Tag Archives: christmas

Tradition – Peru

Nationality: Peruvian
Age: 55
Occupation: Laboratory Technician
Residence: Torrance, CA
Performance Date: MArch 24, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“En todas las casas donde habian ninos, el 24 de Diciembre en la noche antes de que se vayan a dormir ponian sus zapatos en la ventana o en el balcon para que PAPA NOEL les deje sus regalos. Al dia siguiente los ninos se levantaban muy temprano y iban muy contentos a abrir y ver sus regalos y comenzar el DIA DE NAVIDAD jugando con todos sus juguetes nuevos.”

“In all the houses where they were kids, the 24 of December at night before they are going to sleep, they put their shoes in the window or the balcony so that POPE NOEL will leave gifts on top of them. The following day the kids would rise very early, excited to open their gifts and to begin the DAY of CHRISTMAS by playing with all their new toys.”

Analysis:

Norma never had a Christmas tree growing up. In fact, the first Christmas tree she purchased was years after she came to America. It was during her first year of her marriage (to an American) that she put presents under a Christmas tree. She quickly reminded me that there were never any trees in Peru because December was summer. No Christmas trees grew in summer. This is the reason they put their shoes out. However, this ritual is limited to children ages five years and below since “they’re the really innocent ones and have not discovered that there is no Santa.” Children older five get their presents with the adults after midnight on Christmas Eve.

This is one of many variation of present giving around this time. In Greece, people look under their beds for presents. Yet, one aspect they all share, even with the American culture, is that the young children are always eager to wake up early and play with their new toys.

Tradition

Age: 50
Occupation: Tax Accountant
Residence: Newberg, OR
Performance Date: April 19, 2008
Primary Language: English

Original script/version:

Chris said, “Since the first Christmas I can remember, my family has always had this special way of delivering stockings and organizing Christmas mornings. It starts with Santa delivering the stockings in the middle of the night and putting them on the end of everyone’s bed. That way, in the morning, we could wake up and our stockings would be right there. We then had a rule that we could not leave our rooms until my parents said so. We usually decided on Christmas Eve what time we could go to the living room.”

My dad said because he had six other siblings, this tradition might have been passed between large families as a simple method of crowd control. He is pretty sure his parents did not start it. Instead of having seven little kids running around and screaming on Christmas morning, this was a way of keeping all the children occupied and quiet until the adults were ready to start the morning festivities.

This tradition was carried out by my own parents, and I like. It is not the traditional: hang-the-stockings-over-the-fireplace, but it is still our tradition. Me and my sister would always wake up at like 5:30 and meet in one of our rooms to look in our stockings. I am not aware of any other families that use this same method of delivering stockings, but my father said that in Europe, there is more variety in how people handle stockings on Christmas.

Recipe – Latvian

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pittsburg, PA
Performance Date: April 18, 2008
Primary Language: English

Original script/version:

“Latvians make these intense gingerbread cookies called Piparkuks for Christmas.  They are very thin and are not chewy at all like regular gingerbread.

Gingerbread cookies: Piparkuks are just as common in Latvian tradition as whatever Christmas cookie you can think of for Americans.  It is an incredibly time consuming process and involves a lot of detail and patience.  The Latvian Church in Willimantic used to make them by the thousands at Christmastime(this is no exaggeration; the cookies are very small and the dough very thin so a little goes a long way).  Here’s the recipe:”

3 sticks butter

½ cup oil

1 ¼ cup molasses

¾ cup honey

1 1/3 cup sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

9 ½ cups flour

2 eggs

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

4 t. cinnamon

4 t. ginger

1 ½ t. pepper

2 t. cloves

2 t. nutmeg

3 t. cardamom

5 t. coriander

3 t. lemon peel

3 t. orange peel

Mix butter, oil and sugars.  Heat to boil, add spices and cool.  When cool add eggs one at a time.  Mix baking powder, soda, and flour.  Add to wet ingredients, mix well.  The dough can be kept for weeks in the refrigerator.  Roll very thin and cut with small cookie cutters.  If the dough gets sticky, chill again.  Brush with beaten egg yolk and decorate with bits of almonds, if desired.  Bake 350-375 degrees for 10 minutes or less.

“They are very dense and VERY spiced.  I have very vivid memories of sitting in the kitchen in the basement of the Latvian church and watching like 15 old Latvian ladies chat away in Latvian as they are rolling this dough and making these delicate cookies.  Usually they are topped with an almond sliver, but for the kids they used to add on those tiny little colored sprinkle/balls.  (You know, not the jimmies, but the tiny little dots.)” -Kate

Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pittsburg, PA
Performance Date: April 18, 2008
Primary Language: English

Original script/version:

“It has been a family tradition to open presents on Christmas Eve, and then open our Santa presents on Christmas day.”

Kate said she felt like this was definitely a European tradition that hailed from her mother’s side of the family (the Swiss side). She said her mother also practiced the same tradition while she was growing up.

There seem to be many, many varieties of celebrating Christmas and handling the unwrapping of presents. The reason for moving the present wrapping could be two fold. Some families may like to concentrate more on the religious aspect of Christmas during the day, so they more the more consumer oriented portion to the night before. It could also be a way to spread out the festivities.

Many of European wedding traditions mentioned in Alan Dundes International Folkoristics book had special rituals and celebrations on Christmas Eve.

For further reference in text, see:

Etzioni, Amitai. We Are What We Celebrate : Understanding Holidays and Rituals. New York: New York University Press, 2004. Pg. 135.

Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 49
Occupation: Manager
Residence: Newberg, OR
Performance Date: April 18, 2008
Primary Language: English

Tradition: Gift opening

“Since I was young my family has had a tradition for opening presents on Christmas morning. Instead of having everyone just grab gifts willy-nilly, the youngest person in the family, which was my brother, would find one gift for everyone. Then each person would open their gift, while the others waited. When everyone had opened their gift for that “round,” the next youngest would go. And we would go through the whole family like that. Once my dad had gone, he went last because he was the oldest, we would start at the beginning again. We would just repeat this until all the presents were opened.

My mom says that her father learned the tradition from a fellow police officer while working with the Los Angeles Police Department. She says it was a way of slowing Christmas morning down, avoiding all the crazy and hectic rush for presents that can happen if there is no order. This tradition also allows for everyone to equally be involved, and not have the morning monopolized by excited little kids or overpowering adults.

She said this is one of the few Munkres (maiden name) traditions that she carried over to her own family. She likes it now because instead of people just grabbing all the presents with their name on it, everyone essentially gets to give their presents all over again.

I feel like this tradition would find its origins among the poorer social classes. If there are less presents under the Christmas tree, the parents would want to find every way possible to extend the enjoyment of Christmas morning. Although we are not necessarily poor nor was my mother’s family, it is still a way of remembering those that don’t have as much to give, while also creating a more family oriented atmosphere on Christmas.