Title: Watching The Little Drummer Boy with cousins

General Information about Item:

• Entertainment/movies
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: S.M.
• Date Collected: 11-10-21

Informant Data:

• S.M. is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. She has lived across the United States, went to high school in a town near Rochester, New York, and currently resides in Wisconsin. She studies Government, Philosophy, and Politics, and is an athlete on the Dartmouth Swim and Dive team. She has two younger twin sisters, is Caucasian, and was raised Catholic.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Christmas in the United States is celebrated by people of various religious backgrounds. The traditions of gifts, stockings, and a tree are shared by families, often because of the belief in Santa Clause among children.
• Social Context: There is also an element of commercialization surrounding the holidays, specifically Christmas. Because Christmas is celebrated by people of all races, religions, and cultural backgrounds in the United States, it is often secularized in the media. Religious movies, songs, and other artifacts sometimes have religious references, but do not emphasize religious sentiments.

Item/Transcript:

“We celebrate Christmas every year with my extended family on my mom’s side of the family. It’s pretty fun with all my cousins, but it also gets chaotic with so much family together. My mom and aunts always make us watch The Little Drummer Boy on Christmas Eve because it’s the only religious Christmas movie. We’re all old now and we still have to have to watch it. Honestly none of us really pay attention, but we still have to put it on the TV in the background.”

Informant’s Comments:

• Christmas is the only time of the year that some extended families get together every year. It’s always really fun to see cousins and family friends who you haven’t seen in a while.

Collector’s Comments:

• I can relate to the sentiment of the folk-family-tradition. My family also has traditions that my parents and grandparents are adamant about, despite the disinterest amongst me and my cousins. It is excited to have new babies being born in the family so that we can keep traditions alive in the family.

Collector’s Name: Sunaina Sekaran

Tags/Keywords:

• Customary folklore
• Entertainment
• Religious Movies