Tag Archives: christmas

Presenting Christmas

Text:
The informant’s family opens all presents from non-immediate family on Christmas eve, while the presents from immediate family are saved for Christmas Day. On Christmas day these presents are only opened after the informant’s mother reads the Christmas story aloud.

Context:
The informant thinks that the presents of immediate family being saved for Christmas is because it’s more exciting to see people open gifts that you gave them and hear what they think than it is to see them open presents from other people, so it’s saving the most fun for the most special day. As for the Christmas story reading, he thinks that’s to prioritize and reinforce that it’s the celebration of Christianity and Jesus’ birth, not just a random holiday.

Analysis:
I think the informant is correct with all of his analysis, but that there is an extra layer to saving the immediate family’s presents for Christmas day, and that is to emphasize the importance of one’s family a little more than any other friends or relatives.

Stocking Up On Coffee

Text:
Every Christmas, the informant’s mom will fill his stocking up with snacks and food, and always some canned coldbrew coffee that she left in the fridge overnight, then put in his stocking early that morning.

Context:
The informant and his mom are both foodies, so this is something they can bond over. He specifically really likes coffee, especially cold brew, but it can take some time to make, and is usually harder to find or get. Having it in his stocking that morning is also a practical convenience because if he wants coffee, they don’t need to spend a lot of time making it or finding a cafe that is open and has it.

Analysis:
This is something that I would consider more to be the start of folklore if it continues than full fledged folklore at the moment, but I felt it was too cool and sweet of a thing not to include in my posts. It’s a cool way to celebrate your loved ones by giving them a gift that fits their interests, and doing anything consistently makes it even more special, as it becomes something that can be relied on, which is comforting.

Feast of the 7 Fishes

Text:
Around Christmastime, his family will have a dinner party they invite family and friends to called the Feast of 7 Fishes. They will play Italian music and, among other celebratory little decorations, make a menu of the dishes that will be had at dinner. These dishes will have a total of 7 types of fish/seafood spread throughout them.

Context:
The informant’s Grandmother on his mother’s side passed away a few years ago. She was a first generation Italian immigrant who was very proud of being Italian. His mother has recently been looking to connect with her Italian side more. One of the ways she is doing this is by celebrating the feast of 7 fishes, which is a tradition of early italian immigrants to the Americas. They were celebrating how much more fortunate/wealthy they were in America than they had been in Italy, and found that they could afford to eat seven fish at christmastime, not just one like they had been limited to back in Italy.

Analysis:
I think the informant’s analysis of the original festival- the feast of the 7 fishes- is accurate, mainly celebrating newfound wealth and good fortune. It also is a celebration at Christmastime which, for Christians (and many Italians were Christian), is a time of being grateful for what God has given them. This gratitude centers on him sending his son, Jesus, to earth, but definitely is a time to be grateful to him in general, which would include good fortune and newfound wealth. I think there is another layer to why his mother has recently found this desire to deepen her connection to her Italian side, however, and that is to feel a deeper connection to her own recently deceased mother, as well as to respect her by starting to cherish something she cherished.

The Christmas Pickle

The Christmas Pickle. I learned about this Christmas tradition for the first time from one of my friends. To quote her explanation, “Every Christmas we use the same pickle ornament, usually my dad hides it in the tree, and whoever finds it on Christmas day gets to open a present first.” It’s a fun tradition that she has been doing ever since she was a little girl. She says that it didn’t start until her sister was at their neighbor’s for a Christmas party and took one of the ornaments, a pickle. It was later explained to her family by the same neighbors of the tradition and they have done it ever since. The tradition itself apparently comes from a story of a German-American prisoner who was taken prisoner during the Civil War. Starving, he begged a guard to give him one last pickle before he died. The pity pickle gave him the mental and physical strength to live on. This story is much harsher than its Christmas counterpart but nonetheless displays a sense of fortune and luck through a pickle.

Swedish-American Christmas Foods

Text 

On Christmas Eve the foods are based on the Viking traditional foods in Sweden : 

  • Cold First course: 
    • Beet salad with beets, pickles, herring 
    • Herring 
    • Rye or hard bread with butter and cheese 
  • Warm second course 
    • Ham with mustard 
    • Julienne potatoes with cream and anchovies 
    • Meatballs 
    • Sausages 
    • Cabbage 
  • Dessert
    • Cookies with cream and berries 

Then on Christmas day aside from the leftovers, the foods are based on Christianised Swedish foods:

  • We have leftovers from Christmas Eve for the first course
  • Second course
    • Lutefisk or another more mild white fish 
    • Boiled potatoes 
    • Peas 
    • Bechamel sauce 
  • Dessert
    • Rice porridge with milk, sugar, and cinnamon 
    • Put a peeled almond in the porridge (so it is the same color) and everyone takes it without looking
    • Then we say poems around the table while eating and the person who gets to almond has to pretend like they don’t have it and everyone guesses who got the almond
    • Whoever gets the almond gets a little almond gift 

Context:

The informant is the granddaughter of a Swedish immigrant and these are the traditional foods eaten on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for dinner.

Analysis:

The informant’s family is Swedish-American and therefore mixes some American traditions in with the Swedish but relies heavily on the Swedish ones for the majority of what they do. Eating these foods although difficult to get and not always the favorite of the American guests allows for the family to retain part of their identity that they find important. They make an annual summer trip to Sweden and would like to eventually spend Christmas there as well as there are more Christmas traditions that they cannot do as they are not in the right location. Because of this, they do the ones they can which include the food they eat. Retaining the pre-Christian Viking food as well indicates a sense of pride in their heritage and brings them together. Keeping the traditions also helps add a sense of family and fosters an atmosphere of community. The family is very close as a result and all of them meet for all major holidays. The traditions bring them together and give clear boundaries of who is considered family and who is not, as it is a big deal to be invited to partake in the traditions.