Tag Archives: tradition

Sparkling Cider


Text: “A family traditional of mine is that the sparkling apple cider to me is such a special thing because I used to only drink it during like holidays and stuff and like family get-togethers. I would drink it at Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter. Basically anytime that there was like a holiday dinner. I didn’t drink sparkling apple cider unless it’s a holiday or something. Even still today I only have it at special occasions, but now I’m an adult I can choose when is special. Like my friends and I we did a little gingerbread house night and I brought it. I brought a bottle just cause I was like this is a special event to me, so I’m gonna bring this. But my grandma used to get us these little glasses that we would use for kids so that we had our own fancy glass instead of giving us a wine glass. My dad would do the same thing for us at New Years, so when the ball drops and it starts the new year we all drink the champagne, even though it’s sparkling cider, but it made us feel like we were drinking champagne.”

Context: AL’s parents and grandparents would by them and their sibling sparkling cider for every holiday. It would be in fancy glasses and made the kids feel like they were drinking champaign. Despite being an adult now and being legally able to drink champaign, AL still sees sparkling cider as a fancy drink. They now get it themselves for whatever they deam a special event – whether with family or with friends.

Analysis: This beverage became a tradition that was not just fun, but made kids seem a part of adult culture, such as making them have similar looking drinks on New Years like champagne, and made kids feel included. This tradition became so beloved after being repatead a plethora of holidays for years that it became a huge part into positive and important celebrations that now AL has transported the beverage to have it at multiple fun events that they deem important. Therefore expanding the tradition. This can show that tradition can be expanded from repition and positve beliefs around the topic.

Christmas Saran Wrap Game

Text: “At Christmas, we did a saran wrap game. Where it’s just like you get a pretty big bowl and add presents into the bowl. Once their in the bowl you wrap it in saran wrap in multiple layers. Then you time everyone, and you have to unravel the saran wrap, like really quickly, so that you can get gifts. Which you want to do because you want because you wanna get the big gift in the middle, but then there’s a bunch of other tiny things like candies and stuff around it, and that was always really fun.”

Context: When discussing Christmas traditions with AL, they described a holiday tradition their whole family would participate in. Grabbing a big bowl with an array of presents, some small like little toys and candy, but with the addition of a bigger wrapped present in the center of the bowl. The bowls for each family member were wrapped multiple times in saran wrap. Everyone then is timed to see who can unwrap their bowl the fastest. They are additionally motivated to get to the center of the bowl so they can get to the big present.

Analysis: This tradition shows how families can turn something simple like gift-giving into a game that everyone gets excited about. The saran wrap game adds competition and urgency, since everyone is racing against time to unwrap their bowl and reach the bigger prize in the center. At the same time, the smaller items like candy keep it fun along the way. Because everyone is doing it together and reacting in the moment, it creates a lot of laughter and energy, which makes the experience more memorable than just opening presents one by one. It highlights how adding a playful challenge can make holidays feel more interactive and bring people closer through shared excitement.

Thanksgiving Treasure Hunt

Text: “The Thanksgiving treasure hunt has to be my absolute favorite tradition out of any holiday. My dad did it for me when I was growing up, and now I pass it on to my kids. My sister, however, does not do it for her kids, so I’m glad I can keep the tradition alive that my dad started. Every Thanksgiving, I get silly gifts for everyone. For example, for my husband, when he had a super old falling apart car, I gave him a toy of the mator tow truck from cars, or the falling year gave him a pair of reader glasses after noticing his eyes were getting old. So, silly gifts like that. I would hide them around the house and write poems with clues to lead people to their treasure. After dinner, we would start with the youngest in the room and work our way up to the oldest. They would open the paper in front of them, read the clue, go get their gift, and come back to the table to open it, and then the next person would go. I even include extra people of we have an aunt or cousin over that year rather than our main immediate family. It’s a lot of fun, and I keep the poems from every year.”

Context: This is a generational tradition that brings a new, fun activity for the holiday. It gives people time to digest in the period between dinner and dessert. The gifts are usually fun little jokes to poke fun at and are enjoyed, bringing laughs to the whole crowd. The clues are written in a poem written by the mom who hides all of the gifts around.

Analysis: This tradition shows how one person can take something simple and turn it into a really meaningful family ritual over time. The Thanksgiving treasure hunt isn’t just about giving gifts; it’s about the experience of finding them, especially with the poems and clues that make it feel more personal and creative. The fact that it was passed down from a dad and is now being continued for the next generation shows how traditions can stay alive even if not everyone in the family keeps them going. The silly gifts also make it more fun and less serious, turning it into a moment of laughter and connection rather than just another holiday activity. Starting with the youngest and including whoever is there helps everyone feel involved, which makes it more memorable for the whole group.

Marching Band Traditions and Hazing Narratives

This narrative was shared during an informal conversation about marching band culture and traditions. The informant was reflecting on differences between past and current leadership within the marching band, particularly in relation to hazing and disciplinary history. As the discussion turned to rumors, traditions, and institutional memory, the informant recounted a series of stories that have been passed down within the band, ranging from absurd misconduct to a fatal hazing incident. These stories are commonly referenced to explain the band’s current zero-tolerance stance toward hazing.

Informant (MB):
“I’m in the marching band. We’ve changed directors now, but under the previous director, the band members, especially the brass players, were known for being pretty wild. I’m not saying this very formally, just repeating what people usually say.

From what I’ve heard, the band was once banned by an airline. They were told they were no longer allowed to fly with that company. They were also banned by a chain hotel. Things like that really happened.

As far as I know, the airline ban came from a tradition on airplanes where two people would stand at opposite ends of the aisle and then run toward each other as fast as possible. It sounds really ridiculous. But on one flight, too many people were doing it, or they were being too aggressive, and the plane actually started shaking. Apparently, there were real technical concerns with the aircraft. After that, the airline banned the entire band. I heard the airline was United, which is why we never fly United for away games anymore.

There’s also a story about getting banned from a hotel. From what I’ve heard, and no one knows for sure if this actually happened, everyone agreed to rush the bathrooms at the same time and ended up clogging the sinks. After that, the band was banned from the hotel.

Those two stories feel lowbrow and chaotic. They’re stupid and absurd, maybe inappropriate, but they don’t feel truly dangerous compared to what came next.

There’s another story that’s much more tragic, and this one is probably real. I think it happened in the 1980s or 1990s. The band was traveling by bus to an away game. The trumpet section had a tradition where they lined up the freshmen outside the bus, blindfolded them, and then hit them symbolically with trumpets. They called this ritual ‘retreat,’ but it was really another form of hazing.

One time, there was an accident. It was extremely hot, and people weren’t feeling well. Among the line of trumpet freshmen, there was also a drum major. A drum major is the student who leads the band at football games, the person out front with the sword. Even though he had that position, he was standing with the freshmen.

Everyone hit him once. After that, he collapsed. He was taken for emergency medical care and was initially resuscitated, but later he died.

I don’t understand how hitting someone with a trumpet could lead to something that serious. But the result was that someone died. It feels like one of those situations where everyone does something small, but no one knows which action caused the fatal injury. We don’t know how hard people hit him or exactly how it was done. But it was undeniably a tragedy.

What makes this story feel more real is that one of our directors actually witnessed it. People say he saw it happen with his own eyes. Because of that, he absolutely hates hazing.”

My Thought:
Hearing these stories makes it clear why hazing is treated so seriously in the marching band today. The lighter stories about airline and hotel bans function almost like jokes or rumors that bond the group, but the fatal incident transforms these traditions into warnings rather than entertainment. What stands out to me most is how responsibility becomes collective and unclear, with no single person identified as the cause of the death. This ambiguity makes the story even more unsettling and reinforces the idea that hazing can become dangerous not because of one person’s intent, but because of unchecked group behavior. For me, this story explains why institutional memory is powerful and why certain traditions are not just discouraged, but completely rejected.

Plastic Covered Furniture

Text:

“Whenever new furniture was bought, they would immediately be covered in plastic”

Context:

In my dad’s Italian family, when new furniture was purchased and moved into the house, it was immediately encased in plastic. My mother had similar experiences at her Jewish friends’ homes.

Analysis:

The ritual of covering new furniture in plastic is a common, repeated & patterned practice found among Mediterranean immigrants. Many Mediterranean immigrants were fleeing poverty & crime, coming to America with next to nothing. Because of that, new things were a rare commodity. My dad only had hand-me-down clothes, shoes, anything until he was in high school and got his first NEW pair of sneakers. So, whenever something new was bought with hard-earned money, immigrant families wanted to keep it as new and clean as possible. It was a symbol of pride, success, and hard-work paying off, and immigrants wanted to preserve it.