Informant Signature Release Form (Tanner Palocsik)
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Author Archives: Tanner Palocsik
Brush Every Time (Tanner Palocsik)
Title: Brush Every Time
General Information about Item:
- Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: D. E.
- Date Collected: 11-3-21
Informant Data:
- D.E. is a 20-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2024. He is from Arizona and is on the Track and Field team where he participates in the javelin throw. He played many sports growing up and kept the same mindset for his performance through them all.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: D.E. grew up under a lot of influence from his coaches. He takes a lot of pride in their advice and tries to be like them. He played a lot of sports growing up and was always taught to respect what they taught him and always work his hardest.
- Social Context: D.E. has been doing this since high school. He picked it up from a coach that told him many great players have done and do this superstition. It is meant to give him performance powers and he does the superstition right before putting on his last piece of equipment (hat or helmet) or right before he heads out to his competition surface.
Item:
- The item here is a superstition that D. E. has performed since high school. He takes a brush to his hair before putting his hat on during his meet. Even if he doesn’t wear a hat, he still brushes his hair back.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
- “When I was 15, I was a freshman in high school and one of my coaches told me that an old superstition in the sport of football is, if you brush your hair back under your helmet, you’ll be faster than every guy on the field. I’m not sure where this came from or where he learned it, but he passed the info on to me. I don’t play football anymore, but I still perform in the Javelin throw for Dartmouth. So, before every meet, I still brush my hair back into my hat with the belief that it will give me a great performance. At this point it is more so just a habit of tradition and I don’t really believe that it makes me perform better.”
Informant’s Comments:
- He doesn’t think that this really changes anything but practices it out of habit of the tradition. It’s a force of habit for him at this point and on a side note he also told me he plans to pass this down to his kids or a younger teammate someday.
Collector’s Comments:
- This is a great superstition. I think that everyone has their own unique performance techniques that can help them, but they don’t always have some supernatural power. Maybe this is one of those. I think Derek may just do this out of respect for his old coach now.
Collector’s Name:
Tanner Palocsik
Dartmouth College
Russia 013 Fall 2021
Professors Apresyan and Gronas
Same Socks Skier (Tanner Palocsik)
Title: Same Socks Skier
General Information about Item:
- Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: D.P.J.
- Date Collected: 10-29-21
Informant Data:
- D.P.J. is a 21-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from California originally but then moved to the area of Vail, Colorado. He is a member of the ski team. He was raised very closely to his family and has a special relationship to his father.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Skiing is an individual sport but also has team competitions as well. D.P.J. has been skiing since he was young and has always lived in mountainous areas where skiing is popular. The team competition has always driven him to succeed.
- Social Context: Skiing requires a lot of detail put into their equipment and skill into their performance. D.P.J. learned of his superstition from an older teammate and was told that this was something all great skiers have done since skiing was first invented. Dash believes it has been the key to his success.
Item:
- The item here is a superstition where D.P.J. has worn the same pair of lucky socks his whole ski career. He still washes them and keeps them clean and sanitary but he has the same ones that he always wears in his ski boots.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
- “When I was young, an old captain on my team said that I should pick out a pair of socks and make them my lucky socks. He said it was a superstition that all the great skiers have and that if I wanted to be great I had to do the same thing. So when I was 13 I picked out a pair and have been wearing the same socks ever since. I think now looking back, I realize it was just a mental tactic to make yourself think you have luck on your side, but I am a believer in the motto of ‘You create your own luck’”.
Informant’s Comments:
- He is not a strong believer in this as shown in the transcript. Even though it has always been a popular thing in the ski world, at the end of the day you just need to perform. There is no actual magic that will help you.
Collector’s Comments:
- This superstition made me laugh a little bit. It’s interesting to see what pieces of equipment (merely socks in this case) are valued throughout different sports.
Collector’s Name:
Tanner Palocsik
Dartmouth College
Russia 013 Fall 2021
Professors Apresyan and Gronas
A Chant and a Prayer (Tanner Palocsik)
Title: A Chant and a Prayer
General Information about Item:
- Genre: Magic Superstition, sympathetic
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: C.B.
- Date Collected: 11-1-21
Informant Data:
- C.B. is a 21-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from Texas and is on the football team. He was raised very closely to his family and has a special relationship to his father.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Superstitions are important to sports teams. In football there are many players on the team that all contribute to the win. In C.B.’s case, Texas football is one of the most serious things in this country. They have a ton of pride in their teams and victory.
- Social Context: Team’s rely on every guy to contribute toward a winning effort. C.B.’s superstition came from his father who may have learned it from his father before him or somewhere else, he wasn’t certain of the whole chain. He is strongly religious in the Christian faith and performs his superstition before every game. This is something that puts Cameron in the most optimal mindset heading into
Item:
- The item here is a superstition unique to C.B. Before every game he calls his father on the phone and says a prayer right before he is about to go on the field. He believes that God’s power gives him strength and confidence going into the game and that this will help him perform to the best of his abilities. Another is a team superstition where they all say the same chant before heading out for the game.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
- “I pray with my dad before going out to the field before every game. I started this my freshman year in high school when he would physically be with me to do it but now I just call him before each game right as I’m about to go out to the field and he is expecting it as well. This one originated from my faith and just the fact that I want to glorify God before anything else in my life. I definitely believe strongly in this one.”
- “As far as team stuff goes, we all start chanting “juice” together loudly in the locker room. Then one of the leaders on the team (it will be the same guy for that whole year) will chant “juice check” three times and then we all finish it off with one more shout saying “juice” And that tradition has been going since I’ve been here”
Informant’s Comments:
- He believes in these superstitions and believes in their power to help him perform and the team get a win.
Collector’s Comments:
- I think this is a very powerful superstition. It clearly has some power that enables him and their team to perform. They have an extremely good record and won the Ivy League Championship last year.
Collector’s Name:
Tanner Palocsik
Dartmouth College
Russia 013 Fall 2021
Professors Apresyan and Gronas
“Positive Vision” (Tanner Palocsik)
Title: “Positive Vision”
General Information about Item:
- Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: J.H.
- Date Collected: 11-4-21
Informant Data:
- J.H. is a 20-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from Stamford, CT and is on the diving team. He was raised in a family of divers, as his father was also his diving coach.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Sports teams always have different rituals or superstitions they follow so that they have success in their sport. Diving is no different. For diving, you are expected to perform with perfection every time. It is a difficult sport with many intricacies.
- Social Context: Within the team atmosphere, every teammate relies on each other to perform to the best of their abilities. Team’s need to have every guy pulling the rope in the same direction for success, so it’s important that every person does whatever they can to reassure their performance. J.H.’s superstition is one that is performed right as they walk out the door. His team has always done this superstition as someone from Dartmouth unknown in the past brought it to their locker room.
Item:
- The item here is a superstition the entire team has. There is a sign above their door that every guy taps before they exit their locker room for the meet. The sign says, “Positive Vision”. In addition to performing this action, the team also has a pregame chant which can be seen in the picture below. (Unfortunately, I was not able to get a photo of the locker room sign.)
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
- “Sort of a good luck charm we have is, as we walk out the locker room door, we all tap a sign that says, ‘Positive Vision’. This sign has been in our locker room for many years and has always been a team tradition. We also have a pregame chant that dates back decades if not centuries”
Informant’s Comments:
- He believes in these superstitions and thinks if the team doesn’t do these superstitions each game, they will have bad luck and won’t perform well as a team.
Collector’s Comments:
- I think these superstitions are unique and interesting. The chant is something that is secret to their team and so my informant wouldn’t share the words. I also thought it was cool that he said these superstitions date back decades. He had no idea when or how they started but it’s something their team has consistently practiced since.
Collector’s Name:
Tanner Palocsik
Dartmouth College
Russia 013 Fall 2021
Professors Apresyan and Gronas
The Lucky Horseshoe (Tanner Palocsik)
Title: The Lucky Horseshoe
General Information about Item:
- Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: R.B.
- Date Collected: 11-4-21
Informant Data:
- R.B. is a 21-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from London, England and is on the Rugby team. Being from England, rugby is a very popular sport in his background. He had family members that played and helped him adapt the sport into his pride.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Sports teams often have some tradition that the team practices throughout their season that is meant to bring good luck to the whole team. In the rugby culture, they also have many players that contribute to the team effort, so it’s important to have something the entire team participates in. It creates better team chemistry and comradery.
- Social Context: This superstition is performed right when the whole team is about to enter the field. Rugby is a physical sport so they do this for luck of the win but also for luck of good health and strength.
Item:
- The item here is a superstition for their whole team. They all tap the top of the locker room door where they have a horseshoe hanging. This is meant to bring good luck, strength to their bodies and good health.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
- “Before every game we tap the horseshoe at the top of our door. This is a common superstition in the Rugby world and something our team takes very seriously. I think it truly helps us to muster up strength and mental stability while trying to focus in on the competition at hand. Each game is a learning experience, and we try to take a lot of pride in our culture and tradition. The rugby team here has been doing this for many years and all the older guys reiterate that we must keep it going as long as we can and continue to pass it down to the younger guys.”
Informant’s Comments:
- He believes this truly brings the team luck and that it will be something that will stick with Dartmouth Rugby for many years to come.
Collector’s Comments:
- I think this is a strong superstition and one that every team should try to encapsulate in some way. It’s a good way to create team bonding over a common superstition and get everyone believing in the same things.
Collector’s Name:
Tanner Palocsik
Dartmouth College
Russia 013 Fall 2021
Professors Apresyan and Gronas