Title: How to ward off S & S.
Genre: Customary Folklore
Informant info: Krissy Saraceno. From Boston Massachusetts. Female Dartmouth ‘19 student. Lives on campus at Dartmouth in Russell Sage Hall. 19 years old.
Type of Lore: Customary lore, Ritualistic
Language: English
Country of Origin: USA
Social / Cultural Context: Students drinking in a dorm room can be faced with a lot of trouble if caught by S&S during one of their walkthroughs. The ritual described below is one that nearly every student performs, but very few notice, because we are all part of the folk. A lot of students at Dartmouth have their friends visit their rooms in order to hang out and possibly drink, therefore in order to escape notice from S&S, students perform this ritual.
Video: https://youtu.be/JQunnbKolsE This is a video interview with informant explaining the ritual. Krissy is walking the collectors through the process of how she would prepare herself and her room on the chance there would drinking taking place.
Transcript: This is customary folklore, but verbally explained by informant. The informant describes how she locks the door, shuts the blind, and makes sure not to play loud music.
Informant’s comments: The informant described this ritual as a very common practice, and did not have very negative things to say about S&S, merely that many students obviously seek to escape possibly punishment.
Collector’s comments: This item is something I have observed myself in my time at Dartmouth, many students seem to practice this ritual.
Collected by Carter Copeland and Luke Hudspeth
May 23, 2016