Our House

Title: Our House

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Katerina “Kat” Dajia
  • Date Collected: 2/23/18

Informant Data:

  • Katerina Dajia is a freshman at Dartmouth College. She was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario in Canada and has one brother. She plays defense for the women’s varsity hockey team at Dartmouth. She is professionally licensed hair dresser and enjoys giving people hair cuts.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The line up, leading from the locker room to the ice, has always been a form of “pump up” for the Dartmouth women’s hockey team. It is where many small and meaningful rituals take place. Many sports team have team traditions or rituals that all members perform at the same time. It is notable that a lot of sports teams have stickers, posters, or and item that they touch/hit before approaching their opponent.
  • Social Context: There are some routines the women’s hockey team performs all together. Most of these are practiced before the first, second, and third period, but not for warmups before the first. It is performed by everyone on the team and is learned the first game of the season for the freshman or new players.

Item:

  • There is a metal sign that reads “Our House”, near the ceiling next to the door that leads to the ice. Every player hits the sign, with the blade of their stick, before running onto the ice. It is said to be unlucky if one hits the sign with anything but the blade of their stick. It is the final routine before each period.

 

 

Transcript:

  • “Even though there are a lot of team rituals or superstitions, I like this the most. I love the loud noise it makes when my stick hits the metal sign… I try to hit it hard to make a loud noise and then sprint onto the ice… I saw the other players doing it so I did too.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • At first, Kat did not know what to think about this ritual. She did not really get it but did it anyways. Over time, she has grew to really appreciate it and thinks it is fun to do.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This item is simple but complex at the same time. To the team, it’s a ritual but it also seems like a form of conversion superstition. It has a lot of depth to it.

Collector’s Name: Kate Landers

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Superstition
  • Our House

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