The Bell

Title: The Bell

General Information About Item:

Informant Data:

Lotti is a sophomore at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Lotti is from Gyor, Hungary where she lives and grew up with her parents and her older and younger brothers. Lotti is a great hockey player and is respected by her teammates, coaches, family, and friends.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Being on a sports team that was started many years ago, a lot of traditions, rituals, and superstitions have been passed down over the years. These are very important to our team and are taken very seriously by the person it is passed down by and to. While we have many traditions both on and off the ice, each one is very important and has to be completed prior to each game. If they aren’t individuals and the team as a whole will feel off for the game and won’t perform our bests.
Social Context: This has been a tradition on the Dartmouth Women’s Ice Hockey team for a long time and is performed right before we step foot on the ice. Lotti bequeathed this ritual from Caroline Shaunessy, a graduate of 2019.

Item:

Right before we head onto the ice, for home games and home games only, Lotti will ring the bell. The bell is located in the hallway on our way from our locker room to the ice. Our equipment manager is in charge of finding an old, broken stick for Lotti to use to ring the old, rusty bell. Hannah Humphrey’s, our goalie, is closest to the rink and can see the clock, she will count Lotti down, typically from 10, once she hits zero, Lotti swings the stick, hits the bell and everyone cheers.

Transcript:

“At the end of last season Caroline Shaunessey a ‘19 passed down the tradition of the bell to me. The bell marks the beginning of the game. On the way from the locker room to the ice there is a bell on the wall. One person each year is responsible to ring the bell before every single home game with a hockey stick before we skate on the ice for the first period. It is a great tradition because it hypes the players up a bit before the game, so we start the game with a lot of energy.”

Informant’s Comments:

This ritual allows the team to be hyped, energized and excited right before we step on the ice for our first period and hopefully carry over for the whole game.

Collector’s Comments:

This is a very important ritual for our team because it has been passed down throughout many years. It’s something very simple and small but makes a huge difference in the energy of the team before stepping onto the ice. Lotti is the perfect person for this job and performs is perfect every home game.

Collector’s Name: CC Bowlby

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive