“Mercante in Fiera”By Julian Vaguelsy

The object that represents my family's culture is this card game called “Mercante in Fiera”. This card game is a little bit like “Go Fish” but with money and there's way more people playing it. So the objective of the game is to have one of the top three cards at the end because that's where the money is piled up. The youngest kid in the family would pick three cards and those three cards the money piles but those cards are flipped over so no one can see them. The last card that the dealer picks has the most money and then the second and so on. There are two decks one for the dealer and one for everybody else who buys the cards so that there is  more money in the jackpots.  The more you have to pay for the cards, the more money anyone can win.  Sometimes the cards can go for 10$ which is the most expensive. The game is very unique. It's only made in Italy. The cards are all different because there are 40 cards. Each card has a different picture on it, and the name of the card is only ever in Italian. It’s special for my family because before my great grandpa died he would always be the dealer for each game. We played every single Christmas Eve and every Christmas. The reason why he was always the best was because he would make a story for every card and would always let the youngest kids pick the cards for the three jackpots. The only time I ever won was two years ago I won the 3rd place jackpot and the 1st place jackpot. With the money, I saved up so I could buy some personal things when I went to the Promenade with my friends.

– JV

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant