General Information about Item

• Tradition / Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: USA
• Informant: JN
• Date Collected: 11/8

Informant Data:

• JN is a ‘24 on the Dartmouth Cross Country Team from Massachusetts. COVID has definitely impacted his time on the team, but he says he is very excited to learn more about the team’s traditions and culture.

Contextual Data: 

• Cultural Context: A lot of individuals carry good luck charms throughout their lives, and athletes are no different. However, because it is hard/impossible to carry specific items during a competition, a lot of athletes take to wearing specific clothes to bring them good luck. 
• Social Context: Packing for an event can be a stressful thing. Forgetting something during the day of a meet is a pretty worrying, and there are a lot of factors that make it easy to forget things (nerves, tiredness, etc.). Therefore, having the same outfit can make it easier on an athlete, because they know exactly what they need to grab.

Item:

• JN wears the same shirt and same shorts to each race. He picked this up from his highschool team and has continued it into college.

Associated Audio Recording:

Informant’s Comments:

• JN says he gets a little panicky and feels off if he wears any other outfit, and he mentioned that this specific shirt and shorts combination is the first thing he packs when traveling for a competition.

Collector’s Comments:

• Clothing is a very controllable thing, so it makes sense that athletes would want to control over as much as possible before heading into a competition. This especially applies to XC. While I have never personally competed in this sport, it seems that there are a large amount of uncontrollable things (weather, terrain, etc.), so trying to take control of as much as possible makes sense. 

Collector’s Name:

• Jonah Kahl