Initiation Ritual

“Bat Mitzvah”

General Information About Item:

• Genre: Customary Lore
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Deborah Feiffer
• Date Collected: 11/1/18

Informant Data: Deborah Feiffer is a 20 year old Sophomore studying at Dartmouth College. Feiffer grew grew up in New Jersey and Connecticut. She identifies as a reformed Jew. Both of her parents were raised Jewish. Her dad was raised reformative and her mom was raised conservative, but now the family belongs to a reformed synagogue, where she was bah mitzvah. Her family visits the synagogue about once a month and for all important holidays. Feiffer also grew up going to Jewish summer camp where it had a Jewish focus, but welcomed different types of Judaism so it wasn’t necessarily reformed or conservative.

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Deborah Feiffer in Novack cafe at Dartmouth College. Deborah and I are familiar with one another, as we shared dormitory floors our Freshman year and her old roommate is my roommate this year! As both her parents are Jews, Deborah grew up surrounded by the Jewish culture, regularly attending her synagogue.

Cultural Context: The Jewish culture revolves around a tight knit community. Jews have suffered discrimination and persecution for thousands of years, so inherently, they take enjoy the companionship in their community. Therefore, Bar Mitzvahs are a common celebration in the jewish culture as a way to unite the people while rejoicing in a child’s coming of age ceremony. This ritual is perhaps the quintessential ritual for the Jewish people, and this explains how it is so well preserved through time.

Item:    A bat mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish girls, like Deborah, who are twelve years old. For boys, this ceremony is called a bar mitzvah and is celebrated at thirteen years old.  During the bat mitzvah, the girl makes a speech accompanied by candles. Next, other family members and friends also speak.

Audio File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jAw928fHVBVmMTFbbhz1bdhlihm9UWS9/view?usp=sharing

Transcript for Bat Mitzvah:

“My bat mitzvah party, it was at a local country club, and all my family and friends were there from both sides. All the same people that attended services were at the party. And there was some dancing, some food, and a nice meal. And then at one point there was a candle lighting ceremony where I light twelve candles or thirteen depending on how old I am, and for each candle I dedicated it to a different person which is pretty standard for a lot of bar and bah mitzvahs. And you give a nice speech for each person inviting them up which is usually pretty corny and then some people spoke, like my parents about me. And overall, it was just a fun, middle school party.”

Informant’s Comments:

• It was a fun celebration
• I take my religion seriously!

Collector’s Comments:

• Deborah had a really nice time at her bat mitzvah. It doesn’t seem like it was incredibly important to her, but she still enjoyed it.

Collector’s Name and Information:

Khia Hollyer 18

Dartmouth College

Russian 13

Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords: Jewish, Bat Mitzvah, tradition, reformed

Initiation Ritual

“Bar Mitzvah”

General Information About Item:

• Genre: Customary Lore
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Michael Nachman
• Date Collected: 11/1/18

Informant Data: Michael Nachman is a 20 year old Sophomore at Dartmouth College. Nachman comes from a town close to Long Island called Port Washington, New York. He graduated as valedictorian of Paul D. Schreiber High School. Nachman has two younger brothers. One of Nachman’s brothers will be celebrating his bar mitzvah this coming June!

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Michael Nachman in Novack cafe at Dartmouth College. Michael and I are familiar with one another, as we shared dormitory floors throughout Freshman and Sophomore years. Nachman’s family are very steeped in the Jewish culture, and they regularly attend the community synagogue of Port Washington, where Nachman had his bar mitzvah!

Cultural Context: The Jewish culture revolves around a tight knit community. Jews have suffered discrimination and persecution for thousands of years, so inherently, they take comfort in the companionship of members of their community. Jews also like to keep their tradition and religion in a state of flourishing. Therefore, Bar Mitzvahs are a common celebration in the jewish culture as a way to unite the people while rejoicing in a child’s coming of age ceremony. This ritual is arguably  the quintessential ritual for the Jewish people, and this explains how it is so well preserved.

Item:    A bar mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish people who are thirteen years old if they are a boy and twelve years old if they are girls. For girls, this event is called a “bat mitzvah”. During this ceremony, the boy or girl reads from the torah and it takes roughly an hour.  The reading is a difficult task, the boy must learn on his own and read his passage on his own. Next, he must pass a hebrew test. If he fails these tasks he will not pass his bar mitzvah.

Audio File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/110gxf7xdKZLu_4PGaJUHpm-2u8ciEaT-/view?usp=sharing

Transcript for Bar Mitzvah:

“So my bar mitzvah happened when I was thirteen years old. I remember being very nervous about it, um because when you’re twelve/thirteen big parties are scary and you have to learn an entire portion and my torah portion was the ten commandments which is pretty special, pretty interesting for me to be able to talk about that in the context of me and my bar mitzvah and um yeah, to be honest, I  don’t have too much of a memory of my bar mitzvah, its all kind of a flashbulb of a memory.”

Informant’s Comments:

• I love the Jewish culture!
• It is a very serious ceremony with a lot of importance to the Jewish community.

Collector’s Comments:

• Michael doesn’t seem to recall much about his own bar mitzvah, but he knows a lot about the culture and seems to be very involved in judaism.

Collector’s Name and Information:

Khia Hollyer 18

Dartmouth College

Russian 13

Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords: Jewish, Bar Mitzvah, Party, tradition

Initiation Ritual

“Bar Mitzvah”

Alex

General Information About Item:

• Genre: Customary Lore
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Alex
• Date Collected: 11/1/18

Informant Data: Alex is a 21 year old student at Dartmouth College. He is from Ohio. During his spare time at Dartmouth, he is actively involved in clubs across campus.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Alex, a 21 year old student at Dartmouth College. Alex is a close friend of mine. I asked him to tell me about his Jewish heritage, and the bar mitzvah is his only true traditional experience he has had in the Jewish Culture. At Alex’s bar mitzvah, he invited his classmates and family members. He really enjoyed the party, and he describes it as very  fun.To Alex, it did not feel so much as a right of passage into becoming an adult, but rather an opportunity to have fun in the most educational way.

Cultural Context: The Jewish culture revolves around a tight knit community. Jews have suffered discrimination and persecution for thousands of years, so inherently, they take comfort in the companionship of members of their community. Therefore, Bar Mitzvahs are a common celebration in the jewish culture as a way to unite the people while rejoicing in a child’s coming of age ceremony. This ritual is arguably  the quintessential ritual for the Jewish people, and this explains how it is so well preserved.

Item:    A bar mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish people who are thirteen years old if they are a boy and twelve years old if they are girls. For girls, this event is called a “bat mitzvah”. During this ceremony, the boy or girl reads from the torah and it takes roughly an hour. The reading is usually followed by an awesome party with lots of the child’s friends.

Audio File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18c3S7GK3oy8Adra0m_BrRNpd0r3xRRrW/view?usp=sharing

Transcript for Bar Mitzvah:

“A bar mitzvah is a coming of age ceremony for Jewish people who are thirteen years old if they are a boy and twelve years old if they are girls, which would be called a “bat mitzvah”, which is a ceremony where they read from the torah which is the old testament or the Jewish holy book in a synagogue and it takes about an hour and it’s usually followed by an awesome party with lots of their friends. That’s what I did.”

Informant’s Comments:

• I had a lot of fun at my Bar Mitzvah!

Collector’s Comments:

• Alex really enjoyed his Bar Mitzvah
• It’s unfortunate how the significance of the Bar Mitzvah seems to elude Alex

Collector’s Name and Information:

Tags/Keywords: Jewish, Bar Mitzvah, Party, tradition

Initiation Ritual

Chris Duan
Dartmouth College
October 4th, 2018

Informant Data:

Chris Duan is a member of the class of 2021 here at Dartmouth and is a member of the Men’s Lightweight Rowing team. He is from California. He has been rowing all his life and wanted to row at Dartmouth since he was in middle school.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This initiation ritual is performed by new members of the Dartmouth Lightweight Rowing team. It is administered by the coach of the team and occurs roughly three weeks into the fall. It is performed in the late evening and continues into the night.

Cultural Context: In rowing, the boats have a piece of equipment called an oarlock attached to boat that holds the oars in place. It allows the oars to be moved around for rowing but keeps them in the same spot along the boat and prevents them from falling into the water. They act as a pivot point for rowing strokes. Gile is a hike close to campus that is short and easy. The elevation gain is not very large and can be completed in under an hour. It is a popular hike due to its low level of difficulty and length.

Item:

Roughly three weeks into the fall of the freshmen’s first season, the coach ends practice early for the freshmen. He then tells them that he has hidden an oarlock at the top of the Gile hike and that they must go retrieve it. The freshmen then drive to Gile and hike up to the top and find the oarlock and bring it back to the coach

Video Interview: lightwt rowing-2dro7wp

Analysis:

In this ritual, the freshmen are separated from the rest of the team at practice by the coach letting them out early. The transition is in their hike up Gile to find the oarlock and then when they return they are incorporated with the rest of the team back at practice. It involves a physical activity and facilitates getting to know the members of the class.

Comparison:

This ritual requires a form of physical activity which is seen in several other rituals we observed like the Rugby team and the Men’s swim team. It also involves getting to know your class by completing a task together such as with the Men’s swim team’s ritual of swimming all events in a meet or on the Men’s water polo team when the freshmen must arrive to campus earlier than  other members of the team.

Elliot Adams; 22 years old
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13 Fall

Initiation Ritual

Alie Hunter
Dartmouth College
October 25th, 2018

Informant Data:

Alie Hunter is a member of the class of 2021 here at Dartmouth and is a member of the Women’s Swim Team. She is from Toronto, Canada. She grew up swimming in Canada which was uncommon for her area, but she had to swim because she was not very good at skiing.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This initiation ritual is performed by new members of the Dartmouth Women’s Swim Team at the beginning of the season. It is initiated by the seniors on the swim team and they are in charge of continuing the ritual.

Cultural Context: Often times on sports teams, the seniors will not put a ton of emphasis on getting to know the freshmen on the team because they will only be spending one season with them. This results in the freshmen not getting to know them as well as they might want to. As a freshmen it can seem scary to approach a senior who you do now know very well and ask them to a meal.

Item:

At the beginning of the season, each senior girl emails out to all the freshmen telling them that they would like to get dinner with them. All the freshmen as a group then go eat with each senior and get to know them and break the ice so to speak.

Analysis:

This initiation ritual incorporates the freshmen by enabling them to get to know the seniors and demonstrating that everyone on the team cares about getting to know them. It also helps them get to know each other within their own class because they get these meals as a class plus a senior. The freshmen experience separation through not really knowing any seniors prior to these meals but then transition to knowing them and each other better as they get the meals together. Finally, they are incorporated now knowing more about the senior girls and each other.

Comparison:

This is similar to the Men’s Water polo ritual of getting dinner and telling true and false stories. In both rituals, the freshmen get together with upperclassmen in a relaxed setting and learn more about them. They also get to know each other by being together and telling stories. However, in this ritual it is only run by the seniors where in Water polo is was all upperclassmen.

James Patrick; 22 years old
4400 Montreux Rd
Warrenton, VA
16 W Wheelock St
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13 Fall

Initiation Ritual

Matt Riley
Dartmouth College
October 20th, 2018

Informant Data:

Matt Riley is a member of the class of 2019 here at Dartmouth and is a member of the Men’s Water polo Team. He is from Princeton, NJ. He started water polo with his brothers as a child and became more competitive as he aged. He recently concluded his career at Dartmouth with their season ending this fall.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This initiation ritual is performed by new members of the Dartmouth Men’s Water polo team at a dinner with the upperclassmen players. The dinner occurs right before the start of the official season in the fall when they are still in the “pre-season” stage of training and getting ready to start competing.

Cultural Context: In water polo, like most sports, the athletes have pre-season training. This is essentially just practices and conditioning to prepare for the start of the season when they will be competing. This is often the first time new members meet the rest of the team and their first taste of being on a college sports team. Getting to know the upperclassmen can be intimidating and having a structured outlet to do so is helpful.

Item:

During pre-season, the entire team goes to dinner together and the upperclassmen prepare stories about the team, some of them true and some false. They then tell them at dinner and the freshmen try to guess which ones are true and which are false. After they go through all the stories, the freshmen get together and come up with real and fake stories about each other and the upperclassmen then try to guess which are real and which are not.

Part 1

Part 2:

Analysis:

This initiation ritual brings together the new members through learning about other members of the team in a funny and relaxed way. The members are initially separated from the upperclassmen not know which stories are true and which are false; however, as they move through they transition and learn the stories and are incorporated in knowing more about their teammates and the team itself. They are also given the opportunity to present information about themselves so the upperclassmen can get to know them.

Comparison:

This is similar to the Men’s Swim team ritual of doing trivia when the freshmen get lockers. Both serve as a way of incorporating the new members through learning about the team and teammates using humor and having fun.

James Patrick; 22 years old
4400 Montreux Rd
Warrenton, VA
16 W Wheelock St
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13 Fall

Initiation Ritual

Kenneth Mousavian
Dartmouth College
October 24th, 2018

Informant Data:

Kenneth Mousavian is a member of the class of 2019 here at Dartmouth and is a member of the Men’s Water polo Team. He is from San Francisco, CA. He started playing water polo in high school after being a long time swimmer. He recently concluded his career at Dartmouth with their season ending this fall.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This initiation ritual is performed by new members of the Dartmouth Men’s Water polo team prior to the beginning of full team pre-season work outs. The freshmen players are impacted through getting to know each other and developing friendships prior to meeting everyone on the team.

Cultural Context: In water polo, like most sports, the athletes have pre-season training. This is essentially just practices and conditioning to prepare for the start of the season when they will be competing. This is often the first time new members meet the rest of the team and their first taste of being on a college sports team. Getting to know the upperclassmen can be scary and typically the athletes do not know anyone in their class coming in with them.

Item:

Prior to the official pre-season, freshmen players are required to come to campus earlier than the rest of the team in order to begin getting to know each other and train. It is a much smaller group at practice than usual, so they benefit from one on one development and help from the coach. They are able to get to know the campus and the school without the stress of classes or being overwhelmed getting to know the entire team at once. They spend time with their class who are the only ones on campus and are able to begin getting to know each other prior to the start of the season.

Analysis:

This represents a structured way of incorporating the new athletes into both the team and the school. They are separated from the rest of the team being there before everyone else and then during this time, transition to knowing each other and the program better. Once all the upperclassmen on the team arrive on campus, the freshmen are incorporated into the group better equipped to adjust to the training and team given that they have been there with each other for awhile already.

Comparison:

This ritual is similar to the Women’s Swim team ritual. Both teams get to know upperclassmen and each other over a meal and in a relaxed environment. This ritual has more structure in regards to story telling unlike the Women’s Swim team which is more casual conversation.

James Patrick; 22 years old
4400 Montreux Rd
Warrenton, VA
16 W Wheelock St
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13 Fall

Initiation Ritual

Paul Cane
Dartmouth College
October 6th, 2018

Informant Data:

Paul Cane is a member of the class of 2019 here at Dartmouth and is a member of the Men’s Swim Team. He is from San Francisco, CA. He started swimming at age 7 because his mother wanted him to be safe in the water. Fourteen years later he now swims at the collegiate level and has begun his final season for Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This initiation ritual is performed by new members of the Dartmouth Men’s Swim Team with upperclassmen taking part as well. It occurs on the first day of the season when practices begin. This ritual impacts these new members by encouraging them to engage the upperclassmen and have fun while learning a little bit about the team’s history and culture. The freshmen get to know the upperclassmen and each other while moving into their new lockers.

Cultural Context: The Men’s Swim team has their own locker room at the pool and each person gets a locker to use for storing towels, swimsuits, goggles, workout clothes/shoes, and anything else they might want to have close by for practice. The freshmen get to pick which locker they would like to use and then put all of their stuff in it. It is exciting to have your own locker in the team locker room because it makes you feel like you’re officially part of the team and are now able to use it freely. Knowing the history and culture of the team also makes you feel more incorporated and closer to the other people who have those shared experiences.

Item:

On the first day of the official season, the freshmen are all given lockers in the locker room to use. During this process, the upperclassmen on the team run trivia on the team culture  and history. They ask questions and the freshmen try to guess the answers. As they move through the trivia, the freshmen choose the lockers they would like to use and begin to move their stuff in. It is a light hearted affair full of jokes and laughs.

Analysis:

This ritual serves as a way of educating the new members on team history and culture. The freshmen learn about the team and get to know the upperclassmen. Prior to this the freshmen experienced separation in not having a locker. They then transition as the trivia goes on and they learn more about the team and pick their locker. Finally, they are incorporated by having their own locker and having being more knowledgable about the team’s history and culture. The emphasis in this ritual is primarily to have fun and learn about the team that they will be apart of for the next four years.

Comparison:

This is very similar to the water polo ritual of telling truths and lies and guessing which are true. Both placing an emphasis on getting to know the team and learning its history in a fun way. Unlike the other swim team ritual, this one is more about having fun where the other was a test of physical and mental fortitude.

James Patrick; 22 years old
4400 Montreux Rd
Warrenton, VA
16 W Wheelock St
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13 Fall