Climbing Status Symbol

“Red Point”

RY

May 7, 2020

Informant Data:

RY is a 23-year-old Dartmouth College graduate from the class of 2019. She works at Appin in Arlington, Virginia, United States. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri on October 2, 1996. RY has three younger siblings: a younger sister who is 20, a younger sister who is 15, and a younger brother who is 11. Her mom was trained in real-estate but is now a stay-at-home mom. Her dad works in construction, he mixes chemicals and figures out the best pavement method. Both parents grew up in rural parts of China and moved to the United States in the early 90s. She is Asian-American, upper-middle class. Her family is very religious. She was raised Christian. She is religious but does not fully adhere to religion the way she was taught to in her upbring. She was a figure skater growing up. She started climbing during first year trips at Dartmouth College and after injuring herself she couldn’t skate. So she transitioned to climbing regularly. No one in her family climbs. She is the former Chair of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club and taught sport climbing during College. She is an outdoor sport climber primarily and has never competed. 

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: There are two types of sport climbing: top roping and lead climbing. Top roping refers to when there is an anchor at the top of the climb that the rope feeds through. This creates a system where the climber can be pulled up a climb by a belayer, this creates a system where the climber receives some assistance from the rope and when they fall they stay in the same place. On the other hand, in lead climbing the climber must clip the rope into bolts as they go up the climb, so there is no help from the rope and if they fall, they fall to the last place they were clipped in to. Due to these differences, there is more of a sense of accomplishment if you have led a route while leading. Climbers often track the routes they have completed and there are different indicators for how they completed the route (i.e. how many falls they took).

Social Context:  The vernacular term “red point” is used during conversation between climbers to describe how they climbed a route or how they hope to climb a route in the future. The term is most used in outdoor climbing, but could be used for indoor climbing. It can only be used for lead climbing. Climbers use it to mark their progress and say what level they climb in talking to other climbers. An example of the way “red point” can be used is: “I fell last time I tried this climb, but this time I didn’t fall. I guess I have a higher red point grade now.” This is also a piece of vernacular, so it has the function of connecting the community. However, it acts more as a way for a climber to signify how good they are at climbing and therefore how respected they are in the community. 

Text: 

I have recorded “red point” as closely as I could to the way RY told it. The following description is from the notes I took during the interview, and are paraphrases of what she shared during it.

The term “red point” in climbing refers to when a climber leads a route from start to finish without falling, particularly if they have attempted the climb before and not finished it or fallen while climbing it. People red point in order to define what is meant by climbing or completing a route. The connotation of “red pointing” is you worked on it after falling before and have now done the climb well. There is a large sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with a “red point.” It is a way to define your personal progress in climbing because it describes a certain level of skill. Experienced climbers that are leading routes use this term. It is a more technical term than completing or sending a route. The term “red point” comes from the tradition of spray painting a red circle on the bottom of a climb you tried and did not complete and then filling in the circle with red once you have done it without falling. Therefore, once you have done a climb without falling there would be a red point on the bottom of the climb. 

Roxanne Holden, 21

Dartmouth College

Russ 13

Spring 2020

Kipsalana

General Information about Item:
Genre: Sports Tradition – Pregame Tradition
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States

Informant Data:
Matt Luciano is a 21 year old male born in Cincinnati, Ohio but raised in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. He is a Junior at Dartmouth College and has been swimming competitively for 17 years. He has been on the Varsity Swim and Dive Team for three years, participates in an elementary school pen pal program through the Swim team, and is a member of Beta Alpha Omega. He first encountered this tradition in October 2017 in FOCO on Dartmouth College’s campus.

Contextual Data:
Social Context: The following tradition occurs before every Varsity Swim and Dive meet. Both the origin and the meaning of the chant are unknown, yet the swim team maintains that the chant goes all the way back to the origin of the team. The chant serves to hype up the team before a meet.

Item:

“Kipsalana, Kipsalana Squish Squa.
Tie hi Silicon Sku Cum Wa.
Mojo Mummik.
Muka Muka Zip.
Dartmouth Dartmouth Rip Rip Rip.
Tie Hi Sis Boom Ba.
Dartmouth Dartmouth Rah Rah Rah.”

Collector: Robert Hopkins

Player of the Game Helmet

General Information about Item:

Genre: Sports Tradition – Postgame Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

 

Informant Data:

Jack Mascali is a 20 year old Italian/Irish male who was born and raised in New Jersey. He is a Junior at Dartmouth College, where in addition to playing Club Hockey he is the Social Chair and Rush Chair of Phi Delta Alpha Fraternity. He has been playing Club Hockey at Dartmouth for three years, and has played hockey for 15 years of his life. He first encountered this tradition in September 2017, during his freshman fall at Thompson Arena in the Club Hockey locker room. 

 

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The following tradition occurs after a club hockey game. The tradition is led by the previous game’s player of the game. Transmission of this folklore comes from being on the club hockey team and observing the tradition performance in the locker room. Receiving the player of the game helmet is an honor. 

 

Item:

After every club hockey game, the previous recipient of the helmet chooses a player to bestow the helmet upon. The previous recipient is the sole decider of the new recipient, and may choose the player of the game on whatever grounds he deems appropriate. He gives a quick speech on why he thinks the player in question deserves the helmet. The helmet is then transferred to the new recipient and he gives a short speech about the game they just played. He then carries the helmet with him in his bag until the next game, when the ceremony is performed again and the helmet is transferred. 

 

Collector: Robert Hopkins

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rookie Night

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Custom
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Robert Hopkins
• Date Collected: May 19, 2020

 

Informant Data:

Robert Hopkins was born in Chicago, Illinois and has lived there his entire life. He is 21 years old and is of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent. Robert has played hockey for 15 years, including three years of club hockey at Dartmouth. He also played baseball before coming to Dartmouth and plays golf in his free time. At Dartmouth, he is a member and co-treasurer of the club hockey team, the treasurer of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, and is involved in the political economy project.

 

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

After Robert tried out for and made the club hockey team, he and the other new team members were still not fully integrated into the team. First, they needed to go through an initiation to understand what it meant to be part of the club hockey team. On a Friday night at an off-campus house, the entire team gathered and the new members learned about the traditions of the team. Robert believes that this night helped him to become extremely close with not only his class, but also the upperclassmen. He was glad that this night gave the upperclassmen a chance to get to know him and his comedic personality. Robert enjoyed the fact that he could learn about the team and spend time with his teammates outside of a hockey setting.

Cultural Context:

Sports teams (specifically in college) usually have some sort of initiation for players that they have to complete. The initiation usually includes some kind of education about the team’s history, traditions, and current players. These rituals are meant to teach the new players about the team and to integrate them with the older players.

 

Item:

The older players are waiting at the off-campus house and then the younger players show up in hockey garb. All of the new players give a 100-word speech in hockey jargon about what a team means to them. Next, there are a few tasks that the new players perform, which teach them about the team’s traditions and introduce them to older players. They compete against older team members to foster chemistry between the new members. Finally, the new players get to remove their helmets and ceremoniously join their team.

 

Collector: Jack Mascali

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

End of Year Banquet

General Information:

Informant = Ty Teodori

Country of Origin = United States of America

Date Collected = May 20th 2020

 

Informant Data: Ty Teodori was born on December 31^st and is from Fulton Maryland. He grew up playing hockey, lacrosse and golf and continued to play all three of those sports into high school. While he was always a superior lacrosse player, hockey was his favorite sport and he decided to join the club team at Dartmouth, which Ty admits to be far more competitive than the hockey he is used to. Ty is currently a senior at Dartmouth College, studying engineering, he will be returning next year to complete his BE degree.

Contextual Data: The club hockey team only recently made a commitment to becoming a more serious sports team, officially joining the ACHA (American Club Hockey Association) and hiring the previous Hanover high school hockey coaches to take over the team. Ty is now a senior, but he remembers his freshmen year when there was a good deal of hockey talent on the team, but the commitment to the group was lacking and the mentality of the team was less about winning and more about having fun. Ty relates, that the changes in the group came about almost entirely due to student leadership and cites this newfound tradition as part of the changes. End of year banquets are typical of most sports teams, both at youth and college level, and the idea was only incorporated to Dartmouth Men’s club hockey two years ago. Ty’s freshmen year there was no banquet, but he got to experience the first and second annual banquet which occur in early springtime after the entirety of the season is completed.

Item: The banquet consists of a team congregation at Murphy’s restaurant in Hanover, where the team reserves the back room for dinner and a few activities to cap off the season. The banquet consists of only the players and no coaches and the players spend the majority of the meal eating and socializing with fellow teammates. According to Ty, the club hockey team is one of the closest teams on campus and he has developed a lot of his closest friendships in college through the club hockey team. Near the end of the banquet, there are a few ceremonies which serve to honor the graduating seniors on the team, a speech about each senior is performed by a prominent team member. Next, each individual player is honored with a “Most likely” award, these awards have been brainstormed in preparation for the banquet and range from serious to inside jokes. While they are rarely mean, they are more often designed to poke fun at each player on the team. For example, Ty’s most likely award was, “most likely to have silky mitts.” Silky mitts is an ironic callback to Ty’s instantly recognizable (to all who know hockey) inferior skills at handling the puck.

 

Collector: Matt Armstrong

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Avalon

 

General Information:

Informant = Emerson Mahoney

Country of Origin = United States of America

Date Collected = May 21st 2020

 

Informant Data: Emerson Mahoney was born and grew up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard,. He grew up playing club hockey around the Boston area, he is a senior on the Dartmouth club hockey and will graduate shortly. He is also the one responsible for bringing this folklore to the team and is the only person on the team who knew the rules to the game before teaching the rest of the team and passing it down to the younger players.

Contextual Data: The club hockey team only recently made a commitment to becoming a more serious sports team, officially joining the ACHA (American Club Hockey Association) and hiring the previous Hanover high school hockey coaches to take over the team. Travel has always been a fairly large component of the commitment to the team. Each year, the team goes on two or three road trips where they will stay overnight at a hotel. This is a result of tournament play, or simply multiple league games scheduled in the same city, or neighboring locations. Because few league teams are based near Hanover, the scheduling of the team (which includes half of the games played away) involved significant travel. Away games accomplished in day trips are located at minimum an hour away from campus. The prevalence of travel, increases team camaraderie and forces social time to be spent, when team members are looking for weekend breaks from rigorous Dartmouth academic life.

Item: This ritual consists of a congregation of the entirety, or majority of the team as Avalon player limits are capped off at around 6 in one hotel room. Hotel rooms are small, financed by the minimal club hockey budget and are suited for four maximum people in two beds. Typical for a game of Avalon, around 15 people are gathered in a room, either to play or to watch and socialize. The rules of the game are difficult, but the premise of the game is that some players are assigned as “good” (minions of merlin) and some as “bad” (“minions of modred”). The caveat of the game is that no one knows the true identity of the other plays and your skill and ability to lie determine your ultimate fate, the good try to defeat the evil whereas the evil try to pass off as good and remain after the game is completed. The nature of the game creates a wild scene where players often yell or interrogate intensely other players and in the end no one knows what to believe. While gameplay is intense, the overriding atmosphere is one of goodhearted fun. Many rounds are played over the course of a couple hours before team members retire back to their own hotels rooms for the night

Collector: Matt Armstrong

 

Breakfast of Champions

General Information about Item:
Genre: Sports Tradition – Initiation/Integration Traditions
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States

Informant Data:
Jackson Rich is a 21 year old Jewish male born in Pittsfield, MA. He spent his childhood in Pittsfield, MA and is currently a Junior at Dartmouth College. He has played three years of Club Soccer at Dartmouth College, and has been playing soccer for 16 years. On campus he is also involved in MLDP, Club Nordic Skiing, and is the Vice President of Beta Alpha Omega Fraternity. Jackson first encountered this tradition in September 2017 during the fall of his freshman year.

 

Contextual Data:
Social Context: The following tradition occurs after club soccer tryouts, before new team members know that they have made the team. Transmission of this folklore comes from being a participant in the traditions, and leadership of the tradition is passed from one team captain to the next.

 

Item:

Following tryouts every year, the club soccer team wakes up the kids who made the team early in the morning for a surprise team breakfast at Four Aces Diner(they are unaware that they have made the team). The whole team is present for this breakfast and new members are mixed in with existing members. The goal is to introduce the new members to the team and get them familiar with the older guys on campus. At first the new members are disoriented, but once they get to Four Aces it is announced they have made the team and the breakfast becomes a celebration of that.

 

Collector: Robert Hopkins

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The Banter Wagon

General Information About the Item:

• Customary Folklore: English Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Unites States
• Informant: Stuart Hayes
• Date Collected: May 11, 2020

Informant Data:

Stuart Hayes is a junior studying Engineering at Dartmouth College. He is also a member of the Dartmouth men’s club soccer team. Stuart is from Nevada and he has a strong athletic background, particularly in soccer. Stuart has been a member of the Dartmouth men’s club soccer team for his entire career at Dartmouth, and this year he has become one of the most influential leaders on the team.

 

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The informant was interviewed in person regarding the “Banter Wagon” tradition. Stuart said that he first learned of this tradition when he was a freshman at Dartmouth and he had just joined the men’s club soccer team. According to Stuart, the tradition is led by older members of the club soccer team and as you progress through Dartmouth, you take on more of a leadership role in the tradition. Stuart notes that this tradition, in which members of the team pile into the back of a pickup truck, occurs after every practice and every game. The tradition involves the team bonding or “bantering” in the back of the truck as they go to get food after a practice or game.

Cultural Context: Many teams have different bonding activities to bring their team closer together on and off the field of play. However, the closest teams are very diligent about having their team traditions regularly. According to Stuart, the “Banter Wagon” tradition after practice or a game, regardless of the result of the practice or game. Though he acknowledges that sometimes people are less enthusiastic after a bad loss or a bad practice, Stuart says that because the team has this tradition regularly, his college experience has been enhanced because of the friendships he has been able to make.

 

Item:

After every practice and game, the Dartmouth Men’s club soccer team all get in the back of a teammate’s pickup truck, known as the “Banter Wagon”, and bond as they travel to get ice cream or go to the Dartmouth dining hall. The tradition occurs regularly.

Collector: Peter Conklin

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Post-Tryout Run

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Custom
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Sebastian Carter
• Date Collected: May 19, 2020

Informant Data:

Sebastian Carter was born in Washington D.C. and currently lives there. He is 21 years old and is of Egyptian and English descent. Sebastian has played soccer for 17 years, including three years of club soccer at Dartmouth. He also played tennis and basketball growing up. In college, he is a member of the club soccer team and the president of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity.

 

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

When Sebastian was a first year student at Dartmouth, he tried out for club soccer and made the A-team. After trying out on the Sachem fields, the entire A-team had to complete the tradition before fully becoming a team. Sebastian and the other first-year students were surprised because they had thought that the tryout was the last test before becoming a team member. However, he felt that the tradition bonded all of the new players together, but also united the new players with the returning ones. Throughout his three years playing at Dartmouth, he has repeatedly seen this tradition bring the team together at the beginning of the season.

Cultural Context:

Sports teams have “tryouts” to determine which players are good enough to play for the team that year. However, sports teams (especially in college) can have a further test of the players to see if they truly have what it takes to be a member of the team. This can include some kind of endurance or skill test, or an initiation test unrelated to the sport.

 

Item:

After the players for the A-team have been initially selected, there is a further test before the team is official. The captains organize a three-mile run that must be completed by the entire team in under twenty minutes. In order to make the team, each player must complete the challenge at some point before the season.

 

Collector: Jack Mascali

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The First Team Dinner

General Information About the Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Tradition – Integration Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Unites States
• Informant: Matt Schnell
• Date Collected: May 10, 2020

Informant Data:

Matt Schnell is a sophomore studying Quantitative Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. He is  a member of the Dartmouth Men’s Club Soccer team, and the Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity. Matt is from Atlanta, and has a strong interest in all sports, with a particular focus on soccer, basketball, and football. Matt joined the Dartmouth Men’s Club Soccer team his freshman year at Dartmouth, and has served as social chair. He will serve as junior captain next year.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The following tradition occurs after club soccer tryouts, and before the team engages in regular season play. Transmission of this folklore comes from being a participant in the traditions, and leadership of the tradition is passed from previously elected social chairs to newly elected social chairs – who are typically sophomores.

Cultural Context: Many teams across all sports engage in team-wide dinners the night before a big game. Team dinners the night before the first game are usually especially meaningful and typically better attended than any other the rest of the season.

Item:

Before the start of the fall season, the freshman who have just made the team are invited to come to a team dinner along with any upperclassman who are available. The goal of the dinner is to integrate the freshman into the team, with guided questions and rituals during and after the dinner aimed at getting the freshman to know the upperclassmen and vice versa. While the event can be a bit intimidating for freshman, eventually most team members end up enjoying themselves and starting friendships with their new teammates.

Collector: Grant Gualtieri

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Club Soccer Meetings

General Information About the Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Tradition – Passing of the Torch Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Unites States
• Informant: Nikhil Lele
• Date Collected: May 10, 2020

Informant Data:

Nikhil Lele is a junior studying Biology at Dartmouth College, with plans to further study medicine after graduation. On campus, he is a member of the Dartmouth Men’s Club Soccer team, and the Beta Alpha Omega fraternity. Nikhil is from Boston, and has a strong interest in New England sports organizations. He was a part of the Lincoln-Sudbury soccer team that made it to the MIAA State Finals and won. Nikhil joined the Dartmouth Men’s Club Soccer team his freshman year at Dartmouth. He will serve as treasurer next year.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The following tradition occurs after the completion of the spring season, with all games and practices finished. Transmission of this folklore comes from being a participant in the traditions, and leadership of the tradition is passed from previously elected social chairs to newly elected social chairs, from previously elected team captain to newly elected team captain, and from previously elected club president to newly elected club president.

Cultural Context: Most sports organizations make it a custom to engage in a post-season celebration to honor members who have achieved success and who may be leaving the organization. Furthermore, with many club soccer players involved in Greek Life, the tradition seeks to mirror some of the practices that are seen in typical fraternity brotherhood meetings.

Item:

Following the completion of the spring season, which is comprised of an Ivy League tournament and loosely scheduled games with local schools, the team engages in a final get together to honor the seniors and put the club soccer experience in perspective for the underclassmen. The seniors are awarded with honorary titles that celebrate their achievements with the team and are given a chance to speak about what the program has meant to them during their time at Dartmouth. Following this, the team engages in a variety of competitions and games aimed at getting to know one another better and have fun one last time before everyone leaves for the summer. The event is especially meaningful for the seniors as is it typically their last meeting with members of the program all at once.

Collector: Grant Gualtieri

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ivy Supper

General Information About the Item:

• Customary Folklore: Sports Tradition – Postgame Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Unites States
• Informant: Joe Hardwicke
• Date Collected: May 10, 2020

Informant Data:

Joe Hardwicke is a sophomore studying Economics at Dartmouth College. On campus, he is a member of the Dartmouth Men’s Club Soccer team, the Psi Upsilon fraternity, and the club soccer team. Joe is from Portland, and apart from sports, has a strong interest in improv comedy and radio broadcasting. He has started his own radio show with another Dartmouth student. Joe joined the Dartmouth Men’s Club Soccer team his freshman year at Dartmouth. He currently serves as social chair.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The following tradition occurs after the completion of the second game of the first day of the Ivy League club soccer tournament. Transmission of this folklore comes from being a participant in the traditions, and leadership of the tradition is passed from previously elected team captain to newly elected team captain, and from previously elected club president to newly elected club president.

Cultural Context: Many teams both recreationally and professionally (or at the collegiate level) engage in either banquets or meals together following the completion of practices or games. It is a good way to bond and discuss events that happened during the game, as well as replenish energy and maintain responsibility.

Item:

After the team competes in the first day of play in the annual Ivy League Club Soccer Tournament that happens every April, the team has a large dinner together at a restaurant near the host school. The tradition is a good way for individual team members to get to know one another better, discuss strategy about games the next day, and ultimately have fun with their friends. While there is a fairly loose structure once the team arrives at the restaurant, it is a good way for the team leaders to ensure that the team members are being responsible the night before another day of play, and are taking care of their bodies and health. Team members experiencing the tradition for the first time are generally pretty excited for the opportunity to get to know upperclassmen better, but the experience is pretty uniform for all players.

Collector: Grant Gualtieri

 

Climbing Vernacular

“Dirtbag”

RR

May 6, 2020

Informant Data:

RR is a 22-year-old in her senior year at Dartmouth College. She was born in Washington DC, United States on July 26, 1997. Rachel has a younger sister, who is 20 years old. Her dad works in the foreign service and her mom is an epidemiologist. Her family origins are Eastern-European Jewish. R is white, upper-middle class, and Jewish. R started climbing recreationally when she was in freshman year of high school due to her school’s outdoor program. She climbed more during her gap year and at Dartmouth College. No one else in her family climbs. She was chair of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club (DMC) and teaches people how to Sport and Trad climb. She climbs outdoors primarily. She is planning on taking time before graduate school to “dirtbag” and is currently building out a van to do so. 

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context:  The outdoor climbing community originated in Yosemite valley in the 60s as part of a counter-culture movement. The movement revolved around living long term in campgrounds, a tent, or your car. The people that lived this way climbed full-time. Climbing was their sport, passion, and lifestyle. These people have been idolized in the climbing community. They gave up a lot to live this way and therefore lived rather frugally, not paying for lodging and sometimes taking food from hotel lobbies or out of trash from other camping groups. Good climbing spots are often crowded, so the earlier a climber arrives the more access they have to climbing. Therefore, it is very advantageous to sleep near the climbing location. There are many famous climbing sites scattered across the United States so the most efficient way to get great access to all climbing is by parking your van near the location and sleeping in it overnight. The best climbers dedicate their lives to climbing full-time. There is also a dirtbag community that will climb with each other.

Social Context: The vernacular term “dirtbag” is used during conversations between climbers to describe a who a climber is or a climber’s lifestyle. The term refers only to outdoor climbers that have dedicated themselves to full time climbing and usually live out of their vans. Climbers can also use it to refer to themselves. An example of the way “dirtbag” can be used is: “I’m building out a sprinter van and I’m going to dirtbag for the next year.”  Climbing vernacular folklore is used to create a sense of community among climbers. Knowing vernacular means that climbers are instantly accepted in different climbing locations, regardless of if they are locals. This is particularly important because climbers travel a lot to find the best climbing. The unique vernacular defines a group that is “in the know” and therefore respected more as climbers. This vernacular in particular reinforces the idealized version of climbing/climbers. Vernacular also promotes verbal efficiency and defines ideas that are important to the climbing community, but do not exist outside of climbing. It can also be seen as a status symbol to be a dirtbag because it means you are serious about climbing.

Text:   

I have recorded “dirtbag” as closely as I could to the way RR told it. The following description is from the notes I took during the interview, and are paraphrases of what she shared during it.

The term “dirtbag” is used to describe a climber who has fully dedicated themselves to the lifestyle of the original Yosemite Valley climbers. It can be used as a noun and a verb. People can “go dirtbag” or someone can be a “dirtbag.” It is used by outdoor climbers. Someone is deemed a “dirtbag” if they are living out of their van or in a climbing area. A “dirtbag” typically has a carefree attitude and lack of sense of time. They are considered by the outside world to be a hippy, dirty, and poor but they are idolized in the climbing community. “Dirtbags” are experienced outdoor climbers. The term “dirtbag” comes from the dirty look of the climbers that live this way. 

Roxanne Holden, 21

Dartmouth College

Russ 13

Spring 2020

Playoff Hockey Beverages

Tim Tebow at Florida doing the Gator Chomp left over right

Left Hand on Game day

Title: The Horse Story

General Information about Item:

• Myth
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: KB
• Date Collected: May 21, 2020

Informant Data: KB lives in Oglala, South Dakota.  She is a part of Lakota (Sioux) tribe.  She is a junior majoring in sociology.  She went to school on her reservation until she went to Dartmouth.

Contextual Data: KB first heard the story at her elementary school.  At this elementary school, they attended Lakota classes.  Her teacher read the students a book which is where she first heard the horse story.  The Lakota relied on dogs to help them with tasks.  For instance, when they moved camps, dogs would be the ones pulling the sleds with their teepees and their belongings on them.  Years later, KB worked at an elementary school.  She was shadowing a Lakota class when she heard the horse story again.  She had not heard the story since was in elementary school.  This was a reminder to her the importance of the story on the Lakota tribe since it was still being told.

Item: On the reservation, buffalo is the main source of food.  However, there was a point in time where there were no buffalos around.  Due to the lack of buffaloes, everyone was panicking.  One night, there was a sad little boy.  He was sad because he saw his little brothers and sisters crying due to hunger.  Later that night, he snuck out and went to the top of the hill to pray.  All of a sudden, a figure comes towards him.  The figures assured him that everything was going to be okay.  He gave them these animals (horses but the little boy did not know it was a horse) that have similar characteristics as dogs.   The figure told the little boy that the horses would help them catch and transport buffalo so they would have food again.  This is a little too much for the little boy, so he passes out.  The next morning, he decides to go to the medicine men to tell them about his encounter from the night before to see what it meant.  To this day, the Lakota (Sioux) still have a sacred relationship with horses.

Informant’s Comments: While going to school on the reservation, Lakota classes taught the students about creation stories, myths, and about the language as well.  They told the horse school to all the students of the elementary school.

Collector’s Comments: This story is important since it gives background on Lakota’s sacred relationship with horses.

Collector’s Name: Emily Lipsett

Tags/Keywords: 

• Myth
• Horses
• Sacred