Chesties

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Syd Hill
  • Date Collected: 2-28-18

Informant Data:

  • Syd Hill was born in Brandon, Manitoba. She is a sophomore at Dartmouth College and a member of the Varsity Women’s Ice Hockey team. She is majoring in Economics and her family owns a farm. She has two younger brothers.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Every player on the Dartmouth Women’s Ice Hockey team has a different pre-game warm up. A lot of players use handshakes and chants to prepare and get pumped up for game days. Handshakes are performed between two of more people and they can be formal or informal.
  • Social Context: In the locker room, before going on the ice, Syd performs this item of folklore with three other teammates. She, along with her class, made it up this season. The three minutes in the locker room before every time the players take the ice is very important to the team.

Item:

  • Syd and her three other classmates meet in the middle area of the locker room around the Dartmouth “D” on the carpet. They all stand facing each other and perform a hand shake were they each take their hands and extend them to the chests of the teammate on both sides of them. They are all connected, in a type of circle or diamond, and hold their position for a few seconds. After that they all break apart and get ready for the game.

Transcript:

  • “It’s funny because sometimes we make silly faces at each other and everyone laughs since we are “holding” each others breasts.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • It’s a fun new tradition that she believes will continue for the rest of their Dartmouth career.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Its a very simple and different type of handshake.

Collector’s Name: Claire Bird

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Chesties

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