Title: Town parade
Informant info: Aki Berman is a current member of the class of 2016. She is 22 years old and is from Westchester, NY. On campus, she is involved with Fencing, classics society, marching band, Mentors Against Violence, Link Up, and Alpha Phi.
Type of lore: Customary, traditional, ritual
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Social / Cultural Context: Aki was interviewed alone at Dartmouth College. She is a current student and has experienced the bonfire ritual four times (each of her four years at Dartmouth). She plans to return to celebrate homecoming next year as an alum.
Item: Before the bonfire, a parade through the town of Hanover is held while everyone waits for the freshmen to arrive at the Green. The cheerleading team and marching band lead the parade and play traditional songs like the Dartmouth fight song, Son of a Gun for Beer, and the alma mater. The parade includes cars and floats for campus sports teams and representatives from various alumni classes. The parade is intended for the entire town, so various residents of Hanover unaffiliated with the college stand along the street to watch the parade. The parade ends the Green where the bonfire is located.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file)
Transcript (if verbal lore):
What special traditions are related to the bonfire? A big tradition is running around the fire 100+ your class year times. Also there’s the freshman sweep. It starts in the river, and all of the freshmen move along through campus collecting other freshmen from their dorms in a giant parade. They are led to the bonfire where they run around with all the upperclassmen cheering. The parade involves singing of all the traditional songs: Dartmouth fight songs which the marching band plays, son of a gun for beer, the alma mater, and others. The president gives a speech as part of the opening ceremony. The captains of every varsity team sit in front of Dartmouth Hall and give a speech. There’s a parade in town led by the cheerleaders and marching band with cars and floats for a lot of teams, alumni and different class years. The parade is also for the whole town, so random townies will be there with their families. Someone from the freshman class has to touch the fire every year or they’re the worst class ever. Usually it’s after the fire has burned down. It’s not allowed. It’s a rite of passage. People usually support the person who does it and bail them out if they get caught. You have to wear your class jersey and you can’t run too close because you will get burned. Upperclassmen yell at you that you’re the “worst class ever.”. Some sports teams run almost naked. Alumni and upperclassmen hold up signs. Teams and upperclassmen make signs to put on the fire as it burns. Freshmen have to build the bonfire. If they don’t do it right they are the worst class ever.
Are there any stories you heard before/after homecoming about things that happened? Most people don’t run the full 100+ laps but a lot of sports teams do. It takes a long time and is like a half marathon. There are stories of people who have touched the fire and then needed to pay large fines, used go fund me to crowdsource and get the money
Where did you hear these stories? Most of it is what I’ve seen. I was told stories by upperclassmen who are in my activities, my UGA, and other freshmen who heard from upperclassmen. But the majority is what I witnessed.
Informant’s comments: Informant is a member of the marching band and has participated in the parade each year, so she is extremely familiar with the ritual.
Collector’s comments: Many students of Dartmouth who are not affiliated with the marching band or a team do not watch the parade each year and instead go directly to the Green to watch the freshmen to arrive. As a result, the informant has a more detailed understanding of the ritual than the majority of the Dartmouth “folk.”
Tags/Keywords: parade, marching band, sports team, alumni