Monthly Archives: November 2018

North America Initiation Rituals: The Importance of Family at a Quinceañera

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Title: North America Initiation Rituals: The Importance of Family at a Quinceañera

 General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Rituals
  • Culture: Latinx and Catholic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Mexico/America
  • Informant: Athina Schmidt
  • Place Collected: Kappa Delta Sorority
  • Date Collected: 11-2-18

Informant Data:

  • Athina Schmidt, age 29, is a female Dartmouth student who is graduating with the class of 2019. She was born in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She is currently living in Brooklyn, New York. Her ethnic background is half Dominican and half German. She went to a public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Athina is in Kappa Delta sorority, a member of the club Squash team, and a member of the Gospel Choir. She is planning to major in Psychology with a minor in Digital Art.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The U.S. Latinx culture has deep roots in respecting their cultural customs, traditions, and religion from the past. The main religion practiced by this cultural community is the Catholicism. In the U.S. a way many their Latinx families continue to pass down their cultural and religious customs is through the Quinceañera. The Quinceañera is an important way for a girl of Mexican American decent to stay connected to their ethnic history. After completing theQuinceañera a girl becomes incorporated into the cultural community in a meaningful way.
  • Social Context: The Quinceañera is practiced by most self-identifying Latinx members no matter their economic and geographic situations. TheQuinceañera can vary in how elaborate the ceremony and party is, depending on the particular socioeconomic state of the individual family and community. This coming of age ceremony is not only important to the girl and her family, but also the cultural and Catholic community she is a part of.

Item:

  • One of the most important aspects of the Quinceañera is the family of the girl. The event is just as much for the girl as it is for her family. The whole extended family is invited to the Quinceañera. For my informant, that meant having over 150 people at her Quinceañera. The past generations are honored and symbolized through the candle lighting ceremony at the church. The family gives speeches at the Quinceañera about the birthday girl. An iconic aspect of the Quinceañera is the father and daughter dance. The family is just as active in the initiation traditions as the girl. The family is initiating the girl and welcomes her into womanhood throughout the ceremony. As a result, the family is involved in all three stages of the initiation rite.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

 

Transcript:

  • “For the Quinceañera it was done in Brooklyn with my entire family. So my aunt and uncles were there and all my cousins. And all my girl cousin had matching dresses and of course we went to the first part of the service was at our Catholic church. And we did like a special mass and you know the lighting of the candles for like our dead relatives and all that stuff… And after that, then there was like a big party at a dining hall. That’s when the family, like all of the families, got together. And it had to be like 150 people. It was so crazy, I didn’t realize there was so many people in my family… They all had speeches… We did the dance with your dad, the first dance. That was really cute.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • She thought that she had a small family before her Quinceañera. She was amazed by the amount of people at the Quinceañera.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I never realized just how family centered this the Quinceañera

Analysis:                

  • All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup: Both the Quinceañera and Sweet Sixteen are very family centered events. There are many overlapping family traditions that are a part of both initiation rites. For example, at both many family members give speeches about the birthday girl. One of the most iconic parts of both traditions is the father and daughter dance. Both have the meaning that the first man in a girl’s life should be the father.
  • Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvahsare rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. In all three coming of age ceremonies the family is an interregnal part of what makes the tradition special. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones,Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary folklore
  • Initiation
  • Quinceañera
  • Catholicism
  • Family
  • Candles
  • First Dance
  • Speeches

North America Initiation Rituals: Gifts and Dresses at the Quinceañera a Symbol of Marriageability

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Title: North America Initiation Rituals: Gifts and Dresses at the Quinceañera a Symbol of Marriageability

 General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Rituals
  • Culture: Latinx and Catholic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Mexico/America
  • Informant: Serena De La Cruz
  • Place Collected: Dartmouth College Library, Novak
  • Date Collected: 11-2-18

Informant Data:

  • Serena De La Cruz, age 21, is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2019. She was born and raised in San Diego, California. Her ethnic background is Hispanic and Mexican American. She went to a public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Serena is in Kappa Delta sorority, is a Spanish drill instructor and works at the library. She is planning to major in Geography modified with Medical Communities.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The U.S. Latinx culture has deep roots in respecting their cultural customs, traditions, and religion from the past. The main religion practiced by this cultural community is the Catholicism. In the U.S. a way many their Latinx families continue to pass down their cultural and religious customs is through the Quinceañera. The Quinceañera is an important way for a girl of Mexican American decent to stay connected to their ethnic history. After completing theQuinceañera a girl becomes incorporated into the cultural community in a meaningful way.
  • Social Context: The Quinceañera is practiced by most self-identifying Latinx members no matter their economic and geographic situations. TheQuinceañera can vary in how elaborate the ceremony and party is, depending on the particular socioeconomic state of the individual family and community. This coming of age ceremony is not only important to the girl and her family, but also the cultural and Catholic community she is a part of.

Item:

  • Receiving and opening gifts at birthdays is a common custom across many cultures. For theQuinceañera the gifts have an additional meaning associated with them. The Quinceañera originated as a symbolic transition from childhood to a status of womanhood. Thus in the community she is considered marriageable after her fifteenth birthday. The gifts brought to the girl were for her dowry. Additionally, the dress worn was traditionally white to symbolize her new marriageable status. The symbolism behind the gifts and dress are unique to the Latinx culture. Now, the customs are still used, but the meaning of the overall ceremony is not necessarily about the marriageability anymore.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

 

Transcript:

  • “Quinceañeras I think like a lot of coming of age things for women kind of originated like this women is marriageable, she’s a women now. Like the gifts were originally supposed to be for the women’s dowry when she got married. And the dresses were always traditionally white.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • She notes that though gifts and dresses are important aspects of the Quinceañera, the idea that this ceremony is a mark of marriageability is not necessarily the case anymore. The traditions are passed down and still continue but the meaning is now more about a tradition from childhood to adolescence.

Collector’s Comments:

  • It never knew that the gifts and dresses had a historical symbolic meaning behind them. It is interesting that modern the Quinceañera and Sweet Sixteen use these old traditions, but did not continue the symbolism behind it.

Analysis:                

  • All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup: Both the Quinceañera and Sweet Sixteen have opening of gifts and wearing elaborate dresses as a custom. Similar to the candles having different meanings, the gifts and dresses have different symbolism between the two initiation rites. For the Quinceañera, there is historical symbolism behind wearing dresses and the gifts of m But for the Sweet Sixteen these customs are just a part of celebrating a girl transitioning from a child to an adolescent.
  • Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvahsare rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. For example, all three use opening gifts as a central tradition associated with the ceremony. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones,Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary folklore
  • Initiation
  • Quinceañera
  • Dress
  • Gift

House Entrance Facing East

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Title: House entrance facing east

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Priya Shukla
  • Date Collected: 11/12/18

Informant Data:

  • Priya Shukla is a ‘21 attending Dartmouth College. She is pre-med, majoring in English. She was born in London but currently lives in Boston, MA. Her parents are both Hindu. Her mother is from Jaipur and her father is from Agra. Both of her parents speak Hindi, and Priya and her younger brother, Chetan can both read and write Hindi.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: According to the Indian Vastu Shastra (the science of architecture per ancient Hindu knowledge systems), the main entrance is one of the most important areas, and the direction the entrance faces dictates a lot about the luck of the owners of the household. A house with its entrance facing east is considered very auspicious, and a house with its entrance facing South West brings in struggles and misfortunes because it is the entry of the devil energy.
  • Social Context: Priya learned this superstition from her parents when she was growing up. This is a fairly common indian superstition, and it ties in with other superstitions relating to the household. Priya and another one of our informants told a superstition that says you can not sleep with your feet pointing south, so you have to make sure your bed is facing the right direction.

Item:

  • This superstition relies on the belief of the Indian Vastu Shastra.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript: “So, when you’re building a house, you always have to make sure the front entrance points to the east for good luck. I think its because the sun rises in the east.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is an example of a sign superstition: If you have your door facing a certain direction, then you will have good/bad luck.

Collector’s Name: Marlee Montella

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Superstition
  • House

North America Initiation Rituals: Quinceañera a Catholic Coming of Age Rite

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Title: North America Initiation Rituals: Quinceañera a Catholic Coming of Age Rite

General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Rituals
  • Culture: Latinx and Catholic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Mexico/America
  • Informant: Serena De La Cruz
  • Place Collected: Dartmouth College Library, Novak
  • Date Collected: 11-2-18

Informant Data:

  • Serena De La Cruz, age 21, is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2019. She was born and raised in San Diego, California. Her ethnic background is Hispanic and Mexican American. She went to a public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Serena is in Kappa Delta sorority, is a Spanish drill instructor and works at the library. She is planning to major in Geography modified with Medical Communities.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The U.S. Latinx culture has deep roots in respecting their cultural customs, traditions, and religion from the past. The main religion practiced by this cultural community is the Catholicism. In the U.S. a way many their Latinx families continue to pass down their cultural and religious customs is through the Quinceañera. The Quinceañera is an important way for a girl of Mexican American decent to stay connected to their ethnic history. After completing the Quinceañera a girl becomes incorporated into the cultural community in a meaningful way.
  • Social Context: The Quinceañera is practiced by most self-identifying Latinx members no matter their economic and geographic situations. TheQuinceañera can vary in how elaborate the ceremony and party is, depending on the particular socioeconomic state of the individual family and community. This coming of age ceremony is not only important to the girl and her family, but also the cultural and Catholic community she is a part of.

Item:

  • The ultimate root of the Quinceañera is Catholicism. The Quinceañera is ultimately a Catholic rite of passage, despite the party and entertainment aspects of the ceremony. For my informant, though she did not have the traditional church ceremony, she had her deacon come to her Quinceañera. This was a way to respect the Catholic traditions that are involved with the Quinceañera. The deacon made a speech in her honor and blessed her during the ceremony. These are both very important traditional aspects of the Quinceañera. When analyzed as an initiation rite, the different Catholic traditions that are involved in theQuinceañera is part of the transition stage.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

 

Transcript:

  • “I think the hallmarks are the girls fifteenth birthday. She’s a women and I think Catholicismis still really incorporated with it. There’s a church ceremony and the party after where you invite all your friends and family. It’s a very family orientated party… It’s a lot of cultural things mixed with Catholicism things. We had our local deacon he came. And we didn’t have a church ceremony but he basically came and talked to my family and everyone that was there about me and my parents. They did a blessing over me.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • She did not have a church ceremony, but she had been to many Quinceañera’s that had them. She thinks that the church ceremony is still and important aspect of the Quinceañera.

Collector’s Comments:

  • It is interesting to see how the Quinceañera’s traditions are intertwined with both religious and cultural symbolism.

Analysis:                

  • All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup: In general all the informants that spoke about their Quinceañera always mentioned something about It makes sense that every informant would mention Catholicism when talking about their Quinceañera because Catholicism is the base of the ceremony. Most girls who have a Quinceañera often have a church ceremony for the first half then a party afterwards.
  • Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvah are rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Both have a church ceremony portion of the ceremony that represents the transition stage of the initiantion rite. The church ceremony of both  the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvah are followed by a party that represents the incorporation stage of the initiation rite. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Folklore
  • Initiation
  • Catholicism
  • Quinceañera

North America Initiation Rituals: Sweet Sixteen Planning

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Title: North America Initiation Rituals: Sweet Sixteen Planning

General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Rituals
  • Culture: American
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Vanessa Pinney
  • Place Collected: Colllis Center
  • Date Collected: 11-2-18

Informant Data:

  • Vanessa Pinney, age 19, is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2021. She was born and raised in New York, New York. Her ethnic background is primarily English. She went to a small private high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Vanessa is a U.G.A., is a member of Sexperts, and a member of the Taekwondo team. She is planning to major in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Sciences.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Many consider America to be the “melting pot” of a diverse range of cultures. The blending of cultures is reflected in many traditions in America, including sweet sixteen. Sweet sixteen’s borrow various traditions from othercoming of age ceremonies. The two main celebrations that it borrows from are the Jewish Bat Mitzvah and the Latinx Quinceañera. ​
  • Social Context: Sweet sixteen are typically thrown by middle class toupper class families. The frequency of girls that have a sweet sixteen varies from region to region, but in generally since the celebration is quite a financial burden regions that are economically well off tend to have a higher frequency. Sweet sixteen’s are celebrated by girls in America, regardless of ethnicity.

Item:

  • The Sweet Sixteen is often regarded as a transition point between childhood and adolescence. As a result, many girls for the first time are allowed to take on the responsibility of planning out their Sweet Sixteen. This is often the first time a girl will have to think of planning and financial aspects of a birthday party. The taking on of responsibility is an important first step in becoming incorporated as a women. When analyzed this tradition falls under the separation stage of the three stages of initiation.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

 

Transcript:

  • “My family doesn’t really have an established tradition of sweet sixteen’s… My mom thought before I went away it might be fun if I had a small Sweet Sixteen party with some of my friends. She told me that she did not have to much time to plan it, so I had to do a lot of the work myself…It was fairly last minute but it was fun because I got to plan it out myself. And up until that point I didn’t have to many birthday parties. Whenever I had them it would be something my parents planned and so I guess it was unofficially some sort of experience in responsibility in how to plan an event like this. And I had to figure out the finances and the tickets to the show and what restaurant. Actually, (I) made the reservation myself and it was a cool experience…”

Informant’s Comments:

  • She really enjoyed the new experience of taking on the responsibility of planning her Sweet Sixteen. She was still able to enjoy her Sweet Sixteen, even though her family did not have a long tradition of having Sweet Sixteen’s.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I had a very similar Sweet Sixteen experience as my informant. I am the first in my family to have a Sweet Sixteen. Also, I planned by myself my Sweet Sixteen dinner as well. It is interesting to see the parallels to my experience despite the fact that our cultural and regional backgrounds are very different.

Analysis:                

  • All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup: The aspect of taking an more active role in the birthday is a comparable piece of folklore with the subgroup in general. In both the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the takes on more responsibility in the ceremony. For example, for a Sweet Sixteen many girls for the first time help plan out and think of the financial aspects of a party. For the Quinceañera many girls are required to make speeches and learn dances.
  • Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvah are rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. For example, all three force the girl to take an active role in planning and executing the ceremony. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones,Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary folklore
  • Initiation
  • Sweet Sixteen
  • Planning
  • Responsibility

Initiation Ritual “Bat Mitzvah”

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Initiation Ritual

“Bat Mitzvah”

Deborah Feiffer

Dartmouth College

2018

General Information About Item:

  • Genre: Customary Lore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Deborah Feiffer
  • Date Collected: 11/1/18

 

Informant Data: Deborah Feiffer is a 20 year old Sophomore studying at Dartmouth College. Feiffer grew grew up in New Jersey and Connecticut. She identifies as a reformed Jew. Both of her parents were raised Jewish. Her dad was raised reformative and her mom was raised conservative, but now the family belongs to a reformed synagogue, where she was bah mitzvah. Her family visits the synagogue about once a month and for all important holidays. Feiffer also grew up going to Jewish summer camp where it had a Jewish focus, but welcomed different types of Judaism so it wasn’t necessarily reformed or conservative.

 

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Deborah Feiffer in Novack cafe at Dartmouth College. Deborah and I are familiar with one another, as we shared dormitory floors our Freshman year and her old roommate is my roommate this year! As both her parents are Jews, Deborah grew up surrounded by the Jewish culture, regularly attending her synagogue.

Cultural Context: The Jewish culture revolves around a tight knit community. Jews have suffered discrimination and persecution for thousands of years, so inherently, they take enjoy the companionship in their community. Therefore, Bar Mitzvahs are a common celebration in the jewish culture as a way to unite the people while rejoicing in a child’s coming of age ceremony. This ritual is perhaps the quintessential ritual for the Jewish people, and this explains how it is so well preserved through time.

 

Item:    A bat mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish girls, like Deborah, who are twelve years old. For boys, this ceremony is called a bar mitzvah and is celebrated at thirteen years old.  During the bat mitzvah, the girl makes a speech accompanied by candles. Next, other family members and friends also speak.

 

Audio File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jAw928fHVBVmMTFbbhz1bdhlihm9UWS9/view?usp=sharing

 

 

Transcript for Bat Mitzvah:

“My bat mitzvah party, it was at a local country club, and all my family and friends were there from both sides. All the same people that attended services were at the party. And there was some dancing, some food, and a nice meal. And then at one point there was a candle lighting ceremony where I light twelve candles or thirteen depending on how old I am, and for each candle I dedicated it to a different person which is pretty standard for a lot of bar and bah mitzvahs. And you give a nice speech for each person inviting them up which is usually pretty corny and then some people spoke, like my parents about me. And overall, it was just a fun, middle school party.”

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • It was a fun celebration
  • I take my religion seriously!

Collector’s Comments:

  • Deborah had a really nice time at her bat mitzvah. It doesn’t seem like it was incredibly important to her, but she still enjoyed it.

 

Collector’s Name and Information:

 

Khia Hollyer 18

Dartmouth College

Russian 13

Fall 2018

 

Tags/Keywords: Jewish, Bat Mitzvah, tradition, reformed

 

Initiation Ritual “Bar Mitzvah”

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Initiation Ritual

“Bar Mitzvah”

Michael Nachman

Dartmouth College

2018

General Information About Item:

  • Genre: Customary Lore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Michael Nachman
  • Date Collected: 11/1/18

 

Informant Data: Michael Nachman is a 20 year old Sophomore at Dartmouth College. Nachman comes from a town close to Long Island called Port Washington, New York. He graduated as valedictorian of Paul D. Schreiber High School. Nachman has two younger brothers. One of Nachman’s brothers will be celebrating his bar mitzvah this coming June!

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Michael Nachman in Novack cafe at Dartmouth College. Michael and I are familiar with one another, as we shared dormitory floors throughout Freshman and Sophomore years. Nachman’s family are very steeped in the Jewish culture, and they regularly attend the community synagogue of Port Washington, where Nachman had his bar mitzvah!

Cultural Context: The Jewish culture revolves around a tight knit community. Jews have suffered discrimination and persecution for thousands of years, so inherently, they take comfort in the companionship of members of their community. Jews also like to keep their tradition and religion in a state of flourishing. Therefore, Bar Mitzvahs are a common celebration in the jewish culture as a way to unite the people while rejoicing in a child’s coming of age ceremony. This ritual is arguably  the quintessential ritual for the Jewish people, and this explains how it is so well preserved.

Item:    A bar mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish people who are thirteen years old if they are a boy and twelve years old if they are girls. For girls, this event is called a “bat mitzvah”. During this ceremony, the boy or girl reads from the torah and it takes roughly an hour.  The reading is a difficult task, the boy must learn on his own and read his passage on his own. Next, he must pass a hebrew test. If he fails these tasks he will not pass his bar mitzvah.

 

Audio File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/110gxf7xdKZLu_4PGaJUHpm-2u8ciEaT-/view?usp=sharing

 

Transcript for Bar Mitzvah:

“So my bar mitzvah happened when I was thirteen years old. I remember being very nervous about it, um because when you’re twelve/thirteen big parties are scary and you have to learn an entire portion and my torah portion was the ten commandments which is pretty special, pretty interesting for me to be able to talk about that in the context of me and my bar mitzvah and um yeah, to be honest, I  don’t have too much of a memory of my bar mitzvah, its all kind of a flashbulb of a memory.”

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • I love the Jewish culture!
  • It is a very serious ceremony with a lot of importance to the Jewish community.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Michael doesn’t seem to recall much about his own bar mitzvah, but he knows a lot about the culture and seems to be very involved in judaism.

 

Collector’s Name and Information:

 

Khia Hollyer 18

 

Dartmouth College

Russian 13

Fall 2018

 

Tags/Keywords: Jewish, Bar Mitzvah, Party, tradition

 

Initiation Ritual – Bar Mitzvah (Alex)

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Initiation Ritual

“Bar Mitzvah”

Alex

Dartmouth College

2018

General Information About Item:

  • Genre: Customary Lore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Alex
  • Date Collected: 11/1/18

 

Informant Data: Alex is a 21 year old student at Dartmouth College. He is from Ohio. During his spare time at Dartmouth, he is actively involved in clubs across campus.

 

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Alex, a 21 year old student at Dartmouth College. Alex is a close friend of mine. I asked him to tell me about his Jewish heritage, and the bar mitzvah is his only true traditional experience he has had in the Jewish Culture. At Alex’s bar mitzvah, he invited his classmates and family members. He really enjoyed the party, and he describes it as very  fun.To Alex, it did not feel so much as a right of passage into becoming an adult, but rather an opportunity to have fun in the most educational way.

Cultural Context: The Jewish culture revolves around a tight knit community. Jews have suffered discrimination and persecution for thousands of years, so inherently, they take comfort in the companionship of members of their community. Therefore, Bar Mitzvahs are a common celebration in the jewish culture as a way to unite the people while rejoicing in a child’s coming of age ceremony. This ritual is arguably  the quintessential ritual for the Jewish people, and this explains how it is so well preserved.

 

Item:    A bar mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish people who are thirteen years old if they are a boy and twelve years old if they are girls. For girls, this event is called a “bat mitzvah”. During this ceremony, the boy or girl reads from the torah and it takes roughly an hour. The reading is usually followed by an awesome party with lots of the child’s friends.

 

Audio File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18c3S7GK3oy8Adra0m_BrRNpd0r3xRRrW/view?usp=sharing

 

 

Transcript for Bar Mitzvah:

“A bar mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish people who are thirteen years old if they are a boy and twelve years old if they are girls, which would be called a “bat mitzvah”, which is a ceremony where they read from the torah which is the old testament or the Jewish holy book in a synagogue and it takes about an hour and it’s usually followed by an awesome party with lots of their friends. That’s what I did.”

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • I had a lot of fun at my Bar Mitzvah!

Collector’s Comments:

  • Alex really enjoyed his Bar Mitzvah
  • It’s unfortunate how the significance of the Bar Mitzvah seems to elude Alex

 

Collector’s Name and Information:

Khia Hollyer 18
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords: Jewish, Bar Mitzvah, Party, tradition

North America Initiation Rituals: Sweet Sixteen Birthday Candles

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Title: North America Initiation Rituals: Sweet Sixteen Birthday Candles

General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Rituals
  • Culture: American
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Morgan Gelber
  • Place Collected: Dartmouth College Library, First Floor Berry
  • Date Collected: 11-2-18

Informant Data:

  • Morgan Gelber, age 20, is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2020. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her ethnic background is half Russian and half Caucasian. She went to a small public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Morgan is in Kappa Delta sorority and is a member of the fencing team. She is planning to major in English with a minor in Russian studies.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Many consider America to be the “melting pot” of a diverse range of cultures. The blending of cultures is reflected in many traditions in America, including sweet sixteen. Sweet sixteen’s borrow various traditions from othercoming of age ceremonies. The two main celebrations that it borrows from are the Jewish Bat Mitzvah and the Latinx Quinceañera. ​
  • Social Context: Sweet sixteen are typically thrown by middle class toupper class families. The frequency of girls that have a sweet sixteen varies from region to region, but in generally since the celebration is quite a financial burden regions that are economically well off tend to have a higher frequency. Sweet sixteen’s are celebrated by girls in America, regardless of ethnicity.

Item:

  • The birthday candle is one of the most important traditions involved with birthdays. A common tradition to make a wish before blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. Most believe that all the candles must be blown out in one breath for good luck and the wish to come true. The blowing out of candles marks the true point when the person transitions to the next year of their lives. As a result, blowing out the candles is part of the transition stage of the three stages of initiation rites.  For sweet-sixteens this transition point also represents moving from childhood to adolescence. For this particular person’s sweet-sixteen the candles had an extra tradition associated with them. Each of the sixteen candles would represent a friend or family member who helped her get to that point in her life. For each candle she would tell a short story about what those people important in her life.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

           

Transcript:

  • Morgan: “My friend… for the candles around the cake, she calls up (people). My friend made a speech for each candle and had either one or a group of people come up for each (candle) that were significant in her life and we lit the candle together.”
  • Darien: “So a story pre-candle basically?”
  • Morgan: “Yeah, so one was like her very best friend, one was like her parents, one was like a group of four or five people. But (they were) who had helped her get to that point in life. And she blew them (the candles) out and ate the cake.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Even though this was not her sixteenth birthday party, the story about the candles was a defining memory for her when she looks back on birthday parties she’s been to.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found the extra tradition that was involved with the candles on her sixteenth birthday really special and meaningful. The retrospective thoughts on the people who were important in her childhood was a nice way to reflect and move on from her childhood to adolescence.

Analysis:                

  • All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup: A comparable piece of folklore within the subgroup of North American initiation rites is the candles used in the Quinceañera. Both initiation rites include candles as a central symbol in the tradition. In the case of the Sweet Sixteen the candles only represent the transition from one year of life to the next. On the other hand, for the Quinceañera the lighting of the candles is in honor of the deceased relatives.
  • Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvah are rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. For example, all three use candles as a central tradition associated with the ceremony. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary folklore
  • Initiation
  • Sweet Sixteen
  • Candles

Coffee & Pastries

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Title: Coffee & Pastries

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal/Visual Lore, Joke, Meme
  • Language: English
  • Origin: Dartmouth Athletic Teams
  • Informant: Shannon Ropp
  • Date Collected: 10-29-18

Informant Data:

  • Shannon Ropp was born in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Her parents are Jefferey and Debra Ropp. She has one older brother, and grew up playing hockey. She has a dog named Frodo. She is currently a senior at Dartmouth College, and is studying Engineering Sciences. She is a member of the Dartmouth Women’s Ice hockey team.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Dartmouth women’s ice hockey head coach, Laura Schuler believes that in order to be a peak athlete, you must fuel your body for performance. One day while she was speaking to her team, she said that they needed to stop “exclusively fueling their bodies with coffee and pastries”.
  • Social Context: The team drinks a lot of coffee during the school term in order to stay awake for classes and assignments, as well as eats lots of pastries as they are easy to grab and go. The team thought this was humorous that their coach would reprimand them for something as minuscule as that. The team then began making memes out of the incident.

Item:

  • This is a combination of a visual joke/meme and a spoken joke. The team created a serious of memes and shared them. Whenever someone is making unhealthy decisions, they are told to stop “fueling their body with only coffee and pastries”.

Informant’s Comments:

  • This was one of our favorite jokes so far this year, and it has sparked many following memes and jokes. We have also renamed out group chat “Coffee & Pastries” as a nod to the incident.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The joke here is a paradox for athletes. You would not expect division 1 athletes to eat excess unhealthy foods. Its also interesting to see the first meme I collected from a sports team, and may reflect the culture of the generation of current Dartmouth athletes.

Collector’s Name: Sydney Hill

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Meme
  • Coffee
  • Hockey
  • Pastries
  • Athlete