Tag Archives: family

Pre-Thanksgiving Festival/Tradition

“A tradition that my family had is called Pie Day, and it’s not 3-14 but instead the day before thanksgiving. It’s essentially a party where friends and family come together and make pies for thanksgiving, everyone is in the kitchen. Before we moved to Washington my grandma would always have pie day at her house and that is the one time of year that I would see the most extended of extended family. There are lots of wine snacks and cooking. In Washington it was much more my parents’ friends and a couple cousins and such, and the night ends with everyone gathering on the couch and sitting down for a show or movie.”

The informant performs this tradition every year the day before Thanksgiving, typically held at her parents house in Olympia, Washington, USA. Depending on the year, different people may arrive to participate in this tradition. The informant’s immediate family, her parents’ friend group, her dad’s work friends, herself and her siblings, who invite a couple of their friends, and then some extended family are all potential participants, depending who is in town. Every person who comes can bring a dish they would like to make for the next day, but most people just come to socialize and decompress before the busy Thanksgiving day. The informant is not sure when it started, but her family started preparing the pies for Thanksgiving in the days before and as the years went on, more and more people were invited to participate in preparing food prior to the actual holiday.

The tradition demonstrates a culture that values food and socialization, as nearly all cultures do. Cooking together is a common way to build bonds between people, especially family and close friends. It is a sort of unofficial folk festival for just the small group of people involved, taking place the day before a bigger holiday. This is relatively common as people prepare for holidays. There are group cooking days for food-centered holidays, group shopping excursions for the winter holidays that involve gift giving, and group decorating days before decoration-centered holidays like Dia de Los Muertos or Christmas. It is a way to mount the excitement for the holiday as well as extend the celebration.

New Years Rituals

“On New Year’s Eve as it gets closer to midnight we prepare our bodies by eating 12 green grapes, one for each month, eating spinach for good health and money, and eating lentils as well. We also tie a red string and yellow string around our wrists or ankles to symbolize love, protection, and health. We never take it off, we just wait for it to naturally break sometime over that year. We also peel cuties and save the skin to symbolize our first fruit of the year. Lastly, we walk around our neighborhood with empty suitcases to symbolize keeping us safe on our travels that we take throughout the year.”

The informant does this tradition on New Year’s eve/day once it hits midnight. Usually at her grandma’s house. In the tradition, everyone plays the same role and it includes “my mom, sister, grandma and I.” It’s a tradition that has been kept in the family that has been passed down for them to take part in. 

These rituals are homeopathic magic rituals, meaning when performed they bring magic to the people performing it. Eating spinach as a ritual brings magically good health and money. It is a symbolic magic, meaning that the performance mimics the desired result. Spinach is green and leafy, like money, and it is good for health. The first fruit of the year may be important for two reasons. One, that fruit symbolizes the ability to eat well. Secondly, fruit is often used as a term of success financially, for example “fruitful returns” on an investment. Both eating well and the word parallels symbolize financial stability and wealth. It is clear that this culture values wealth and food through these rituals, which primarily focus on money. The suitcase may also be related to money, as it could symbolize wealth enough to travel, in addition to the safety component. This is all done on New Years Eve because as the clock strikes midnight, there is a liminal “between” time in which magic is possible. It is important for many cultures to perform rituals during this liminal time to ensure magic for what they desire in the new year is spread into the universe. Liminal times are often seen as magical times, so it is an ideal time to wish or spread magic.

Easter Tradition

“A tradition I have is every year for Easter my whole extended family goes to Cabo. Since Easter is on a Sunday and most of us have school the next day, we celebrate Easter on Saturday because we have to leave on Sunday. During the day we hangout and paint and decorate eggs which will be turned into deviled eggs in a couple hours. Then, we get ready for our easter egg hunt which only involves the grandkids. There are eggs sitting on the grass on the floor, however those eggs are only for the very very young kids. Each of us has a basket we need to find and as well as candy eggs and baskets there are golden eggs that contain different amounts of money. Since we are getting older, it is starting to get competitive because we all want the money. My grandpa always gives us some hints and sometimes our parents do too. After the hunt, we all open our baskets then get into teams and play croquet. After croquet, we all have a nice dinner together at the house.”

The informant does this every year on Easter weekend in Cabo, Mexico. Her whole family is involved, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Her grandpa helps hide the eggs and gives them hints when necessary. Her parents get all of her siblings small baskets, the other parents give their kids baskets as well, which are full of small gifts like bracelets and chocolate. She believes Easter egg hunting has always been a thing for Easter, and her family has been doing this for as long as she can remember.

The tradition is part of the widely held celebration of Easter, the Christian day on which Jesus Christ was said to have risen from the dead after his crusifiction. On this day, it is common for children to hunt for Easter eggs, which are colorful plastic eggs full of candy. This holiday is often spent with family and friends and is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or after the Spring Equinox. Although the holiday is now a large part of the holiday economy and is very consumerist, it started as a celebration of the coming of Spring before it was Christanized. It is celebrated around the world as an important Christian holiday.

“Cheers” Before a Shot

The informant described a ritual where people taking a shot together tap their shot glass on the table before saying “cheers” and taking the shot. This is done any time taking a shot of alcohol with others, including friends and family, no matter the place or time. This is done to signal everyone to take their shot and as an announcement of celebration, of sorts. “Cheers” is often said to encourage good will as one drinks, and the meaning is the same here.

The ritual demonstrates a culture which engages with alcohol as a means of celebration. The involved parties want to encourage good will and acknowledge celebration as they dive deeper into their party-atmosphere cultivated by alcohol by saying “cheers” and clinking glasses on the table. There is no magic necessarily associated, just a soft of acknowledgment of good will. The sound made serves two purposes, it seems. One, to signal everyone to take the shot so they can time the drink to be taken at the same time. Second, to signal celebration in the same way that a “woop” does. Noises to announce a celebration are common, such as clapping, “wooping,” whistling, clinking glasses, etc… These are not necessarily to start a celebration but for the announcement of continuation of a celebration. The ritual is widely spread, at least around the United States. Other cultures have similar versions, saying something that imitates a sort of blessing before drinking. This is likely due to the spread of the ritual as folklore, stemming from a traditional blessing around food and drink.

Muslim tradition : Eid

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 9 April 2024

Tags: Muslim, Islam, Christmas, Ramadan, family, festival

Text:

Eid can be seen as an “Islamic Christmas”, a time where one can spend time with family and friends to celebrate the end of Ramadan and such. It’s actually tomorrow (April 10 as of this recording) but it usually lasts 3 days minimum, with people celebrating as long as they want or need to for about a week or two. It’s based on the Lunar calendar. People often go to each other’s houses, celebrating with prayer and joy, and the holiday is very familial in nature. Since it starts right as Ramadan ends, the goal is to break one’s fast every day, starting by eating a date, due to the belief that the prophet Mohammed also broke his own fast with a date. The phrase for this festival is “Eid Mubarak”, which approximately translates to “Happy Eid”, simply.

Context:

J is a student studying ANTH 333 in the University of Southern California. She regularly participates in Muslim traditions and cultural activities with her friends and family.

Analysis:

The comparison between Eid and Christmas is pretty interesting, as while both festivals/celebratory periods have virtually nothing to do with each other, the activities and festivities held in each are similar enough to where a comparison can be drawn. It’s evident to see through Eid and various other religion-based festivals that spending time with family to eat and have fun together is a universal experience that goes beyond location or religion-based culture.