Tag Archives: halloween

Día de los Muertos Celebration: Mérida, Yucatán

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 56
Residence: Glendora, CA
Performance Date: 4/21/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The informant is 56 years old. She is Mexican and was born in Mérida, Yucatán. She moved to California when she was 6 six years old, but still remembers many of the local traditions, especially the tradition surrounding the Day of the Dead.

Before the celebration begins, people clean their houses, making sure the laundry is done and the dishes are washed. This is because if a deceased family member’s spirit comes to visit on the Day of the Dead, you don’t want them to have to do the work for you, or at least feel like they should. The celebration is supposed to be a time for them to enjoy themselves, and like awaiting the arrival of any house guest, you always clean up to make things presentable.

The Día de los Muertos celebration begins on October 31st. As the first day of the celebration, it is dedicated to celebrating the passing of the children. Any babies or toddlers that have died in the past year are honored on this day. Families set up an altar or a shrine. The altar is covered with a white tablecloth that has colorful embroidery around the edges. A green cross is placed on the altar because this is the color of Mérida. Colorful candles are set up too. Then, the deceased one’s favorite dishes are put out on the shrine. These can be anything from favorite candies to Mexican pan dulce bread. Favorite toys and games are set up too. Sometimes these are marbles, or even coloring books—it just depends on whatever happened to be the child’s favorite. Pictures are also put on the altar. After the altar has been assembled, the family gathers to say the Rosary. The altar stays up for the entire day and night of the 31st.

On November 1st, the child’s altar is taken down and another one is set up, this time celebrating the passing of any adults. The decoration for these altars is all black and white. The white tablecloth has black embroidery and white candles are placed on the altar. Pictures are put up and the adults favorite foods are placed on the altar as well. Again, these can be the pan dulce bread or tamales, even shots of whiskey or a pack of cigarettes. The altar is left up all day and night.

On November 2nd, the adult altar is taken down and the day is set aside for going to visit the grave sites of the deceased family members. Sometimes candles are burned on the graves, or flowers are set upon them. This marks the end of the Día de los Muertos celebration.

As my informant said, the entire celebration is a way to celebrate the life of a loved one. The altars are meant for families to pay their respects to the dead by presenting them with all of their favorite things from life. It is a festive way of honoring the dead, and communing with the spirits that come back for a visit.

 

Cornell Halloween Legend

Nationality: American, Polish, Russian, a little bit of French
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ithaca, New York
Performance Date: March 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

“So, um, there’s a legend that, and I’m pretty sure it’s true, that one time on Halloween, the Engineers, it might not actually be the Engineers, I don’t know who did it, but I think it’s the Engineers because they’re the only ones smart enough to actually do something like this… one Halloween, they got a huge pumpkin on the top of the clock tower and no one really knows how they did it because the clock tower is pointy and really tall and has one hundred and sixty-one stairs. And so now, every year for Halloween, as tribute to that, Cornell lights the face of the clock tower orange and makes it look like a jack o’lantern… like makes a jack o’lantern face in it. I’ve heard the story from Orientation Leaders. I don’t remember if they said it was Engineers, but I think it is.”

 

The informant was very adamant that the group of students who supposedly pulled off this prank consisted of Engineers. Her tone was very insistent. This makes sense because she is an Engineering student. Her version of the legend reflects how highly she thinks of her own major at Cornell. It’s interesting how the school has turned this prank (or legend of a prank) into a folk tradition by lighting up the clock tower every year to look like a jack o’lantern. The school seems to greatly value the prank or (legend of the prank) and thus feels the need to keep this story alive through this annual, symbolic practice.

 

Devil’s Night

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pennsylvania
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English

My informant told me about the traditions surrounding Devil’s Night, or October 30th, the night before Halloween. She mentioned that the normal activities boys would participate in would be egging houses at night and “doorbell ditching.” When egging became an issue of destruction of property and legal action could be taken against the children involved, they switched from egging a house to using toilet paper, spreading it around trees and the house yard.

My informant felt that this was a very east coast tradition because of our association to early Halloween traditions and witches in Salem. She could not name when Devil’s Night started, just that several generations of her family knew about it and all that went on that night, usually criminal behavior.

Often this would involve smashing pumpkins as well. My informant thought that maybe this was another imitation of spirits because of the stories surrounding Halloween. My informant said that when she was younger, her parents would tell her scary stories of things that happened on Devil’s Night to prevent her from going out and taking part in the activities that got her fellow classmates into trouble.

Folk Games

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 45
Occupation: Administrator
Residence: Bonsall, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Patricia Newman – Halloween in Tijuana

Halloween in Tijuana is similar to Halloween in America; full of mischief and games. Trick or treating, dancing, and dressing up in costumes are only of few of things they do similar to America. While vandalism in America is common on Halloween, the teenagers in Tijuana play a game that consists of throwing eggs at each other.

There is no actual name for the game but it happens every year at the same time in the same place. The kids would save up their allowances for weeks and then spend all their money to stock up on cartons of eggs. Prior to midnight on Halloween night, the kids would organize and form up into groups of 4 or 5 so they all can fit into separate cars. There is an infamous road in downtown Tijuana known as Avenida Revolucion. This road is where all the action took place. The kids would drive up and down Avenida Revolucion identifying other kids’ cars who were there playing the game as well and then preceded to throw eggs at each other trying to make a mess. My Mom remembers one time when she was with some friends at midnight and they were in a convertible. All she remembers from the experience is the hours she spent afterwards cleaning the egg yolk and shells out of her hair as well as the many hours it took to clean the car. Retrospectively, it probably was not the best choice to go out and play this game in an open-topped car.

I asked her the reason why they played this game. She said it was to recognize the fact that they were still young and had the ability to have fun. I was surprised there was no intrinsic value to this game because normally there are religious or cultural meanings to games such as this at other times of the year. Even at Halloween there are cultural events that occur in Mexico. The Day of the Dead is a perfect example of this. However, in my Mother’s case, she played this game from the time she was old enough to be out on her own with friends until she left for college. These are the events from her childhood that identifies who she is as a Hispanic and a member of specific group of kids in Tijuana. She also uses memories such as this egg throwing game as a way to remember the good times she had with her friends as a mischievous kid growing up in Tijuana.

Contemporary Legend

Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 2008
Primary Language: English

Urban Legend

When I was a little girl, I was always told to unwrap and check my Halloween candy before eating it.  My mother and nanny told me that some people put needles and such in the candy bars.

Analysis:

The first memory I have hearing this urban legend was when I was about seven or eight years old.  It was just after I moved into our new house in Hong Kong and I was getting ready to go trick-or-treating.  My mom and my nanny told me to not eat any candy when I got it because they had to check it first.  I believe they may have heard something on the news warning us about it but I really don’t know if there was any truth behind the claims.  It may or may not have happened to someone first hand, but nonetheless I always checked my candy before I ate any of it.

I grew up in Hong Kong but had an American father and attended an international school where we were taught primarily in English.  This is probably why I was able to hear this urban legend, because some cultures including the Chinese, do not celebrate Halloween.  It is a much more Western tradition thus normally reflected in those areas or areas in close contact with them.  In later years I learned to look out for more than just needles.  There were apparent incidences where razor blades, pins, and possibly even poison had turned up in the candy.

Although documented incidents of this happening are rare, this urban legend was heard throughout society.  The message it sends out is actually quite familiar– Do not take candy from strangers!  Parents are always telling their children this, warning them of the dangers that could happen by talking to strangers.  Halloween is sending out quite the opposite message though.  It is the one time of year when it is okay to go door to door, accepting candy from random people.  I think this urban legend, whether true or not, was spread to remind us all of the potential risk of being so trusting during Halloween.

This urban legend can be found in the book Tales, Rumors, and Gossip: Exploring Contemporary Folk Literature in Grades 7-12.

Annotation:

De Vos, Gail. Tales, Rumors, and Gossip: Exploring Contemporary folk Literature in Grades 7-12. Libraries Unlimited, 1996. Page 69