Muffin Superstition

Title: Muffin Superstition

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Caroline Poleway is a 19 year old female from New City New York. She currently resides in Hanover New Hampshire, as she is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College. Caroline swam for the Badger Swim Club for ten years, and has now been competing on the Dartmouth Varsity swim team for two years.

Contextual Data:

Social/Cultural Context: Caroline describes a superstition that many swimmers on her club team followed for years. She describes the “if A then B” superstition that many swimmers follow because they believe it will bring good luck before a big race.

Item:

Caroline describes a superstition that she has been following since she swam on her club team. One mother baked blueberry muffins for her son the day of a big meet. Although muffins are not typically recommended as pre-competition food, the boy did extremely well at that meet and bettered his times in every event. Ever since then, Caroline has eaten these same blueberry muffins before every swim competition because she believes the muffins bring her good luck.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

“A bunch of kids on my club team, we used to eat a bunch of blueberry muffins. Specifically one mom on the team would make these blueberry muffins and we all started eating them before meets because one time this mom was being really nice and was like I’ll make you guys a bunch of muffins before the meet. We all ate them and this one kid swam really fast so we were like we have to eat a bunch of muffins and we’ll do really well and it just became like a team tradition.”

Informant’s Comments:

Caroline has mentioned that at all levels of swimming, she has encountered people with different superstitions. Although some are related to eating certain types of food or wearing different articles of clothing before a competition, she finds that having superstitions is common among the swimmers she has encountered.

Collector’s Comments:

Food based superstitions were very common among informants. Many swimmers that were interviewed believe that eating a certain type of food will enhance their performance, not because of scientifically proven reason but because of an experience that happened to them in the past. The muffins give Caroline a confidence that allows her to preform exceptionally in the pool.

Collector’s Name: Molly Brickman

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive