Category Archives: Tradition

Dessert: Pandoro

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General Information about Item:

  • 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!

Collector’s Name: Winston Wang

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Entrée: Tamales

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Lore – traditional dish; Customary Lore – celebration
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: Mexico
  • Informant: G.P.
  • Date Collected: November 7, 2020

Informant Data:

  • G.P. is a ~60 year old woman living in New Jersey. She was born in Tlaxcala, Mexico and has spent over 20 years in the United States, where she lives with two of her siblings and, up until they started university, her two nephews and niece. In the US, her family usually celebrates Christmas by inviting over more family members, preparing food, and partaking in some traditions with respect to her religion.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: You will most likely find tamales anytime you go to a Mexican restaurant, but when a family makes them at home, the dish has more meaning. Tamales are more of a work of art, and the process is very special. There is a general belief that emotions tied to cooking are passed on to the resulting dish, which is an example of the law of similarity, like produces like. This is doubly so for tamales. The process involves washing one of your hands and arm and mixing the batter until everything is well integrated. This direct physical contact with the ingredients makes it really important for the chef to remain happy and excited. To remedy the annoyance of beating the mixture for long periods of time, people switch places.
  • Social Context: Eating and making tamales is something that’s usually done as a group due to the grueling work that goes into it. The easier parts are prepping the salsas, meats and/or cheese, and chile pepper slices. The hard part is beating the batter and making the tamales, so usually family and friends gather to form them in the leaves.

Item:

The recipe is somewhat complex, so it’ll be split into several parts

  • The sauce:
    • Tomatillo Sauce (Green): Peel tomatillos and keep the peels for the batter. Grill tomatillos and green chile peppers (jalapeños or chile de arbol), then peel the scorched parts off, and blend with water, garlic and onion. Afterwards, heat up some oil in a pot, then fry the sauce in it, and leave to boil.
    • Tomato Sauce (Red): Wash, cut, and deseed a lot of tomatoes, then blend. Slice some onion and fry until it becomes clear but before it starts browning. Add the sauce and water, so it isn’t too viscous. Add about two stems of epazote and salt to taste, then leave to boil.
  • The batter requires a very large pot. You’ll have to boil tomatillo peels with some anise. Then, you’ll need to mix flour for tamales, salt, a bit of baking soda and baking powder, about a liter of oil per bag of flour, chicken stock, and the stock from the tomatillo peels after being strained through a colander. Then, you must mix everything by hand, add salt, mix again, and let the contents sit for an hour.
  • Once the sauce and batter are done you can begin forming tamales by using corn husk leaves or banana leaves. Add batter, your choice of salsa, raw chicken pieces, cheese, and/or green chile pepper slices. Wrap them up so they don’t leak, and continue. Once you have a good bit of tamales, you’ll need a special pot with two sections separated by a metal plate with holes for steam since tamales are vapor-cooked. The bottom section is filled with water, and the top section is stacked with tamales until the top of the pot is reached. Then, cover everything with a moist cloth, plastic bag, and pot top. Let the contents slow cook for 2.5 hours, and they’re done, becoming more solid as they coo).

Translation:

C.Y. (collector): Wow tamales take a while to make, why do you choose to make them?

G.P. (informant): Well I don’t make them for fun let me tell you that. I usually only make them when I can get help from my nephews and nieces, because it takes a long time, and as you probably know, getting angry is only going to make the process longer.

C.Y.: Oooh yea, I know about that. I remember my uncle threw away a whole meal because I was really angry as I helped him. Man, I was so disappointed in myself after that.

G.P.: Yea it’s really important. It helps in adding a bit of the human spirit into the mix, otherwise you’d just be able to use a machine, but I don’t think they come out as well.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Tamales are really something else in the food world. When I was younger, I used to get mad at being woken up at 6am to beat the batter, but, as I got older, I realized the payoff was worth it and was much happier to help. To date, the longest I’ve gone only having tamales for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was around a week.

Collector’s Name: Carlos Yepes

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House Families

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Title: House Families

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore
  • Informant: R.C. ’22
  • Date Collected: 05/19/2020

Informant Data:

  • R.C. is a male student at Dartmouth College. He is affiliated.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Families are small units of close individuals. The adoption of this technique into fraternity culture serves a similar purpose.
  • Social Context: House families are smaller groups in the house new members are sorted in to. These act as smaller and closer social groups for the new members in the house.

Item:

  • This specific fraternity gives its new members “families” within its members. These families consist of one to two new members and a handful of older members to serve as a resource during and after the rush process.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found these families to be an interesting and useful way to help new members during the rush process. They stay families for life, long after active membership in the fraternity ends. In this specific example, the family the informant was in was easily dated back to Dartmouth alumni from 2014.

Collector’s Name: Charlie Wade

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Family
  • Social

Frisbee Formal

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ITEM:

  • Customary Lore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Informant: Hannah Marr
  • Date Collected: 11/16/19

INFORMANT DATA:

  • Hannah Marr is a captain of the Dartmouth Womxn’s Utimate Frisbee Team, known as Dartmouth Daybreak. She has been on the team, previously known as Princess Layout, since her freshman year. Born on November 24, 1997, she is from Falmouth, Maine. Hannah is a member of the Dartmouth Class of 2020. She has been playing Frisbee since high school and continued to when she came to Dartmouth.

CONTEXTUAL DATA:

  • Cultural Context: Frisbee Formal is an event that occurs during the winter term. Underclassmen must ask upperclassmen from a different team to formal in a creative way and send the formal invite to all of SPEW. In return the upperclassmen must respond in a similar fashion to all of SPEW. Frisbee formal is held at an undisclosed location where individuals chat and dance. A theme is announced ahead of time and people usually dress in “flair,” which is a colloquial term applied to fun, costume-like clothing, in accordance with the theme. 
  • Social Context: This interview was conducted off campus in person. Frisbee formal allows individuals an opportunity to meet players from other teams and socialize in a different environment and usual for frisbee. Often times underclassmen do not know the upperclassmen they ask to formal. Formal is also a time when the men’s and women’s teams are mixed together, even though they play seperately. Formal is a fun event where people socialize and meet other people in the program.

ITEM: 

  • Formal

TRANSCRIPT:

  • “Frisbee formal is a really fun tradition that the frisbee program has. How it works is that underclassmen make really funny videos, whether it be a parody of a song, a dance that they’re doing or a little skit and they send the videos out via our listserv [SPEW] asking upperclassmen to the formal. Upperclassmen when they’re asked to respond with a similar fun video whether it be a song response or anything, and they’ll respond to the underclassmen. Everyone always says yes and it culminates with everyone going to a themed dance and where we all wear flair and dress up and have an awesome time. It’s a really great tradition that frisbee has. Frisbee formal is a really great way by which underclassmen get to feel comfortable around upperclassmen and the whole community gets to know each other better.”

 

INFORMANT’S COMMENTS:

  • “I always look forward to seeing all the invites and responses that get sent out on SPEW!”

 

COLLECTOR’S COMMENTS: 

  • Frisbee formal can be seen as a form of a rite of passage because attendees are usually invited or have invited someone else to attend. The asking and response process is lengthy and often takes a lot of preparation. Additionally, at this event, it is likely that you will meet new individuals from other teams within the program, which could be interpreted as a part of incorporating new members into the community. 

COLLECTOR’S NAME: 

  • Luke Cuomo & Annett Gawerc

Psychotic Seed Award

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ITEM:

  • Customary Lore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Informant: Avery Feingold
  • Date Collected: 11/15/19

INFORMANT DATA:

  • Avery Feingold is a former captain of the men’s frisbee B team, Discomfort Trolley, and is a former member of PainTrain, the men’s A team. He is a member of the Dartmouth Class of 2017. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he now resides there post-graduation. He was born on September 25, 1995.

CONTEXTUAL DATA:

  • Cultural Context: The Psychotic Seed Award is an award given out to members of the freshman class from each team during the fall and spring terms at frisgiving (Frisbee thanksgiving) and banquet, respectively. It is awarded to individuals that exemplify the certain values of the team, including friendliness, positivity, and the warmth. The award is given in remembrance of and in honor of a former frisbee player nicknames “Townie,” who sadly passed away during his time at Dartmouth.

 

  • Social Context: This ritual was documented during a virtual interview. The award is presented in front of the entire frisbee team membership. Each term when the award is given, all previous recipients are asked to rise. This allows others to see the number of individuals who have previously received this award and fosters a sense of unity by demonstrating the amount of positivity and warmth that has been cultivated throughout the years of Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee. 

 

ITEM: 

  • Psychotic Seed Award

TRANSCRIPT:

  • “There was a boy who played on the Dartmouth ultimate team in the 1990s who got to know everyone in Hanover so well that even though he was from Iowa, he was named “Townie” by the Dartmouth Ultimate team and that name stuck and became how he introduced himself to new freshmen when he was a senior. But when Townie was a senior he got brain cancer and died very shortly thereafter, so dartmouth ultimate, in his memory, every year gives out an award called the Psychotic Seed Award named after the sunflower seeds that Townie used to chew. It’s awarded to a rookie player from each team that exemplifies the friendliness, positivity, and the warmth that we want to embody on Dartmouth Ultimate.”

INFORMANT’S COMMENTS:

  • The informant did not provide any further comment.

COLLECTOR’S COMMENTS: 

  • The Psychotic Seed Award is one of the best parts of the frisbee program, seeing as it recognizes the good naturedness of the program members. However, at the same time is always a somewhat solemn thought in remembrance of the award’s namesake. Overall, this award strikes a good balance at recognizing and remembering the positive aspects of the frisbee program’s past and present.

COLLECTOR’S NAME: 

  • Luke Cuomo and Annett Gawerc

Team Dinner

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ITEM:

  • Customary Folklore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Informant: Ruby
  • Date Collected: 11/10/19

INFORMANT DATA:

  • Ruby is a new member of the Dartmouth Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, Dartmouth Daybreak, formerly known as Princess Layout. She is a member of the class of 2023 and intends to major in Geography. She played frisbee extensively in in high school on her school’s frisbee team, and she knew that she wanted to continue playing frisbee at Dartmouth. Born on November 6, 2000, she is from Shanghai, China. 

CONTEXTUAL DATA:

  • Cultural Context: Team dinner happens every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday  in both fall and spring term after practice. In the winter team dinner is often before evening practice. This is a time when the program gets together in upstairs FoCo and dines together. There are traditions incorporated during this meal time as well, for example, it is common for individuals to “rosham,”  commonly known as rock, paper, scissors, for who has to take down all the dirty plates. But mostly, team dinner is an unstructured meal where members chat about whatever is on their mind.

 

  • Social Context: This ritual was documented in a one-on-one interview in Novack. The frisbee program bonds over team dinners, where topics can range from program activities and frisbee to anything under the sun. Most team members will show up for team dinner, resulting in a crowd of two dozen often times. Sitting together in upstairs FoCo is a great way for team members to become more familiar with each other, and also allows for new members to have the chance to chat with the group in a calm environment, as opposed to practices or game time.

ITEM: 

  • International Comparison – Team Dinner

Recording:

TRANSCRIPT:

  • “So, I have played three years on my high school team, and it was in a completely different cultural setting than Dartmouth. It was a high school mixed [gender] team. Transforming from my high school frisbee experience to Dartmouth, I found one significant similarity that we share, like my high school team and the Dartmouth Ultimate team. And it is that we spend a lot of time together eating meals. We used to eat meals after every tournament [in high school] and there was a specific restaurant that we’d always go to when we finished every tournament. It was kind of like a celebration and we just had a really fun time there. And I feel like its very similar to what we have now on the Dartmouth Frisbee team because we have team dinner after every practice.”

INFORMANT’S COMMENTS:

  • “I have been able to meet more people in the program through team dinner.”

COLLECTOR’S COMMENTS: 

  • Across cultures, we have found that team dinners are a commonality between Ultimate Frisbee teams. Both Ruby’s frisbee experience in high school in China and Dartmouth’s frisbee program have a very similar team dinner tradition. Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that relies on team dynamics for good performance, and this intricate dynamic is fostered over time. Traditional team dinners serve as an additional avenue for teams to foster this sense of community. The similarities between these two frisbee experiences is particularly notable because of the wide sociopolitical and cultural differences between Shanghai and Hanover.

COLLECTOR’S NAME: 

  • Luke Cuomo and Annett Gawerc

Bequests

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ITEM:

  • Customary Folklore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Informant: Alec Miller
  • Date Collected: 11/10/19

INFORMANT DATA:

  • Alec Miller is an active member of Dartmouth Men’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, known by its name, Pain Train and has been a Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee community member for three years. He is a member of the class of 2021 and is a Government major. He started playing frisbee in high school, but improved significantly in college. Born on May 10, 1999, he is from Philadelphia, PA. His favorite frisbee throwing technique is the low release backhand.

CONTEXTUAL DATA:

  • Cultural Context: Bequests, or bequesting, is the act of passing down treasured items from one team member to a younger member. Bequests occur at Banquet each year. Banquet marks the official end to the year as a frisbee program, and all of the seniors who have been bequested items over the years now have to bequest them down so that they stay within the frisbee program. There are some items that have been in the program for many, many years: since the 1990s and earlier. Bequested items can consist of a number of things, including non-physical items, such as the title of “SPEW OVERLORD”, and physical items, most commonly flair. Each item is passed down and has each previous owner’s name and year associated with it, usually written on the item itself; this forms a sort of lineage of people that the item has been passed down from.

 

  • Social Context: This ritual was documented in a one-on-one interview in Novack. Bequests are given to individuals in the program that have developed a relationship with the bequester over their time at Dartmouth and within the Ultimate Frisbee Community. Items are usually bequested after the bequester has said a few (or a lot of) words in front of a group about what the item or previous owner has meant to them and what the recipient of the bequest means to them or why they feel the recipient should be the new owner. This fosters a sense of community within the program.

ITEM: 

  • Bequests

Recording:

TRANSCRIPT:

  • “Bequests are pretty much – some important, some not as important – but it’s all the stuff that’s been part of the frisbee program from the past couple of years and some for a very long time. So at the end of the year we have a program banquet where the teams get together in a cabin or somewhere where we’re all together and that is when bequests are handed down. There are multiple rounds. The first round is giving away most of their stuff but its stuff that doesn’t have much personal meaning to them.t could be random flair and stuff like that. Then there is, in between that round and the last round it’s called side bequests. That’s pretty much when someone wants to give something to someone but it’s usually more personal stuff that they just wanted to have a moment with the person to hand something down and don’t really feel the need to publicize it to the program. This stuff is usually not as related to the frisbee program but it’s more of a personal gift from the person. And then the last round is the more personal stuff, I guess you could call it the more important stuff to the frisbee program which gets handed down. The last round is definitely more emotional than the first one because it’s just like people giving up stuff that is very important to them to people who are important to them. And, in the first round it’s people giving away a lot of their stuff that they don’t really have a connection to whereas in the last one its people giving away four or five things that they care a lot about and talking about the importance of the item has to them and the importance the person has to them and why they’re giving it to them.”

 

INFORMANT’S COMMENTS:

  • “Banquet is the most important event of the year outside of playing”

 

COLLECTOR’S COMMENTS: 

  • Bequests are some of the most cherished items many Dartmouth students own and are kind of sacred. Bequested items never to be lost and should be preserved as best as possible. New items can become part of a bequest chain if they have enough significance to a single team member or the whole team itself, or if an item is particularly unique or one of a kind.

 

COLLECTOR’S NAME: 

  • Luke Cuomo and Annett Gawerc

Clam’s Clammy Situations

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal Folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Kyle Clampitt is a member of the Class of 2020. He is a 19-year-old male and member of the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Kyle is from Bloomsbury, New Jersey and has played both lacrosse and soccer since his youth. His leadership made him a captain of both the soccer team and lacrosse teams during his high school career. Kyle is a current defenseman for the Big Green wearing the number 38.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation, while funny, represents the social guidelines for Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Since a big part of the college is balancing commitments with classes, social life and the team, sticking together as a unit on the weekends away from the field, helps to keep social situations in control. Sometimes unexpected situations happen and the social rule book helps to make them less stressful by remembering these simple guidelines

Cultural Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation has become the guideline for how to handle any sticky situation the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team or player may find themselves in over the course of the year.  Clam’s Clammy Situations has claimed the verbal mantra of “focus, have fun, stick together, and if you have a sticky situation, remain as a team.  If you need help, look to an upper classman for help and suggestions.” While written by Clampitt himself, he took his own personal experiences as well as past experiences from other teammates on the team and created a book to help future teammates avoid troubling situations. The book is kept in Clampitt’s locker and is referenced to a player if he experiences a problem with social life away from the lacrosse field so he can read the book and then learn from the situation.

Item: This image of Clam’s Clammy situation is a customary guideline to assist Men’s Lacrosse players in how to handle unexpected or sticky situations that may arise on weekends. The goal is to avoid them at every cost. If the team cannot, this guideline has become the customary guide to resolve the sticky situation the player may find himself in. The informant relays these terms verbally from the book to members of the team on weekends when we are away from the lacrosse field for a night. Lastly, it is a ritual that every season a player on the team writes a book and shares his past experiences to the team from problematic situations he learned from. 

Associated media

Informant’s Comments: The informant shared that Clam’s Clammy situation is especially helpful for incoming freshman who have not yet experienced Dartmouth’s social culture and weekend events like Winter Carnival.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • Clam’s Clammy Situations has become a new verbal folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team over the last year. These verbal folklore rules help to set social expectations starting in the Fall and should be maintained always. They are a good reminder of what you do not want to happen while at Dartmouth
  • The informant noted that Clam’s Clammy has been helpful to know the social rules and expectation at Dartmouth and not put yourself or any teammate in a bad situation. Getting yourself or the team in trouble is not worth it. The simple rule is, avoid trouble at all times and stick together on weekends as a team.
  • Before Clam’s Clammy Situation the book was called Key’s Keys to Success which was written by a senior at the time who now is a graduate. This book also showed past experiences that Key was in and then learned from them.
  • Overall, these books are written each season and shared to the team over the summer going into the next season so students on the team can learn about how to respond from situations whether it be socially, in the classroom, or the lacrosse field.

Collector’s Name: Parker/Westy

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Avoid Trouble, Clam’s Clammy Situations, Verbal

Last Man Standing

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore (superstition)
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Mike Connolly is a member of the 2021 class from Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is a 19-year-old male on the Men’s Lacrosse team. Mike is a midfielder on the team and brother to two older boys who played lacrosse and football here at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:  The Last Man Standing is a paintball game activity Men’s lacrosse team partakes in each preseason. This offsite bonding is central to be to expanding enhancing team bonds in an area that does not involve field play but still involves great agility and endurance.  This ritual of rugged, toughness and secret attacks is a social ice breaker especially for freshman players as they begin to bond within their new team.

Cultural Context: The Last Man Standing paintball competition allows for all players to place themselves in an equal and level setting without lacrosse gear or a field involved. It received its coined name from social media posts. This woods ritual represents we are one unit in all we do, but it also allows for individual quickness and mobility without being tested on performance. The culture is one hiding your best inner hunting and warrior talents. The Last Man Standing signifies the last man to not be hit with a paintball remains the ultimate winner, and is honored by the team for perhaps thirty seconds. When the fame is over, the laughter, back slapping in congratulatory manner brings the team to a new level of bonding that they may not had experienced in preseason. The added cultural experiences become an ice breaker for the season. The lacrosse team is a group that takes pride in rising to challenges wherever they may find themselves. The Last Man Standing paintball game experience it one that players form memories that stands out from the daily routine of field practice and weight room training.

Item: This image represents Men’s Lacrosse after team bonding ritual of paint ball competition at AG paint. It depicts camaraderie of the team off the field. The informant stated that he loves going paintballing and early on he would not be able to hit many people because his hands would be too sweaty from nerves. He then proceeded to rub dirt in his hands before every single time he went paintballing. This is a superstition that our informant has and he stated he does it before every single paintball game to help him have better control of his gun. If A then B, if our informant rubs dirt in his hands, the gun doesn’t slip and he shoots well.

Associated media:

Informant’s Comments: The informant’s experience in the paintball game coined, Last Man Standing was a great fall preseason bonding experience. It allowed new players to form a bond with all the members on the team, including the coaches at an off-campus environment and away from the lacrosse field.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The paint ball game that has been given the name, Last Man Standing is customary in that each fall preseason it provides for new bonding experiences especially for the new players on the team to find inclusion.
  • The informant found that this team bonding experience with players and coaches offered a form of performance that allowed for different skills sets to be displayed that was not measured by a unique skill set not found on a field.

Collector’s Name: Parker Joyce

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Paintball Game, Last Man Standing. Customary

Fall into Shape

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Matt Erfle is a member of the Class of 2021. He is a 19 year old male and member of the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Matt is from West Chester, Pennsylvania and has played both lacrosse and football since his youth. He told us that he began training over the summer by looking at the Dartmouth Training Packet the Coaches sent out in June to help prepare him for when he got to campus in the fall. To this day, Matt is one of the more fit guys on the team and it’s because he started following the training packet closely and put great importance on discipline through fitness.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Fall into Shape involves commitment to following a structured and discipline physical fitness program. As many team members share regional hometown locations, bonding within local communities builds a strong bond during fall preseason workouts. Dartmouth team members support each other in huddles, on the end line while running sprints, line drills and overall grunts and cheers as workouts takes the team through endurance stamina.  After each practice, teammates continue bondage through locker room talks, shared meals and campus walks.

Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team represents we are one unit in all we do. The culture is one of extreme endurance, sweat, pain and push to the limit. If unable to achieve the limit, perhaps by some teammates perseverance is everything and team members and coaches are the anchors of support for each individual. The lacrosse team is a group of men that mentor each other, fall with each other and rise to the challenges that their coaches place in front of them of the better of the unit, no the better of the individual. While each individual has personal goals, in the end they are shared for bonding and creating an atmosphere of champions. The team spends most of their time together on and off the field. Their objective is to take one season at a time, one run beep test at a time and falling into shape over the season is about one practice at time to better our unit each day.

Item: This Instagram video represents an opening day in Fall into Shape training during preseason and the endurance and commitment each team member displays. The video is part of the season history posted by coaches for players and followers alike. The running program is seen as a ritual to the program because each year the coaches place heavy emphasis on getting into shape. If A then B is seen because if you follow the training packet and are disciplined with your running, then you will pass the tests and be in good shape.

 

 

 

Associated media:

 

Informant’s Comments: The informant stressed the importance of fall preseason as laid the ground work for the expectations of in season to follow. As a freshman, it helped that the returning guided the new players on expectations.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • Fall into Shape is customary in that each fall preseason sets the stage for the next day. As each day passes, soon a week has passed and then a month. With each passing period, the team is better for each day of the grind.
  • The informant noted that when starting on first day of preseason with the beep run test, the anticipated stress of passing the test, was more stressful than the test itself.  While passing the test is a relief, knowing you are not alone helps.
  • The informant also stated it’s the guys around him while running the sprints that keep him moving in the right direction.

Collector’s Name: Parker Joyce

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Fall into Shape. Customary Folklore (rituals)