Genre and Sub Genre:
Material Folklore: Superstition, Contagious Magic
Language: English
Country where Item is from: USA
Informant Data:
Ellen Louise Smalley ’19 is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College. She is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She originally decided to start figure skating at the age of 4 or 5, and was the first in her family to begin skating. She was told to skate by her physical therapist due to her short achilles tendons. She began skating at Dartmouth’s Figure Skating Club due to the recommendation of Vanessa Szalapski ’12 and Maria Spertudo ’14.
Contextual Data:
- Social: Informant was interviewed by John Gilmore at Dartmouth College’s Novack Cafe. The informant was asked to talk about figure skating folklore unique to the club.
- Cultural Context: Informant began skating at age 4 or 5 as a way to stretch her short achilles tendons without running. She encountered this piece of folklore during her time as a member of DFSC.
Item:
Skaters & Sloopy wearing the Green Ribbon
Associated Audio:
Transcript:
Ellen: “Yeah, yeah, I like this. I don’t know, I think its pretty fun. I still have the ribbon on my backpack from nationals.”
John: “Can you tell me more about that?”
Ellen: “I can’t remember. I think we were all going on ice for the awards, I think it was when it was. I think we all put the ribbons in our hair, or Alex and i think you wore them on your wrists, or I don’t know, I don’t know, what you did on your head. Um, But yeah. And then we all kept, I know Isabelle and Anna keep it on their backpacks, and I think Clara does too. And I have mine on my backpack”
Informant’s Comments: Ellen describes the origin story of the Green Ribbons that are worn by all of the team.
Collector’s Comments: The green ribbons commonly worn by the Dartmouth Figure Skating Team originate from a recent trip to nationals. They now continue to wear these ribbon on their backpacks as good luck charms. It is a form of homeopathic magic.
Tags/Keywords:
- Green Ribbon, Superstition, Contagious Magic
Collector:
Jonathan Meng