Title: Harry Potter Party

General Information about the item:

Informant Data:

Brady McCallister is a student at Dartmouth college and is about to finish his junior year there. Brady is from California and has a very strong athletic background in all sports, though he is an especially talented frisbee player. Brady has been a member of the club frisbee team for his entire Dartmouth career. The frisbee club is divided into different teams based on their level and Brady is on the top team because he has a high level of play.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The informant was interviewed regarding the Harry Potter tradition done by the club frisbee community at Dartmouth College. According to Brady, this tradition occurs every Halloween in the Fall term at Dartmouth and it is designed to be a sort of welcoming to the freshmen class that are joining the frisbee community at Dartmouth, as well as a solidification of the entire frisbee community. The tradition is organized by established upperclassmen in the frisbee community—people who are especially involved socially in the frisbee community. According to Brady, the tradition has been going on for at least 15 years, but he does not know exactly how long.
Cultural Context: Team bonding is really important for many teams, particularly the club frisbee team. According to Brady, many members of the frisbee community look forward to the “Harry Potter Party” all year because the frisbee community is the community they are closest with at Dartmouth. Further, Brady says that the tradition has been a way for freshmen to feel more comfortable both with the frisbee community and at Dartmouth in general. Thus, the night of this tradition is an important night for everyone involved.

Item:

Freshmen receive emails from aliases with the names of Harry Potter characters. All members of the frisbee community are instructed to gather at night near the Green at Dartmouth where everyone is broken into groups and mystical “Harry Potter” passages are read off. Once everyone has spent a long time in their smaller groups, the entire frisbee community comes back together and has a celebration at an off-campus house owned by an older member on the team.

Collector: Peter Conklin

Dartmouth Folklore Archive