Customary/Ritual
American/Czech 18th Birthday
Susanne Sherman
Seattle, WA.
November 3rd, 2020
Informant Data:
Susanne was born in Czechoslovakia in 1935 and moved to Seattle, WA to escape persecution during WWII. She moved with her sister and parents, arriving with little belongings. Susanne graduated from the University of Washington in 1957 and worked as a speech pathologist for her entire career. After her husband’s passing, she raised her three kids alone for several years before remarrying. She is now retired and lives in a suburb of Seattle.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: In the United States, the 18th birthday represents legal adulthood. This is cause for celebration as this birthday comes with certain privileges, including voting rights and the ability to buy certain products (cigarettes, fireworks, tattoos). These privileges are considered less significant than being able to drink alcohol when turning 21 but are still significant enough that people will go out and utilize their new privileges on their 18th birthday solely because they can. These are often compounded with parties to celebrate adulthood, often with friends and family.
Social Context: Although the 18th birthday in America presents people with new opportunities that come with legal adulthood, often these opportunities are not taken advantage of or immediately relevant, such as voting, where most people have to wait months or years to use their voting rights. To accommodate for this people will often host parties to celebrate the general milestone of becoming a legal adult. This can include hosting family and friends or having a smaller party with more significant activities or gifts. Usually, these activities or gifts will hold special value for the birthday boy or girl or represent a family tradition.
Item:
When Susanne was young her mother used to make a special birthday cake for her and her sister’s birthdays. This cake was special because it didn’t contain any flour, but ground nuts, which was considered very fancy in Czechoslovakia at the time. When they moved to the United States, they left a privileged life behind as they were not able to bring many belongings with them. In hopes of continuing this Czech birthday tradition, Susanne would make this fancy cake for her children’s 18th birthdays. Although most Americans celebrate birthdays with cakes, this one was significant to her and her family because it represented the ancestors they lost, which made it more special than any gift she could give. The cake would take many hours to make, so it was not reasonable to make it every year for each of her kids. Her kids knew how much effort she put into the cake and how significant the cake was to her and to the family in general.
Mitchell Meade
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS 13 Fall 2020