Collector information: Dartmouth College, RUSS 013, Professors Mikhail Gronas and Valentina Apresjan, Fall 2020. Informants 11-20 collected by Gavin Muir

Informant 11

Title: Lucky Number 14

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: J.A, Male
• Date Collected: October 16, 2020

Informant Data:

J.A is a 22 year old from Florida and is a junior at Dartmouth College. He transferred to Dartmouth from University of Florida and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living at home, now Georgia, because of the Pandemic. Both his parents are American.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was in-person because the informant is my roommate. J.A’s lucky number is 14, and this is because his birthday is April 14. Also, when he was younger he would watch his cousin play football in #14 and the cousin was a role model to J.A. This is a personal preference for liking this number, and he does not have any unlucky numbers.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference. He does not believe that his culture plays a role in her selection of this lucky number.

 Item: J.A’s personal lucky number is 14, which is also the number he wore in high school and is also his birthday (April 14). 

Recording:

Collector’s Comments:

I have found a common trend of people’s lucky numbers being worn for their respective sports teams because they think it gives them good luck. I think that there is an added level of “luck” for this number because he also had a role model wear the number, which would definitely affect his mindset while wearing the number.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 12

Title: Lucky Number 3

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: S.O, Male
• Date Collected: October 16, 2020

 Informant Data:

 S.O is a 19 year old from Tennessee, is a sophomore at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living off-campus at Dartmouth. Both his parents are Irish.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was in-person because the informant is my roommate. S.O’s lucky number is 3 because he has 3 siblings, it has been his sports # for a very long time and he always takes 3 deep breaths when he feels stressed out.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference. He does not believe that his culture plays a role in her selection of this lucky number.

Item: S.O’s personal lucky number is 3, which was also the number he wore for sports in high school.

 

Recording:

Collector’s Comments:

 I thought that it was interesting that S.O correlates his stress relieving tactic with a lucky number. I wonder if the number became lucky before or after he developed this technique.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 13

Title: Lucky Number 21

 General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: R.M, Male
• Date Collected: November 8, 2020

Informant Data:

R.M is a 20 year old from Virginia, is a junior at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living off-campus at Dartmouth. Both his parents are American.

• Social Context: This interview was in-person because the informant was in close proximity to me at the time. R.M’s lucky number is 14, and this in 7th grade when he had a close friend unfortunately pass away. The kid always wanted to play football at Dartmouth and wear #21, so when R.M got the opportunity, he took the number as a tribute to the kid and his family.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference. He does not believe that her culture plays a role in his selection of this lucky number.

 

Item: R.M’s lucky number is 21, which is the number he wears for the Dartmouth Football team.

 

Recording:

 

Collector’s Comments:

I thought that it was interesting how R.M uses his lucky number to pay a tribute to his friend, as well as motivating himself to perform better.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 14

Title: Lucky Number 14

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: RJ, Male
• Date Collected: November 8, 2020

 Informant Data:

RJ is a 21 year old from NY, is a junior at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living off-campus at Dartmouth. Both his parents are American.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was done remotely due to the pandemic. RJ’s lucky number is 14 because he wore the number all throughout high school for his football team, and his favorite NFL player Sammy Watkins wears number 14.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference. He does not believe that his culture plays a role in her selection of this lucky number.

Item: RJ’s personal lucky number is 14, which was also the number he wore for sports in high school.

Recording:

Collector’s Comments:

 While most football players wear their lucky number for their football team, it appears that there are a multitude of reasons behind the significance of it.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 15

Title: Lucky Number 1

 General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: J.K, Male
• Date Collected: November 8, 2020

Informant Data: 

J.K is a 21 year old from New Jersey, is a junior at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living off-campus at Dartmouth. Both his parents are American.

• Social Context: This interview was done remotely due to the pandemic. J.K’s lucky number is 1, and this is because he chose to wear it for his high school football team.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference. He does not believe that his culture plays a role in her selection of this lucky number.

Item: J.K’s personal lucky number is 1,which was also the number he wore for sports in high school.

 

Recording:

 

 

Collector’s Comments:

While some people have lots of significance behind their lucky number, some are as simple as randomly choosing it their freshman year of high school and sticking with it.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 16

Title: Lucky Number 12

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: B.K, Male
• Date Collected: November 8, 2020

Informant Data:

B.K is a 21 year old from Washington, is a junior at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living on-campus at Dartmouth. Both his parents are American.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was done remotely due to the pandemic. B.K’s lucky number is 12, and this is because he is a Seattle Seahawks fan. The number 12 holds lots of significance for Seahawks fans because the fans of the Seahawks are considered the “12th man”.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference, but it could be argued that the culture of his favorite sports team is the reason that he chose 12.

 

Item: B.K’s personal lucky number is 12, and this is because of a connection to his favorite NFL team the Seattle Seahawks.

 

Recording:

 

Collector’s Comments:

 This was interesting because he doesn’t wear his number for any sports team that he plays for.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 17

Title: Lucky Number 7

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: C.N, Female
• Date Collected: November 8, 2020

Informant Data:

C.N is a 19 year old from California, and is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. She is currently living off-campus at Dartmouth. Her mother is American and her father is Russian.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was done remotely due to the pandemic. C.N’s lucky number is 7, and this is because she is a huge fan of the Harry Potter series and the number 7 is the recurring number in Harry Potter.
• Culture Context: She picked this number due to a personal preference on a book series that she enjoyed. She does not believe that her culture plays a role in her selection of this lucky number.

 

Item: C.N’s personal lucky number is 7 because of her favorite book series — Harry Potter. 

Recording:

Collector’s Comments:

C.N developed her lucky number through pop culture, which I thought was unique based on my interviews.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 18

Title: Lucky Number 9

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: K.M, Male
• Date Collected: November 8, 2020

 Informant Data:

K.M is a 21 year old from Maryland, is a junior at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living off-campus at Dartmouth. Both his parents are American.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was done remotely due to the pandemic. K.M’s lucky number is 9 because he always wore it for sports games since he was a young child, and he originally chose the number 9 because his lacrosse idol, Paul Rabil, wore number 9.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference. He does not believe that his culture plays a role in her selection of this lucky number.

 Item: K.M’s personal lucky number is 9, which he had always worn for his sports teams. It is also the number of his idol, Paul Rabil. 

Recording:

 

Collector’s Comments:

I thought that it was interesting how K.M’s lucky number came from a famous lacrosse player but translated to all of the sports that he played, which includes football at Dartmouth.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 19

Title: Lucky Number 36

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: A.S, Male
• Date Collected: November 16, 2020

Informant Data:

A.S is a 22 year old from Philadelphia, is a junior at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living on-campus at Dartmouth. Both his parents are American.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was done remotely due to the pandemic. A.S’s lucky number is 36 because he always wore it for sports games, dating all the way back to Pop Warner.
• Culture Context: He picked this number due to a personal preference. He does not believe that his culture plays a role in her selection of this lucky number.

 Item: A.S’s personal lucky number is 36, which was the same number he wore on his jersey in youth football.

 

Recording:

Collector’s Comments:

 At this point, I am not surprised that the lucky number has a lot to do with the number they wear in sports. They go hand in hand.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir

Informant 20

Title: Lucky Number 11

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Lucky Number Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: J.B, Male
• Date Collected: November 16, 2020

 Informant Data:

 J.B is a 19 year old from Washington, is a sophomore at Dartmouth College and is a member of the Dartmouth Football team. He is currently living at home in Washington due to the pandemic. Both his parents are American.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: This interview was done remotely due to the pandemic. J.B’s lucky number is 11 because it is his birthday, May 11.
• Culture Context: There is not a cultural aspect to this lucky number because it strictly has to do with his birthday.

Item: J.B’s personal lucky number is 11. 

Recording:

Collector’s Comments:

This is another person who had the same lucky number as the day they were born on. Based on my interviews, this was a fairly common reason to pick that lucky number.

Collector’s Name: Gavin Muir