Tag Archives: tradition

How to fight

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 34
Occupation: Police Officer
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/20/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece: How to Fight

The following was an interview of a Participant/interviewee about a folk tradition that has been passed down in his family. He is marked as AT, and I am marked as DM.

AT: I was maybe about (pause) prolly about six years old. I remember we were in laundry mat and I remember uh a kid was hitting me and he was a little bigger than me and I didn’t want to part of it and then my dad said “if you don’t fight back, I’m gonna uh you know I’m gonna hit you so who you prefer for him to hit you or for me to hit or for me to hit you” so I got in a fight that day. It was my first fight ever uh after that day at the house he said “hey come on Alex let’s go outside” and she said “hey you gonna learn how to fight today” and I was like “learn how to fight?” and we uh you know showed me how to punch uh showed me certain things uh it was more mental than physical at the time and he told me I remember he said “fight is like learning is like something every man needs to know its like a survival thing”. I thought it was just me and sure enough he did it to my brother we were at the park same thing a kid was hitting him bigger than him I was going to get in a fight with the kid and my dad said “no David you get in a fight or I am going to beat you up you know I’m am going to kick your butt you know you choose who do you want” and sure enough David got into a fight you know. I’ve done it with Christine the baby in a more uh filtered way you know she’s done the boxing and you know and I don’t know maybe my grandkids one day they’ll prolly I’ll prolly do it to them and you know  

Background/Context:

The participant is thirty-four years old. He is a Mexican police officer with the University of Southern California. He told me about how his father taught him how to defend himself.   

DM: Why do you like having this piece of folk tradition being tied to your family?

AT: Fighting is no stranger to the Mexican culture and I think it’s just a way of life in Mexico you learn how to fight.

DM: Why is this tradition important to you?

AT: As I grew up, I learned the psychology behind it. Nothing scares me and I use that it helped me to be very successful.

Analysis/ My Thoughts:

This tradition that has been passed down AT’s family is also a big tradition in Mexico. This means that this tradition has been passed down throughout many families within Mexico and other places that those Mexicans have moved to. When they move, they take their traditions with them. AT’s father was born in Mexico and AT has lived the United States most of his life. AT’s kids are in the United States, which means that this tradition will grow in the United States or where ever AT’s go.

The Christmas Pickle

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: March 27, 2018
Primary Language: English

“So what it is, is like, every Christmas on Christmas Eve, um, my family, like, after we go to Christmas Mass (unintelligible) my family does it personally, I don’t know if it has to be like after mass, but like, that’s just what we do. ‘Cause we always go to the midnight mass too, so we come back like super early in the morning. And, I think the reason we do that, honestly, is because my mom has been, like, has been Santa growing up, so she hasn’t gone to Christmas Mass. So, like, I think that’s probably why it happens. Um…so family, whole thing there. But, um, what happens is, like, all of the kids like go upstairs, and it’s like me and my…my brothers. Um, so we all go upstairs, and while we’re up there, my mom, like, and dad like hide this green pickle ornament – in the tree, is what it used to be. Um, and, so it’s like, it’s hard to find, right? ‘Cause you have all the other ornaments there, and it’s, like, deep in this, like, green tree and it’s, like, reflective, so you just, like, you’re going around this tree for like…a while trying to find it. Um, and so…yeah, so like, after they end up hiding it, um, there…the (unintelligible) and stuff, they like run down, they tell us to come down. And, um, whoever finds the pickle first gets the first gift of Christmas. Um, and then there’s kind of a competition ‘cause there’s three kids, and so, like, we all want this, like, gift. Um, so it’s pretty much what I was – I think it’s like – I think it’s a German tradition. From what I, like I’ve heard it’s supposed to symbolize, like, the first gift of Christmas.”

This tradition was described by a classmate after class ended.

Easter Eggs

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 32
Occupation: Mexican American
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/20/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece: Easter Eggs

The following was a story told to me by a college of mine, ER, and I am DM. The story was about a new tradition created within her family that changed the way her family celebrates Easter.

ER: I am going to tell the transition of my family celebrating Easter. My grandma grew up in a traditional Catholic household where they would go to mass every Easter. In terms of Easter, she would always mention that they would go to mass on like Christmas Easter and that they would be there and kind of celebrating the resurrection of the Lord and so this idea of faith kind of guiding your year of setting the tone for the practices of daily life. When moved to the United States, um they did not go to mass growing up so my grandmother kid of lost this tradition of when she raised my father and his siblings. They did not go to mass other than Christmas and they didn’t really celebrate Easter and that Tradition was lost for about thirty years. My brother and all of my cousins started to having children so it’s kind of another layer of transition in our family holidays where Easter was now more about the kids. Everyone got together on Easter day to celebrate and we would use typically in Mexico these are called cascarones which are confetti filled eggs and so typically you go around smashing them on people’s head kind of a fun little chiste (joke) that you do with each other. My family thinks they are very funny so my cousins always try to get us like when we were unaware. Two years ago, bought the color dye from the color runs on Amazon and filled the eggs with the dye. So every year we have about 500-1000 Easter eggs that we break on each others heads. We have this huge cascarone fight. It has been interesting seeing the change transition from going to a typical conservative formal Easter celebration to nowhere really it’s just a day to spend with family and focus on each other and that time together.

Background/Context:

The participant is thirty-two years old. She is a Mexican American high school English 10 teacher. She told me about how her Easter evolved from a traditional Catholic Easter to a new tradition.  

DM: Where/who did they learn it from?

ER: It is just something that happened organically over time

DM: Why is this tradition important to you?

ER: I think part of that we are going over the typical norm of like society and just being typical Latino like you go to church that was the obligation that you had to do to now like making it our own and kind of making it what works for us.

Analysis/ My Thoughts:

I think this is a perfect example of how one thing changes over time but still the same thing. The tradition of celebrating Easter has stayed the same, but the way they Easter is celebrating is different. There are multiple ways these generations celebrated Easter day. 

You can find the story of the eggs here:

Rentería, Melissa. “’Confetti-Filled Eggs’ a Tradition.” San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio Express-News, 21 Apr. 2011, www.mysanantonio.com/sacultura/conexion/article/Confetti-filled-eggs-a-tradition-1345157.php. This article talks more in depth about the history of where these cascarones came from as well as how popular they are today. They mention how there are stores where they just sell these cascarones.

 

Novenas

Nationality: Colombia
Age: 27
Occupation: IT Project Specialist
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/1/17
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

Novenas 9 days before Christmas, novenas happen. They are a custom done at home in Columbia in which family gets together and has potluck style meals as well as praying together. The meals usually consist of home grown fruits as well as white meats. The Novenas, are usually more prayer oriented, the potluck tradition just grew as a well-mannered custom. Alex is a Colombian native who immigrated here when he was just a little boy. His family left Columbia in response to all the violence that was emitting from Pablo Escobar’s reign of terror. In order to keep his family traditions alive, his parents constantly told him about the vast events and beauty of his homeland and people. This tradition kind of reminds me of when someone dies, you light a candle for 9 days as well as praying together with family and sharing potluck meals.