Interviewee Consent Forms (Evan Fu)
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All I Want For Christmas Is You (Evan Fu)
General Information About Item:
- Verbal Lore, Song
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Joseph Kramer
- Date Collected: 10-22-2021
Informant Data:
- Joseph (Joe) Kramer is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. Joe and his family live in Westwood, New Jersey. Joe has a currently undeclared major at Dartmouth but plans to graduate with degrees in Economics and Psychology. He plays the tight-end role for Dartmouth’s NCAA Division I varsity football team and is involved in various finance student organizations around campus. He plans to play a fifth year of football and will graduate after Fall 2022.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was released in 1994 and became an immediate icon of American Christmas. Practically every year since its release, the song has climbed the charts of every United States music streaming platform to become the most played song during the holiday season.
- Social Context: This account was mentioned when the interviewee was asked about their favorite Christmas traditions. Joe was extremely excited to talk about his experiences with Mariah Carey’s song and even began singing the song during our interview.
Item:
- Joe’s favorite memory of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” stems from a party called GDXmas that his fraternity Gamma Delta Chi (GDX) organizes every fall. He recalls being on the dance floor within the GDX house’s basement – approximately 100 people, dressed in extravagant Christmas-themed clothing, had been dancing to various Christmas songs with mild enthusiasm. When Mariah Carey’s famous song played on the speakers, every person in the basement sang the lyrics with ardent vigor. It was a very emotional moment – when the song finished playing, people cheered and demanded a replay of the song. Joe recalls this experience as one of his fondest at Dartmouth.
Transcript:
- “My favorite memory of that song was during the GDXmas party two years ago. There were like 100 of us in the basement, and everyone had ridiculous Christmas outfits on. “All I want for Christmas” came on, and literally every person in the basement began belching the lyrics. A bunch of us put our arms around each other, and some of the girls were crying to the song. It was insane and super emotional. When it ended, everyone was clapping, cheering, and screamed for an Encore, and the whole 3-minute experience relived itself. Definitely one of my favorite memories at Dartmouth.”
Informant’s Comments:
- “If I could hear it 100 times on Christmas, I would. You literally don’t need another Christmas song.”
Collector’s Comments:
- Personally, the song I associate the most with the Christmas holiday is certainly Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. I found Joe’s account of his experience with the song to be fascinating, and I could envision myself on that dance floor – the song is an American icon and truly invokes the joy-filled emotions of Christmas. The song itself is certainly folkloric – since its release, the song has been shared and transmitted in modern American culture. Most Americans heavily associate the song Christmas and revisit the track every year to bring about the celebratory emotions of the holiday.
Collected By:
Evan Fu, 21
Palo Alto, CA
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS013
Fall 2021
How Jewish Families Celebrate Christmas Dinner (Evan Fu)
General Information About Item:
- Material Lore, Christmas Dinner Description
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Jonah Kershen
- Date Collected: 10-21-2021
Informant Data:
- Jonah Kershen is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. Jonah hails from a Jewish family and lives in Hartford, Connecticut. Jonah is an Economics/Computer Science double major at Dartmouth and plays for the Club Soccer team on campus. He plans to work as a trader upon graduation.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Jonah’s family is traditionally Jewish – Jonah celebrates all Jewish holidays and consumes a fully kosher diet himself. While the family primarily celebrates Hannukah during late December, the family still observes the gift-giving and family-time-oriented nature of Christian Christmas. Like Chinese people, Jewish people tend not to celebrate Christmas in a traditional, Christian American sense.
- Social Context: This description was mentioned when the interviewee was asked about their Christmas traditions. While Jonah was clear that his family chose not to practice many traditionally American Christmas rituals, he did emphasize that his family (and other Jewish families) tended to repeat certain activities on Christmas, including a Christmas dinner.
Item:
- Jonah’s family’s Christmas dinner almost always features takeout Chinese food. Like Jewish people, Chinese people tend not to celebrate Christmas extravagantly, and most Chinese restaurants are open on Christmas Eve. Jonah’s family typically orders food from the vegan/vegetarian (kosher-certified) menu at a local Chinese restaurant called Black Bamboo. After finishing their Chinese food, they usually eat a homemade, Jewish dessert such as chocolate babka. Jonah emphasized that his family simply considers the Christmas holiday as a period of rest, and they appreciate that Chinese restaurants remain open on the holiday. He mentioned that most of his Jewish family and friends alike will order Chinese takeout on Christmas and have a quiet, filling meal with just their immediate family.
Transcript:
- “In terms of dinner, we usually just order takeout from this Chinese restaurant called Black Bamboo which is open on Christmas Eve. They have a pretty awesome vegan/vegetarian menu that we order from, and my mom will usually make a chocolate babka or some other Jewish dessert to cap off the dinner. It’s hilarious – literally all my Jewish friends and their families order Chinese takeout on Christmas. I think Jewish people just consider the holiday as a day of rest where the parents can just get away from work and have a nice dinner with the family.”
Informant’s Comments:
- “We owe a lot to the Chinese people, to be honest. Can’t imagine how many Jewish families they feed on Christmas.”
Collector’s Comments:
- Like the Chinese food recipe that I collected from my mother, I wanted to interview members of other minority folk groups in America and investigate their Christmas food traditions. I thought that interviewing a Jewish person would be particularly informing due to the religious conflict of interest. Obviously, Jewish people would celebrate Hannukah a few days after Christmas and care less about the Christian holiday. I found Jonah’s responses to be very interesting – he mentioned that many Jewish families in his immediate network simply considered the Christmas holiday as a period of rest and would also order Chinese takeout for Christmas dinner. This tradition appears to be folkloric in nature among the Jewish-American folk group. Jewish families appreciate the day of rest and choose not to cook a large, effortful dinner for many mouths, opting instead for the convenience of Chinese takeout. This practice appears to be shared among many Jewish families and is an incredibly interesting discovery in my collection process.
Collected By:
Evan Fu, 21
Palo Alto, CA
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS013
Fall 2021
Cold Noodles for Christmas Dinner (Evan Fu)
General Information About Item:
- Material Lore, Christmas Food Recipe
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Bing Hai
- Date Collected: 10-24-2021
Informant Data:
- Bing Hai is a 50-year old woman of Chinese descent living in Palo Alto, California. She is also the mother of the collector. Bing was born in Shenyang, China and immigrated to the United States upon finishing college in Beijing. She works on the patent counsel for Bristol Myers Squibb and has two college-aged children.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Bing learned to cook Chinese food at a very young age – she has a large repertoire of Chinese recipes that she can make at a moment’s notice. However, having lived in the United States for three decades, she has become skilled at cooking various American foods as well. Bing has celebrated most popular American holidays, including Christmas. Moreover, in Chinese culture, simple noodle dishes are considered a staple. Historically, many areas of China are relatively poor and live off of grains and rice. Throughout thousands of years, generations of Chinese people have depended on and passed down simple food recipes such as the cold noodle dish outlined here.
- Social Context: This food recipe was shared when the interviewee was asked about the specific foods she makes for Christmas dinner. As the primary chef in the household, Bing has a lot of experience preparing large amounts of food for various family dinners.
Item:
- Cold noodles (and other simple noodle dishes) are a notoriously easy dish to prepare in Chinese culture. For this recipe, you boil noodles until cooked and immediately place them in ice water to cool them down. Then, you prepare a sauce mixture with soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and scallions. Simply toss the cold noodles with the sauce mixture, and finish with sliced cucumbers and more scallions. The noodles are filling, easy to make, and can be prepared quickly in large quantities.
Transcript:
- “The dish I most enjoy making on Christmas is 凉面 (cold noodles). They are so easy to make, and I can make an enormous amount for the 10+ people who we invite on Christmas. You boil the noodles in water, take them out, and rest them in ice water. Your sauce is simply soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and scallions. Then you just mix the noodles and sauce, and slice some cucumbers and more scallions to put on top.”
Informant’s Comments:
- “The kids especially love this dish since it’s so pleasing to the palette, and the noodles really serve as the main carbs for the dinner.”
Collector’s Comments:
- I chose to ask my own mother about her Christmas food preparations, given that we come from a Chinese background and our Christmas dinner tends not to include traditionally American foods. As America becomes a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, I found it useful to examine how minorities celebrate Christmas from the perspective of food. My mother echoed the overarching theme from my interviews – families tend to invite a lot of folks to Christmas dinner and choose to prepare whatever dishes are easiest to make in large quantities. This cold noodles recipe is many Chinese families’ go-to dish for large family dinners and therefore for Christmas dinner – it is folkloric in nature as many in the Chinese-American folk group will create this dish for large meals.
Collected By:
Evan Fu, 21
Palo Alto, CA
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS013
Fall 2021
Thanksgiving Foods for Christmas Dinner (2) (Evan Fu)
General Information About Item:
- Material Lore, Christmas Dinner Description
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Alexander Bakos
- Date Collected: 10-20-2021
Informant Data:
- Alexander (Alex) Bakos is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. Alex’s family is culturally American and lives in New York City, New York. Alex is a Mathematics major at Dartmouth and plays for the Club Soccer team on campus, and he plans to work as a quantitative trader upon graduation.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Alex’s family celebrates Christmas in a more traditional sense. They purchase a tree and decorate it in their New York City apartment, and their close family stay over on Christmas Eve. They watch Christmas movies that night, put the kids to bed early, and engage in gift-giving in the morning. The family typically hosts a dinner for close and extended family on Christmas in their New York apartment. The family spends a few days preparing food for the dinner.
- Social Context: This description was mentioned when the interviewee was asked about their Christmas dinner traditions. Alex’s family has made the same Christmas dinner for as long as Alex can remember.
Item:
- Alex’s family’s Christmas dinner is essentially the same as their Thanksgiving dinner. They prepare a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blankets, and roasted vegetables. The family spends the day before Christmas Eve brining the turkey, and everyone gathers on Christmas Eve to prepare the rest of the meal. For dessert, the family typically buys a few pies and various other delicacies from local bakeries.
Transcript:
- “We literally have Thanksgiving dinner over again on Christmas. My mom buys and brines a turkey on the 23rd, and the entire family comes together on Christmas Eve to prep the other dishes. We have the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blankets, and do some roasted veggies on the side. My mom buys some pies and other desserts from local shops on the Upper West, and we have our close family over for dinner, like 10-15 people.”
Informant’s Comments:
- “I think Thanksgiving foods are just easiest for the family to make. Thanksgiving and Christmas are really the only times we have massive dinners, and the Thankgiving foods are just my mom’s go-to’s for this kind of meal.”
Collector’s Comments:
- I found it incredibly interesting that Alex was my second interviewee whose family prepares Thanksgiving foods for Christmas. After reviewing all my interviews, I’ve learned that many American families consider Thanksgiving foods as a “go-to” meal when having to prepare food for large quantities of family members. Indeed, mashed potatoes and turkey are the #2 and #3 most popular Christmas foods according to a 2020 survey conducted by YouGov. Additionally, Christmas does appear to be more formal and focused on satisfaction (supported by – many families during my collection process have purchased or prepared extravagant combinations of desserts to finalize the Christmas meal. My collection process has implied to me that Thanksgiving foods and sweets are certainly folkloric in American Christmas culture, recipes of which are repeatedly used and passed down through families.
Collected By:
Evan Fu, 21
Palo Alto, CA
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS013
Fall 2021
Thanksgiving Foods for Christmas Dinner (1) (Evan Fu)
General Information About Item:
- Material Lore, Christmas Dinner Description
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Christopher Sykes
- Date Collected: 10-15-2021
Informant Data:
- Christopher (Chris) Sykes is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. He has a rather diverse background – his father is Caucasian American and his mother is Korean. They now live on the island of Oahu. Chris formerly played the Wide Receiver role on the Dartmouth Football Team and is a Computer Science major. He plans to enter the workforce as a software engineer next year.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Chris’ family has historically celebrated American cultural holidays, and their family’s food influences draw lightly from Chris’ mother’s Korean background. During Christmas, Chris’ family typically hosts a dinner for close and extended family, inviting upwards of 20 people for this dinner. The family spends a full day preparing large amounts of food for the group.
- Social Context: This description was mentioned when the interviewee was asked about their Christmas dinner traditions. Chris’ family has made this dinner for several years with limited alterations.
Item:
- Chris’ Christmas family dinner features a number of Thanksgiving foods, including mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. The hallmark feature of their dinner is a roasted prime rib, and the dinner ends with a plethora of desserts. This dinner is easy for Chris’ family to prepare in large quantities – they have many materials left over from Thanksgiving, and everyone in the family enjoys the foods.
Transcript:
- “It’s funny. Our Christmas dinner has a bunch of Thanksgiving foods like mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. But our dinner is more formal and dessert-themed. We do a roasted prime rib, and we finish the dinner with a chocolate cake, ice cream layer cake, brownies, and regular ice cream. We don’t really have a food specific to Christmas. We do prime rib only because we don’t want another turkey.”
Informant’s Comments:
- “We love the Christmas dinner. The foods we make are agreeable to everyone, and we really have no complaints from anyone.”
Collector’s Comments:
- Through my collection process, I’ve noticed that many families seem to prepare whatever foods are easiest to make in large quantities. For a lot of American families, Thanksgiving foods appear to fit this description well. Some families may have specific dishes they make on Christmas based on family-specific traditions, but it appears that Thanksgiving foods appear to be folkloric in American culture. I’ve learned that Christmas dinner is merely a formal meal to be enjoyed by all members of the family – however, certain foods are definitely folkloric in nature.
Collected By:
Evan Fu, 21
Palo Alto, CA
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS013
Fall 2021