Title: Sweet Sixteen Speeches

General Information:

• Folklore Form/Genre: North American Initiation Rituals
• Informant: Sarina Kothari
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States of America
• Place Collected: Baker Lobby
• Date: 11/13/18

Informant Data:

• Sarina Kothari, 19, was born on March 20^th, 1999 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She moved to Orlando, Florida when she was very young, and she has lived there for most of her life. When Sarina turned sixteen, her parents chose to help her celebrate by throwing an elaborate party where many of her friends and family members were invited.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: Sarina attended Trinity Preparatory School, a small Catholic private school. Despite going to a Catholic school, Sarina herself is not of the Catholic faith. Her family is upper class, and she comes from an Indian background.
• Cultural Context: Many girls in Orlando, Florida celebrated their sixteenth birthday with a large Sweet Sixteen celebration. More than half of the girls in her grade had sweet sixteens.

Item:

• During her sweet sixteen, there was a part when all of the people important to Sarina got up and read her speeches that they had written for her. They were all people that Sarina was very close to including her parents and her boyfriend. The speeches spoke about how special Sarina was and about different aspects of her life and her future.

Audio:

Transcript:

E: Alright Sarina, could you please describe the tradition that happened at your sweet sixteen?

S: So basically around five people gave speeches at my sweet sixteen, so it was my mom, dad, my brother, my boyfriend at the time, and then my best friend, and they all, like, had prepared it before, and they did like two minutes or three minutes each, and it was really nice because everyone was, like, in a circle just, like, listening to them and, like, laughing and it went on for, like, ten minutes.

E: So how did this specific tradition symbolize your transition into womanhood?

S: I thought it was a good transition just because I had never really heard all of the, like, important people in my life at the time speak at the same time, so it was nice to, like, hear them, like, in success[ion] and, like, one after another, and I felt like they all really cared about me, and it was really nice for like all my other friends to hear that just because everyone really felt like in the moment, like, super happy and I felt like really grateful to have all these, like, people who cared about me in my life and I just make, it more made me feel, like, at home and, like, at peace with, like, becoming sixteen, rather than like transitioning I guess.

E: Alright, thank you.

Informant’s Comments:

• It was so nice to be able to have all of the special people in my life in one place and it was so nice hearing them talk about how much I meant to them and how I had changed their lives. It was just such a great way to mark my transition from girl to woman.

Collector’s Comments:

• I feel like the speeches are one of the staples of a sweet sixteen celebration. Since sweet sixteens are a fairly new concept, they don’t have many set traditions, but it appears that most people choose to do the speeches and I think it’s because it’s a way for the girl to hear from those who mean the most to her.

Collector’s Information:

Edward Lu, 18

Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH

Russian 13, Fall 2018

Professor Mikhail Gronas

Professor Valentina Apresyan

Tags/Keywords:

• Sweet Sixteen
• Adulthood
• Womanhood
• Speeches