Title: Dartmouth Superstitions – Gabby Billing

General Information about Item: 

• Customary Lore, Magic Superstition 
• Language: English 
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Gabby Billing 
• Date Collected: 11/14/21

Informant Data:

• Gabby Billing was born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota on October 18, 1999, however, she has lived in Corcoran, Minnesota her entire life. She is currently a senior on the Dartmouth Women’s Ice Hockey team and therefore a member of the graduating class of 2022. 

Contextual Data: 

• Cultural Context: The cultural context is that putting on gear in a particular way is a common superstition among many hockey players in many different leagues and cultures. 
• Social Context: The social context is that Gabby shares this superstition with some of her teammates. The magic portion of the superstition is that if she does not put her gear on properly she will play poorly. 

Item: This is a form of magic superstition which is a genre of customary folklore. 

Transcript: “I always have to put on my gear in a very specific order. I put on my left sock, then my right, followed by my left skate, then my right. After that I put on my hockey pants and my left shin pad, followed by my right shin pad. This trend continues on with putting my left gear on before the right until I am fully dressed. 

Informant/Collector Comments: 

• If I do not put on my gear in this specific order I feel like my pads are not on correctly which in turn makes me think I will have bad luck during the game and play poorly. It also serves as a distraction throughout the game, so if one of my pads doesn’t feel like it is on correctly I will be thinking about that instead of where I should be passing the puck or shooting. 

Collector’s Name: Gabby Billing