AJ is a Dartmouth ’23 originally from Potomac, Maryland. At Dartmouth, AJ is a member of the Men’s lacrosse team. Outside of athletics, AJ enjoys spending time with his friends while engaging in outdoor activities around the Upper Valley. A History major, he enjoys his studies but is unsure what he wants to do after college.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Data: Many Americans follow the tradition of decorating their homes around the holiday season. Christmas decorations include trees, ornaments, nativity sets, and images of Christmas characters such as Santa or Reindeer. It is common for Americans to hang a wreath on their Front Door.
Social Data: AJs family enjoys sharing in holiday traditions by decorating the house together. Generally, decorations consist of a Christmas Tree adorned with ornaments and pictures carrying holiday messages such as “Merry Christmas.” As a part of this tradition, AJs family goes to a tree lot every year to pick a tree
Item:
Every year, while the informants family is picking their tree, they gather extra pine branches to make a wreath at home. This wreath is adorned with fall foliage such as flowers, and pinecones. The family does this every year as a tradition passed down from AJ’s grandparents. It is a form of collaboration around the holiday season.
Associated File:
Transcript:
“Each year we choose go to the lot to choose our tree, we always make sure to pick one with extra branches at the bottom so. When we trim the tree, we keep the extra branches for the wreath. We dry the branches out for a few days before making the it. My mom and sister usually make the wreath, but I help out decorate it with colorful branches and pinecones. It’s a pretty cool process to see. They’re better at making it than I am, but its a good tradition”
Informant Comments:
“I think my mom learned how to do this when she was a kid”
Collectors Comments:
AJ’s wreath making tradition is an interesting family event. I have personally never seen someone make a homemade wreath, but it sounds like a rewarding process. This tradition of making a wreath appears to be folkloric. It is a collective event which features multiple existence, because every year the wreath is new. Furthermore, the skill of making a wreath is passed down through generations in AJ’s family through oral and visual means. This certainly appears to be a folklore tradition.
A.M. is a senior at Middlebury College located in Middlebury, Vermont. He was one brother and a mom, and has a large extended family all of whom live in the area surrounding him. He was born in Sherborn Massachusetts, and has lived there his whole life. He grew up in a Catholic family and noted that Christmas is his favorite holiday of the year.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: The cultural context of A.M’s family hockey tournament relates back to his family’s heritage in Canada. His grandparents Immigrated from Canada in the 1940s to start a family in the Boston area. Hockey is the national sport of Canada in the winter so it makes sense as to why the Marinello family honors this tradition every year.
Social Context: This tournament is a means for his family to gather as they don’t see each other nearly as much as they used to. Now that A.M. and his brother are in college, this tournament is one of the few times each year that they come together as an extended family.
Item:
Every year, A.M’s family gathers at a local pond to play Hockey. Initially it started as a family tradition where his brother and he would go practice for their upcoming tournaments, but ever since it has been a way for their extended family to come together and catch up. Hockey is something which has always been a common denominator between his family- all of his cousins grew up playing from a young age and get competitive about it.
Transcript:
“You know how much my family loves hockey. While we go to church the day of Christmas, the hockey tournament which my family hosts is the centerpiece to our Christmas spirit. To me, Christmas is about coming together with your loved ones and spending time with them. While there are many settings in which this can be accomplished, something which connects my family with our heritage is the game of hockey. It’s something which I look forward to every year and am devastated when we can’t play. When the weather is too warm for the ice to melt on the local pond, we try our best to recreate this environment but it truly doesn’t compare. Everyone wears some sort of Christmas attire- last year I dressed as Santa and Michael(his brother) dressed as an elf. I guess in this way we relate it back to the westernization of Christmas, but this tradition doesn’t revolve around the religious aspects of Christmas much.”
Informant’s Comments:
“As much as my family is Catholic- and we do practice our religion on a regular basis. I don’t think that people can come around to Catholicism during the holiday season and claim to be truly dedicated to Catholicism. So I’d say we don’t focus much more on our religion during the holiday season any more than we would in June. The hockey tournament is more about family than religion.
Collector’s Comments:
A.M. had interesting insight into the Christmas season. He explained that what makes the Christmas season special is not the gift giving or the hanging of the ornaments on the Christmas tree. It’s the traditions and folklore like his family hockey tournament which are specific to his family that make it special. It’s because they take ownership over the holiday that makes it truly special.
B.G. is a senior at Bates College in Lewiston Maine. He grew up in Westwood Massachusetts in a rather large family with two brothers and a sister. B.G. is a member of the Bates College baseball team and was brought up in a catholic household.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: The tree is vital to the celebration of Christmas. Decorations and gift giving are both heavily intertwined with it. However, few people truly know the importance of the Christmas tree and why people bring one into their homes each year. It is a representation that spring is just around the corner and that the darkest days of winter are fleeting.
Social Context: This practice annually taken part in by B.G’s family is one which originated in their household when he was a child. While it has developed over the years, the reason behind doing it- to spend time with each other over the holiday season has remained the same.
Item:
Every year, B.G’s family makes a trip out to rural Western Massachusetts to find their own Christmas tree. When B.G. was a young boy, his parents decided that this would be a great facet for their family to spend time together outside the home. It has turned into an annual tradition and they have even gathered extended family and friends to join into this tradition in recent years.
Transcript:
“Every year since I was a boy, my family and I have hopped in a car and headed out to the plains of Williamstown. While its quite a far trip and I must admit something which I have at times dreaded, the overarching theme of the ride is one which I am very thankful for. Aside from of course getting the tree which can be a very fun search, I get to spend time with my loved ones- something which comes fewer and more far between as the days pass. Since I’ve been in college, I haven’t spent nearly as much time with my family for obvious reasons and this is a great way to come together during the holiday season. While it started off as something which was specific to my family, we have brought along family friends as well as extended family into this tradition.”
Informant’s Comments:
“It’s become something which I look forward to and quite special due to the fact that it is specific to my family- at least it was before we invited others to join along. I would say that it still remains something which all of my siblings and I take agency in and find something which kicks off the Christmas season the right way.”
Collector’s Comments:
It is important to recognize that while B.G’s family is catholic and does participate in many of the religious aspects surrounding the Christmas season, this was the most important topic which he wanted to discuss surrounding his family’s traditions. I think this points strongly to a resounding theme amongst my interviews that what makes Christmas special is not necessarily the substance of the holiday, rather the individual traditions and folklore which are heavily intertwined with it.
Informant Data: S.T. is a 40 year-old mother born and raised in Portland, Oregon. The informant is the Aunt of the collector, and their two families celebrate Christmas together. She is a Mother of two who enjoys making homemade jewelry, cooking, and leading an active lifestyle. The informant says she loves spending time with her family and enjoys wholesome holiday celebrations.
Contextual Data
Cultural Data: The holiday season in America is a time for gatherings and camaraderie. Around Christmas time, large holiday events are hosted for families and friends to gather in a festive setting. These parties are put on as “potlucks”, in which each member in attendance brings a dish to provide to the party. This culture of potlucks and holiday parties creates the opportunity to observe unique folklore.
Social Data: S.T. comes from a large but tight knit family. The family has resided in the Portland metropolitan area for generations, and the Family is known to host large holiday parties for both friends and family. S.T.’s mother and grandmother were both great cooks, and they have passed down family recipes through generations.
Item: For every Christmas party, a member of S.T.s family brings a Broccoli Dish. Originally, S.T.’s mother was responsible for bringing the special dish. After her mother passed away, S.T. inherited the tradition of making the Broccoli Dish for parties. The recipe has been committed to memory and passed down through generations of women in the informants family. It is a baked dish consists of broccoli, multiple types of cheese, a guarded spice mixture, and breadcrumbs. However, this is the extent of information S.T. was willing to provide, as she doesn’t want to give away the recipe.
Associated File:
This is an image of the Family preparing Christmas Dinner. At the bottom of the image is a platter of Mashed Potatoes. The platter above to the potatoes with a spoon in it is the esteemed Broccoli Dish.
Transcript: “After Momo [the informant’s mother] died, I have been the one who makes the Broccoli Dish to Family Christmas. I love doing it, and I learned how to make the dish by cooking with Momo around Christmas time since I was a kid. I know it’s popular every year because it is always gone by the end of the night. I remember a few years ago, [my husband] forgot to bring the dish from home and we all made him drive back home to get it!”
Collectors Comments: This appears to be a great example of a customary folkloric food item. The origins of the Broccoli Dish’s original recipe are unknown. It has been passed down orally through generations in the informants family. Family members learn how to make the dish through collective effort and collaboration. Over time, due to changes of availability and preferences of ingredients, there have been multiple iterations of Broccoli Dish, exemplifying multiple existence.
Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, superstition, family tradition; Verbal Lore – saying
Language: English with some Chinese (Mandarin)
Country of Origin: China
Informant: W.W.
Date Collected: November 15, 2020
Informant Data:
W.W. is a 22-year-old senior studying Mathematics and Computer Science at Dartmouth. He was born in Boulder, Colorado, but his family moved to Shanghai, China when he was 9 years old. Every summer vacation and Chinese New Year while in China, W.W. would visit his maternal relatives in Beijing with his parents and little sister. To celebrate the reunion of the extended family, his grandma would host a large dinner celebration at home with all the relatives invited, including all the uncles, aunts, cousins, and even the family pets.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context
“Nián gāo” (年糕) refers to Glutinous Rice Cake, but it can also be translated literally as “New Year Cake.” The name is auspicious because it sounds similar to the popular Chinese New Year’s saying “nián nián gāo” (年年高), which means “higher every year.” It is often used as a toast at the dinner table to wish good health for elders, successful careers for working adults, and stellar grades for children.
Social Context
Glutinous Rice Cake is always served for the traditional feast on Chinese New Year’s Eve. The extended family reunites to celebrate this special occasion. After the feast, the family watches fireworks and a special show on TV called “chūn wǎn” (春晚), which features singing, dancing, and traditional performances.
Item:
“Nián gāo” (年糕), or Glutinous Rice Cake, comes in two varieties: savory and sweet. The preparation process is straightforward but time consuming. First, boiled sticky rice is pounded into a paste and molded into dough. The dough is then cooked again, usually by steaming. Savory Glutinous Rice Cake dishes are usually served as entrées. The rice dough is cooked plain, typically in the shape of cylinders or flat slices, and subsequently stir fried with other ingredients or used in hotpot. For example, in Shanghai, Glutinous Rice Cake is often stir fried with cabbage and shredded pork. Sweet Glutinous Rice Cake dishes, on the other hand, are served as desserts. Sugar, assorted nuts, and dried fruits are added to the dough before cooking or mixed in afterwards. When purchased at the store, sweet Glutinous Rice Cake dishes are often packed in more elaborate shapes such as fish, which symbolizes surplus and unity.
Image Files:
Sweet Glutinous Rice Cake in elaborate packaging (Photo was taken by W.W.’s family members on November 7, 2020; it was ordered online.)
Sweet Glutinous Rice Cake being steamed (Photo was taken by W.W.’s family members on November 7, 2020; unfortunately the end product is not as beautiful as the packaging.)
Transcript of Interview Clip:
W.W. (collector and informant): When I was a child, um, I remember that my favorite dessert for Chinese New Year was sweet Glutinous Rice Cake shaped like koi. Since I was allergic to tree nuts, my parents and grandparents always bought it plain. The packaging was super elaborate, so I was always, um, a little, very disappointed actually, to discover that the rice cake itself was plain white. My family would steam the plain rice cake and serve it with nuts and other toppings placed separately on the side. I always struggled to eat it because it was very sticky. Apparently, the right technique is to stick your chopsticks into the rice cake and swirl them around until a decent sized blob forms. After eating the rice cake, we would cast lots to see who would clean the dishes because it was always a tedious chore to clean off the sticky remains.
Collector’s Comments:
Talking about Glutinous Rice Cake brings back happy childhood memories and evokes a strong feeling of nostalgia. I always preferred the sweet type instead of the savory type. My parents did not have the time to make rice dough themselves, so they bought it pre-packaged from the store, usually weeks in advance. I would always beg them to let me eat it before Chinese New Year, but my efforts were never successful.
Genre: Material Lore – dish, recipe; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition, superstition, historical story
Language: Chinese (Mandarin)
Country of Origin: China
Informant: Y.Z.
Date Collected: November 7, 2020
Informant Data:
Y.Z. is about ~50 years old, and she currently resides in Shanghai, China. She was born in Beijing, China during the Cultural Revolution and grew up in relative poverty, as was the case with most Chinese families back then. After attending university in Beijing, she pursued her graduate studies in the US. She learned many traditional Chinese dishes from her mother and enjoys cooking for her family.
Contextual Data:
Historical & Cultural Context
During the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368) in China, the main currency was gold and silver ingots shaped like tiny boats called “yuán bǎo” (元宝). Many traditional Chinese New Year dishes such as dumplings are prepared in the shape of these ingots as a symbol for wealth and prosperity.
In the 1960s and 1970s, China’s economy was in a terrible state. Meat, eggs, and sugar were heavily rationed. As a result, most families could not prepare meat dishes and desserts for their daily meals. During Chinese New Year, the rations were temporarily increased, so families would celebrate by making large meat dishes and fancy desserts.
Social Context
Chinese New Year meals are always eaten as family. Most of the dishes have auspicious names, colors, or shapes that symbolize longevity, wealth, or good fortune. By eating these dishes, families express their hope for more prosperity and blessings in the coming year.
Item:
Braised Pork and Gold Ingot Egg, or “hóng shāo ròu yuán bǎo dàn” (红烧肉元宝蛋) in Chinese, is a popular meat dish eaten for Chinese New Year, both in the northern and southern provinces. Diced pork belly is braised in a broth consisting of soy sauce, sugar, star anise, ginger, and garlic. Boiled eggs are then flavored using the remaining meat stock. Afterwards, the top half of the egg whites are removed to give the eggs a distinctive “yuán bǎo” (元宝) shape. Finally, the eggs are plated on top of the pork belly, and the family shares the dish together to express their wishes for the new year. There are several variations of this dish according to regional preferences. For example, in Shanghai, families tend to add much more sugar to the dish to give it a sweeter taste.
Image File:
The completed dish (Photo was taken by Y.Z. on November 7, 2020; she prepared the dish using a recipe from her mother.)
Translation of Interview Clip:
Y.Z. (informant): The dish I’m introducing is called “hóng shāo ròu yuán bǎo dàn” (红烧肉元宝蛋). Um, this dish, we always had it for Chinese New Year when I was a child. So, when I grew up in the 60s and 70s, China’s economy was pretty behind. Ingredients like pork and eggs were scarce resources, rationed every month by the government. For each person, every month, um, there was about one pound of meat and eggs in total. So, usually, we rarely had a chance to eat meat. That’s why during Chinese New Year, when the rations are slightly increased, we would use, um, pork and eggs to make the dish. One reason why this dish is so popular is because the meat is braised in soy sauce and other condiments, including star anise, scallion, ginger, and garlic… uh, the remaining meat stock is used to flavor the eggs and can also be saved for other dishes. The reason why the eggs are called ” yuán bǎo dàn ” (元宝蛋), is like this. “Yuán bǎo” (元宝), they are Chinese ingots, the shape is like a boat. During the Yuan Dynasty, gold and silver were used as currency, and they were molded into such a shape. ” Yuán” (元) refers to the Yuan Dynasty, and ” bǎo” (宝) means treasure. So in this dish, you can make the eggs resemble “yuán bǎo” (元宝) by removing part of the egg white. I guess this is a nice wish, the hope that, next year, life will be bountiful, the family income will increase, so people make this dish “hóng shāo ròu yuán bǎo dàn” (红烧肉元宝蛋). That’s about it. Are there any parts that you are not clear about?
W.W. (collector): Great, thanks for sharing. So I wanted to ask, is this dish a Beijing specialty or eaten widely across China?
Y.Z.: Uh, this is great question. This dish, I think it is eaten in many places, by many people. For Chinese New Year, both in the north and in the south, it is one of the most common dishes on the dinner table, suitable for young and old alike. Everyone likes it very much and eats the dish to show their wishes. Even though, the standards of living are higher now, and the dish can be made any time of the year, but as a tradition, many families still prepare it as a festival dish for Chinese New Year.
Collector’s Comments:
I remember eating “hóng shāo ròu” (红烧肉), or braised pork, as a child, but this is my first time hearing about “yuán bǎo dàn” (元宝蛋). I am impressed by the level of creativity in the preparation of the eggs.
Homeopathic magic is present in the superstitions related to the informant’s dish: eating the ingot-shaped eggs brings wealth and good fortune.
Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition, superstition, cooking technique
Language: English with some Chinese (Mandarin)
Country of Origin: China
Informant: V.Y.
Date Collected: November 7, 2020
Informant Data:
V.Y. is a 21-year-old senior studying Physics at UCLA. He is from Shanghai, China, though his family lived in Beijing for eight years before settling down in Shanghai. While in China, he celebrated traditional Chinese festivals with his family. He has especially fond memories of his grandma’s cooking.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context
Chinese cuisine varies greatly from province to province in terms of style, but Chinese chefs have classified eight regional cuisines, the most prominent ones being Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, and Sichuan cuisine. In the modern age, it is not uncommon for Chinese families to combine ingredients and cooking techniques from two or more regional cuisines or modify existing dishes to better suit their tastes.
Chinese culture places heavy emphasis on the symbolic meaning of flowers: chrysanthemums symbolize longevity, plum blossoms symbolize perseverance, magnolias symbolize beauty, osmanthus flowers symbolize wealth and royalty, etc. Many types of flowers are used in teas and dessert dishes to infuse them with the corresponding symbolic attributes.
Social Context
In China, there is a stereotype that all grandmas are good chefs. Children always look forward to visiting their grandma’s house on special occasions like Chinese New Year to eat delicious home-cooked meals. Grandparents often spoil their grandchildren by feeding them an extravagant amount of food, much to the chagrin of their parents.
Item:
Osmanthus Honey, or “guì huā mì” (桂花蜜) is a special jam-like topping that the informant’s family uses for traditional desserts such as “tāng yuán” (汤圆), glutinous rice balls, and “guì huā gāo” (桂花糕), osmanthus cake. The technique of preserving flowers in honey is native to Haiyang (海阳), the hometown of the informant’s grandma; however, osmanthus flowers are more commonly used in Shanghainese and Hangzhou cuisine. While fresh osmanthus flowers are often preferred for dishes, Osmanthus Honey allows the distinctive fragrance of osmanthus flowers to be used in winter festival dishes, even when the flowers themselves are not in bloom. The preparation of Osmanthus Honey is quite simple: fresh osmanthus flowers are dried and submerged in honey; the resulting mixture is then stored in a glass jar for future use. Osmanthus Honey can be directly applied to the top of a dessert or mixed into dessert doughs.
Audio Clip:
Transcript:
V.Y. (informant): Sure. So um, my grandmother, who is from Shandong (山东) used to make this honey infused with “guì huā” (桂花), which is a kind of flower that’s common in China, especially in Shanghai. And it smells very nice, and it doesn’t really taste like anything, but it makes whatever you put it in smell like the flower. And we used to put it in honey and then put the honey into various doughs that we use for desserts, and we used to sprinkle it on top of “tāng yuán” (汤圆) and put it in “guì huā gāo” (桂花糕), which I believe is kind of like Shanghai specialty, which is a kind of, I guess… I guess custard isn’t the right word. It’s a desert made of dough, I guess. Uh, yeah. And I always feel like it’s it’s kind of a unique thing to our family, because I don’t think it’s a very common thing in China doing this. And I was really like how… this is, I believe, this is like a technique people do in my grandmother’s hometown, which is not Shanghai. And this is a flower from Shanghai. And we is always just thought it was nice that, you know, it’s kind of customs of different parts of China that we combine in our family. And yeah, yeah, there are other dishes that we, but this is just something that came to mind.
W.W. (collector): Um, yeah, also do you mind telling me where your grandma’s from?
V.Y.: Uh, from Shandong from a small city by the sea, called Haiyang (海阳). And, yeah, I visited there once. And it’s kind of interesting. It’s sort of an isolated city. I mean, obviously, now, there’s roads and airports and everything. But historically, it’s somewhat isolated. So their cuisine is kind of not represented. It’s kind of different from general Chinese cuisine. Like it’s almost a little similar to Japanese cuisine, because they’re next to the sea, and they eat like octopus raw and everything. And, yeah, then this is the this putting flowers in honey is apparently one, something they do there is, as I can recall.
W.W.: It’s very interesting. And, um, so do you know, whether this has any significance for like, Chinese New Year in general, or how this tradition started within your family?
V.Y.: Um, I’m not… I suppose it started, I guess, when my grandmother moved to Shanghai, because that was she, you know, she didn’t grow up here. That, I think is something like 40, 50 years ago. And, um, I mean, I guess back then, it’s having you know, any kind of sugar at all is kind of a luxury. And, you know, certainly you couldn’t really preserve “guì huā” (桂花), is definitely a seasonal things back then. So I think putting it in honey, you know, it’s a it’s a nice and tasty thing, but I guess also preserves the seasonal, seasonal delicacy. And I guess it’s kind of a nice thing to have.
Informant’s Comments:
Talking about Osmanthus Honey, I kind of miss it now…
Collector’s Comments:
I also have fond memories of my grandma’s cooking. Every time my family went to visit her in Beijing, she would cook for an entire day and prepare a grand feast.
One of my favorite Shanghainese dishes is “nuò mǐ ǒu” (糯米藕), or lotus root with sticky rice. It is often topped with honey and osmanthus flowers, though they are added separated.
Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
Language: English with some Italian
Country of Origin: Italy
Informant: M.P.S.
Date Collected: November 19, 2020
Informant Data:
M.P.S. is a 22-year-old senior studying Mathematics and Computer Science at Dartmouth College. She is half Canadian and half Italian, but she spent most of her life in England. As a young child, she spent some time living with her relatives in Italy, where she learned to speak basic Italian and became accustomed to many local traditions, especially ones related to food. She is non-religious but enjoys celebrating Christmas with her family.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context
In Italy, Christmas cakes, more accurately described as sweet breads, are traditional desserts eaten for Christmas celebrations. During the Middle Ages, only rich people could afford to eat white bread, and sweet bread was considered a luxury reserved for the nobility. Nowadays, they are much more affordable and extremely popular among Italian households. Most families purchase them at the store days or even weeks in advance, though some choose to bake their own at home.
Social Context
Christmas cake, as the name implies, is eaten on or around Christmas Day. Store-bought Christmas cake is often packaged in a beautiful paper container. Many families have their own rituals when it comes to unpackaging the Christmas cake and sharing the delicious contents within.
Item:
Pandoro, which translates to “golden bread,” is a type of traditional Italian Christmas cake that originates from Verona. It is a plain sweetbread dusted with vanilla-scented icing sugar that is well-known for its distinctive golden color, which signifies wealth. When viewed from above, the shape of Pandoro resembles an eight-pointed star, which symbolizes salvation and abundance from a Judeo-Christian perspective. When purchased from the store, Pandoro is nicely packaged with the icing sugar included in a plastic packet. For many families, the preparation of Pandoro is an entertaining ritual that typically takes place early Christmas morning: the whole sweetbread is placed in a plastic bag along with the powdery icing sugar. The plastic bag is then sealed and shaken vigorously until the cake is fully coated in icing sugar. Afterwards, the Pandoro is sliced and shared among the family. Unfortunately, Pandoro is difficult to find in the US. Many Italian American families prefer Panettone, a cupola-shaped Christmas cake from Milan that contains dried or candied fruits.
Image File:
Bauli Pandoro, a popular brand (Photo was taken by M.P.S. on November 30, 2020; she ordered the Pandoro from the store more than a month in advance)
Audio Clip:
Transcript:
M.P.S. (informant): So I eat this food, so my food is called a Pandoro. Am I meant to say that now?
W.W. (collector): Yeah, yeah.
M.P.S.: Okay, so my food is called a Pandoro. It’s basically a Italian Christmas bread, cake type food. And it is my favorite food of all time. I love it so much. I’ve eaten it every Christmas since I was a baby. Either if I was in Italy, that Christmas, or if I was in England, which is where I live. And this is basically a type of kind of big, fluffy yellow cake that you can eat around Christmas time. I don’t know if there’s any specific rules. But typically, my family we wait until Christmas day to open it. We buy it from the store, we don’t make them ourselves. And one of the fun-est things about them is that you take the icing sugar, and you mix it into, into this kind of plastic bag, and you put the whole cake in the plastic bag, and you shake it around until the cake is coated and icing sugar. So that’s kind of like the ritualistic element every Christmas morning. So the first thing we do is open the Pandoro and shake it up so that it’s ready to eat at lunchtime.
W.W.: Great. And the tradition that you just mentioned is something that you only do with your family, or is this a common thing for Italian families to do?
M.P.S.: Well, a lot of Italians eat Pandoro at Christmas. And I mean, you typically, when you buy them, they’ll come with a packet of icing sugar and a plastic bag in the box ready for you to do, so I think lots of Italian families do shake it up together. It’s kind of like celebratory, although I don’t know whether or not it’s specifically like on Christmas Day or just around the time. And some people obviously make them themselves. They home-make.
W.W.: So you mentioned Pandoro is Italian Christmas cake. Could you talk a little bit about how it’s, like what’s special about the cake? Um, like for example, like the shape, the way it’s made.
M.P.S.: So it’s kind of shaped like a Christmas tree, and it’s really tall. So like from the top it looks like a star which is really nice and Christmas-y and it’s made it’s pretty simple. The ingredients, I’m pretty sure just butter, sugar, flour, eggs, or I’m not even sure I don’t think there’s eggs actually. Um, and it’s originally like bread. So it’s Pandoro, which means like bread, gold bread, right, “pan” is bread, and “d’oro” is gold. So it’s like meant to be very like yellow, yellowy. So that’s kind of what makes it stand out. There’s another Christmas cake called Panettone which is similar and maybe more commonly found, like in America, or I’ve seen it more often like, in places like Starbucks and things, and this has got fruits and stuff in it. But Pandora is typically like plain, and you’re just eating it with sugar. Some people like prepare it different ways. I like to dip it in milk. I think it’s really delicious.
Informant’s Comments:
If you haven’t tried Pandoro before, I highly recommend you try it. It’s so good. It doesn’t seem like it should be that good because it’s just bready sponge cake. But it is. There is something about it and the flavor. That makes it my favorite thing about Christmas time. It’s so delicious. And if you try it, you shouldn’t put whipped cream or ice cream or chocolate on top. Just eat it like is meant to be eaten, at least for the first time, so you get the proper experience because I feel like it’s got such a delicate flavor.
Collector’s Comments:
Fortunately, I was able to try Pandoro in my freshman year of college. It tastes absolutely amazing, and the experience was one of the highlights of my winter term. I really enjoyed learning about the informant’s lovely family tradition on Christmas morning where they prepare the Pandoro together. I didn’t know food preparation could be so fun!
Genre: Material Lore – dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
Language: English with some Russian
Country of Origin: Russia
Informant: M.R.
Date Collected: November 14, 2020
Informant Data:
M.R. is a 19-year-old senior studying Computer Science and Economics at Colgate University. He is Jewish and second-generation Russian American. His parents were originally from Nizhny Novgorod (Нижний Новгород), a city four hours east of Moscow, before immigrating to the US around 25 years ago. His family primarily celebrates American and Jewish holidays rather than Russian ones. However, they still cook and eat many traditional dishes from Russian cuisine for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and New Year’s. Although M.R.’s family observes Jewish festivities, they do not attribute much religious significance to most of the food they eat during those occasions. Instead, the food serves as a tool for bringing the family together and creating a sense of community.
Contextual Data:
Historical & Religious Context
The majority of Russian households are Orthodox Christian, with Jews accounting for less than 0.2% of the population in Russia. During the latter half of the 20th century, there was a movement of Jews, like M.R.’s parents, who emigrated from Russia to countries like the US due to religious persecution and harassment from state authorities. Many Russian Jewish families in the US celebrate a lot of Jewish holidays as a testament of their faith and religious freedom. However, they have not forgotten their Russian heritage and continue to prepare traditional Russian dishes even for non-Russian holidays.
Cultural Context
For many Russian-Jewish American families, New Year’s has replaced the role of Christmas as a gift-giving holiday. Ded Moroz (Дед Мороз) or Santa Claus comes on New Year’s Eve and distributes presents to the children. They also have New Year’s trees, which serve the same function as Christmas trees. The festival food for New Year’s is like that of Thanksgiving, consisting of traditional salads, soups, and poultry. Many non-Jewish Russian families in the US also eat these dishes for Christmas.
In the American context, a salad usually refers to a mixture of raw vegetables with small portions of other ingredients. In the Russian context, a salad is a more general concept, often containing a wide variety of ingredients that range from frozen fish to boiled root vegetables.
Social Context
Although Russian families in America observe different holidays based on religion and personal preference, it is common for families to celebrate important winter festivals by preparing a large traditional Russian dinner that symbolizes abundance and family unity.
Items:
Selodka Pod Shuboy (селёдка под шубой), or dressed herring, colloquially known as “herring under a fur coat” is a popular salad for winter festivals. It typically consists of diced pickled herring covered with layers of root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and beetroots that are boiled and grated, along with chopped onions and dressing like mayonnaise. Beetroots are often placed in the final layer to give the dish its characteristic purple color. The salad is often adorned with grated boiled eggs, and, in some variations, a layer of grated apple.
Borshch, Shchi, and Gribnoy Sup (борщ, щи, грибной суп), or Beet, Cabbage, and Mushroom Soup, are common soups served along with the meal. They are all thick soups that are usually slow-cooked for hours. Borshch is commonly made with beef, cabbage, onion, carrots, potatoes, and beet. Other root vegetables like turnip can also be added according to personal taste. Shchi is made with either cabbage or sauerkraut and can either contain meat or be meatless. It is often served with boiled potatoes and sour cream on the side. Gribnoy Sup is prepared using mushrooms that were preserved before the harsh winter season. Many Orthodox Russians eat this hearty dish for sochelnik, the meatless Christmas Eve Holy Supper.
Audio Clip:
Transcript:
M.R. (informant): Yeah, yeah. So I would say the majority of Russian households are like, all like Christian and like Orthodox and some other kind of religious group besides Judaism, we saw kind of, we see kind of a large, like movement of Jews outside of like, like Jews from Russia, immigrating to the US because of religious persecution and harassment, and, you know, higher positions, not, not being very kind to Jews, right. So my family is kind of part of that movement, and they immigrated to the US. And here we celebrate a lot of Jewish holidays, right? Because there is kind of the sense of religious freedom. So that’s definitely it’s definitely, it definitely influences what we do at the end of the year, right? Instead of celebrating Christmas, which is very, very big in Russia as well. We celebrate Hanukkah, and we celebrate New Year’s. And mostly, I would say, like Jewish holidays, as opposed to Russian holidays.
W.W. (collector): Great. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yep. So you can go ahead and tell me about your items.
M.R.: Yeah, yeah. So. So for Hanukkah, we don’t have necessarily like, like a specified cuisine. That’s more of a holiday that we like, embrace family and unity, as opposed to like a giant feast. Whereas like Thanksgiving and New Year’s, those are more of like feast the type of holidays. So Thanksgiving, for example. This is celebrated, sort of similarly to how it’s celebrated in the US, like, if we take like the juxtaposition between like a US family and a Russian American or Russian family celebrating Thanksgiving, it’s very similar, right? So we have a big table, all the relatives and friends get together. And there’s a lot of common elements such as the big turkey, there’s usually like cranberry, like stuffing, you know, maybe some mashed potatoes. But this is where it kind of diverges for Russian families. We have a lot more emphasis on like Russian food. So there’s all sorts of things like selodka pod shuboy (селёдка под шубой), which is like beet salad over herring fish, we have lots of soups, like, including like, shchi, gribnoy sup (щи, грибной суп), like mushroom soup. And like borshch (борщ), that’s the classic Russian one. And then lots of salads. Another just like background is that like, salad in in the American context means usually, like lettuce and other things. And that’s, that’s what we like, think of as salads, but in Russian context, a salad is just a group of items. So it’s like, basically, everything’s a salad. Or you can have beet salad, which is just beet sliced. You can have the option of carrot salad. That’s a very common one as well. Yeah, so salads are like, are very huge as well. So those are kind of like the main differences and in terms of cuisine, for like, Russian houses on Thanksgiving. And then should I talk about New Year’s as well?
W.W.: Yeah. Okay.
M.R.: Yeah, New Year’s is also interesting, because, for us, we’re Jewish, so we don’t celebrate Christmas. So Santa Claus or Ded Moroz (Дед Мороз) comes on New Year’s for us. And we have a New Year’s tree similar to the way Americans have, like, have a Christmas tree, right. So we have like, presents under the nearest tree. And Ded Moroz comes to give all the kids podarki (подарки) or presents. And they have to be like, really nice to receive the presents and not naughty and stuff, right. So it’s, it’s like a very similar thing. And there’s a specified kind of cuisine for New Year’s but similar to Thanksgiving. It provides kind of a sense of community and allows people to get together to just have Russian cuisine.
Collector’s Comment:
It is interesting to hear that many Russian-Jewish Americans celebrate common Christmas traditions on New Year’s due to religious and cultural reasons. My family, which is Chinese, also places great emphasis on soups for the winter; however, the soups we prepare are much thinner and contain traditional Chinese ingredients such as ginger and winter melon.
Genre: Material Lore – Christmas dish; Customary Lore – celebration, family tradition
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Informant: H.J.
Date Collected: November 10, 2020
Informant Data:
H.J. is a 22-year-old male living in San Diego, California. He has lived in New York, San Francisco, and Boston. He lives with his parents, grandparents, and a sister. His parents were originally from China but lived in Montreal, Canada before giving birth to H.J.
Contextual Data:
Social Context
H.J. first had this dish in elementary school. He invented this Christmas dish for his family because of the Surf Clams’ distinct red and white color. He had recently learned about the Christmas symbolism in those colors and wanted to eat something in those colors for Christmas. Over time, he also grew to associate Surf Clams with cold weather because the clams are served chilled, similar to the weather during Christmas in the areas where he lived before. Now, eating Surf Clams is an important tradition within his family.
Cultural Context
In America, the traditional colors of Christmas are red, green, and white; the red and white color of the Surf Clams ties the dish to Christmas
Since Christmas is celebrated in the cold winter season, Surf Clams are also served chilled to mimic the environment.
Item:
Surf Clams are a type of fresh clams bought at a local grocery store. The clams are deshelled and placed in a ring on a plate while still cold. The dish is served with a dipping sauce mixture combining soy sauce and a bit of Japanese wasabi. It is usually eaten with rice. This dish doesn’t originate from a specific culture. Rather, it was put together by H.J. and his family.
Transcript of Interview Clip:
Y.H. (collector): What is a special Christmas dish to you?
H.J. (informant): I eat Surf Clams every year.
Y.H.: When did you first start eating this dish and why?
H.J.: We first started eating these Surf Clams because they were red and white. I remember I was really young, probably in elementary school and we learned that red, white and green were the colors of Christmas, so I really wanted to eat something red and white for Christmas. Looking back, there were definitely other foods that are red and white, such as some fish probably, or even crab and lobster, but I didn’t like those at the time so we decided to get the Surf Clam.
Y.H.: Why have you continued eating it throughout the years?
H.J.: Mm. I think that over time, it still carried with it the tie with Christmas colors, for me at least. And so I have already wanted to eat it every year. My sister and parents don’t really have that connection but we still eat it every year. Also it’s really tasty so there was no reason to stop. Oh and since it’s served chilled, it gives me Christmas vibes even when I just think about it so, in my mind, I already associate it with Christmas since, you know, Christmas is in the winter.
Y.H.: That makes sense. Do you think there is a cultural background needed to understand your appreciation?
H.J.: Ya I think with two things. The first one I think is like the person needs to associate Christmas with winter and the cold. I know like around the world, some places celebrate Christmas in the summer because their seasons are flipped, so they may not think of Christmas as a cold time of the year. The other thing is that they need to associate the colors red, green and white with Christmas. I don’t know if there are different cultures that associate different colors with Christmas but ya.
Y.H.: Thank you.
Collector’s Comments:
Among the dishes I collected, this was definitely the most interesting because it had nothing to do with family history. The origin of the dish isn’t tied to the Christian religion, nor H.J.’s Chinese ethnicity. Instead, it is a ritual and tradition invented by him for his family based on his personal interpretation of Christmas.
