Title: Test superstition

General Information about Item:

• American Superstition
• Language: English
• Origin: none
• Informant: Alec Vaules
• Date Collected 10/17/18

Informant Data: Alec Vaules is a junior at Dartmouth college studying engineering. He was born in Rochester, New York and was raised in a household that strongly emphasized academic excellence.

Contextual Data:

Social: Alec has always been a great student. Starting in elementary school, Alec was one of the smartest kids in his class. Naturally, many of Alec’s friends emphasized academics as well. He especially enjoys math and science.

Cultural: In high school, Alec was at the top of his class. He was in great shape to go to an elite college, but he still needed to score high on the SAT. He studied for months, and his parents even got him a private tutor to help boost his score. Alec and his friends took this test so serious that they would compete for the highest score. He knew that with his lucky shirt, he would be able to get the highest score.

Subgenre: Good luck superstitions

Item: Wearing a certain shirt will give you good luck on your test.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

 Max: Alright Alec, tell me about your superstition for tests.

Alec: So, just kind of ever since high school I’ve been wearing the same shirt for big tests, not just like small things but like SAT ACT, important tests that mean a lot, and I kept it going into college and I also chew gum during every test I take.

Informant’s Comments: Alec explained that wearing this lucky shirt was also a way for him to be confident and relaxed going in to a test.

Collector’s Comments: none

Collector’s Name: Max Hunter

Tags/Keywords:

Good luck superstitions, American, test

Title: Umbrella superstition

General Information about Item:

• American Superstition
• Language: English
• Origin: Ancient Egypt
• Informant: Henry Eilen
• Date Collected 10/22/18

Informant Data: Henry is a junior at Dartmouth college studying neuroscience. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, so he is used to enduring all types of whether throughout the year.

Contextual Data:

Social: Henry’s parents are both doctors, and they taught Henry from a young age to always try to prepare for the unexpected. Because of this, Henry would always try to plan ahead. His friends thought he was crazy sometimes, but Henry’s parents taught him that it is always better to be over-prepared instead of the other way around.

Cultural: Minnesota is known for having an unpredictable climate that gets a lot of rain and a lot of snow. Henry went to church with his family every week, and his dad would always bring an umbrella. Henry did not understand why his dad needed an umbrella just to walk from the car to the door. Henry asked one day and his dad told him that he brought the umbrella for Henry’s mother, and his dad said once again that it was important to always be prepared.

Subgenre: bad luck superstitions

Item: Opening an umbrella indoors will bring you bad luck.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

 Max: Alright Henry, tell me about your superstition of opening umbrella’s indoors.

Henry: This superstition came around when I was about eight and my dad always would carry an umbrella with him and he’d always let me know to shut the umbrella before going indoors and also to never open an umbrella indoors because it’s bad luck for the rest of the week.

Informant’s Comments: none

Collector’s Comments:

I found it interesting that both Henry and Logan had superstitions that included church in some way.

Collector’s Name: Max Hunter

Tags/Keywords:

Bad luck superstitions, American, umbrella

Title: 666

General Information about Item:

• American Superstition
• Language: English
• Origin: Bible
• Informant: Logan Adams
• Date Collected 10/29/18

Informant Data: Logan is a Sophomore baseball player at Dartmouth college studying Philosophy. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and was raised in a very religious household.

Contextual Data:

Social: Logan was brought up in a very religious family. He would regularly attend church, and made many of his friends through his church. Many values that were instilled in Logan from his family and from church are the same core values that he relies on today.

Cultural: The bible states that 666 is the number associated with the devil. For this reason, many Christian and Catholics believe that this number brings bad luck. This superstition was instilled in Logan at church school by not only the pasture, but also by his friends that believed in this superstition.

Subgenre: bad luck superstitions

Item: The number 666 will bring you bad luck.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

 Max: So Logan, tell me about your superstition of the number 666.

Logan: So, I became superstitious of this number when I was younger. I spent a lot of time in church with my family and according to the bible this is a number that’s like related with evil and with satan so I just always try to avoid anything that has these three numbers and anytime that like, if I went to a restaurant and my total was $6.66 or something, I would always add something else to my order just because I didn’t want anything to do with these three numbers.

Informant’s Comments: Logan explained that the specific area that he is from in Tennessee is particularly religious. He believes that growing up in this location definitely contributed to his belief in this superstition.

Collector’s Comments:

I found it interesting that geography and religion played a key role in this superstition.

Collector’s Name: Max Hunter

Tags/Keywords:

Bad luck superstitions, American, 666

Title: Friday the 13th

General Information about Item:

• American Superstition
• Language: English
• Origin: France
• Informant: Bennett Mccaskill
• Date Collected 11/2/18

Informant Data: Bennett is a Sophomore baseball player at Dartmouth college studying Psychology. He was born in Del Mar, San Diego. He enjoys watching movies and television shows in his free time, and he is very active on social media.

Contextual Data:

Social: As a kid, Bennett loved to watch movies with his brothers. Sadly, his brothers were both older than Bennett, so sometimes they would watch movies that Bennett was not old enough to watch.

Cultural: Halloween was one of Bennett’s favorite holidays because he would go trick or treating with his friends and then come home to hang out with his brothers and eat candy. One year, he came home to his brothers watching Friday the 13^th. They immediately paused the movie and told Bennett not to watch it because it is too scary. Bennett did not want to be left out so he begged to stay and watch the movie. It scared Bennett so much that he still believes in this superstition today.

Subgenre: bad luck superstitions

Item: You will have bad luck on the date Friday the 13^th.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

 Max: So Bennett, tell me about your superstition of Friday the 13th.

Bennett: Well I think this is a pretty common superstition, and a lot of people will know that Friday the 13^this just an unlucky day, but for me I think when the movie came out about this day with the scary guy with the hockey mask named Jason, that’s when I really became aware that it’s just an unlucky day and any time it’s Friday the 13^thyou just know that you have to be careful.

Informant’s Comments: Bennett said that his older brothers convinced him to watch the movie Friday the 13^thwith them when Bennett was young. He thinks that since he was so young, the movie scared him into really believing this superstition.

Collector’s Comments:

I found it interesting that this superstition was greatly influenced by pop culture, while the other superstitions Bennett shared with me were passed down from family members.

Collector’s Name: Max Hunter

Tags/Keywords:

Bad luck superstitions, American, Friday the 13^th

Title: Black cat crossing your path

General Information about Item:

• American Superstition
• Language: English
• Origin: Europe
• Informant: Bennett Mccaskill
• Date Collected 11/2/18

Informant Data: Bennett is a Sophomore baseball player at Dartmouth college studying Psychology. He was born in Del Mar, San Diego. He grew up having pets, and loves to interact with animals.

Contextual Data:

Social: Bennett has been around cats his whole life. He currently has two pet cats named Shiva and Mona. He also has occasional interactions with Poncho, the neighborhood cat that loves to hang out in Bennett’s backyard.

Cultural: Bennett’s mother shared this superstition with Bennett. Bennett and his family are very comfortable around cats, but his mom was still thrown off at the sight of a black cat crossing through their yard. At first it was hard for Bennett to understand why Poncho was welcome in their yard but this other cat was not.

Subgenre: bad luck superstitions

Item: If a black cat crosses your path, you will have bad luck.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

 Max: Alright Bennett, tell me about your superstition of black cats.

Bennett: This is something that my mom told me cause we have a neighborhood cat that likes to hang out in our yard a lot, and it’s not black but one day there was a black cat that like ran across our yard and my mom just made me aware of the superstition that it’s very unlucky to see black cats or have them cross your path.

Informant’s Comments: Bennett said that when he first learned of this superstition, he was very surprised to see his moms reaction to seeing the black cat, but after a while it felt normal for him to avoid black cats since that superstition was instilled in him.

Collector’s Comments:

I was surprised that this superstition was passed down in a family like Bennett’s that loves cats so much. I was expecting some of the context to include a bad experience that they had with cats, but this was not the case.

Collector’s Name: Max Hunter

Tags/Keywords:

Bad luck superstitions, American, cats