Monthly Archives: November 2018

Husband and Wife Driving

Leave a reply

Title: Husband and Wife Driving

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: Hebrew
  • Country of Origin: Israel
  • Informant: Eval Zimet
  • Date Collected: 11-3-18

Informant Data:

  • Eyal was born and raised in Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, Israel. He is currently the assistant coach of the Dartmouth women’s varsity volleyball team. He competed on the Israeli National team for many years, attended the University of Hawaii, and played a professional beach volleyball player in the AVP . Hebrew is his native language, but he is also fluent in English.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The state of Israel is located in the Middle East, with Hebrew being its primary language. Over 9 million people speak the language worldwide. Humor has been present here in this location, historically through works of Judaism, but in today’s culture primarily expressed in a mainstream, anecdotal form, most frequently mirroring American humor.
  • Social Context: The interviewee is a native Hebrew Speaker, who learned English while growing up and preparing to serve in the Israeli military. He later graduated with a degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii. The joke was told to him by a native Hebrew Speaker back in Israel. The interviewee said this joke was a ‘family friendly’ joke he had learned from friends when growing up.

Item:

  • This is a joke in Hebrew about  a husband and a wife. The joke ends by poking fun at the wife and her driving abilities, implying that she looses control of the vehicle and is driving all over the sidewalks, and the pedestrians should watch out as they are in danger of her bad driving.

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

WifeDriving-21gnkjh

Hebrew Transcript:

“AL TID’A’GI MAMY AT NO’HE’GET ME’U’LE. MI SHE’YESH LO BA’A’YA IM ZE SHE’LO YE’LECH AL HA’MID’RA’CHA.”

English Transcript of Translation:

  • A husband and wife are talking. The husband says to the wife, “Oh don’t worry dear, you are driving excellent! Anyone who has a problem with your driving not should walk on the sidewalk.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • When I asked the informant for some jokes he had learned as a teenager, this was the first one he gave. He said it was one of the few ‘family friendly’ jokes he could share. He also noted that in Israel there is a stereotype that women are terrible drivers, and that they should not be on the road at all.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This joke is a funny example of a short joke, which provides a normal context, then finishes with an unexpected punch line. The fact that the informant had to think of ‘family friendly’ jokes and came up with this one felt like he was trying to relate to me as an American. Although there are no specific references to the Jewish culture or life in Israel, the joke still provides insight in to the type of witty and sarcastic humor often found in modern Jewish humor.

Collector’s Name: Zoe Leonard & Bun Straton

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Husband
  • Wife
  • Driving

Saints and Martyrs

Leave a reply

Title: Saints and Martyrs

General Information:

  • Verbal lore, Proverb
  • Informant Name: Meg Costantini
  • Location: Meg’s office, Aquinas House, Hanover, NH, 03755
  • Date: October 18, 2018

Informant Data:

Meg Costantini is a campus minister at Dartmouth College’s Catholic student center, Aquinas House. She describes herself as a “cradle Catholic,” meaning that she was born and raised Catholic her whole life. She went to public school for grade and high school, Villanova for her undergraduate degree, and got her Masters of Divinity from Notre Dame in 2015. After that, she started her current job. She is married to her husband Shawn, has a one-year-old daughter Lucy, and a baby on the way. (And her dog, Rey, who you’ll hear barking in the audio recording.)

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

Meg said that she heard this proverb from many Catholics, and could recall most recently the priest that she works with saying it in a homily. Homilies take place during Catholic mass services, after the day’s gospel reading, and are intended to preach a message with deeper meaning. Otherwise, they were casual conversations.

Cultural Context:

For Catholics, saints are people who lived out the Church’s teachings to the fullest extent, and martyrs are people who died for the faith. Both serve as role models to modern-day Catholics. This proverb pokes fun at one person needing to act as a martyr in order to live with someone who is a saint—or thinks that they are one. Meg mentioned that this proverb has a special meaning to her in her relationship with her husband; that they take turns being the martyr and the saint to each other. In her mind, this proverb exemplifies that there’s something about interacting with other people that makes us better versions of ourselves. When we interact with real people, with difficult or different personalities, we develop our own selves. The proverb is a reminder that when we feel frustrated with the people we live with (especially in marriage), that is a call to respond in a way that will bring us closer to God.

Item:

Orally transmitted proverb:

“It takes a martyr to live with a saint.”

Audio Recording:

Volume Warning: Meg’s busy life includes a young baby who liked to stand near the computer and a dog who likes to bark–they are audible and loud on the recording! Listen with care as to your volume.

This portion of the interview concludes about halfway through the second audio recording.

Collector’s Comments:

The formula of this proverb is two parts, with a statement and a condition. The image is intended to be humorous, though with a heartfelt/serious message behind it. This proverb uses metaphors of Catholicism to diffuse tension, inject humor, and poke fun at humility, while showing that martyrdom and sainthood are valued within the Church. This is one of two proverbs that I collected that focus on sainthood, which seems to be an important goal to strive towards, and certainly imparts morals, as well. Additionally, my informant chose to explain this proverb through her own life as well as through church history, showing a very personal connection.

Collector:

Alexandra Norris, 20
3305 Hinman, Hanover, NH, 03755
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall 2018

Tags:

  • Proverbs
  • Catholic Proverbs
  • Family
  • Relationships

Menstruation in Hindu Temples

Leave a reply

General Information about Item:

  • Bad Luck Superstition
  • Language: English/Hindi
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Aashika Jhawar
  • Date Collected: 11-5-2018
  • Interview was done over phone

Informant Data:

  • Aashika (Aashi) Jhawar is a 19 year old college student from Bellevue, WA. She was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and currently attends the University of California, Berkeley. She is second generation American and her family is from Northern India.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In Hinduism, menstruating women are considered ritually impure and therefore are restricted from doing certain traditions. If a woman were to participate while menstruating, it would typically be deemed as an impure practice that would result in the opposite of the ritual’s intent. A formal ban was placed on Indian women in certain places of worship by the Kerala High Court in 1991 but was lifted in 2018 after numerous protests.
  • Social Context: Aashi learned this superstition from her mother, who describes this as one of many Indian traditions that is antiquated and routed in sexist ideals.

Item:

  • Menstruating Indian women (or anyone deemed “unclean”) cannot enter a place of worship or the ritual will not be successful or the gods will be angered.

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

Transcript:

  • “Another bad omen/superstition in Indian culture is that it’s very bad luck and considered very disrespectful to enter a temple or even pray if you haven’t showered or if a woman is on her period, so for that reason if you are considered ‘unclean’ then you can’t enter into a place of worship.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Aashi was well-informed on this superstition because the ban on menstruating women was recently lifted in India, which is a great stride for gender equality. Aashi didn’t know the specifics of what exactly will happen if a woman prayed/entered a temple while menstruating, but she knew that it would bring bad luck and that the ritual being conducted would not be successful or as effective.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I thought this superstition was interesting because it is highly reflective of traditional ideals within a culture. It seems like this superstition was formed from a societal bias against women in India, and practiced to encourage a gender divide. This superstition, paired with the fasting practice on Karva Chauth, indicates a trend of sexism in Indian culture that can be observed through these superstitions.

Collector’s Name: Derek Lue

Insulting Gestures: American Children — Gesture 10

Leave a reply

The Thumbs Down Gesture (Eitan Vilker)

Title: The Thumbs Down Gesture

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore: Hand gesture
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Daniel (last name withheld)
  • Date Collected: 10-21-18

Informant Data:

  • Daniel was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 2004. His father is an attorney for the state of Rhode Island, and his mother is a psychologist who operates a private practice. Daniel and his family are Jewish. He has lived in the small town of East Greenwich for most of his life. Daniel attends Cole Middle School. His family hails from both Western and Eastern Europe.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Children often use gestures that can be perceived in a neutral or negative light depending upon the situation. Gestures that are universally offensive are more likely to be considered taboo, like the middle finger, so gestures that are insulting sometimes but not always are a favorite of children.
  • Social Context: This hand gesture was brought up as a result of the interviewer asking what insulting gestures Daniel knew. He learned it from his parents and siblings. Most insulting gestures children make are used in school settings, physical activities and games, casual conversations, and at home- in short, the situations in which children spend the majority of their time.

Item:

  • Making this gesture merely involves holding the fingers of one hand into one’s fist and extending one’s thumb. This gesture indicates disapproval with a course of action, an opinion, or another person in general. It can be used as a shorthand for just saying “no” or it can be used in a dismissive fashion.

Associated File:

 

Transcript:

  • “I put my thumb down to sort of say ‘no’ or ‘you’re wrong.'”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is one of the most open-ended gestures observed. It can be very negative or neutral, and it can have many different meanings and apply to a large range of situations.

Collector’s Name: Eitan Vilker

Tags/Keywords:

  • Insulting Gesture
  • Thumbs Down

 

Family and Sainthood

Leave a reply

Title: Family and Sainthood Proverb

General Information:

  • Verbal lore, Proverb
  • Informant Name: Mike Carlowicz
  • Location: Aquinas House Library, Hanover, NH, 03755
  • Date: October 17, 2018

Informant Data:

Mike Carlowicz is a freshman at Dartmouth College. He was born and raised Catholic, went to Catholic school for all of his education before college, and now is involved in the Catholic student center at Dartmouth. He regularly attends Catholic mass at home. His parents are married and he has siblings.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

Mike heard this proverb separately from a few different priests at his home parish while they were saying a homily, the reflection on the gospel reading for that day’s mass. He later was in the same space as all of those priests, in an informal gathering room like a study or lounge, and asked them if they had all heard it separately or from each other. They had all picked it up on their own, and it was a coincidence that they each preached about it.

Cultural Context:

Mike says this proverb is meaningful to him because as a Catholic, he believes that we should all strive to become saints. He knows that he’s not perfect, but he thinks this proverb exemplifies how much easier it is to be of a saint-like nature around people who aren’t family. Additionally, he says that this proverb points out that while it is more difficult, family may be a more valuable setting in which to try to emulate those qualities. He outlined two reasons for his interpretation. First, it’s easier to be saint-like around others because family members know your past and the motivations behind your actions; for example, if you’re acting with kindness in order to get your way later or gain something for yourself. Family members can more easily recognize your common sins. Second, the family is a more valuable setting in which to try to become a saint, because they can encourage you, support you, and see your progress. Since it is all the more difficult, it is even more impressive to be able to emulate the saints among people who know you deeply and may also know how to provoke you.

Item:

Orally transmitted proverb:

“It’s harder to be a saint around your family.”

Interview Audio:

Collector’s Comments:

This is a two part proverb, with a statement and a condition. The image is humorous, but with serious implications, as emphasized by the informant with personal connections to his own life and faith journey. This proverb stresses the importance of sainthood to Catholics, and suggests a method of achieving it (by being most saintlike when it is difficult to do so). As the informant inherited this proverb from several sources at different times, it also seems somewhat ubiquitous.

Collector:

Alexandra Norris, 20
3305 Hinman, Hanover, NH, 03755
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall 2018

Tags:

  • Proverbs
  • Catholic Proverbs
  • Family
  • Relationships

Red Ink (Will Graber)

Leave a reply

Title: “Red Ink”

General information about item:

  • Bad luck superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: 11-5-18

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea until the age of 17. Her family origins are Korean. When she was a junior in high school she moved to the United States, and went to high school in Seattle, Washington. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, went back to work in Korea for a few years, and then came back to the United States to get her masters degree at the University of Kansas, and then went back to Berkeley for her PHD studies. Currently, she is a professor of Korean Art and Culture, in the department of Art History at Dartmouth College. This is her 7th year teaching at Dartmouth College.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Professor Kim shared that she was first taught this superstition at a very young age by her grandmother. She thought she was probably about three or four years old when she learned this superstition and shared that she learned it when she was learning to write her own name. One day she picked up a red pen and began to write with it and her grandmother warned her that she should never write anyone’s name in red colored ink because it would bring very bad luck.
  • Cultural Context: Although Professor Kim was not certain about the origins of this superstition, she thought that in pre-modern times death sentences were written in red ink and that frequently the names of people who had been arrested were also written in red ink. This explains why writing names in red ink is so strongly connected to death in Korean culture. Even today this superstition is strongly followed in Korean culture. Professor Kim shared that she will take notes or highlight in red but would still never write someone’s name in red ink.

Item:

Collector Comments: This superstition seemed to be a very common one in Korean culture since several of our informants told us about this superstition. Another interesting note is that this is an example of a magic superstition (homeopathic magic).

Collector’s Name: Will Graber

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition
  • Bad luck
  • Korean Culture
  • 18F

Insulting Gestures – France: Gesture 10

Leave a reply

Folklore Form/Genre: French gesture                                Informant: Cristoforo Coppola

Name: Raising your index finger below your eye and pulling slightly to say “you’re lying”

Place of Discovery: Hanover, NH

Informant Data: Cris was born and raised in Italy but attended a boarding school in Switzerland with students from all over Europe. Cris is a Government major senior at Dartmouth College.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural context: French gestures tend to be fairly expressive in nature.
  • Social context: French individuals will use this hand gesture to say they are done with a conversation.

Item: The item presented here is a picture of Cris demonstrating the French gesture. I talked to Cris about the gesture as well as snapped a photo of her executing it. All of the information provided in this write-up is an accurate depiction of the knowledge I obtained while speaking with Cris.

Transcript: Cris was at school with his buddies during a break between classes. Cris and one of his French friends were having some banter with each other, and Cris seemed to have gotten on his friend’s nerves. He threw his hands up like in the gesture above, told Cris he was done with him, and walked away.

Informant’s Comments: This gesture is meant to exclaim that the words coming out of someone’s mouth are egregious or appalling. It is meant to show that they are displeased with that the other person is saying and they don’t want the conversation to continue.

Collector’s Comments: It is an interesting gesture because there is no immediate similar one in the U.S. that comes to mind, except for perhaps a facial expression that indicated discontent. It is also interesting because I would have had no idea what the gesture meant if it hadn’t been explained to me. I most likely would have thought it was symbolizing someone with a beard.

Collector’s Name:

Carson Spahr

HB 4105 Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH 03755

Dartmouth College

Tags/Keywords:

  • Gestures
  • France
  • Insulting
  • Hand
  • Throat

Fan Death (Will Graber)

Leave a reply

Title: “Fan Death”

General information about item:

  • Bad luck superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: Kyu Kim
  • Date Collected: 11-13-18

Informant Data:

  • Kyu Kim was a Dartmouth ’18 who now lives and works in San Francisco, California as a consultant. He was born in Seoul, South Korea and lived their until he was seven years old. Kyu then moved with his family to the northern Virginia/Washington DC area. During his time at Dartmouth, Kyu studied mathematics and enjoyed playing the bassoon in the orchestra.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Kyu experienced this folklore when he was about five or six years old while living in Korea. He thought he was likely taught this superstition by his parents, but the superstition is deeply ingrained in Korean culture, so he attributed this as the reason he still remembers the superstition. Despite the fact this is a very common Korean superstition Kyu does not still believe in it.
  • Cultural Context: Kyu shared that he thought this superstition originated because traditional Korean households were heated by burning charcoal which could create smoke if the room did not have the proper air flow. Leaving a fan on while you slept was thus very dangerous since it could change the airflow or suck smoke into the room, causing lung problems or even suffocation. Kyu also shared that this superstition is so deeply rooted in Korean culture that fans are not sold with continuous on switches. Instead fans in Korea are sold with timers that make sure they shut off after a designated length of time.

Item:

Collector Comments: This superstition was provided to us by one other informant in addition to Kyu, but Kyu provided more contextual data for the superstition. Another interesting note is that this is an example of a sign superstition.

Collector’s Name: Will Graber

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition
  • Bad luck
  • Korean Culture

Initiation Rituals of Music Groups at Dartmouth College – The Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble

Leave a reply

Title: Initiation Rituals of Music Groups at Dartmouth College – The Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble

General Information about Item:
Genre: Initiation Ritual
Language: English
Country of Origin: USA
Informant: Mike Wu, Male, 19 years old
Place Collected: Dartmouth College, Hop
Date Collected: 10-20-2018

Informant Data:
Mike Wu was born in Tallahassee, FL and raised in Bardonia, New York. He is a sophomore at Dartmouth College and has been playing the saxophone for 11 years. On campus, he was a member of the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble. Mike joined the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble his freshmen year because he wanted to keep playing the saxophone in college in a group setting.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Mike Wu, a sophomore at Dartmouth College. He is a close friend of mine, and the only person I know who performed in DCWE. I asked him about initiation rituals in DCWE. Mike told me how he learned about the DCWE initiation ritual after experiencing it for the first time freshmen. The initiation rituals involve the conductor, upperclassmen of DCWE, and the newly accepted members. The initiation ritual helps the new members feel incorporated into the group faster.
Cultural Context: The Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble (DCWE) is an auditioned musical group of 45 members, performing a variety of music from different wind ensemble repertoire to all who welcome it. The initiation rituals of the DCWE is important because members of specific sections of the DCWE get to meet each other for the first time and build a support network for the rest of the year. New members will know who to rely on or receive advice when practicing for performances because the upperclassmen that they meet during initiation rituals play similar instruments.

Item:
Mike had to attend a standard audition where he plays a piece and the conductor judged his skills. When Mike got in, his conductor emailed him a few days later. Most freshmen did not know what “wake-up” were and were not expecting it a week after auditions. Since Mike got into the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, upperclassmen in the Wind Ensemble made him a poster to hang on his dorm’s door and woke him up. They separated Mike and the new members from the rest of the students at Dartmouth by gathering all the new members early in the morning before others wake up and forcing them to leave their dorms. After gathering all the members, they went to get Lou’s and got to know each other. This is the transition phase of the initiation ritual. The new members remained in their PJs. After getting Lou’s, new members went back to their dorm and resumed a normal day. Mike has officially been incorporated into the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble.

Associated file:

Informant’s Comments:
According to Mike, the Initiation Ritual’s wakeup is a “wholesome experience”, where new members in the wind ensemble got to know each other and their upperclassmen.

Collector’s Comments:
Since I was living in the room next door to Mike, I was also woken up by the sounds of the members banging on Mike’s door and waking him up. It was actually pretty loud since the members were yelling Mike to get up. Although I was annoyed at first, I think the music group’s initiation ritual is a unique Dartmouth experience that is unforgettable. It brings a lot of energy to the music groups and is valuable in bringing all the members together and creating a strong team.

Comparison:

Comparison within the subgroup: Because the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble is a more professional group than the acapella group and is guided by a conductor, new members of the DCWE are notified of their acceptance a week before wake-up. Since most of the new members of all the groups within the subgroups are mostly freshmen, they are surprised by the wakeups. All of the musical groups’ initiation rituals compose of wakeups and getting a meal together with their group. The purpose of the initiation ritual is to integrate the new members into the group more easily and for the group members to bond with each other.
Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Vanessa Chhoa; 20 years old
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
Russian 13: Slavic Folklore
Fall 2018

Men’s Rugby Initiation Ritual #2

Leave a reply

Initiation Ritual

 

Tyler Bowen
Dartmouth College
October 17th, 2018

Informant Data:

Tyler Bowen is a member of the class of 2021 here at Dartmouth and is a member of the Men’s Rugby Team. He is from Elkhorn, Nebraska. He initially began playing rugby as a kid and wanted to play at the collegiate level ever since.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This initiation ritual is performed by new members of the Dartmouth Rugby team. It is facilitated by the upperclassmen members of the team and occurs at the practice every Friday.

Cultural Context: Rugby jerseys are specific to their club and are worn during practices and games. Old jersey’s are often considered vintage and are passed down by their wearers to younger generations.

Item:

At the beginning of the season the freshmen get to go through the equipment room and pick out an old jersey that has been passed down by previous players. The jersey does not have to be from Dartmouth and can be from any Rugby club around the world. Once they pick their jersey, every Friday practice after they wear that jersey for practice. After the season they sign their name on the inside of the jersey adding to the many different signatures of players who have worn the jersey before them.

 

Video Interview: rugby 2-1rkvoi9

 

Analysis:

In this ritual, the freshmen are separated from the rest of the team to wear the different old jerseys. Over the course of the season, as they wear them each Friday, they transition to becoming a strong part of the team. Finally, they are incorporated with the rest of the team at practices and sign their names in the jerseys following in the footsteps of previous players.

 

Comparison:

Unlike other rituals we observed, this one does not revolve around a physical task or learning team history. It is purely about making the freshmen feel welcomed into a group to follow the footsteps of players who were on the team many years ago.

 

 

Elliot Adams; 22 years old
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13 Fall