Title: Listening to the homemade Christmas CD and baking pumpkin pie

General Information about Item:

• Entertainment/songs
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: C.Z.
• Date Collected: 11-10-21

Informant Data:

• C.Z. is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. She is from Scarsdale, New York. She studies Economics, Public Policy, and Psychology. She has one younger sister who is three years younger, and attends Cornell University. She lives with her mother and father, but does not have a relationship with any grandparents or extended family. Her father is Jewish, but because he was estranged from his family, did not pass on the religious traditions to C.Z. and her sister. Her mom was raised Catholic, but does not practice religious faith.

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:

“I am not really close to any of my aunts or cousins, so I usually just celebrate the holidays with my sister and my parents. Now that my sister and I are in college, the holidays are one of the only times we’re both home at the same time. We are best friends, so the two of us have a lot of traditions that we do every year. Together, we make pumpkin pie with sugar pumpkins. We carve out the seeds and toast them for a snack while we bake. We also love listening to Christmas songs. Every year, while we bake, we play a CD that our dad made for us when we were kids. There are all sorts of songs on that CD. Some of my favorites are All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms, and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee.”

Informant’s Comments:

• Christmas is such a special time for siblings to bond, especially as we get older, and are drawn to different colleges and cities.  

Collector’s Comments:

• I can relate to the sentiment of the folk-family-traditions with siblings. My little brother is the same age, and now that we are both in college, our breaks don’t always align. The holidays are a special time for us to get together do the activities that we have been doing every year since we were kids.

Collector’s Name: Sunaina Sekaran

Tags/Keywords:

• Customary folklore
• Entertainment
• Christmas songs