JN
Tennessee (via Zoom call)
November 9, 2020
Customary Folklore, Folk Celebration
“21st Birthday During COVID-19”
Informant Data:
JN is a high school classmate of the collector and is currently a junior at a university in Tennessee. She grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and has lived there for all her life. At the time of her 21st birthday, JN was at her mom’s house in New Orleans (her parents are divorced but both live in the New Orleans area) because her school had gone fully remote due to the coronavirus pandemic.
JN began drinking at age 14—Mardi Gras of her 8th grade year. She first got a fake ID during the first semester of her junior year in high school.
Contextual data:
JN’s family has deep roots in New Orleans on both sides, and general attitudes around underage possession or consumption of alcohol tend to be laxer in the city. Her parents—and most parents at her high school—were not very concerned about preventing underage drinking as long as people behaved somewhat responsibly. Additionally, bars in New Orleans are allowed to choose to allow in 18 year-olds, so many New Orleanian teenagers have already legally been allowed inside a bar before their 21st birthday.
Furthermore, JN’s 21st birthday occurred during the spring of 2020, when New Orleans was experiencing a particularly acute surge in coronavirus cases, meaning that all bars were closed and large gatherings were banned.
Item:
Despite the pandemic, JN, her friends, and her family still found a way to celebrate.
“Obviously, the 21st birthday is centered around drinking, so the first thing I did that afternoon was play beer pong with my dad, who came over to visit me. After that, my friends surprised me by driving by my house to wish me happy birthday.”
Some of JN’s friends got out of their cars and “iced” her—a typical 21st birthday ritual in which the person who is being celebrated is presented with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice (a fruit flavored malt beverage) and must get down on one knee to consume the drink in a single sip.
After that, JN hosted a Zoom celebration with friends from school, camp, and home. While she had fun, JN noted that it didn’t feel like as much of a milestone in part because of the pandemic and in part because she had already had already performed the major rites of passage.
“It didn’t really feel that special because I had been drinking before that and my parents had already condoned me drinking illegally. I think that it would have been more special had I been allowed to go out legally and celebrate at a bar.”
Connor Page
12 Webster Ave.
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall 2020