Tag Archives: celebration

Black Joy Parade

Nationality: American
Age: 29
Occupation: Vice Principal
Residence: Oakland
Performance Date: 4/10/20
Primary Language: English

Context: The informant is my sister (LC) who lives in Oakland and has become an active participant in the community.

Main Text: “A celebration that I attended was this one in Oakland called ‘The Black Joy Parade’ in February. The celebration uses joy as a form of resistance to celebrate all the achievements and culture of the Black community, despite all the years of suffering and injustice. It’s this parade with cars, dancers, and different marching groups of black cultural groups. There are black entertainers and different artists who promote their work. It was an awesome experience and I really liked the idea that the black community was fighting their oppression through self-expression.”

Analysis: This celebration is interesting because it shows how the black community has created its own culture in the United States, undeterred by the oppression they have faced for centuries. By overcoming their disadvantages through joy, they change the narrative and empower themselves.

Russian New Year’s Eve Food

Context:

The informant is a Russian-American-Bulgarian woman who spent the first half of her life in Russia. She currently resides in Boston, MA and the interview took place over zoom in which I interviewed her about the Russian folklore that she grew up with and that she feels represents the Russian people and culture.

Transcribed and translated from an interview held in Russian

The celebration of the New Year is a big deal in Russia. During the Soviet Union where religion was outlawed and Christmas was no longer celebrated, New Year’s became a big event that everyone would look forward to. It was where Ded Moroz (Grandpa Frost) would come and bring presents. People stay up until midnight, counting in the new year and making a wish as the clock strikes 12.

We would invite friends over to celebrate with us and make food for everyone to eat. In Russia, there are some staple New Years Eve foods. Eggs with ikra (salmon roe), meat or cabbage filled pastries and a bunch of different salads. Olivier being the main one. But salads in Russia are not like in other places. They are very hearty with potatoes and meat, and vegetables – probably because that’s all they really had to hold themselves over back in the day, so it just became a part of the culture…

Analysis:

A ban on religion did not stop the Russian people from finding a way to celebrate and to give gifts. This shows humanity’s desire to come together and find a reason to celebrate a certain event, the end of a year, or the overcoming of a hardship. It gives them something to look forward to and to plan for.

Irish Sing Song

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4-18-20
Primary Language: English

The Main Piece: 

The following is a conversation about an Irish tradition called Sing Song. 

Informant: Sing Song! Ya they’re just kind of automatic after dinner. There can be a conversation but like it’ll just naturally go towards like “oh hey I heard the new single the Foggy June” and someone will be like “Oh yeah!  the Foggy Jew” and then everyone will just go (vocalizing) “Oh down the glen…” and then everyone just starts singing it and then they’ll be like “let’s sing some more songs” and my uncle will grab his guitar and you know he’ll sing a song. And then someone will get a penny whistle out there too and people are dancing.

Interviewer: Do people have to sing songs when it’s their turn?

Informant: No, if it’s an actual event it’ll be like we’re having a SING SONG but if it is after dinner then it just kind of  goes wherever it wants to, but it does go between singing songs and telling stories mostly. Conversation doesn’t really happen that munch unless people are drunk and screaming. But if it’s like an event, like grand dad’s retirement party, then everyones gonna sit down like alright let’s have a sing song and you get out the musical instruments and you get out the stories and it’s like alright let’s go. It’s a big thing. 

Interviewer: What types of songs and stories do you share?

Informant:Traditional Irish music, uh music written by current Irish people. Ya, that’s actually it, stories will be a lot of the time just favorite stories or anecdotes that someone has. Like everyone knows it but we still want to hear it again because we like the way that person tells it. We can also help tell it.

Background: The informant was born in Ireland, and moved to the United States as a baby. He is a Dual-Citizen and feels closely connected to his Irish roots. Here he explains a favorite pastime of his, one he regards as a tradition, called Sing Song. A sometimes formal, but often informal space for creation and storytelling amongst family and friends. He explained that this occurs at every family gathering big and small, so it is something he has grown up with, and something he will continue to do. 

Context: This conversation took place in a relaxed environment after dinner. The informant was reminded of his fond memories at the table and was excited to share such a lively tradition with those around him.

My thoughts: I actually have heard and participated in something very similar to the informants when I worked at a renaissance faire. At the faire, we called this method of storytelling a bardic circle and essentially used it as a space for bards to tell stories, sing songs, or perform epics. Like, the informant these circles sometimes would just evolve naturally if we were already gathering in a small circle, or it could be its own event that people went to. Of course, in my situation we were performers mimicking life in the renaissance. However, my heart was warmed to hear that similar traditions still live out in households today. Not only that, but the subject matter has evolved as well to include personal accounts performed in a way that makes them legendary. 

Breaking Plates in Greek Culture

Nationality: Greek American
Age: 19
Occupation: Unemployed
Residence: Anaheim, CA and Thessaloniki, Greece
Performance Date: April 21, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Greek

MAIN PIECE

“Breaking plates is not some silly thing we only see about Greeks in the media.  We don’t do it every day, but at big occasions, we break some plates!  Like spitting, it is more popular among Greeks in Greece than ones who are in the American world of Greek Orthodoxy.  Also like spitting, it is meant to ward off the evil spirits.  It is believed that the loud sounds the plates make are meant to scare off evil spirits, but also to symbolize when the party can really begin.  It is common for very civil, professional parties  to turn wild after the breaking of a plate.

BACKGROUND

My informant was born in Anaheim, California, however, she spent most of her childhood on Greece’s  Mainland, particularly in Thessaloniki.  Both of her parents grew up and emigrated from Greece only twenty years ago.  SK, my informant, learned this from not understanding why parties would get wilder after the breaking of the plate and said she remembered it being like a food fight level of energy.

CONTEXT

This came from a friend of mine from my church in Southern California.  I got this folklore from a zoom call with her while she was quarantined back in Greece.  I asked her to explain some traditional Greek cultural cornerstones she knows as she ate breakfast.

THOUGHTS

This dual meaning of  both scaring away spirits through the breaking of plates  and getting the party truly started fascinates me as it seems from  much of my research that a lot of  Greek folklore  has dual meanings, tending towards one being fun and celebratory and the other based in the spiritual world.  It makes me think about how religion is so important in the country as it is one of the most Christian countries in the world.  Looking into that, it makes me ask how ghosts and spirits fit in with  that.

Megilah Reading

Nationality: American
Age: 46
Occupation: Rabbi
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: March 17, 2019
Primary Language: English

Every Purim Jews congregate to listen to a reading from a book called the Megilah which features the backstory of Purim. It’s the most outwardly religious part of Purim. The congregation is encouraged to be active and loud, reacting verbally to every single mention of the characters’ names in the story. Mordecai and Ester (the Jewish heroes) get jubilant cheers every time their name is read while the bad guy Haman is booed. The congregation is even traditionally encouraged to drink so much that they can’t tell whose names to boo or cheer.

Again, this is the religious part of Purim but the encouragement to chime in makes it stand out from other Jewish holidays in a way that fits the extra cheerful celebration of Purim. While this folklorist’s congregation doesn’t drink during the reading, it does fit the rest of the relatively lax nature of the event.