Category Archives: Dartmouth College

Fraternity Handshake

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Greeting Handshake amongst brothershandshake

  • Informant info
    • Junior Fraternity member at Dartmouth College
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Customary
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • This handshake is done at meetings, all fraternity events, and when brothers see each other around campus
  • Informant’s comments
    • The handshake is relatively easy to perform. The handshake is 4 fingers over, and the pinky under. We learn this handshake during the initiation ceremony and it continues as a tradition amongst brothers even after college.
  • Collector’s comments
    • The fraternity is key anonymous in order to protect the fraternity and the informant

 

 

Required dress code during initiation

blue bow

  • Informant info
    • Junior sorority member at Dartmouth College
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Material
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • During the week of initiation we are required to dress certain ways
  •  Informant’s comments
    • During the week of initiation, all new members are required to wear blue bows. Every new member has to always be wearing a blue bow, but we each are also assigned a theme we have to dress up for that week such as goth. This is a very fun way to interact with our new sisters and get to know the older sisters in a light hearted, fun manner. I really enjoy this tradition and thing it is a great welcome into the sorority.
  • Collector’s comments
    • The sorority is kept anonymous in order to protect the sorority traditions and the informant.

 

 

Sorority Handshake

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Sister Greeting Handshake

  • Informant info
    • Junior sorority member at Dartmouth College
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Customary
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • This handshake is performed at meetings and often when sisters see each other around campus
  • Informant’s comments
    • The handshake is very tough to describe. What we do is we interlock our two bottom fingers with a sister and it creates a K with the interlock fingers to represent our sorority. This has been a longstanding handshake for our sorority and each new member learns it when they accept their bid to the sorority
  • Collector’s comments
    • The specific sorority is anonymous to in order to protect the sorority traditions and the informant identity

 

 

Post Meetings Chant

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Post meetings song/chant

  • Informant info
    • Junior sorority member Dartmouth College
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Verbal
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • this song/chant is performed to end meetings every week
  • Transcript (if verbal lore)
    • “OHHHHh Pat said she what said he tell me the truth said he what do you think is the best fraternity oh said he that’s easy, easy to see said he nobody’s better than KKG. Oh kappa kappa kappa gamma Im so happy that I amma kappa kappa kappa gamma nobody knows how happy I am”
  • Informant’s comments
    • This song has been performed for as long as anybody currently in the sorority can remember

 

 

Initiation Ceremony

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  • Initiation ceremony tradition
  • Informant info
    • Junior sorority member at Penn State University
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Customary
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • These are some traditions performed every year to start and during the initiation ceremony
  • Informant’s comments
    • Every year for the initiation ceremony we have a candlelight ceremony where all members have to dress in all white and decorate the suite with candles and white curtains. Each potential member has to enter the house three at a time in alphabetical order, and is then sworn in. It is taken very seriously and is a big tradition for us. It is assumed when you pledge the sorority you will also take these longstanding traditions.
  • Collector’s comments
    • the specific sorority is kept anonymous in order to protect the traditions of the sorority and the informant

 

 

Mafia

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Title: Mafia

Informant info: Informant name: Alex Putter, Location: Hanover, NH, Date: 5/18/16, Dartmouth Student, Male, Class of 2018

Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre: Customary

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Since the game involves so many people and requires a deck of cards, this game must have been played after everyone got into their trips or during extended breaks.

Informant’s comments: “In Mafia you have two conflicting groups, the mafia and the citizens. The game starts out with the mafia having only a few people and the citizens having a lot. Mafia members slowly eliminate townspeople until they outnumber them, or alternatively, townspeople guess which players are mafia members and eliminate them until there are none left. The game involves a great deal of cooperation, secrecy, and bluffing. It is a perfect icebreaker game as it requires everyone’s input.”

Collector’s comments: “I don’t remember playing Mafia at all on my trip, so presumably each trip leader had his or her own set of games for us.” -Julio

Tags: Mafia, cards, citizens, criminals, guessing, secrecy, bluff

 

Contact

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Title: Contact

Informant info: Informant name: Alfredo Gurmendi, Location: Hanover, NH, Date: 5/22/16, Dartmouth Student, Male, Class of 2018

Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre: Customary

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: This game was played mainly during the hiking portions of hiking trips.

Associated file: The embedded video is an example of someone else demonstrating how to play contact.

Informant’s comments: “We played contact with our entire trip. At the beginning of the game, one person is told to think of some person, place or thing. The person then reveals the first letter to the others. Each of the players mentally comes up with their own guess as to what the object is. A player can then question the designated person by asking about a clue. If another player believes he is thinking about the same thing, he can yell “contact” and the two players then count down from 3. Once the countdown is through, they then yell out their respective guesses. If the guesses are the same, the designated person has to reveal the second letter of the object. If the guesses are different, the game continues with each player asking about a clue.”

Collector’s comments: “We played this a lot during my hike and climb trip. As we had to hike several miles each day, we needed a game that didn’t require any materials and could be played while on the move. It was a lot of fun and took our mind off things.” -Julio

Tags: contact, trivia, guessing, botticelli

The First Infantry Song

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Title: The First Infantry Song

Informant info: Informant name is Jason Laackmann. Jason is twenty-eight years old and attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Jason served in the Army for five years in active duty and continues to serve in the Minnesota National Guard. The locations in which he has served are Fort Bend, Georgia, Fort Riley, Kansas, and overseas in Eastern Afghanistan.

Type of lore: Verbal Folklore, Songs, Lyrics

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Jason was asked if he remembered any songs that they would sing during his training or time in the Army. He was asked to sing these songs out loud, but was too shy and sent the lyrics to me via email instead.

Associated File: There is no recorded video as Jason has sent me these lyrics via email.

Transcript:  [I have recorded the item exactly how it was sent to me in the email]:

Below are a few running/marching cadences. Also listed are the army song and the first infantry doctors song, which we sang every morning. Let me know if you need more.

The first infantry division song:

Toast of the Army,

Favorite Son! Hail to the brave Big Red One!

Always the first to thirst for a fight.

No foe shall challenge our right to victory.

We take the field, A grand sight to see.

Pride of the Infantry.

Men of a great division,

Courage is our tradition,

Forward the Big Red One!

Informant’s comments: Jason mentioned that he would sing this song every morning before they would begin their day. He also stated that each infantry had their own specific song.

Collector’s comments: Although Jason was hesitant to sing the songs out loud, he was more than willing to provide the lyrics and share this song with me.

Bid Day Chant

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Bid Day Chant

  • Informant info
    • Junior in sorority at Penn State University
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Verbal
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • This chant is sung at Bid Day to attract new members to the sorority and a bonding experience with all of the younger girls who have received a bid.
    • Transcript (if verbal lore)
      • “Pi Pi beta phi p-i-p-h-i Pi phi. P for I for beta phi for I just love pi beta phi”
  • Informant’s comments
    • This is chanted continuously on Bid Day every year. It is a sense of pride for our sorority as we try to attract new members amongst the crowd of all sororities
  • Collector’s comments
    • The sorority and the informant are kept anonymous. Similar folklore was recorded at Dartmouth.
    • This version of verbal folk is seen throughout the country as a traditional welcome into the house. Over the years and across national organizations, the location of performance, song choice, and dances used during the recruitment process vary greatly, but they all contain key reoccurring components such as full house involvement, matching outfits (potentially material lore), and synchronized dance moves (Texas A&M video below of examples of Bid Day “Door Chants” from 2014 and Colorado State University from 2009).

 

LLama Llama

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Title: Llama Llama

Informant info: Informant name: Andy Shea ‘17 Location: Hanover, NH Date: 5/21/16, Dartmouth Student, Male, Class of 2017

Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre: Customary

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: This game is played before the actual start of Trips, when people are first meeting their fellow trippees and trip leaders. It is sometimes played at the Lodj, but emphasis is placed on other activities. 

Associated file: 

Source: http://outdoors.dartmouth.edu/firstyear/about_trips.html

Source: http://outdoors.dartmouth.edu/firstyear/about_trips.html

Informant’s comments: “The way I remember this game is that they made us stand in a circle and chant “Llama llama llama llama” towards other players while making funny hand and face gestures. The player on the receiving end must repeat the phrase and hand gestures towards a player they haven’t chosen yet. If a player messes up by throwing the circle off sync or picking a player that already went, that player is out. Once two players are left, the players go into what’s called a ‘veggie-off.’ During this phase, one of the players who was eliminated is made a judge and told to think of an adjective-vegetable combination, like charismatic cucumber. Once the judge thinks of the combination, he counts down from 3 and the two remaining players must act out the combination. The player with the funniest or most genuine improvisation wins the game.”

Collector’s comments: “I remember playing multiple variations of this game, including one where we incorporated other icebreaking games into it in order to make it more challenging. At one point the entire circle had to rotate counterclockwise, and a player could make make it rotate in the opposite direction at a moment’s notice.” -Julio

Tags: Llama, icebreaker, game, vegetables, competition