Tag Archives: Birthday

Jewish 13th (1)

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Customary/Ritual

Jewish Bat Mitzvah

NK

Massachusetts, U.S.

November 2nd, 2020

Informant Data:

NK is a senior at Dartmouth College, where she is a neuroscience major on the pre-med track. She was born and raised in Massachusetts by two Ashkenazi Jewish parents and with a younger sister. She attended an all-girls private school with a very small Jewish student population. However, all her life her family was active in the reform Jewish community – NK attended Hebrew school twice a week as a child and was active in her synagogue Youth Choir.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Bar and bat Mitzvahs, bar for boys and bat for girls, is a large celebration in Jewish culture that occurs at the age of 13 (or sometimes 12, for girls) which celebrates a child’s entrance into Jewish adulthood. It marks the beginning of their Torah studies and their active participation in Jewish adult rituals thereafter.

Social Context: The celebration consists of three parts – a religious ceremony, a formal lunch, and a party. The child spends up to a year beforehand learning and practicing her Torah portion to read on the bimah – a raised platform in the synagogue – in front of their friends and family. The length of the service varies, but for reform Jews it’s usually short, around an hour and a half. The child also wears a talit, or a special fringed shawl, which is often passed down within the family. The lunch usually consists of a few close relatives and family friends and involves a candle-lighting ritual or some other variation to honor important individuals in the child’s life. Though the family also attends, the following party is much more focused on the child’s friends and peers, and includes a lot of food, games, and dancing.

Item:

This information is paraphrased from notes taken during NK’s Zoom interview.

To celebrate their thirteenth birthday, Jewish girls have a bat mitzvah, which includes a ceremony in the synagogue where they read the Torah and give a personal speak, a post-ceremony lunch with a small group of close family and friends, and a large, exuberant party, usually at night. For the Jewish girl, picking out the dress and the talit (if it is not a family heirloom, and must be bought) are very important pre-celebration rituals. The party usually has a theme – in NK’s case, she did a color scheme: blue, purple, and green. NK worked with party planners beforehand to set up decorations, including unique, personalized centerpieces on all the tables. The party room also included a large dance floor and a photo booth. People brought in their gifts during the party, and monetary gifts are the most traditional, though jewelry for girls is common as well.

 

 

Allison Hufford, 21

Dartmouth College

RUSS 13

Fall 2020

Celebrating Birthday Early

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General Information about Item:

  • Bad Luck Superstition
  • Language: English/Hindi
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Aashika Jhawar
  • Date Collected: 11-5-2018
  • Interview was done over phone

Informant Data:

  • Aashika (Aashi) Jhawar is a 19 year old college student from Bellevue, WA. She was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and currently attends the University of California, Berkeley. She is second generation American and her family is from Northern India.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In Indian culture, modesty is considered a core value and character is often measured by one’s restraint towards temptations. This dates back to the Laws of Manu, a Hindu law code circa 100 BCE-200 CE, where men had to guard themselves against life’s temptations. This cultural ideal relates to this superstition because celebrating a birthday early suggests arrogance that a person will live until their next birthday.
  • Social Context: Aashi learned this superstition from her mother and grandmother. She says that her family believes in this superstition and is sure not to give birthday presents or have birthday celebrations early.

Item:

  • It is considered bad luck in Indian culture to celebrate a birthday early, as it suggests overconfidence in ones lifespan.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “An example of a bad omen in indian culture is celebrating a birthday or really any holiday beforehand. It signals that the birthday might not arrive since you’ve already celebrated it or something along those lines, and for that reason, people in India never really celebrate holidays early.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Aashi stated that this superstition is relatively simple and straightforward, but she follows it closely. She recounted one experience where she was not able to give her sister a birthday present because it was a few days before her birthday, and it would be unlucky for her sister.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Unlike many other superstitions in Indian culture, this one seems to be rooted in morality rather than religion. I have heard of a similar practice in Judaism and I’m sure it exists in many other cultures that have modesty as a core value.

Collector’s Name: Derek Lue

Marine Core Birthday Ball Celebration

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Marine Core Birthday Ball Celebration

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Title: Birthday Ball Celebration

Informant info: Craig Serpa, marine. He was stationed in San Diego.

Type of lore: Customary, Ritual, Celebration

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Craig Serpa was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Craig was asked about any folklore or stories related to his training. He described what he thought of as folklore and then told me about the Marine Birthday Ball Celebration. Every year the Marine Core holds a ball in order to celebrate the birthday of the marine core. At every birthday, there is a cake cutting ceremony where the oldest marine and the youngest marine are honored by getting the first pieces of cake, which represents passing on tradition from the old to the new. The also play the commandants message.

Associated file:

Transcript:

Interviewer: Well now I have fun things to talk about. Did you hear any ghost stories, during training or while you were stationed. So its all about folklore—so any ghost stories related, or really any stories at all—legends, myths, related to your base camp or training experience.

C: So when I think of folklore, I think of passed down oral traditions. Mainly. The marine core actually, we have, a specific marine core order that deals with the marine core birthday. Nov 10, 1775—have a birthday ball celebration every year, and its, they, part of the actual military order is we have a cake cutting ceremony and then the oldest marine and the youngest marine are honored in the cake cutting ceremony where they present themselves the first piece of cake and its supposed to resemble the passing on of the traditions from the oldest to the youngest marine and there’s always—you play the commandants message—birthday message is played every year. And they do the reading of the 14th commandant marine core—general Lejeune? Reread his birthday message as part of the military order now every single year. So that’s a past tradition, oral tradition.

Ghost stories? I would say no.

Informant’s comments: Craig told me that a celebration happens around the world no matter where you are. He said that for most marines, most of their fondest memories happened at this ball.

Collector’s comments: Craig was very excited to tell me about this tradition. He said that this was his favorite event of the year.