Tag Archives: tradition

Bat Mitzvah

Age: 21

Text: “In the Jewish religion, the really religious people, Orthodox, celebrate it differently. In those cases, the girls don’t actually have Bat Mitzvahs because they’re technically not supposed to read the Torah. But I did because my family’s more reformed. So I obviously had a Bat Mitzvah, and I thought it was the biggest deal ever at the time. It obviously still is, but I thought it was the biggest deal. There was a lot of preparation before because I had to learn like five passages from the Torah and actually learn how to read it. In the Torah it’s hard to read because there’s no accents or anything so you kind of have to know what you’re saying to be able to read it. But it was really, really fun. And then after my service, I had a party, and it was really fun.”

Context: A Jewish girl from Miami. She had her Bat Mitzvah when she was 12, which is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. The Bat Mitzvah is a celebration and transition of girlhood into adulthood. The boy equivalent is a Bar Mitzvah.

Analysis: It was interesting to hear the difference between her Bat Mitzvah and an Orthodox Bar Mitzvahs, especially that Bat Mitzvahs actually don’t exist for Orthodox Jews due to their beliefs. Her Bat Mitzvah is remembered as a very big deal, which is representative of the importance of this ritual. She was excited for this coming-of-age ritual, studied and practiced for it, and completed it with a celebration. She will pass down this religious tradition to her children, as her parents did to her.

The Shotgun

Age: 21

Collected 4/22/2026

Context:

My roommate, who is of Irish-American descent, told me the story of when he first went shooting. We met in high school and have been friends for about 8 years now. He told me in our apartment kitchen after asking about his family traditions.

Text:

His family first immigrated to New York in the 1800s. About a century later, he told me that his great-grandpa bought a “classic Baretta double-barreled shotgun like you’d see in Red Dead” for hunting ducks in Maryland. Nowadays, my roommate and his dad often go hunting in the woods in Montana, and he fondly remembers that core memory with his dad of when he first learned to shoot.

My roommate told me that back when he was 15, his dad took him to a gun range in Lake Piru, California, to learn how to shoot. The event wasn’t specifically on his birthday or any particular day, as he can remember. But it was sometime soon after he turned 15. In his family, “each male for the last 3 generations has learned to shoot the same double-barreled shotgun.” The shotgun is a family heirloom that he suspects his Irish immigrant great-great-grandfather bought, for hunting and it’s been passed down steadily from father to son.

While at the range, his dad started with gun safety. Essentially, just the basics, like “don’t aim it at people or things you don’t wanna shoot.” He also learned to respect the weapon, “don’t treat it like a toy,” and not to throw it around or handle it roughly. As far as he knows, the shotgun has been largely kept in good condition, and most, if not all, of the parts are original. The wood stock and grip are lacquered with oils to keep it clean and in good condition. When it finally came time to shoot, his father showed him how to stand and helped him aim. When he pulled the trigger, the gun went off, but he found out that it was loaded with a blank. He told me that he and his dad first shot a blank to get a feel for the recoil.

After handling the recoil, he began to shoot at the clay pigeons launched in the air at the range. He said his dad wanted to teach him how to hunt, so moving targets were a great way to get into it. After shooting, he explained that his dad showed him how to clean and take care of the gun. Later, when he turned 18, he was allowed to have his own gun under different state laws. He hasn’t shot the shotgun since; it serves as a ceremonial piece.

I asked him if there was a specific time or moment when he learned, but he can’t remember. But he did say it was a moment when he started to feel more grown up. He told me that his sister also learned how to shoot. He couldn’t say whether she got the exact same treatment. But their father took her to a local range and taught her to shoot the same shotgun.

I asked if he would continue the tradition. He told me “that he plans to “of- course man.” The shotgun will be passed to him and he plans to pass it to his kids when they’re born and ready. He feels that the passing of the shotgun and the instruction in how to shoot are a metaphor for life. He and his family “value being responsible and self-sufficient.” He said it felt pretty special to be the fifth in his family to hold and shoot the gun. As the sole male child and heir to the family name, he felt it was a really special moment to step into the shoes that his family had left. To fulfill expectations and continue the legacy.

Analysis:

This was a cool story to hear; my roommate hadn’t told me about it before, and I’ve known him for around 8 years now. It was a pretty nice story and makes sense because his family has a strong military background dating back 3 generations. Shooting, hunting, gun safety, and responsibility are all very important to him and to his family.

I think the ritual serves three main functions besides bonding. The first and more obvious is that the ritual serves as a lesson in gun safety. It’s a father teaching his son how to properly hold and shoot a weapon. He learned discipline and responsibility, and it made him interested in the responsible use of weapons at a young age. It teaches real safety skills for young people and taught him the power and potential danger of weapons.

I think an equally important purpose for this event is to serve as a passing of the family legacy. Family is a big thing for him; he cares a lot about that lineage and is proud of where he comes from. The fact that the same gun has been used by all the males in his family says a lot. It is their legacy, their transition into adulthood, and their father passed that legacy to him so he could learn what it means to be a male in their family. His sister also learned and got the same experience. But my roommate said she isn’t as interested in the legacy, shooting, or the shotgun as he is. Also, he will inherit the weapon, not his sister. By learning with that gun, he is an active participant in that tradition and now a part of that shared family history. He remarked that it felt really special to him to be part of that. I asked him, and he explained that he did have a connection to that story. But for him, the most important thing it did for him was teach him responsibility.

The gun itself is also a physical representation of that legacy. It has existed for over a century and serves as a marker of his family. Sure, other guns exist, but this is his family’s gun. He adds meaning to it by using it, continuing that legacy, and being interested in teaching his children how to shoot that gun.

A final, deeper meaning is that the lesson served as a rite of passage for young men in his family. In a way, it created a liminal space to help facilitate the transition of children to young men. The lessons it taught him about weapon safety carry over to real life. Being disciplined, respectful, self-sufficient, and responsible are all qualities that he holds dear. He and I agree that those values probably stem from the family’s deep military history. Those are all imparted to him through that event.

It’s also interesting to me that I just found out about this. I knew he knew how to shoot, but I didn’t know it was such a significant family tradition. I know a lot about him since we’ve known each other for 8 years, but that story seems to be sacred and personal. It’s also funny because at first glance, my friend doesn’t look like someone who would have traditions. He grew up in a suburban neighborhood in what our other roommate would call a “boring” neighborhood. But this just showed me how much folklore and culture are lying just under the surface. I’ve known him for so long, but all I had to do was ask, and it seemed there was more to my friend that I hadn’t learned.

It also challenges my pre-existing notion that folklore is foreign or unique to a specific identity. Folklore is all around us; we just forget to pay attention because it’s “normal” or we’re used to it. I mean, this is a dude who’s got red, white, and blue coursing through his veins, and yet he has some great traditions. This is just a great reminder that folklore is often studied from a distance because the stuff close to us blends so well into our daily lives.

Chinese New Year Tradition of New Clothes

Age: 19

Text:

“One tradition we have during Chinese New Year is that it is necessary to wear new clothes from top to bottom. So like inner clothes, pajama, and new bed sets, new slippers, new socks, and new everything. 
And then, we have to all clean our room and house by ourselves, since we can’t get housekeepers to do it for us, so it’s necessary to do it by ourselves. Then, at 12 o’clock midnight, you have to eat dumplings.

Context:

The Chinese New Year is celebrated in China for the first two weeks in the Chinese Calendar. Each day is filled with various cultural and familial traditions. The informant shared her family tradition for the first day of the Chinese New Year.

Analysis:

This tradition can be understood through both symbolic and social frameworks in Cultural Anthropology. Wearing new clothes during the Chinese New Year reflects ideas of renewal and transformation. This aligns with what Arnold van Gennep describes as rites of passage, marking a transition into a new cycle. Cleaning the house oneself reinforces responsibility and participation in maintaining social harmony, which reflects Confucian values of family duty. Finally, eating dumplings together at midnight could bring the family into a shared moment that feels special and unifying. This practice allows everyone to mark the transition into the new year collectively, which reinforces a sense of togetherness and connection.

Chinese New Year Tradition of Family Photos

Text:

Our family’s tradition is that on the first day of Chinese New Year, before dinner, everyone in the family gets dressed up and we take a family photo together. The clothes have to be all new. The tradition started when I was born. At first, my mother wanted everyone to wear red, but over time it relaxed into everyone just wearing whatever they like. So it’s pretty chill now.

Context:

This text was collected from a female Chinese international student from Beijing, who shared it during my interview with her. The practice she describes is a family-specific ritual that takes place on the first day of the Chinese New Year: every family member dresses in brand new clothing and gathers for a collective photograph before the New Year dinner. The tradition was initiated by her mother at the time of the informant’s birth, making it roughly her age and giving it a personal origin she can trace. Originally, the tradition carried a stricter dress code — all red, a color symbolizing luck and prosperity in Chinese culture — but over time, this requirement loosened, and family members now wear new clothes of any color.

Analysis:

This piece exemplifies family lore. The requirement that clothing be entirely new engages the broader Chinese New Year folk belief that newness at the year’s start invites prosperity and signals a clean break from the past, connecting the family ritual to a wider system of folk belief around lucky beginnings. The gradual relaxation of the red dress code is an illustration of multiplicity and variation: the tradition’s core structure remains intact while its specific details shift to accommodate the family’s changing preferences, demonstrating folklore as being simultaneously conservative and dynamic. The mother’s role as the tradition’s originator and enforcer reflects how family folklore is often transmitted through a single authoritative figure whose preferences shape the group’s collective practice. The annual photograph also functions as a form of material culture, producing a tangible archive of the family’s shared identity over time. The timing (before dinner, on the first day of the New Year) gives the ritual the quality of a calendrical rite of passage, formally opening the New Year within the intimate frame of family rather than public celebration.




Travelling Tradition of Eating Noodles and Dumplings

Text:

“Whenever you’re going after travel, even if it’s just one day or something, you have to eat dumplings before you go. And when you come back, you eat noodles. Like for the first meal. The meal right before you leave has to be dumplings, and the meal right after you come back has to be noodles. We have a saying that goes “When you get in the car, you eat dumplings. When you get off it, you eat noodles.” It might be a Beijing tradition, but my grandmom is from Shandong, and they still follows this tradition. The dumplings look like small pieces of gold. You have to eat an even number of dumplings. Even numbers are considered luckier than odd numbers. When you come back, you eat noodles, which symbolize that you are attached to your home, because the noodles look like ropes. They held you to your home. Noodles are also not tangled, which simplifies a smooth future and a smooth return home.”

Context:

The informant describes a travel-related food tradition practiced in her family. This tradition is possibly rooted in northern Chinese regions like Beijing and Shandong. Before leaving for a trip, even a short one, the family must eat dumplings, and upon returning, the first meal must be noodles. She learned this practice from her grandmother, who continues to follow it, showing how the tradition is passed down across generations. The informant also explains specific rules, such as eating an even number of dumplings because even numbers are considered lucky. This ritual remains important even when travelling becomes routine. For the informant, it functions as a meaningful way to frame movement away from and back to home.

Analysis:

This tradition shows that everyday practices create a symbolic order. The pairing of dumplings and noodles structures the uncertainty of travel into a predictable and meaningful sequence. Dumplings, shaped like gold, symbolize wealth and a good beginning, while noodles represent connection and continuity, emphasizing a safe return home. The rule of eating even numbers further reflects how ideas of luck and order are embedded in routine actions. These practices turn travel, a potentially uncertain experience, into something culturally organized and emotionally reassuring. Thus, this tradition reinforces values of safety, prosperity, and attachment to home.