Category Archives: Customary Lore

Bequests

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ITEM:

  • Customary Folklore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Informant: Alec Miller
  • Date Collected: 11/10/19

INFORMANT DATA:

  • Alec Miller is an active member of Dartmouth Men’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, known by its name, Pain Train and has been a Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee community member for three years. He is a member of the class of 2021 and is a Government major. He started playing frisbee in high school, but improved significantly in college. Born on May 10, 1999, he is from Philadelphia, PA. His favorite frisbee throwing technique is the low release backhand.

CONTEXTUAL DATA:

  • Cultural Context: Bequests, or bequesting, is the act of passing down treasured items from one team member to a younger member. Bequests occur at Banquet each year. Banquet marks the official end to the year as a frisbee program, and all of the seniors who have been bequested items over the years now have to bequest them down so that they stay within the frisbee program. There are some items that have been in the program for many, many years: since the 1990s and earlier. Bequested items can consist of a number of things, including non-physical items, such as the title of “SPEW OVERLORD”, and physical items, most commonly flair. Each item is passed down and has each previous owner’s name and year associated with it, usually written on the item itself; this forms a sort of lineage of people that the item has been passed down from.

 

  • Social Context: This ritual was documented in a one-on-one interview in Novack. Bequests are given to individuals in the program that have developed a relationship with the bequester over their time at Dartmouth and within the Ultimate Frisbee Community. Items are usually bequested after the bequester has said a few (or a lot of) words in front of a group about what the item or previous owner has meant to them and what the recipient of the bequest means to them or why they feel the recipient should be the new owner. This fosters a sense of community within the program.

ITEM: 

  • Bequests

Recording:

TRANSCRIPT:

  • “Bequests are pretty much – some important, some not as important – but it’s all the stuff that’s been part of the frisbee program from the past couple of years and some for a very long time. So at the end of the year we have a program banquet where the teams get together in a cabin or somewhere where we’re all together and that is when bequests are handed down. There are multiple rounds. The first round is giving away most of their stuff but its stuff that doesn’t have much personal meaning to them.t could be random flair and stuff like that. Then there is, in between that round and the last round it’s called side bequests. That’s pretty much when someone wants to give something to someone but it’s usually more personal stuff that they just wanted to have a moment with the person to hand something down and don’t really feel the need to publicize it to the program. This stuff is usually not as related to the frisbee program but it’s more of a personal gift from the person. And then the last round is the more personal stuff, I guess you could call it the more important stuff to the frisbee program which gets handed down. The last round is definitely more emotional than the first one because it’s just like people giving up stuff that is very important to them to people who are important to them. And, in the first round it’s people giving away a lot of their stuff that they don’t really have a connection to whereas in the last one its people giving away four or five things that they care a lot about and talking about the importance of the item has to them and the importance the person has to them and why they’re giving it to them.”

 

INFORMANT’S COMMENTS:

  • “Banquet is the most important event of the year outside of playing”

 

COLLECTOR’S COMMENTS: 

  • Bequests are some of the most cherished items many Dartmouth students own and are kind of sacred. Bequested items never to be lost and should be preserved as best as possible. New items can become part of a bequest chain if they have enough significance to a single team member or the whole team itself, or if an item is particularly unique or one of a kind.

 

COLLECTOR’S NAME: 

  • Luke Cuomo and Annett Gawerc

Program Cheer

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ITEM:

  • Customary Folklore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Informant: Derek Willson
  • Date Collected: 11/10/19

INFORMANT DATA:

  • Derek Paul Willson is an active member of the Dartmouth Men’s Ultimate Frisbee B Team, known by its name, Discomfort Trolly; commonly known as Disco Troll. He is a member of the class of 2022, and he has been playing frisbee since his freshman fall at Dartmouth in 2018. Born on December 17, 2000, he is from Skylerville, NY. His favorite frisbee throwing technique is the hammer throw.

CONTEXTUAL DATA:

Cultural Context: 

  • The program cheer is a cheer that players across all teams know. This is taught to the rookies at the end of their first year at the program banquet and performed when the program is together at mixed games and tournaments. Additionally it is performed before big games on individuals teams (i.e. men’s and women’s). There are several rules for performing the program cheer, including requirements that one must either have their hat off or be wearing it backwards and a requirement that everyone must be holding the same frisbee while the cheer is performed. The program cheer is also a secret, known only to the members of the frisbee team.

Social Context: 

  • This ritual was documented in a one-on-one interview in Novack. This item of folklore brings the whole program together because it is unique to frisbee. Unlike ultimate frisbee sideline cheers, which often vary across teams, the program cheer is something the entire program knows. Additionally, it fosters a sense of community within class years because, other than one night a year for banquet, one is only permitted to to discuss the cheer with students in your class year. If a class is unable to memorize and piece together the program cheer during the school year, they must wait until banquet to speak to upperclassmen about it.

ITEM: 

  • Program Cheer

Recording

TRANSCRIPT: 

  • “Ok so the Program Cheer, we only really talk about it at Program Banquet at the end of the year unless you’re with other people of your class year. During it you’re supposed to have the program disc, have your hat off or backwards and have one thumb on the disc and if there’s too many people you have to touch someone who’s touching it [the disc]. It’s always funny with first years or rookies because they don’t know any of it cause you only really learn it at banquet unless somehow some other rookie knows it. You kinda just like AAAAAAA [screams] through the whole thing because you have no idea what it is. That’s always a funny thing.”

INFORMANT’S COMMENTS:

  • “It’s something that brings classes closer together because you can only talk about the words of it with members of your own class”

COLLECTOR’S COMMENTS: 

  • This cheer is standard in many ways but has a few particular points that make it unique. The fact that freshmen are not allowed to know the lyrics until the Banquet their freshman year makes this cheer an initiation ritual. Specifically, learning the cheer could be described as a rite of transition or incorporation – making the switch from a partial to a full fledged team member.
  • Because the cheer is known and performed only by upperclassmen, it holds an exclusionary aspect. Only once a team member is granted the privilege and knowledge for the cheer does the member achieve full status as a frisbee team player. Prior to the rookies learning it, they are told to scream and yell whenever it is performed so they are unable to learn it throughout the year.
  • Because the cheer is a secret, we were not able to document the words to it. However, even though we are unable to record the cheer itself, we can still analyze the context in which it is performed and the social and cultural dynamics around its performance, which we have done here. The surrounding dynamics of the cheer are very informative to frisbee culture despite the fact that we cannot know the cheer itself.
  • There is not really any pattern or meaning to the nonsensical cheer/noise made by those who do not know the cheer lyrics. The only purposes of the noise made is to contribute to the overall volume and intensity of the cheer as well as make it harder to hear the actual cheer lyrics to prevent outsiders from learning the words

COLLECTOR’S NAME: 

  • Luke Cuomo and Annett Gawerc

 

Breaking Glass in Jewish Weddings

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Title: Breaking Glass in Jewish Weddings

 

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, wedding folklore
  • Language: Hebrew, English
  • Region of Origin: 20th c. Europe
  • Informant: Brian Flansburg
  • Date Collected: 5-21-2019

Informant Data:

  • Brian Flansburg is a 52 year old man living in Safety Harbor, Florida. He grew up in a non-practicing Protestant household and married the daughter of a rabbi after college. Before marrying her, he had to covert to Judaism. He studied engineering at the University of Central Florida and has two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context:  There are many interpretations of the breaking of the glass, and many show qualities relating to concept of homeopathic magic. For the historic and cultural significance of this act to be understood, one should know of the destruction of the Holy Temple and the fall of Jerusalem around 2000 years ago. This practice is used as a reminder of that event. Moreover the superstition that loud noises frighten and appease evil spirits that are attracted to beautiful and fortunate people is important in the context of this folklore.
  • Social Context: I collected this folklore by asking Brian about a piece of wedding folklore from his wedding to his wife, Jenn. He described the ceremonies at length and in great detail, as he obtained this folklore from a religious community, even thought the custom itself does not have a strictly religious interpretation. Jenn’s father, a rabbi, told him that the practice of the Jewish groom breaking glass wrapped in a cloth or foil is symbolic of the fragility of human relationships. It is a symbolic act that marriage is a fragile thing, and once broken is hard or impossible to put back together.

Item (Direct Quote):

  • “After a Jewish groom (החתן or “chatan”) or  gives the bride (  כלה or “kala“) the ring at the end of the ceremony, traditionally chatan breaks a glass wine goblet (or light bulb originating from the Holocaust when Jews did not have access to goblets) wrapped in a towel or velvet pouch, crushing it with his right foot, and the guests shout congratulations ( מזל טוב‎ or “mazel tov!”) on the union.  The sound of the breaking glass is the last part of the wedding.  It sharply ends the formality and reverence of the ceremony under the canopy (חופה  or chuppah”), and transitions to the lively celebration.  ( שמחה or “Simcha” ). The broken glass is also a reminder for the couple to rebuild the destroyed Temple in their own lives by building their own Jewish home and to foster their spiritual life. A wedding union is a healing, sometimes considered a reunion, mending a broken relationship between Jews and G_d when the last Temple was destroyed.”

Collector’s Name: Molly Carpenter

Tags/Keywords:

  • Wedding Folklore
  • Jewish Lore
  • Rites of Transition
  • Homeopathic Magic

Seeing the Bride on her Wedding Day

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Title: Seeing the Bride on her Wedding Day

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, wedding folklore
  • Language: English
  • Region of Origin: unknown
  • Informant: Jamie Carpenter
  • Date Collected: 5-19-2019

Informant Data:

  • Jamie Carpenter is a 53 year old woman living in Clearwater, FL. She is the daughter of a first generation Russian immigrant and and second generation Welsh immigrant. She is the middle child of 5, and she was raised in Florida. She grew up a practicing Christian and attended Catholic school. She is a homemaker and has three children.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Avoiding seeing the bride before she walks down the aisle is a Western tradition, but it serves similar functions as veiling and pre-liminal rites of other cultures. This rite of passage would exist to allow the bride to exit the period of her life as a young woman, and enter into a sacred partnership. So it is important to note that while this superstition and practice may have had origins in what is considered the Western world, it does have international parallels.
  • Social Context: While nearly ubiquitous in American weddings, she learned of the tradition of the groomsman avoiding seeing the bride on the wedding day from her older sister Kim. She left her betrothed that morning and saw him again as she walked down the aisle. As this ritual is so widespread in America, it does not seem to be performed at specific times. There is subtle variations to how this customary lore is practiced. While this superstition is present to avoid bad luck, Jamie mentioned that she believed it also had a role earlier in society as a way in which arranged marriages could be successful, so that the groom would not be apprehensive.

Item (Direct Quote):

  • “I don’t remember specifically when I first heard this superstition, but I believe it was first witnessed by me at my older sister Kim’s wedding. She had a very official ceremony with many important rituals specific to her Catholicism. For me, I don’t believe I practiced many specific customs, however I assumed it would be odd to see Gary before walking down the aisle. That morning I said goodbye and left to go get ready, and the next time I saw him was walking down the aisle. This superstition may have arisen to protect arranged weddings, but I believe that today the purpose is less that or to avoid bad luck and more-so to prepare oneself for what is to come next. ”

Collector’s Name: Molly Carpenter

Tags/Keywords:

  • Wedding Folklore
  • American Lore
  • Rites of Transition
  • Pre-liminal

Reverse Pong

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Title: Reverse Pong

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America (Tennessee)
  • Informant: Anonymous
  • Date Collected: May 24, 2019

 

Informant Data:

  • The anonymous informant was a member of the Dartmouth Math department. They learned this drinking game during their time at Vanderbilt University.

Contextual Data:

  • The informant went to a relatively typical American college – with many students going out on the weekends to fraternities to party and drink. It was at one of the fraternities, at Vanderbilt University, that the informant observed this game.

Item:

  • “Two teams, with each partner standing across the table from the other. You have to bounce the ball against first the table, then your partner, and they use their chest to redirect the ball into the cups in front of them. If they bounce it in a cup, the opponent on their side has to drink.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “A different variant of pong that creates excitement by using one’s body as a significant part of the game”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is yet another variant of pong – this time using one’s own body as a sort of paddle to hit the ball with.

Collector’s Name: Michael Steel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game.

Boßeln

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Title: Boßeln (Bosseln)

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Nicolay Ostrau
  • Date Collected: May 28, 2019

 

Informant Data:

  • Nicolay Ostrau is a Professor and Senior Lecturer in Dartmouth’s department of German studies. His home region is Northern Germany. He heard of this drinking game through his many experiences with German culture, although he never partook in the game itself.

Contextual Data:

  • The game has a large social component to it. As the informant mentions, it is often the entire village that plays the game. Because Germany allows drinking at the age of 16, typical games such as those found on American college campuses seem to be less prevalent, whereas older, traditional games that can be played by elders seem to be more common.

Item:

  • “I’ve never taken part in it myself or even seen it played, but I know that it exists…
    I think the most interesting [drinking game] culture wise is… It’s a pastime. I don’t know whether to call it a sport… It kind of is a sport. It’s called Boßeln.  And the best way to describe it and to translate it would be that it’s a form of cross country bowling. It’s really strange.
    It’s coming from my home region northern Germany. Because you can imagine Northern Germany is really flat. And, it is usually played by older people or by entire villages – small northern German villages. You take a bowling type ball, you get together with a bunch of friends or with your family… You start in the village center and you start rolling this ball down the street. You have two teams and the attempt is of course to roll that ball as far and as quickly as possible. Who ever rolls the ball the fastest and arrives at a given destination that has been agreed on beforehand wins the game. Also I think you get points for the times that you have to roll. So it’s like it’s like miniature golf. The fewer times you have the roll that ball the more points you get.Why is it a drinking game? Because traditionally you take along a handcart you walk with and this handcart is filled with liquor. So every time every time you roll that ball you ought to drink a shot. You can imagine as the game progresses, things get heated and then more and more funny. Then at the end everybody ends up at a “Gaststätte” (at a pub) and then people traditionally eat that famous northern German dish…They eat cooked kale with a fat sausage, which then soaks up all the alcohol to that you have had before.
    So that is, I think, the most interesting one.”

Informant Comments:

  • “This is interesting because it is also really rooted in tradition. This is local northern German families and villages that get together… I don’t know when it was invented maybe in the 19th century I couldn’t tell how long this has been around, but it is very traditional.
    It’s that village culture and it’s also… I mean the aim of the game is to, number one to stay warm in winter. The more liquor you drink, the warmer you stay. And that’s of course the reason to do it in winter because you have an excuse for drinking a lot outside. And it’s really bringing the community together. Right, it’s the entire village that plays together, that has fun together, and then also you always go sit down in a pub and you eat a traditional northern German dish together.
    So it’s connected to food. I think it builds community. And then also, you’re consuming a local drink. That is, Korn which is a corn liquor that’s especially popular in northern Germany. So in that respect also, it’s really rooted in tradition and specific to that to that region. And then also it takes advantage of the landscape…You would have a much harder time playing cross country bowling in Bavaria in a village that’s located on a slope. Either you would be running after the ball or the ball would roll back and it wouldn’t really come to a standstill anywhere.
    So in that respect that it’s rooted in the landscape and the food and also the village community.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this game quite interesting because as the informant mentioned, it is usually played by older people (or entire villages). The fact that Germany has a low drinking age seems to have made drinking more institutionalized than here in America, allowing such traditional games to take place. It doesn’t seem to have the “legitimization” aspect that many college drinking games seem to; Rather, it seems to be played simply to have a great time with friends and family, with no judgement – because drinking in Germany carries none of the stigma that drinking in America does.

Collector’s Name: Michael Steel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game. German.

Beer Pong 2

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Title: Beer Pong

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America (Texas)
  • Informant: Anonymous
  • Date Collected: May 14, 2019

 

Informant Data:

  • The anonymous informant was a visiting professor in the Dartmouth Math department. She was born in Mexico City and currently lives in Hanover, NH. She spent her undergraduate years at the University of Texas, Pan American, where she learned this drinking game.

Contextual Data:

  • The informant went to a relatively typical American college – with many students going out to parties on the weekends at fraternities. It was at one of the fraternity parties, during her Junior year of college and University of Texas, that the informant observed this game.

Item:

  • “So you have to set up some cups, right, on each side of the table, and then you have like a ping pong ball. And you just have to throw it [at the cups in front of the other person]. And if it falls into the cup, the person on the other side of the table has to drink it. And if it doesn’t [make it into a cup], then you have to drink on your side.”

Informant’s Comments:

    • “I mean, in my in my opinion it wasn’t so fun because unless you’re very good at aiming –  and then it’s fun because you see the other person getting drunk while you’re pretty awake right… [or else, you end up just drinking a lot]…. I think it’s a it’s a fair game though, rather than just drink for no reason, [it gives you a reason for drinking].“

Collector’s Comments:

  • This variant of pong is interesting, because unlike traditional pong where you only drink if your opponent gets their ball in your cup, in this variant, you also have to drink if you miss a cup. This seems to lead to an accelerated rate of drinking (and perhaps the reason our informant wasn’t a huge fan of this game).

Collector’s Name: Michael Steel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game. Beer Pong.

Slap Cup

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Title: Slap Cup

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America (Tennessee)
  • Informant: Anonymous
  • Date Collected: May 24, 2019

 

Informant Data:

  • The anonymous informant was a member of the Dartmouth Math department. They learned this drinking game during their time at Vanderbilt University.

Contextual Data:

  • The informant went to a relatively typical American college – with many students going out on the weekends to fraternities to party and drink. It was at one of the fraternities, at Vanderbilt University, that the informant observed this game.

Item:

  • “Slap Cup is a game where you put a bunch of drinks in the center, with small amounts of alcohol in each cup. There’s two cups… you take two balls. When the cup is in front of you, bounce it into it. If the person next to you gets their ball in first, they slap your cup away, and you have to drink from one of the center cups. The game is very fast paced.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This games is about, “Drinking a lot… there’s lots of beer drunk over a short amount of time. It’s a short game, with lots of drinking that makes it more intense.”
  • It’s “Fun. Very sticky. Has lots of sub rules.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This game seems to fall more into the category of “drinking a lot.” That said, it does seem to be one of the more competitive games, which gives it its appeal.

Collector’s Name: Michael Steel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game.