Title: Yule Log Cake

General Information about Item:

• Material Lore
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Camille White
• Date Collected: 12-24-2004

Informant Data:

• The informants name is Camille. Camille is an 18 year old college student from the Annapolis, MD. She is currently a freshman at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Her family celebrates Christmas in Sarasota, Florida every year.

Contextual Data:

• Camille’s family celebrates Christmas as a formal dinner before mass on the 24th, opening presents on the morning of the 25th and then going to the beach for the rest of the day. Dinner is formal in attire, but the atmosphere is laid back for the most part — with extended family members cracking jokes at one another and catching up from the previous year. Her grandma does most of the cooking, but her family brings a few items.

Item:

• The biggest and most traditional contribution Camille’s immediate family makes to the Christmas Eve dinner is making and bringing the Yule Log Cake. Her mom and sisters always help out in making the light and tasty desert. While her family is not French, its significance resides mostly with Camille’s mother. The Yule Log cake is French, and this was her parents favorite place to visit.

Transcript:

• “Making the Yule Log is a tradition that brings my immediate family together.”

Informant’s Comments:

• “I like being able to catch up with my family the most”

Collector’s Comments:

• Interesting how other cultures can be incorporated into another’s customs.

Collector’s Name: Emma White

Tags/Keywords:

• cake, yule log, family