Title: Dandelion Picking

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore Ritual
• Superstitious process
• Place of Origin: Upper Valley
• Informant (Anonymous) B
• Collected 2/22/18

Informant Data: Informant B was born in and raised in Vermont. She has spent the last three decades living in the Upper Valley with her husband. Her husband’s family has a long tradition of making moonshine. Informant B works as a babysitter for many families around Hanover, NH as well as other towns in the Upper Valley. She also works for local nurseries and has a garden of her own.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context: Informant B originally learned this piece of folklore the first time that she participated in making moonshine with her husband’s family. Her husband’s mother had taken her out in their field to collect dandelions for the dandelion wine recipe. Her mother had taught the folklore to her, so the folklore has been in the family for at least two generations. In general a women would participate in the ritual of picking the dandelions, however she said that there was no restriction on who could participate. The people who are present during the ritual are usually family members or close friends, due to the nature of moonshining being illegality. This brings family members and friends together in a way of working together to produce a family tradition. This ritual would be performed before every batch of dandelion wine was made.
• Cultural Context: This ritual/superstition derives form the culture of moonshine. There is no scientific backing by the nature of producing moonshine. The process instead is about repetition, so the process yields a slightly different product every time. So by following this ritual, it stands as a superstitious method to ensure that the batch will come out well.

Item:

• Before every batch of dandelion, someone must pick enough dandelions in order to create the batch. The person who picks the dandelions must pick them in a very particular way. The dandelions must be picked with the right hand and placed into a basket in the left hand. It was stressed that the dandelions do not come into contact with the left hand at all during the process. It is believed that by doing this, they can ensure that the batch will come out well. If this process is not followed it is believed that the batch will be jinxed and come out sour.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

Informant’s Comments: It might seem a little strange to some people but we have been doing it for so long it seems like second nature by now. I would never think about doing it any other way.

Collector’s Comments: This is an example of both a customary folklore ritual as well as a conversion superstition. It is always performed as a way of ensuring that the batch is not jinxed.

Collector’s Name: Jack Korzelius

Tags/Keywords:

• Customary folklore ritual
• Conversion superstition
• Dandelion Wine
• Dandelion Picking