Tag Archives: rodeo

Houston Rodeo

Text: 

“Every year I go to the Rodeo in Houston around spring break like in March. It’s really fun–they have a carnival and bull riding and petting zoos and lots of food and concerts. When I was little, I used to go with my parents and now I go with my friends every year. It lasts for a few weeks, so most years I end up going several times.”

Context:

My informant is from Houston. She claims that most people she knows who live or have lived in Houston have been to the Rodeo and even go regularly. She also has friends who have travelled to Houston to attend this event. She says that it is a similar event every single year and has been for as long as she can remember. When she attends the Rodeo, she usually wears cowboy boots, denim, and sometimes even a cowboy hat. 

Interpretation:

Rodeos are a common tradition in Texas and include a lot of cowboy and western folklore and represent the historical presence of cowboys and ranching lifestyle in the state. This history and lifestyle has now been turned into competitions and entertainment. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest rodeo in the world and occurs annually in March, tying this event to the calendar year. The Texan culture is further represented by the attire that my informant claims to wear, proving this is a tradition you can actively participate in. This tradition also brings people from all over the city and beyond together and even serves as a tourist attraction due to its popularity. 

Family Pre-Rodeo Tradition

Nationality: American
Primary language: English
Age: 58
Occupation: Insurance salesman
Residence: Mercer Island, WA

Text

MD’s father was a team roper (a rodeo rider on a horse who works in a team to rope a bull). Every year, in order to prep for the Clovis Rodeo, MD and his brothers helped their dad to practice roping by building a fake bull. They attached a bull’s skull to a sawhorse so that their dad could practice roping it. They also tried to rope, but weren’t as successful. MD’s dad’s quarter horse was named Shorty. MD and his brothers helped to get him ready by walking him and taking him into town. In town, Shorty always needed to stop for a drink. MD’s dad always went into Monty’s Liquor Store and got Dr. Pepper. He would drink half of it and give the other half to Shorty.

Context

MD participated in these pre-rodeo traditions with his family every year from when he was 4 to when he was 8 years old. Participating in these traditions was super fun because it made MD feel like a cowboy. They also made him proud of his dad, who really was a cowboy.

Analysis

These annual traditions are telling of MD’s family background and the environment that he grew up in. MD’s father probably asked his sons for help prepping Shorty, building the practice bull, etc. because he didn’t have the funds for ranch hands to do the same things. Farm work is not often an occupation for the wealthy, but rodeos rely on knowledge and skills that only farmers have, such as animal-handling, horseback riding, specific strength exercises, etc. The rodeo as a whole can be interpreted as a celebration of a farming community and their unique skills, similar to the firefighting celebrations discussed in Chapter 4 of Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: An Introduction. I’m also interested in the fact that MD’s father turned this work into games for his kids. They weren’t just helping him prep for the rodeo; they got to practice roping. They weren’t just walking Shorty into town; they were looking forward to a fun show of the horse drinking Dr. Pepper. The inclusion of children in MD’s father’s traditions, especially the catering of these traditions to the play space, demonstrates a value of respect, understanding, and community. MD’s father wanted his children to enjoy rodeoing and the culture surrounding it, perhaps so that they might partake in it in the future. This family pre-rodeo tradition highlights an interesting intersection between a community tradition (the rodeo) and intimate family traditions surrounding it. Larger area traditions and values often affect individual families in this way, such as in Cashman’s exploration of nationalism in rural Ireland. All of Ireland celebrates nationalism, but families in rural Ireland each celebrate in different smaller ways (statues, certain routes home, etc.).

The Rodeo Queen

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oregon
Performance Date: 04/20/2021
Primary Language: English

Context

The interviewee is one of my housemates and we often engage in conversation about our different hometowns. This folklore about a festival comes from a dinner where the house was sharing various stories from our childhood.

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Performance

The following is transcribed from the story told by the interviewee.

“In my hometown, we had a frolic and rodeo. There were lasso cows and ride bucking broncos and barrel racing. And at the Rodeo, they would select a Rodeo Queen that will represent the rodeo until the next year. And there is always a parade right before the rodeo of all the log trucks in my hometown that would drive down the main street. And you get to eat carnival food and do the classic carnival things”

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Analysis

Carnivals are fairly common around America. What I found unique about his story were the log trucks that were paraded around. This is very specific to his hometown of Philomath where logging is the main source of income for the people that live there. Putting log trucks on display and parading them around shows how the people recognize the importance of that industry and how they celebrate it. It is meant to reinforce and instill a sense of pride in people of the industry that their town relies on. While it can seem like a festival about fun and games, it is very much about building a spirit of community and getting everyone to gather around a single and common idea. To have a Rodeo Queen is an example of creating a symbol is which people can rally around. And while America is clearly not a monarchy anymore, the concept of it is used in order to build a sense of hometown belonging.

The Charro Ride – Reconnection to Western Roots

Nationality: American
Age: 47
Occupation: RBC Branch Manager
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 15, 2017
Primary Language: English

Formed in 1961, The Scottsdale Charros are an all-volunteer, nonprofit group of business and civic leaders in Scottsdale, Arizona that support youth sports, education and charitable causes. From the very beginning, the Charros—by their very name—meaning gentlemen riders, embodies the Scottsdale’s 1947 slogan, “The West’s Most Western Town.”. My father is a member of this group and I have grown up around their traditions and celebration of western culture. Most notably, I remember their annual ride, so I asked my father to explain further what it is, and what it’s purpose is.

“We have been doing it {the ride} for fifity five years. We put together the Charro ride where we have 150 civic minded leaders and take them on a three day horseback ride somewhere unique in the state of Arizona, whether it be a ranch, a forest or a desert. We have been all over the state, a different place every year. It is way for people to get to know our state and see places they wouldn’t normally see. A way for us to appreciate our home and its beauty and to engage community leaders with our state and for them to get to know its beauty. It is a weeklong horseback ride because it’s a way to connect with our western heritage and to live life like a cowboy. Day one the guests arrive by bus, and we meet them, then we give them a horse and ride from there to camp, which is a permanent site with tents and a kitchen, and we camp out under the stars and wake up the next day and go on an all-day trail ride. It’s a very traditional ride. There are events for the rookie riders, like each year they have to do something to entertain us like they do funny skits and things to entertain us, someone is in charge of organizing that, and on the last day we all have a gymkana which is a horseback skills challenge, like a mini rodeo, so you’ll race around the track,, run around the barrels, sort cattle and do different cowboys skills challenges. This happens on the last day, then the wives show up and have a big party in camp.”

 

Analysis:

This is a festival of sorts celebrating and performing Western heritage and traditions. It is a group of men from the Scottsdale and Phoenix area who are civic leaders or participants who meet to engage with their shared Western traditions. It is put on by the Scottsdale Charros, a non-profit group, and participated in by Charro members and non-members alike, however they are all men. It is meant to celebrate the cowboy heritage and traditions of Arizona by participating in a long horse ride, rodeo competitions and sleeping out under the stars like herders of yore. It is the same traditions every year, however in a different place, as part of the festival is to celebrate the beauty and diversity of Arizona landscapes from deserts to forests. It is a community experience to reconnect with cowboy culture for people who shape the community and therefore should be in connection with their community’s traditions and culture. It takes place in the fall, just before winter when the heat has died down and for a week. It is performing the identity of being a member of the Scottsdale/Phoenix community and the identity of living in the southwest.

The Houston Rodeo

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Houston, Texas
Performance Date: 3/18/13
Primary Language: English

Item:

“In Houston, we have the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, casually known as The Rodeo. And um, I think it lasts from the beginning of March to, it’s almost the whole month of March. And basically what it is, it’s a lot of different things, um, you have the traditional like rodeo aspect where um you have, you know the livestock show where you have bull riding, you have you know exhibitions of like various like livestock, um you’ve got like, you know you’ve got that like sort of traditional rodeo aspect. And then it’s also mixed with an entertainment aspect. So like, for every night of the rodeo, there’ll be a different performer, and they’re usually like pretty big names, mainstream country performers and also like you know pop and rock, but they’re all like very big, popular names. So that’s uh a big thing every night, the concert. There’s also the carnival. They have this whole, you know, carnival set up with like rollercoaster rides, ferris wheels, all these different sorts of rides, and carnival type, midway like, you know, like little games and stuff .”

Context:

The informant, who happens to be my brother, related this account of the Houston rodeo while I was home over spring break (the rodeo was going on while I was there). He had this more to say about the role of the rodeo in the lives of kids who grow up in Houston: “When you were young as a kid, you know, we used to go, you know, our dad would take us, you know.  We’d go see all of the livestock stuff, but then you get older and you start getting into high school, it becomes this big social gathering place, like you know that’d be your night. Like spring break would always be during the rodeo. If you were in town, that’s what you’d  be doing every night. Like all the high schoolers, we go to the carnival, everyone gets pretty drunk, rides all the rides and goes to the concert. And it’s this really big social gathering, the rodeo. It’s, you know, this big cultural event. You see all of your friends that went to different high schools that you hadn’t seen in awhile and it’s just this big gathering place, really big time of year, like uh like if you don’t wear it any other time of the year, it’s when you bust out your Wranglers and your cowboy boots. So it’s just a great time of year, and you know just a great Houston, and overall, Texas experience.”

Analysis:

I believe what my brother said about the rodeo (in the context section) to be representative of what most teenage boys living in Houston would say about it. That said, the festival itself presents an interesting phenomenon. Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States. It is by no means a rural place, and it is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country. Therefore, the rodeo presents an opportunity for a bunch of city kids to wear boots and pretend like they are way more cowboy than they really are. So, an outsider looking in on this tradition without any context would picture in his or her mind the stereotypical image of a rural Texas. Don’t get me wrong, that Texas still exists, but not in inner city Houston. Furthermore, by virtue of even having a rodeo, Houston cements a stereotypical image of Texas in outsiders’ minds. I do not see this as a negative or a positive thing, per se. I myself enjoy wearing boots in Los Angeles to show that I’m from Texas, despite the fact that I come from an area more urban than  where most students at this school come from. What really matters, though, is that this festival is important to a lot of people.