It can also be very inclusive because theaters are a LGBTQ dominated space, and they allow trans men to be included in Sausage. It’s also a fun tradition to pass down to other generations and a good, safe way to celebrate after a show. It creates community between the younger years and celebrates the graduating Senior class.

Dragon Boat Festival

“Every year, in China or whoever celebrates [the Dragon Boat Festival], people ride on boats and eat Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).” 

The Dragon Boat festival is celebrated mainly by people from China on the fifth day of the Lunar month. The holiday was created to celebrates a former prime minister of China, Qinyuan because he had committed suicide by jumping into the river. After his death, the people of China decided to dump a lot of zongzi into the river so the fish would eat the dumplings and not his body. My friend had mentioned that he did not really participate in this holiday other than eating the food, but he knows about it though his schooling in Taiwan. 

When I asked my Taiwanese friend about any rituals or traditions that he celebrated, I had expected one that I would have at least heard of such as the Lunar New Year festival or Mid-Autumn festival. I was intrigued when this was the first one that he thought to tell me. Although I know he didn’t put too much thought into, the decision to share this event with me made me realize how much of his culture I really don’t know, despite having knowing him and both of our closest Chinese friends for years. I also thought it was interesting that he had limited knowledge about this festival. He had never really participated other than knowing what the event is for and eating the zongzi. It made me wonder about how other people celebrate the event, and the variation in how people celebrate events are in general. 

Piñata

Text:

“Whenever there’s a kids birthday party, we get a piñata with candy in it and have the kids strike it down to get candy. So a piñata gets hung up and one of the adults swings it around as kids try to bring it down with a stick. The kids take turns starting from youngest to oldest, with the idea being that they don’t want the piñata to break too quickly, so the older kids who are most likely to break it go last. Once the piñata breaks, everyone runs up to the candy and grabs them.

Context:

The informant simply participated in this as a kid, and learned that this is something that just happens at birthday parties, and is something to look forward to.

Interpretation:

The piñata plays a central role in gatherings such as posadas, birthdays, and other social events. The communal act of breaking the piñata—surrounded by singing, cheering, and sharing treats—encourages group participation and the sharing of joy/laughter. This reflects the highly valued concept of communitas, interdependence, and festivity with those close to you. Furthermore, a child’s birthday is not seen as a quiet, private event, but something to be shared with the whole community to experience.

I find it interesting that although the piñata originated in Latin America, it spread to other cultures around it. For example, I personally did not grow up in a Hispanic or Latin household; however, I distinctly remember going to other people’s(also non-Hispanic) birthday parties and breaking the piñata, as well as having a piñata at one of my own birthday parties. I feel like this is a prime example of how a culture can travel, and have other cultures adapt aspects of it while also sprinkling some of their own traditions.