Informant Information: Chales Cai is a member of the Class of 2016 at Dartmouth.  He is also a member of the golf team and the fraternity Kappa Kappa Kappa.  He has had a girlfriend for one of his four years at Dartmouth.

Type of Folklore: Customary (festival) / Material (clothing)

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: Formal is major dating event at Dartmouth.  Inviting a person to formal is a great way to meet someone.  Formals vary from fraternity to fraternity and sorority to sorority.  Inviting a date to formal is widely thought as a much more serious step in a relationship than asking them to play a pong game. While pong is a game used to get to know people, students usually ask people to formal who they definitely have feelings for. 

Associated File:

Transcript: “So you have formals, like fraternities and sororities have formals, all different types of clubs, so asking a girl to formal is a good way to meet them.”

“Are there any traditions in these formals or semi formals?”

“I guess it depends on each fraternity or sorority. Beta always has boat formal where they go out on a boat. Typically they are either around campus or at venues around the upper valley.”

“Do you have to wear anything special to these formals?”

“I mean people dress up, usually girls wear dresses, guys wear a suit and tie. I guess it’s a chance to look good and dress up, whereas most of the time you’re hanging out with a girl in the basement or playing pong.”

Informants Comments: Charles Cai discusses the boat formal that Beta Alpha Omega has every year.  He also notes that formals vary from house to house, but that the traditions of folklore are very much alive.

Collector’s Comments:A second informant also discussed semi-formals.  This informant told us that semi-formals are much more casual and involve certain themes often accompanied by wearing costumes.  Semi-formals involve bringing a date as well.