Text:
“My family has this tradition for Christmas Eve and we get everyone together at one of our houses and celebrate. Towards the end of the night we play this game called White Elephant, where everyone has to bring a wrapped gift and set it by the tree so no one knows whose gift is whose. Everyone gets a number that tells the order of who goes when. We each take turns going up and picking a random gift and then opening it up in front of everyone. There’s rules though. Someone can steal a gift from somebody else, but it can only be stolen 3 times and then it’s dead, meaning you can’t steal it anymore. It gets really competitive between everyone, but we always laugh it off.”
Context:
The informant recalls that this tradition has been going on since she was a child. It’s meaningful to them because of how connected they can feel with their family and bring everyone together, creating really happy memories of all of them. It’s also a time for them to see family that they haven’t seen in awhile and even meet new members of the family and catch up with everyone. The tradition itself helps creating these memories and positive times by doing a fun activity.
Analysis:
This resembles a ritual tradition or folk custom associated with a holiday: Christmas. It’s specific to one family, but attached to the holiday as a creative way to bring a sense of love and family to the community. It also presents as gift-giving behaviors in the format of a game with a tradition that still isn’t the same each year since different moments ensue each time the game is played. Unlike other American traditions this doesn’t bother trying to make sense of the uncertainty but rather embraces the unpredictable. It also consists of rules giving the tradition a structure that has to be followed. It acts a both a celebration for Christmas and family in the format of healthy competition that is also designed to be humorous and fair. It’s more localized as family tradition and acts as behavior that is passed down by learning from family members and watching the activity.