Monthly Archives: November 2016

Freshman Sweep

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Title: Freshman Sweep

General Information

Customary Lore: Ritual

English

USA

 Informant Data:

Sarah Kolk is a member of the class of 2020 at Dartmouth. She is from Peterborough, New Hampshire, and lives in the McLaughlin housing cluster on campus. She is involved in the Ledyard Canoe Club and plays Dartmouth club lacrosse. The informant was interviewed on 11/2/16, in Baker Library at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

The informant experienced the Freshman Sweep during Friday night of Dartmouth homecoming, before the lighting of the bonfire. She heard about the tradition a few days ahead of time from her fellow classmates, and soon realized that it was a tradition that takes place every homecoming for the incoming freshmen class at Dartmouth.

Item:

Each year, the incoming class of freshmen at Dartmouth participate in what is known as the “Freshman Sweep.” Essentially, it is a giant parade through the streets of Hanover, which ends at the bonfire on the Dartmouth green, where the freshmen then run around the fire. The “Freshman Sweep” starts at the freshman dorms in the river cluster, and then works its way around campus, picking up more and more freshmen as they wait outside their dorms to join in. The sound from the bagpipers can be heard from far away, signaling to the awaiting freshmen that it is almost time to join in.

 Transcript:

“I knew very little about the Freshman Sweep until I began to hear about it in the days leading up to homecoming from upperclassmen, and I was given formal information about the timing and location of when and where I was supposed to join by my UGA. I did participate, but since I am not super close to anyone on my floor I stuck with some friends from Wheeler and joined it as it passed there. We were at the end of the sweep and walked with it until we reached the bonfire. Overall the sweep was fun but I don’t consider it a huge part of my freshman homecoming experience because all my friends were dispersed throughout and we didn’t walk in it for very long.”

Informant’s Comments:

“Overall, I’d say that the Freshman Sweep was a cool tradition to be a part of, but it wasn’t the most memorable part of my first homecoming at Dartmouth. I’d say that when I look back on this experience after I graduate, I’ll remember running around the bonfire itself more than the Freshman Sweep.”

Collector’s Comments:

Looking back at Freshman Sweep as a current senior, I would agree with the informant when she says that it really wasn’t a huge part of my first homecoming at Dartmouth. Although it was fun to be a part of the first-year tradition, I think that running around the bonfire was something that I will remember for much longer.

Collector’s Name: John Mayberry

Tags/Keywords: Customary Lore, Ritual, Tradition, Freshman Sweep, Dartmouth Homecoming

Freshmen Class Year Shirts/Sweaters

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Title: Freshmen Class Year Shirts/Sweaters

General Information

Material Lore: Clothing

English

USA

Informant Data:

Julie Mayberry is from Greenwich, Connecticut and is a member of the 2020 class at Dartmouth. She is planning on being a History or English major, and was interviewed on 11/2/16 in Baker Library at Dartmouth College.

Contextual Data:

The informant first encountered this folklore item when she was visiting Dartmouth for homecoming. She noticed that all of the freshmen who were running around the bonfire were wearing their graduation year on their shirts and sweaters. Informant experienced this form of material folklore when she herself got to Dartmouth as a freshman, and felt obliged to buy clothing with her graduation year in order to wear it around the homecoming bonfire.

Item:

Every year, members of the freshman class at Dartmouth purchase shirts, sweaters, and other pieces of gear that show their class’ graduation year on them. The freshmen will wear these articles of clothing when they participate in events such as the Dartmouth Homecoming parade, and when they run around the bonfire. These articles of clothing with the graduating year of that year’s freshman class are often worn with a sense of pride.

 Transcript:

“I bought a class of 2020 shirt because I heard that everyone wears one to run around the bonfire on homecoming. I bought it at the coop when I got my student discount there and I also bought some of my other Dartmouth gear there. My dad went to Dartmouth and participates in the alumni parades with the class of ’75, so I went to Dartmouth homecomings a few times when I was growing up. I always saw the older alumni in the parade wearing their class sweaters and was pretty surprised to see how old some of the sweaters and shirts were. I think that the oldest one that I saw was in the ‘40s. Wearing my Dartmouth ’20 gear makes me feel like I’m a part of a larger organization and the class sweater is somewhat of a “rite of passage.” I think it will also be a nice memory to have after I graduate here and maybe I can pass it on to my kids some day.”

Informant’s Comments:

“Looking back on my first term at Dartmouth, I definitely think that wearing your class year at the homecoming bonfire is a source of pride for freshmen. It was really the first, big event for our class and it is a great memory. I’m definitely happy that I can hold on to my ’20 shirt for a long time.”

Collector’s Comments:

As a current senior, I can definitely look back upon my freshman year homecoming and say that it was a great feeling to put on my ’17 shirt. It was a really cool experience to see everyone in my class wearing their shirts as a source of pride and I can’t wait to wear the same shirt as an alumni.

Collector’s Name: John Mayberry

Tags/Keywords: Material Lore, Clothing, Class, Sweaters, Shirts, Gear, Freshmen, Homecoming

Bequest- Dicken’s Bar Jersey

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Title: Bequest- Dicken’s Bar Hong Kong Seven’s Jersey

General Information about Item:

  • Material
    • Clothing
  • English
  • United States of America

Informant Data:

  • Maximilian Gomez is a 20 year old male from Concord Massachusetts.  He is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. He started playing rugby in High School, and has continued at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

  • Within the DRFC there are items of clothing called “bequests” that are handed down each year by the graduating senior to the younger players. Over time these bequests pick of a line of former owners all of who are supposed to be similar in one way or another. The bequests act as a link between past and present players and are a large part of the deep heritage and history of the club.

Item:

  • Jersey is from Dicken’s Bar, which created these Jersey’s during the Seven’s rugby tournament in Hong Kong.  A past dartmouth Rugby Player possessed it, and chose to bequeth it.  Eriq Warnquist, class of 2015 chose to bequeth it to Max Gomez, who is its current owner.

 

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

dickens 2

Transcript of Associated File:

  • NA

Informant’s Comments:

  • NA

Collector’s Comments:

  • NA

Collector’s Name: Maximilian Gomez

Tags/Keywords:

  • Rugby
  • Jersey
  • Bequest

Soju Bomb Toast

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre –  Customary folklore (superstition)
  • Language – English (Soju – Korean liquor)
  • Country where Item is from – South Korea
  • This is a self-collection

Informant Data:

The informant (myself) is a male from South Korea (age 23). He is a junior at Dartmouth College and majors in Computer Science. He left Dartmouth in 2014 June to start his military service in South Korea, which lasted from August 4th 2014 to May 3rd 2016. For the length of his service, he was assigned to a unit called Korea-US Combined Forces Command and worked at its C-1 Branch Surgeon’s Office, where he was an interpreter and executive assistant to a team of 16 Korean and US officers. He is now back at Dartmouth College. This is a self-collected piece of folklore.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context – The self-collection took place in Hanover, NH in November of 2018. The informant was sitting at a dinner party as an interpreter between US and Korean officers, towards the end of March in 2015. The command had recently completed a national-scale annual exercise and the “Victory Party” was hosted by the chief of C-1 Branch (a Korean Navy 1-star general) and his deputy chief (a US Air Force colonel). The atmosphere was euphoric and everyone present (around 70 members, both Korean and American, male and female, officers and NCOs) was happy that the exercise ended in a success and ready to enjoy the night with their comrade-in-arms. The party lasted from 6pm to around 9pm at the Friendship House in US Army Garrison-Yongsan in Seoul, Korea.
  • Cultural Context – The Korean military has a special word for these types of dinner parties within its communities: hoeshik. It is known for consuming large amounts of alcohol and hazing junior members. The hoeshik that the informant is recounting was a more special than usual in that it involved US soldiers. This fact may have triggered the Korean navy chief in the account to exaggerate some details in order to boast his masculinity and prowess at the drinking table in front of the Americans.

Item:

  • There was Korean-style pork-barbeque and a lot of Soju (Korean liquor) and beer at the party. Soon after everyone was seated, the chief and the deputy chief made some welcoming comments as usual. Then came the time for the toast. The chief, having served the Korean navy for more than 25 years, suggested a Korean-navy style toast to the Americans and the non-Navy Koreans. Everyone who was not a Korean-navy, including the informant, watched curiously. He first made a Soju bomb (Soju mixed with beer) in a glass. To truly mixed the drink, he put a few pieces of napkins over the glass and slammed the glass on the table. The drink fizzed in the glass and the napkin absorbed the contents overflowing. Then, he turned around and through the wet napkin towards the ceiling behind his back. Turning around and making sure the napkin was now stuck on the ceiling, he told the confused audience that it is a Korean navy custom: mix your drink, throw the napkin behind your back towards the ceiling, and if the napkin does not stick to the ceiling, you have to drink another shot. It is considered bad luck in the ship if the napkin does not stick and falls to the ground because it is similar to a sailor falling from the ship into the sea. He made everyone follow and made the toast.

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

 

Transcript of Associated File:

Everyone watched curiously what he [the navy general] was going to do. He made a soju bomb, which is just soju mixed with beer in special proportions, in a glass. And to mix the drink, he put napkin over the glass and slammed the glass on the table. The soju bomb fizzed inside the glass and then the napkin absorbed the contents in the glass, contents that were overflowing. Then he turned around the threw the wet napkin towards the ceiling behind his back. Turning around and making sure that the napkin was stuck on the ceiling, he explained to us that this is a Korean navy custom. He explained that you have to mix your drink… and if the napkin does not stick to the ceiling you have to drink another shot. So everyone tried that at the party, including the deputy chief (the US air force colonel) and everyone had a good time after that.

Informant’s / Collectors Comments:

The superstition at work seems to have elements of homeopathic magic (law of similarity) at work.

The informatn/collector had a unique opportunity of serving in a joint unit (a unit that has all four branches of the military). It was also combined, in the sense that it had both US and Korean soldiers. From his experiences, he got an impression that the navy outnumbers all other branches in terms of superstitions. Perhaps, this is because they have to live in a confined space for a long time when they sail and is often subject to whims of the violent weather at sea.

Collector’s Name:

Jeong Tae Bang

ETS Eve Beating

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General Information about Item:
  • Genre and Sub Genre –  Customary folklore (rites of passage)
  • Language – English (ETS – extermination term of service)
  • Country where Item is from – South Korea

Informant Data:

Daniel Kang is a 24 year old male, and senior at Dartmouth College. He is currently a math and computer science double major. He is a class of 2015 but he enlisted in the South Korean military in 2012 after finishing a year at Dartmouth. He served from July 23, 2012 to April 22 2014 under the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army Avaition School. He worked as a human resources admin. He came back to Dartmouth to resume his studies in 2014.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context – The interview took place one-on-one in the informant’s apartment living room. The event described in the interview involved 40 other members of his platoon (only the soldiers, no officers). The informant could not come up with the exact date but it was in the bathroom area of his unit at night around April 1st of 2014.
  • Cultural Context – The extermination term of service (ETS) has a very special meaning in South Korea military. Because the system runs on mandatory conscription, almost no one wants to serve and from day one of the service soldiers start counting the days they have left until ETS. There’s even a saying in South Korean military lore that is a variation of the more publicly well known saying “unification is our dream”: “ETS is our dream”. Therefore, ETS is regarded as a very special occasion as the end of military service and almost a new beginning in a South Korean male’s life.

Item:

  • The beating always takes place the night before ETS. After roll calls (930 pm) and before bed time (10pm), the beating takes place in a designated area. For the informant’s unit, it was the bathroom area just outside of the barracks. This particular person, who was the informant’s friend (meaning same month hierarchy), knew what was coming and hid in the telephone booth. But the 40-or-so platoon memebers found him and dragged him to the bathroom area, wrapped him up in blankets (to prevent external injuries), and started giving him a hearty beating.

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

 

Transcript of Associated File:

So on the night of April 1st, this event happened? Please describe.

… It usually happens right after roll call [2130] and like before every has to go to bed. So what usually happens is that the person who is like getting discharged the day after is basically beaten up. So they know it’s gonna happen so they usually run away. So this person, in particular, was hiding in a telephone booth, so we tracked him down and basically.. dragged him back to the base, like around the bathroom area. What we do is.. we are aware this could hurt him and also… but it’s like a thing we do so we usually roll him up in blankets and basically hit him, kick him, sit on him (laugh).

Informant’s Comments:

According to the informant, the degree of violence usually depends on how mean the senior was to the juniors. The juniors ranks get the one and only chance to get back at the senior soldier and make amends.

The informant thought this was a brutal and uncivilized way to end one’s service. He revealed that for his own ETS he did not let other soldiers do this ritual to him.

Collector’s Comments:

It is very interesting to see this rite of passage in a particular version performed at the informant’s unit. The collector has seen and heard it in many different forms, but a detailed account of this ritual in another unit that has lived on for a long time is definitely worth observing. It is also interesting to note that the informant simply chose to reject the ritual by his own will.

Collector’s Name:

Jeong Tae Bang

Charms

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Title: Charms

General Information about Item:

Customary Folklore: Superstition

Language – English

Country of origin – America

Informant Data:

Brandon Henthrone is 27 years old and from Southern Missouri. He currently lives in South Carolina. His military experience started when he was 18 years old when he joined the Navy Seals. He became a Coremen in the navy after that and has been doing combat medicine since then. He had one combat deployment in the middle east.

Contextual Data:

This superstition was presented in the line of duty to Brandon.  He was kicked out of a vehicle for consuming these charms, and he was informed by the person that kicked him out that the charms were known to be dangerous.  This superstition also involves a fear of getting killed in combat, which is a common theme among military superstitions.

Item:

Charms: Consuming charms candy that can be found in an MRE(Meal Ready-to-Eat) is believed to put you and those around you in danger.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

Brandon: Every combat vet knows, charms, charms are bad juju man. Charms get you blown up. Charms get you shot. Charms are the worst things ever. If you come in contact with charms, anything, throw it away, get it as far away from you as possible. I legitimately…so when I heard about it, I just got to division, I was this E3, didn’t know anything, I was out in the field, and they were like, you know, I had just opened up an MRE(Meal Ready-to-Eat), legitimately it had the charms candies in it; I was like, “ah dude these things are awesome.” One of the sergeants literally Spartan kicked me out of the truck because he was like, “you do not know how bad those things are for anybody”. What made it worse, what truly made me believe in them being very superstitious and very bad was the fact that on our trip back, we had 3 maybe 4 trucks break down out of the 8 trucks that we had. All of the trucks were perfectly PM’d, everything was great, but it came down to it, and they were like it’s the f**king charms. They were like doc you f**ked everything up so that’s why I say charms are the devil, and that is probably the only superstition that I truly believe in. Probably really the only one that me personally have heard of. I’ve only experienced what the Marines have experienced, and charms is, to me, the only one that’s out there.

Cole: What is like a charm physically?

Brandon: So charms…have you ever had a Blow Pop?

Cole: Yeah

Brandon: So that is made by the company…if you look on a Blow Pop, it says charms, but inside an MRE, there is these little jelly candies, they don’t put them in there any more, but back in the day they used to. They were little red, yellow, purple candies, and they tasted really good, they really did but they brought bad juju to you. So I did my best to stay away.

Informant’s Comments:

He says this is the only true superstition he believes in because he witnessed the superstition working first-hand.

Collector’s Comments:

This is another example of a superstition that results in the threat of being killed.

Collector’s Name: 

Matt Girouard

Tags/Keywords:

Charms, Superstition, Military, MRE, Meal Ready-to-Eat

Night Post Duty at IPRSS

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General Information about Item:
  • Genre and Sub Genre –  Customary folklore (superstition)
  • Language – English
  • Country where Item is from – South Korea

Informant Data:

Jun Ho Lee is a 23 year old male, and junior at Dartmouth College. He grew up in Korea and until he came to Dartmouth. He is currently a neurosciene major. He is a class of 2016 but he enlisted in the South Korean military in 2014 after finishing two years at Dartmouth. He served from Aug 4, 2014 to May 3, 2016 under the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army Special Forces Command International Peace Reinforcement Support Services. He worked as a logistics admin until he was deployed to United Arab Emirates as a translator for 8 months. Now he is back at Dartmouth to resume his studies.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context – The interview took place one-on-one in the informant’s dorm room. The event described in the interview took place with a senior soldier (2 people involved in total; the informant and his senior soldier). It was in the October of 2014 at night time. The informant could not recall the exact date at his unit in Incheon.
  • Cultural Context – The night post duty is something all South Korean soldiers do, whichever unit or job they have been assigned to. Becuase it happens at night and always in pairs or more, there is some social aspect to it as it is a chance for people on duty together to bond over the night.

Item:

  • The informant was on his first ever night guard duty with a senior soldier. It is a rotation duty where everyone stayed at a post for 2 hours for the night. He had to do it every 3-4 days. There were 5 posts in total around the boundary of the base. He was a little nervous, because he had to prove myself to the senior soldier and others in the platoon that he was a capable soldier. On his way to the third station, the northern most corner of the base. Before entering the guard post, the corporal stopped him in front of a big tree. He told the informant to hold his breath and follow him. Holding his breath, the informant went around the tree three times and entered the guard post. After closing the door, he told the informant someone had committed suicide by hanging himself to the tree while on night duty. Ever since then, soldiers on duty started walking around the tree three times without breathing to “deceive” the spirit of the dead soldier which was supposedly still residing in the tree and have become malicious against other soldiers coming to stand duty at night. The informant was told to do it every time he arrived at this post in future duties and teach it to new recruits when it becomes time for him to go on duties as a senior soldier in the pair.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

We had to go through five posts per night. And on our way to the third station, our third post… my senior soldier suddenly found a tree and he started going around the tree holding his breath. And then, after he finished going around three times, he told me that I had to do the same thing too. So, a newbie I was, I did what he told me to do. I held my breath walked around that tree. Three times, counterclockwise. And then we got into our post station and he told me that the reason behind all this weird ritual that I just finished doing was someone had committed suicide on that tree and it was that walking around three times was a method of deceiving the spirit of the dead soldier who supposedly… still residing in that tree and haunt soldiers coming up to guard the post.

Informant’s Comments:

Informant was said that he did not really give much thought to it in the first place. But he found himself doing it every time he went on duty and later passing it on to the new recruits whom he went on duty with.

Collector’s Comments:

It is very interesting to see this unit folklore that is definitely anonymous in authorship but yet lives and thirves so well over many geneartions of soldiers, although each “generation” in South Korean military system is only 21 months.

Collector’s Name:

Jeong Tae Bang

Gear and Appearance Perfection

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Title: Gear and Appearance Perfection

General Information about Item:

Customary Folklore: Superstition

Language – English

Country of origin – America

Informant Data:

Cory Green is a 26 year-old male from St. Albans, Vermont. He is now located in Boston and is attending Northeastern University. He joined the Navy in July of 2008 out of high school to be a hospital Corpsman. He did boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. From 2009-2011, he was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan where he worked in the ER and ICU doing basic hospital medicine. In 2011, he transferred to first Marine division to be an infantry corpsman where he specialized in combat medicine and combat trauma. Finally, in 2013 he transferred to Portsmouth, New Hampshire where he worked in family practice and eventually, got out of the military.

He joined the Navy because he was 3-sport athlete in high school, and his grades weren’t the best. He also didn’t feel mature enough for college. His dad suggested the Navy as the best option for him. Cory is 6th generation Navy. He felt that corpsman had the best opportunities for real-life experience and jobs outside of the Navy.

Contextual Data:

The military focuses on rigorous following of regulations, and Cory experienced this from various higher ranking officers.  They drilled into their head that if this gear and appearance perfection was not achieved, they would be killed in combat.  The military often uses the threat of death as a motivation for behaving a certain way.

Item:

Gear and Appearance Perfection: The soldiers were expecting to follow all grooming and gear regulations, and if they did not, it was believed they would be killed.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

Cory: If you didn’t shave for like a day or something, when you’re in the middle of no where in Afghanistan and you got some staff sergeant yelling at you for not shaving, and following the Marine Corps’ regs(regulations) like that led to complacency, which led to someone getting blown up so you always had to have your boots bloused…like we had this gunny yell at us one time because we were in the middle of Afghanistan in like December time, 20 degrees out and just came from the drill field, and his biggest priority was to make sure we were following regulations when it came to having our boots bloused, shaving every morning, packing our gear, lining it up correctly, and no beanies on past when the sun was up even if it was 20 degrees because those kind of small things led to bigger issues, which for some reason led to all of us getting killed, but it never really happened. But, that was one of the small superstitions that we had.

Informant’s Comments:

The general line of thinking of this superstition is that if you do not follow the regulations down to the minute detail, that means you are not paying attention, and this will ultimately get you killed in combat.

Collector’s Comments:

The reality is that grooming your beard will not have an effect on whether you are killed or not, which makes this a superstition.

Collector’s Name: 

Matt Girouard

Tags/Keywords:

Regulations, Grooming, Gear, Perfection, Navy, Military, Superstition

Water Polo Legend

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Title: Water Polo Legend

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre: Legend
  • Example: Customary Folklore: Legends
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

Insert Informant Data Here: Kenneth Moussavian is a 19’ in Dartmouth College.  He is on the Water Polo team and has been playing water polo since high school. He was born and raised in Los Altos Hills and both his parents are from Iran.

Contextual Data:

  • Many sports teams, especially at Dartmouth, tell stories of legends and the greatest players from last years. During the first meeting with the players in the fall the coach tells them about stories of past players to give the team an example of someone they can look up to and aspire to be.

Item:

Insert Item Here: George Benz was a second team all ivy his freshman year in water polo. He was very well respected because of his dedication to the team. He would come to practice even when sick. One day George Benz walked up to the opposing teams captain and snarled “fear me”.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

  • Insert Transcript Here

Informant’s Comments:

  • Insert Informant’s Comments Here: The players on the team still talk about George Benz and admire the passion he had for water polo. Ken Mentioned that there are some water polo players who wear the shirt that says “feat me” on the back.

 

Collector’s Comments:

  • Insert Collector’s Comments Here: George Benz’s audacity ignited pride in the team. He acts as a role model for all the water polo players. Furthermore, Legends like George Benz instill pride in future players.

Collector’s Name: Jonathan Schneck

Tags/Keywords:

  • Insert Tags/Keywords Here: Legends