While sitting with my Great-Aunt Francis and my Aunt Kathy at dinner last week, I couldn’t help but ask the two of them: what were the differences that they noticed between the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and in New York City? My Aunt Francis grew up in Northern Ireland, and now lives in Woodside–and her years in both of the most celebrated homes of St. Patrick’s Day allowed her to give me much insight. My Aunt Kathy, although she lives in California, grew up surrounded by the NYC celebrations of this holiday, and has visited Ireland during this holiday on many occasions. While sitting down with these two amazing women, I learned much about St. Patrick’s Day–and how much it differs between its homeland and America.

The following audio, originally 45 minutes long, has only been briefly edited for content–a more polished version is soon to be published as well.

Aunt Francis Export

I am redoing my previous proposal about Chinese Weddings. International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8th and it began as a Socialist political event. It was widely celebrated in the Soviet Union and it is very similar to the holiday “Mother’s Day”. The major difference, however, is that International Women’s Day celebration honors every woman, every age, and every status. I am interested in researching how this holiday is celebrated in New York and how it compares and differs to how it was celebrated during the times of the Soviet Union.

Renee and I were assigned to explore the topic of why some holidays are “official”, and why others are not. I thought it’d be interesting if we each took a viewpoint on the issue and explored each side of the argument.  One of us can explain why other holidays, such as the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year/Seol Nal for Koreans), should be considered official; the other, why they are not and why they shouldn’t be.

My only question is, if we went through with this, how would we present it on the website?

There are several traditional Chinese holidays that are celebrated throughout the year, but expectedly, only of a few of them are carried out and celebrated here in the United States.  Perhaps the most well-known holiday, the Lunar New Year is observed by millions of Americans every year (although why students get no days off for the holiday is beyond me).  You hear people on the radio saying “Happy Chinese New Year” in unintelligible Chinese all day long.  But there are other, less observed holidays such as the Dragonboat and the Lantern Festival that definitely deserve mention, and for my project, I will be covering the Lantern Festival.  Taking place on the fifteenth day of the first Lunar Month, the Lantern Festival is a traditional holiday geared towards young adults.  In China, paper lanterns would be carried all along the streets, with riddles written onto the lanterns for other people to solve.  This holiday is seen as the last event of the Lunar New Year festivities, but here in New York, I don’t recall ever seeing any Lantern Festivals.  I want to find out more about this holiday, and see how it’s changed in translation from China to America.

Photo Credit to Alissa Ambrose

In a high school American history class, many teachers explain how America’s D-Day invasion was a remarkable success. While few would argue the contrary, even fewer teachers mention that Russian troops were the first to storm Hitler’s undergound base in Berlin, defeating Germany in World War II. In Russia, and in many ex-Soviet states, Victory Day on May 7th, celebrates a moment of triumph and an instance of relief from belligerence. Slavs celebrate with their family, gathering in close social circles, and toasting to the success of their motherland. Many who moved have continued to recognize this moment in their ethnic enclaves.
Brighton Beach, a lively Russian community, rolls out on the street of Coney Island Avenue. Where motorcyclist veterans lead a convoy of Harley’s flagged with communist flags from the USSR and the stars spangled banners mounted side-by-side. They not only acknowledge the historic victory of their homeland, but the seemingly paradoxical unison of American culture and Soviet traditions.

Victory Day is not recognized as an official American holiday, but it has small ethnic followings particularly in the Russian community. I have already browsed photo documents depicting the annual celebration by immigrants and various local newspapers have reported on the event. As this year’s celebration approaches, reaching out the planners of this year’s parade could provide further insight on the preservation of this celebration.  An analysis of Victory Day in Brooklyn would also offer deeper insight on the values of Russian culture, as the celebration of Victory Day may contrast in the extent that traditions and historical symbols are preserved and acknowledged.

Furthermore, drawing a comparison between how Victory Day is celebrated in New York versus Moscow, can offer insight on the contrasting capacity of both nations to acknowledge the historical events. I am inclined to believe that the public display of the hammer and sickle in Russian is at least a civil offense. In other words, a comprehensive study of Victory Day can provide a lens to weighing the development of democracy in Russia, while offering insight on the migration of nationalism.

Brief Outline
1. Historic Background on Victory Day
2. Background on it’s celebration
How has the celebration of the holiday changed (or preserved) its identity with the fall of the Soviet Union?
3. Evolution of the Celebration
When was the Victory Day Parade first held on Brighton Beach? How has it changed in recent years?
How do the attendees differ, whether by age or ethnicity?
Are the attendees on Brighton predominantly Russia, or are they representative of the Soviet Union as a whole?
4. Interviews
Nat Singer, President of Brighton Neighborhood Association
Waiting on responses from local Russian newspapers:
Russian Reklama, Davidzon Gazetta, Russian Bazaar,
Waiting on response from a documentary photographer:
Paul Berman of kolored
5. Potential On-site Interviews on May 9th
Veteran Interview
6. Supporting Research
Allies Join Russians in Celebrating Victory Day

http://en.paradpobedy.ru/

I would like to introduce a lesser known Chinese holiday called Double Ninth Festival. This holiday is celebrated in most of China, but I have not heard of its celebration here in the United States.

The Double Ninth takes place on September 9th, according to the lunar calendar. This holiday originated because the number “nine” was considered yang, and the date September 9th was unlucky because there was too much yang that day. Therefore, the emperor pray for good luck and longevity, as well as drink chrysanthemum tea.

Double Nine Festival is usually represented by Chrysanthemums

The holiday has lasted until now. In China, many families hike up the mountains and pray for longevity and health. I have not seen anyone in New York celebrate this. Maybe because there are no mountains in New York City, or maybe the people have stopped believing in the superstition of this date.

Many people hiking up the mountain on 9/9.

I would love to learn more about this holiday and the reasons why some people would choose not to celebrate it anymore in the United States.

Holidays all have their origins.

But the question is do we know the backgrounds of these holidays or do we just know it as their “contemporary” meanings?

Did you know that St. Patricks Day is about celebrating the spreading of Christianity in Ireland? But today, it is a day of drinking from sunrise to … sunrise. How did this happen? What would the people from Ireland say about this tradition? I have realized that many holidays that we celebrate in America has shifted to fit the modern lifestyles of Americans today. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does diminish the originality of the holiday. Let’s investigate HOW the holidays are celebrated today compared to it’s originality. It will be interesting to see how far we have strayed away to adjust to the contemporary cultures of America today.

For my part of the project, I would like to explore how Mother’s Day is celebrated by Asian families. I believe Mother’s Day is a great opportunity to closely look at the parent-child relationship of Asian immigrants. I also would like to compare the celebrations in the US and in Asian countries, such as China and Korea, to see how “Americanization” has changed the cultural value of filial piety. As we discussed in the class, one aspect of Americanization is letting go of filial piety. I will try to reveal how Asian concept of filial piety changed in the US. Since Mother’s Day is not celebrated publicly, I will incorporate as many interviews as possible.