Category Archives: Other

Keeper of the Wings

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Title: Keeper of the Wings

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: Customary Folklore, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. He was asked to talk about any traditions he could recall during his time in the Army. The informant discussed a tradition for the youngest members at airborne school.

Associated File: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KcnEdk7Q4 (start at 3:58)

Transcript:  [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Um, yeah, at airborne school they also have this thing called the “keeper of the wings”, where they give the, the badge to the youngest person in the, in the class. And it’s their job to maintain it and keep it with them throughout the whole three-week training. And at the end, they’re the first ones who get their wings pinned on them, and I think to this day, the youngest person has never failed the course. Uh, which is pretty cool.

Informant’s comments:  Jason commented that this particular tradition has a lot of value to the point that no member to be a part of the tradition has broken it. He has a lot of pride in this fact and believes it to be one of his most memorable traditions.

Collector’s comments: Jason is big on tradition and this idea of passing down a meaningful item to the younger members who come after the older.

When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking

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When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking

Informant information:

Mike and Sue have a daughter who has autism. She is twenty years old and participates in the “My Own Voice” choir, a choir for children with special needs in Andover, Massachusetts.

Type of lore: Customary

Genre: Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: This poem is passed on to new members of the special needs community – these new members are family members of children who have been recently diagnosed. It is unique in it’s own way because it is meant to give the family a sense of what their child is feeling, because ascertaining that from a child who cannot speak is very difficult.

Poem:

“When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking”

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you hung my first painting on the refrigerator and I wanted to paint another.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you fed a stray cat and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you baked a birthday cake just for me and I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you kissed me at night and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes we can cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you smiled and it made me want to look that pretty too.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you cared and I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I looked and I wanted to say thanks for all those things you did when you thought I wasn’t looking.

–Your special child

Informant’s comments:

 Hello Angelina,
We received an email from your mother about your project and thought we would send a few quick things along. Our 20 year old autistic daughter participates in rehearsals at “My Own Voice” but really can’t completely join in so she does not participate in the concerts. However, your mother is great and of course she welcomed Jamie with open arms and it has been a really good experience for [her]. [She] is verbal but really has no language so it is difficult for her  to get the whole concept of singing, etc. but she does enjoy being there.
Sorry we’re running late on getting it to you …..
There are two attachments: One is a little funny story that my wife always remembers [her] doing for a long time and the other is a poem I have hanging up in my office. It is a poem  that someone wrote that kind of sums up maybe what [she] is thinking since she can not articulate her thoughts.
Good Luck
Mike and Sue
Collector’s comments:
The poem that Mike and Sue sent us is particularly something we thought could be considered folklore. Once again, like “Welcome to Holland”, this poem serves to help the family transition into this new community and serves to remind parents of the impact their actions have on their child on a daily basis, even when it cannot be expressed.
Tags/Keywords: special needs, Autism, tradition, folklore, customary

 

 

 

The Holland Poem

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The Holland Poem

Informant information:

We received the same submission from 2 sources; both are listed below.

Pam has a daughter who has Down Syndrome. She is seven years old and participates in the “My Own Voice” choir, a choir for children with special needs in Andover, Massachusetts.

Diane has a son who also has Down Syndrome. He is twenty-five years old, and has been a member of the “My Own Voice” choir for several years now, and still participates. “My Own Voice” is a choir for children with special needs in Andover, Massachusetts.

Type of lore: Customary

Genre: Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: This poem is passed on to new members of the special needs community by friends, families and even doctors. These new members are family members of children who have been recently diagnosed with various forms of special needs.

The Holland Poem:

“Welcome To Holland”

by Emily Perl Kingsley. c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.

Informant’s Comments:

Pam’s Submission:

Hi Angelina,

My name is Pam, I have a 7 year old daughter with Down Syndrome who participates in the “My Own Voice” choir.  My husband and I were trying to think of something specific to tell you but I’m not sure how insightful we can be…  I figured you already have the Holland poem ( and your mom said you already have it).  but I know that poem was very helpful to me, and has allowed me to put a lot of things in perspective. 

  The holland poem, rings true during all stages of life as well.  Not just as a baby, but a toddler on the playground or a high school kid going to the prom. Similar to the holland poem, is the folklore of everyone sitting in a circle  and they all throw their problems in the middle, and after seeing and hearing everyone’s issues, you would always want your own problems back…..Folklore being It is not as bad as you think… Maybe a humbling experience. 

Not sure if this is helpful or not.  I hope you are doing well at school and enjoying it all!  Wishing you luck on your presentation.  

Kindly, 

Pam

Diane’s Submission:

Hi Angelina, What a great assignment, and of course, we would love to help you out.  I hope my contribution is relevant and helps …  Take care, Diane
The day after [my child] was born, we received a beautiful teddy bear from my aunt with a framed poem inside the gift bag.  The name of the poem was “Welcome to Holland” written by Emily Perl Kingsley (see link below).  From day one, it had a very profound effect on me.  I read it daily for at least the first year of [his] life, and it served as my own personal support message as we learned about his disability, Down syndrome; and subsequently, grew to love and appreciate him more and more each day.  We think [he] is funny, cute as a button, mischievous as all get out, totally awesome, and of course, lights up a room like a huge vase of tulips!

Collector’s comments:

While “Welcome to Holland” itself is a literary text because it is a poem with an author, the act of giving this poem to others is folklore – it is a tradition. Moreover, it can also be considered similar to an initiation ritual – the family is being initiated into the special needs community, and the act of giving them this poem is very similar to rites of transition, because they aim at helping  this family transition into this new community/phase of their life.

Tags/Keywords: special needs, tradition, customary, poetry

 

 

Blood Pinning

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Title: Blood Pinning

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: Customary/Material Folklore, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. He was asked to discuss any traditions he had experienced during his time in the Army, in which he recalled a special and prominent tradition he felt strongly about when he graduated Ranger School.

Associated File: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KcnEdk7Q4 (start at 3:18)

Transcript:  [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Um, you know another thing, is graduating Ranger School, when you, when you get pinned your Ranger Tag on your shoulder, instead of pinning it through the fabric, they take the safety pin and put it all the way to your skin as a rite of passage. And uh, it’s the same thing with promotions and uh, combat awards. Or um, like when you, when you pass airborne school, you, they take the pin and push it into your skin and blood pin you without the back and just, hammer it home. Or when you get promoted, um, they’ll put the, the rank on your chest, and punch you quite hard. Uh, the army says all that stuff is hazing, but, uh you know, traditions are traditions. So it’s gonna be done regardless.

Informant’s comments: Jason has experienced this tradition a few times and still remembers it being a bit painful but at the same time humbling and honoring.

Collector’s comments: Jason did a subtle demonstration when describing the pinning tradition, pulling at his shirt sleeve at one point in his explanation. When discussing the blood pinning, Jason punched his chest to emphasize how the pin would be placed in his chest, as well as punching his fist into his hand.

Freshman of the Week

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Title: Freshman of the Week

Informant Info: Mene Ukueberuwa is an Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of The Dartmouth Review. He is a ’16 (formerly ’14) from Princeton, NJ. He was interviewed on May 12, 2016 at the Collis Center in Hanover, NH.

Type of Lore: Customary, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context:  The freshmen tend to be the new members of the organization. This small tradition serves the purpose of recognizing their efforts and contributions as well as bringing the entire organization closer together on a weekly basis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYmazikUGQA&feature=youtu.be

Transcript:

So, one of the smaller and probably newer traditions we have is called the Freshman of the Week, and of course that is one of the more frequent ones that plays out on a weekly basis. Basically, when any freshman has either distinguished himself in a good way, by contributing something very positive to the paper, like helping out with layout or has distinguished himself in a negative way, which could take a variety of forms that I won’t go into, we single them out either for corresponding praise or maybe make them do a task or something small to embarrass himself in front of the staff. So basically, it is just a way of highlighting our freshman and you know, kind of putting them under the spotlight a little bit … Nothing shareworthy strikes me at the moment, to be honest. But it’s always good fun. It’s nothing too bad.

Honoring the freshman of the week

Honoring the freshman of the week

Collector’s Comments: Details about the particulars of the tradition were not forthcoming in the interview. As with the other main Review traditions of Changeover and the Gala, outsiders are not privy to the exact details of these regular occurrences. Nevertheless, we were able to confirm the existence of the tradition and its general purpose within the organization.

Pre-Deployment Ceremonies

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Title: Pre-Deployment Ceremonies

Informant info: Matt Menezes. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran (2004-2013) . Informant was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division and deployed twice to Afghanistan (2007-08, 2008-09) as well as spent two years as a drill sergeant for basic combat training (2011-13).

Type of lore: Customary/ Verbal, Tradition, Ceremony, Recipe, Toasts

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Informant was asked about various ceremonies that they experienced during their time in the military. Informant took a minute to remember the different ceremonies. The informant discussed the pre-deployment ceremony and how they would make different mixes of drinks that were inspired by alcohol from different regions of the world in which they had military victories.

Associated file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/11vv5a27kzlycgq/Dartmouth_Folklore_Collections_Matt_Menezes.mp4?dl=0

 

Transcript: [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: So the military in general has ceremonies for everything. Going from promotion ceremonies, award ceremonies and just kind of pre-deployment ceremonies. One of the things, one of the ceremonies in particular is the pre and post deployment ceremony, where we basically mix a bunch of different liquors together to be a grog that is supposed to signify all our units past combat contributions in the United States History. So for example, I remember one of them was Schnapps for defeating the Germans. Another one was, I think a bottle of wine for beating the Italians and something else for the French, but I can’t remember.

Informant’s comments: Spoke about how those ceremonies were always good times.

Collector’s comments: Although informant spoke light-heartedly about the pre-deployment ceremonies, the interviewer noted a very serious tone to the ceremonies as well.