Title: Eating Greek Yogurt and Cinnamon

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Customary
  • Subgenre:   Superstition, Ritual

• Language: English

• Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Lightweight rowing has a very strict weight cut off of 160 lbs, which means heavier rowers over 160lbs are barred from competition. The D150 team has an average weigh in of 155lbs. Due to the importance of falling under the 160lb limit, weight cutting is a central part of the D150 experience. To prepare new rowers and to remind more experienced ones, previous generations of D150 rowers have developed a series of eating rituals based on scientific readings and personal observations/superstitions. These are performed the days leading up to races and subsequently passed down to new rowers.

Cultural Context: The practice of eating greek yogurt and cinnamon before race weigh-ins has been handed down through a line of rowers throughout the years. This practice links generations and reminds them not only of their status as lightweight (sub -160lb) rowers, but also provides a unifying agent for rowers trying to lose weight.

Item: This item is a customary piece of folklore that focuses on passing down a belief that eating greek yogurt and cinnamon instead of a normal dinner before a race will help you lose weight. It is customary because although the belief itself is a superstition, its observation and practice in the days leading up to races is a ritual.

Associated media:

Transcript (2:41 – 3:23):

WS: “Through kind of experimenting with your weight-cutting people have learned how to really perfect, uh, what to do; and so, for example, I’ve.. I’ve really come to enjoy eating a bowl of um… instead of dinner uh Thursday night, I’ll have a bowl of greek yogurt, with um… some fruit and lots of nut butter, and lots of cinnamon. I’ve found that that helps me get to weight and helps me not hold a lot of water, but uh… lose some weight. Um… and still have energy. And so I’ve personally passed that recipe down to younger people, and I think I learned it from an older guy who just graduated…”

BC: “Right”

WS: “and he might have learned it from someone else.”

Collector’s Comments:

• The passing down of this superstition, as well as the ritualistic observation of this special dinner in the days leading up to a race is analogous to the “traditional wisdom” aspect of proverbs because both rely on traditions, specifically past observations and recommendations, to espouse a specific idea.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal