General Information about Item:

• Material lore 
• Superstition 
• Language: English 
• Country of Origin: Germany
• Informant: ID
• Date Collected: 11/07/2021

Informant Data: ID is a sophomore (‘24) at Dartmouth College. She is from Zurich, Switzerland, but both of her parents are from England. She attended the national Zurich National School for 9-12 grades. She explained that one of her math teachers was very superstitious, and taught her one of his superstitions.

Contextual Data: ID has always been extremely studious and wanted to succeed in her school work. A day before a math exam, her math teacher explained to the class that if you wear or have red on you when you are taking a test, it acts like a good luck charm. She explained that her teacher was German and that she practiced this superstition herself when she was in high school after her mother shared this piece of folklore to her and her siblings. The day of the exam, she put her hair up in a ponytail with a red hair tie. She did not want many people to see that she listened to the teacher, so she chose the most discreet way of wearing red possible. The following week, she received her test score back, and she received a 98%. She was overcome with happiness and from that point on, she wore her hair up in a ponytail with a red hair tie for all of her exams to come. I collected this item in an in-person interview.

Item: In German culture, wearing red on the day of an exam brings one luck.

Interpretations: I believe that this is very important to ID because she still does this to this day. She insists on doing so, otherwise, she feels insecure on her exam. She becomes very anxious and frustrated. This acts as a sort of routine for ID, and helps her clear her mind and focus on the exam.

Collector’s Name: Isabel Robinson

Tags/Keywords:

• Material lore 
• Superstition 
• Germany 
• Red