[LIFESTYLES] Traditions and Culture

The Questions
So I've noticed a fair amount of users are not from my home country and I was just wondering what kind of holidays people in other countries have. What foods are typical at such traditions? Does one give gifts? How long do said holidays last?

Are there any things you do everyday? I know some families eat together, but there are others that don't. Are their activities that require you to be alone? How dependent are you on others? What's the most important thing in your culture? Do you favor the family over the individual or vice versa?


To Explain My Questioning
I've recently come to live with a woman from China. Being born and raised in America, I find some of her habits super annoying. I've come to realize that her annoying habits are habits that her culture practices. So, out of curiosity and the desire to learn more, I was wondering if anyone could share what their traditions are. Even if you're American, I would still like to see what you do, as I'm sure your culture upbringing varies from mine.

I am American (from the US). Being raised Jewish, I know that my traditions tend to be very different from the majority of other people in the US. The obvious being that I don't celebrate Easter, Valentine's Day (or any Saint's day for that matter) or Christmas.

Instead, there are a litany of other Holidays I do celebrate and a number of traditions I do practice. It also means that the day my holidays happen changes every year because Jewish holidays are set based on the Lunar Calendar that we have been using for 5000+ Jewish Years. So there is no set day (at least in the traditional calendar that everyone uses in real life).

Some of the holiday I celebrate that people find odd and strange:

Tu B'Shevat - basically new year for trees and plants. We celebrate this day by eating things grown on trees (fruit, nuts etc). This holiday came to be as a way to mark when to rotate your crops and what to tithe.

Purim - Basically an evil dude (Haman, the King's Prime Minister/Advisor) convinced the King to declare that all Jews would be put to death because Mordechai wouldn't bow to him. Haman had a mad hate-on for the Jews in general and he was pissed that Mordechai would not respect his authority. He built some gallows to hang Mordechai on because, like every super villain, he liked to put the cart ahead of the horse. The King's Wife, Ester (who basically won a beauty pageant to become his wife), held a feast for the King and Haman, made with the wine and then invited them back the next night for the same thing. On the second night, she revealed that she was Jewish. The king then found out Haman's wicked plan and ordered him hung on the gallows he had built. He was hung and there was much rejoicing. We celebrate this holiday by having readings of passages and basically heckle and make noise every time Haman is mentioned. Then we drink... a lot. (It is considered a Mitzvah to drink on this day, so basically it is blessed to get drunk.) And eat. And send food gifts to friends (or wine). We also give charity to at least two needy individuals on this day. Kids usually get dressed up as the Ester and Mordechai and put on plays. Unlike Passover, which is a drag, Purim is a fun way to celebrate victory over people who want to kill us/enslave us.

Sukkot- You build a little temporary hut and for 7 days eat your meals in it. Sukkot is considered a time of joy and festival and happiness. Basically, you are celebrating when all the foods was harvested and processed- all the granaries are full, the wine is done and the oil is pressed. You are celebrating the bounty all of your hard work has created.

There are also the more known holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukah.

Then there are traditions like the Brit Milah (more commonly called a Bris). You do this on the 8th day after a little boy is born. You have a quorum of ten Jewish men to pray for the child. You Mohel does a snip while the baby is held on the chair of Elijah. Then you name the baby (we Jews have our common name and a hebrew name). Then you eat a feast. There is also the Bar Mitzvah- coming of age. Once again, feasting is involved. Also reading from the Torah.

(Most Jewish tradition revolve either around fasting or around feasting... and even fasting generally ends in a feast.)

Oh my gosh! That is all so neat. I have never actually heard of any of those holidays or traditions before. It's quite amazing to see how other cultures and religions go about living and giving thanks. Tu B'Shevat sounds pretty awesome. It's like Thanksgiving mixed with Arbor Day.

So I have to ask, what kinds of foods do you eat during these festivals? I know some of my holidays recommend that a certain food idea be present. Like we have turkey on Thanksgiving and corn beef on St. Patrick's Day.

By the way, thanks so much for sharing! It was really neat to read about them. Sooner or later I'll post what I do for my holidays. ^_^

Well, my family makes Tomato Beef soup with matzo balls for Passover. Then we have roast brisket, gefilte fish, horoset (chopped apples, walnuts soaked in wine), potatoes, matzo. (I posted the recipe for the soup in Aviva's cookbook in the journal section.)

For other holidays, lots of fruits, nuts, challah, various pastries. In my family, we often had cheese enchilladas instead of meat.

For breakfast, we often have something called matzo brei. It is basically matzo soaked in eggs and then cooked up like scrambled eggs (or like an omelet if you prefer). Then served with applesauce and sour cream. Or borekas, blintzes, english muffins, etc.

At my son's Brit Milah, our feast was a nice salad and lasagna. Instead of meat in the lasagna, we had boca crumbles, spinach and veggies.

I'm from Sweden and I have had a Christian upbringing so I think many of my holidays are the same as yours. Although in Sweden we don't have those bank holidays or Thanksgiving.

We do celebrate Christmas but on Christmas Evening the 24th and not on the 25th as in US and UK, I imagine.

Some specific days we celebrate that i don't think people in US does celebrate is Midsommarafton (Midsummer Eve). We eat herring and potatoes and drinks vine and grogs. Then we dance around (the) Midsommarstången. It's a tradition to celebrate harvest I think.

Then there's Halloween. In my experience there hasn't been muck Trick or Treat. I've been on a Halloween party twice though.

Then there's Nationaldagen which is like your 4th of July. We raise a Swedish flag and there's usually a speech and celebrations on the TV. We don't drink or eat anything special but it's a free day without any work.

Another holiday is Första Maj, where people go out and demonstrate for better work, higher pay etc. I think it used to be a free day but isn't any longer.

We also celebrate our royal family's birthdays. Once again we don't eat anything special but there's usually celebrations on the TV. It's a usual work day too.

Can't think of anything more though...

I'm not sure what to answer to your second set of questions. I need some time to think about them.

Another thing I had growing up, that I think a lot of people didn't was Rodeo holiday. it happens in Tucson Arizona and we get half a week off of school for the Rodeo. Tucson has the largest non-mechanized parade in the world and all of the middle school and high school marching bands participate in it- so basically it just made sense to give everyone the day off of school. Then we could also go to the Rodeo or watch the parade.

Tucson Rodeo Parade (Fiesta de los Vaqueors)

Every year I participated in a fairly large soccer tournament that happened on the same week.

L'Shana Tovah everyone. Today is Rosh Hashana, which is Jewish New Year. It is now the year 5772 in the Jewish calendar.

L'shana tovah tikatev v'etahetem. (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.)

I am going to go out and buy a pomegranate and eat on that tomorrow night as is tradition. And feed ducks at the duck pond (because tossing bread into water is how you cast off the last year and spring forward into the new one). Then I am going to come home and make some Challah.

O____________O 5772. That's... crazy. I really like these names, though I'm pretty sure I'm butchering them. ^^;

Ooh, this is a fun thread~

Let's see, I'm an ethnic Anishinaabe raised in the Middle West of the United States. Unlike Utopia's heritage, my own didn't really effect my family's holidays as much as it did our traditions. Take for instance when I was five years old and for my birthday, instead of dolls or toys, received my own pair of hand-beaded moccasins. Or when I was even smaller and was told traditional native stories, such as How the Raven Stole the Sun, instead of Disney-esq tales.

As far as native food goes, we didn't really partake in it all too often. Most traditional food is pretty simple; primarily berries, fish, or meat. All things most people eat pretty regularly. The only unusual things I can think of are pemmican, frybread, and rabbit. Pemmican is....alright, frybread is generally reserved for pow wows, and rabbit is incredibly gamey. So yeah, only on special occasions. xD

I'm kinda jealous. That sounds really awesome. Native stories are so neat to learn about and hear! I have some Native American in me and I have always wondered what life would have been like living back during the days where the white men didn't 'rule' the world.

I believe I've had rabbit and I agree with your comment on it. Gamey! Wild turkey is really dry. And I want to say buffalo was a little weird, but it was still quite yummy.

I like rabbit. It is good in gumbo. (Lots of bones though.) I like most wild game though. But I am constantly trying to assert my place at the top of the food chain.

Bwah ha ha! I like that comment about the food chain. :D

What I wonder is if respect is more important in other countries. I've noticed it's not something that is common in my parts, it really doesn't matter the age or gender in my opinion because I've seen it in plenty of cases. I'm talking about general respect for your fellow man. Hold a door open? Maybe smile and nod? Don't treat me like I'm a pain in the ass just because you don't enjoy your job?

Most recently I've experienced... well... in two cases this past week. Teens most likely between the age of 16 and 18, being completely rude for no reason at all. Example one being a car load of kids in a station wagon calling me and my friend "speds" and flipping us off hanging out of a window while they passed us on the side walk. It was quite classy. And then today we were at the mall and turning a corner I almost bumped into a kid looking about 16 with his whole "posse" and before I even had time to say "Oh sorry, excuse me." he blurts out. "Watch the fuck out!" and then does an obnoxious cackle with his friends.

I really don't understand it. Maybe it's just Boston, and everyone here really are a bunch of "Massholes" but I'm so sick and tired of being generally polite, respectful and kind to everyone when half the time I couldn't get an ounce of respect or manners from someone even if I begged.

It's not even just my personal experiences, I know children who swear and degrade their mothers at the age of 14!? Bullying is another matter all together but I know that can be found everywhere around the world.

I have heard of a girl who is from America who went to school in Japan, and she had a professor who spoke of how she had an experience in America which made her very uncomfortable considering what she was used to. According to her, she would go shopping in American stores and get a very unenthusiastic "Hey." from whoever was reading a magazine behind the counter and they would ignore her from then on, which was very strange to her considering where she was from the workers would welcome you, thank you for coming before you even bought anything, ask if they could be of any help and bow their heads.

But anyway, like I said... final question I want answered, where you are from is respect and manners a dieing tradition or still held to heart? Even if you are from a different part of the USA and things are different for you there, I'd like to know your experiences.

I haven't had any experiences where people have not show respect and politeness. Perhaps people from Sweden are more polite? But I don't know for sure.

I know that teenagers today seem very disrespectful here in America. It is not just a Boston area thing. I know if I acted the way they do when I was their age, I would have gotten in trouble from my parents. But then again, when I was young, it was still okay to spank your children without having someone call protective services on you or ground your children.

I feel like the younger generation has this whole feeling of entitlement. Like they are owed things. Like they are entitled to have a cell phone and a gameboy and an ipod and a playstation. When I was a kid, I had to earn my walkman. (Yes I said walkman, I am old.) Gadgets weren't expected, they were special. I remember when my brother and I saved up all of out Hanukkah gilt and birthday money for a year to buy a brand new Nintendo. And even then, we couldn't play it all the time, we had to ask permission to have some Nintendo Time. (We also weren't allowed to watch TV except as a treat and we didn't have cable anyway, so it didn't really matter.)

These days I see kids disrespecting their parents or just people in general and I want to slap them and set them straight. There is just no reason for it. How hard is it to say "Thank you" or "You're welcome" or even just a polite "Hello"?

Geh...now I feel like a crotchety old woman. Next thing you know, I'll be shaking my cane at people and telling them to get off my lawn.

I agree Utopia. Another factor could be that there's so much bad TV today i.e. Jersey Shore, Big Brother etc. I think that could be a contributing factor to their lack of respect.

They should have watched more shows like this: (Yeah I know the video isn't the best. I think the song is on iTunes though... maybe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM6dGkpBhhw

Imagination Movers- Please and Thank You

I wholeheartedly agree with your comment about manners in America. I have never been so disgusted in our nation. Chivalry seems to be a dying art. And old traditions? Those are on the verge of extinction.

When I was growing up, I was told to be respectful of the authority figures. To obey the elders and to heed the tongue of anyone older than me. Nowadays it seems like the kids rule the streets. If a child were to get punished, they can get their parents arrested. I feel like they have no respect and don't have the slightest clue what the future has in store for them. I foresee a very rude awakening and I think it's deserved.

My cousin has a boyfriend, a cell phone, a laptop, and a Wii. She's twelve. I got my first cell phone when I was eighteen. My PS2 when I was 17. A laptop when I was about sixteen. A real boyfriend... I was twenty.

Technology seems to be ruining the youth of America. No one talks on the phone anymore. They would rather text. Texting. Really? I can't understand it half the time. Are you being serious? Funny? Sarcastic? When you say you love me, do you really mean it? Or are they just hollow words? Everything loses its meaning over the computer. Now if you pick up the phone and call, at least you can hear the change of tone, pitch, and mood. What about old-fashioned letters? I still write them... maybe once a month. I love doing it. It's more personal. It's better than posting on someone's wall.

I don't know, I just don't like the way things have changed. People don't hold doors open. I've yet to find a guy who would take his jacket off and lay it in a puddle so I didn't get my feet wet. It's rare to see a woman smile at a man she's not interested in just because she wants to brighten his day and because she can. People seem to have become robots. They only know how to text and interact with technology.

Me? Now I'm far from that. I call people all the time. I still write letters. I smile at everyone I walk by. I even say hello or hi. I'll hold the door open. I'll let people pass me in a line when they're just buying a few items and I've got my cart full to the top. I'll spare change when the person in front of me can't afford their meal. I take my poor friends out to eat. I drive people around and expect no pay in return. Please, thank you, excuse me, sorry, those are all terms I use on a daily basis.

I'm one of those "annoying adults" that will scold a child if they don't behave. Even if they aren't my kid, I'll say sorry for them. They usually look at me like I'm an alien, but I think they realized that not everyone's an ass. If I'm with people I know and they don't say stuff, I'll lecture them on it. I go out of my way to make sure I apologize to people.

BEST EXAMPLE EVER. My housemate is from China. She cannot steer a chart to save her life. She ran into people and didn't say a thing. I was right behind her and apologized to every person. They glared at her and smiled and said "It's fine" to me. It's really quite amazing to see how people treat you after a simple "I'm sorry."

Gah, I should end now before I write an essay on how people are rude and need a severe lashing. XD

Haha, okay this is going to sound kind of awful, but; if I acted as bratty as a lot of kids I see these days, my very ethnic mother would have probably beat me. The Native American community is very, very big on respect. Particularly to your elders and parents. I was drilled as a child to mind my manners constantly and, subsequently, was very well behaved- but this was not the case for all of my siblings. (Keep in mind that the worst we ever actually got were spankings, though this didn't stop my mother from keeping a baking paddle with holes drilled in it to threaten us with.) This sense of respect has actually been an enormous help throughout my teenage years, but has also sort of made me over-polite. You may ask how that could be a bad thing, and so I'll give you an example: yesterday, as I was standing talking to a friend, someone who was running without looking slammed into me. I immediately apologized.

But yes, I do very much agree that technology is poisoning our youngins. They're far too glued to their electronics to pay the proper amount of attention to anything, manners or schoolwork. And, as someone who worked in childcare, I'll admit the television is a wonderful babysitter; but it keeps kids inside, away from the crucial peer-to-peer socialization that teaches them important life lessons like sharing, teamwork, and empathy.

Though it's hard to say if I would have shared this thinking had I grown up in this day and age. When I was a kid the only piece of technology I played with was a plastic book that you could set to play five of fifteen pre-recorded words at a time to make up a silly sentence. I spent hours on that thing and, when I ultimately got bored, I went to harass the neighbor kids to play outside. It shocked me the first time I watched modern children who, after watching a two-hour movie together, immediately got up to go play on their respective computers/game stations. Almost totally independent of each other. My pleas for a lively round of duck duck goose were cruelly ignored. ;w;

I always guessed right what country Brook V is from, yay! I have a long time friend from there and they handle English in a specific way. Yes, random, but winner feeling is a winner feeling.

We have quite the same holidays as they do in Sweden. We don't have Thanksgiving neither Halloween - they have tried to bring Halloween to us but our Easter has too similiar things to it for it to make sense to do it again, neither it really fits the mentality I guess. Christmas is celebrated (gifts, christmas dinner etc.) on 24th in here too and we make these plum pies that I always get told by foreigners to look like swastikas... x_x

We also have Midsummer Eve but we call it Juhannus (which as a word doesn't probably mean anything). We don't have any poles we dance around, though. We just have bonfires and usually have lemonade, grilled food which is mainly sausages for many and mmh, some get really wasted sometimes they also go to row on the lakes and drown. Every Juhannus the news are going like "and this Juhannus only this and this amount of people drowned". How happy, but it's a lot nicer than I make it sound like, haha. We also have May Day like Swedes, but it's also mainly a drunk party, hahhah. We often had costume parties at school on the day. Those who have graduated from highschool wear their Ylioppilaslakki (or studentmössa as the Finnishswedes call them). It's a white cap with black peak. I am actually going to get mine next spring! It's a very happy moment for students and parents, those who graduate keep a party at their home for friends and relatives and they get money and gifts.

Or independence day is on 6th of December. We watch Unknown soldier and the president's ball thingy and comment on people's outfits. Haha.

I made very messy post but hopefully it makes even a bit of sense.

We have a bonfire at Valborgsmässoafton at 30 April. And fireworks and usually lotteries. :)

Yom Kippur is this weekend. It is pretty much the highest holy day in the Jewish Calendar. It is the day when you are closest to G-d and to knowing your own soul. Yom Kippur is the day of Atonement. You purify yourself by fasting for a day, not bathing (I know...sounds odd), not wearing leather or animals and not having sex. Before Yom Kippur you have honey cakes and donate extra money to charity and the needy and have a little feast. After Yom Kippur is another feast.

Basically, it is a way to wish in the New Year (remember Rosh Hashana a bit back?) and hope for a clean, healthy, purified life for the new year.