The Alberta 18th
Informant: Anonymous
Place Collected: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Date Collected: October 20, 2020
Informant Data:
Anonymous was born in Texas in March of 1999. Their family grew up ranching and often relocated as family employment changed. They relocated to Canada in the mid-2000s Anonymous has one older brother and was raised by their mother. Their family origins are unknown, but they are Christian. Anonymous is a senior at Dartmouth College.
Contextual Data:
Growing up in Alberta, most young people look forward to their 18th birthday, because that is the legal age in Alberta for purchasing alcohol, tobacco, and other restricted items. Typically, on their 18th birthday, individuals will plan to have a small (or large) gathering of friends and family at a bar or a restaurant that serves alcohol. At some point during the gathering, the person whose birthday is being celebrated receives a specific drink that is described below. Typically, it is ordered later in the evening when it is not expected, and the individual is surprised with it. On Anonymous’ 18th birthday, they got together with a couple of friends and they went out to a local bar to celebrate. After a while, the server brought out the traditional ‘drink’ and Anonymous drank it in front of their friends.
Item:
On a person’s 18th birthday, while out to dinner/drinks the friends or family of the birthday person order them a drink called a ‘muff dive’. The drink consists of a shot inside another glass that is filled with whipped cream. The individual must take the shot without using their hands, which typically leads to a mess. It is usually served in a martini glass with a shot of some kind of hard alcohol (sometimes Kahlua and Baileys). In taking the shot, the person usually ends up with a face full of whipped cream and the event is generally entertaining to everyone and is a sort of ‘initiation’ into being a legal adult.
Informant’s Comments:
This tradition is a little strange and somewhat embarrassing, but it is almost like a rite of passage that everyone does, and it feels like am 18th would be missing something if it didn’t have this experience in it.
RS
Dartmouth College
Russian 13, Fall 2020