General Information about Item

• Tradition/Superstition
• Language: English
• Informant: GM
• Date Collected: 11/9/2021

Informant Data

• GM is from Northern California, outside of San Francisco. She competes in the 6k and an assortment of other races of varying distances – anywhere from a mile to 5k.

Contextual Data

• Cultural context: According to GM, uptight members of the track team are very superstitious and have lots of pre-game rituals that they believe will help them perform well. Many athletes across many different sport have superstitions pertaining to certain articles of clothing.

Item

• Before each race, GM ties two black ties to her hair. She then ties a bow to a third black hair tie.

Informant’s Comments

• The point of the bow is to promote a “look good, feel good” mindset. She believes it will help her perform better in competitions.

Collector’s Comments

• When I played soccer, I had a similar mindset. I always felt that making sure my apparel looked good was crucial to my actual performance on the field.

Collector’s Name

• Alex Printsev