Category Archives: FA21

Content created by Russian 13 students, fall term 2021

“Positive Vision” (Tanner Palocsik)

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Title: “Positive Vision”

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: J.H.
  • Date Collected: 11-4-21

Informant Data:

  • J.H. is a 20-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from Stamford, CT and is on the diving team. He was raised in a family of divers, as his father was also his diving coach.  

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Sports teams always have different rituals or superstitions they follow so that they have success in their sport. Diving is no different. For diving, you are expected to perform with perfection every time. It is a difficult sport with many intricacies.    
  • Social Context: Within the team atmosphere, every teammate relies on each other to perform to the best of their abilities. Team’s need to have every guy pulling the rope in the same direction for success, so it’s important that every person does whatever they can to reassure their performance. J.H.’s superstition is one that is performed right as they walk out the door. His team has always done this superstition as someone from Dartmouth unknown in the past brought it to their locker room.

Item:

  • The item here is a superstition the entire team has. There is a sign above their door that every guy taps before they exit their locker room for the meet. The sign says, “Positive Vision”. In addition to performing this action, the team also has a pregame chant which can be seen in the picture below. (Unfortunately, I was not able to get a photo of the locker room sign.)

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “Sort of a good luck charm we have is, as we walk out the locker room door, we all tap a sign that says, ‘Positive Vision’. This sign has been in our locker room for many years and has always been a team tradition. We also have a pregame chant that dates back decades if not centuries”

Informant’s Comments:

  • He believes in these superstitions and thinks if the team doesn’t do these superstitions each game, they will have bad luck and won’t perform well as a team.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think these superstitions are unique and interesting. The chant is something that is secret to their team and so my informant wouldn’t share the words. I also thought it was cool that he said these superstitions date back decades. He had no idea when or how they started but it’s something their team has consistently practiced since.

Collector’s Name:

Tanner Palocsik

Dartmouth College

Russia 013 Fall 2021

Professors Apresyan and Gronas

The Lucky Horseshoe (Tanner Palocsik)

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Title: The Lucky Horseshoe

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: R.B.
  • Date Collected: 11-4-21

Informant Data:

  • R.B. is a 21-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from London, England and is on the Rugby team. Being from England, rugby is a very popular sport in his background. He had family members that played and helped him adapt the sport into his pride.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Sports teams often have some tradition that the team practices throughout their season that is meant to bring good luck to the whole team. In the rugby culture, they also have many players that contribute to the team effort, so it’s important to have something the entire team participates in. It creates better team chemistry and comradery.
  • Social Context: This superstition is performed right when the whole team is about to enter the field. Rugby is a physical sport so they do this for luck of the win but also for luck of good health and strength.

Item:

  • The item here is a superstition for their whole team. They all tap the top of the locker room door where they have a horseshoe hanging. This is meant to bring good luck, strength to their bodies and good health.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “Before every game we tap the horseshoe at the top of our door. This is a common superstition in the Rugby world and something our team takes very seriously. I think it truly helps us to muster up strength and mental stability while trying to focus in on the competition at hand. Each game is a learning experience, and we try to take a lot of pride in our culture and tradition. The rugby team here has been doing this for many years and all the older guys reiterate that we must keep it going as long as we can and continue to pass it down to the younger guys.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • He believes this truly brings the team luck and that it will be something that will stick with Dartmouth Rugby for many years to come.  

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think this is a strong superstition and one that every team should try to encapsulate in some way. It’s a good way to create team bonding over a common superstition and get everyone believing in the same things.

Collector’s Name:

Tanner Palocsik

Dartmouth College

Russia 013 Fall 2021

Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Team Cheer

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General Information

  • Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: SM
  • Date Collected: 11/19/2021

Informant Data

  • SM was a soccer player in high school before switching to cross country. In high school he competed in the mile and 2 mile competitions. At Dartmouth he competes in the 5k and 10k for track and the 8k for cross country. He is the current captain of the cross country and track teams.

Contextual Data

  • Cultural Context: Collective traditions are prevalent on many sports teams. They help instill comradery among the members and can improve team spirit and morale.

Item

  • The captain, or the senior most member of the team, gathers everyone about 100 meters from the starting line and says “Men of Dartmouth set a watch”. The team then responds with “Lest the old traditions fail”.

Associated Audio Recording

Informant’s Comments

  • SM says that there have been some really talented runners that came from Dartmouth and the tradition is meant to emulate them. Performing it will hopefully allow the runners to perform as well as the most talented runners that came before them.

Collector’s Comments

  • This piece of folklore is particularly interesting because the point is for the current runners to perform as well as the runners of the past. This means that the traditions span across multiple decades and people of all ages that were a part of the team at some point share a common bond.

Collector’s Name

  • Alex Printsev

Stocking Hanging

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General Information About Item:

  • Material Lore, Item
  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: L. J.
  • Date Collected: 11-10-2021

Informant Data:

  • L.J. is a senior at Harvard University who grew up in Utah, but moved to Boston when he was a boy. He has a twin sister whom he shares many things in common with. He is a member of the Christain faith, but noted that his family’s Christmas traditions revolve more around being in the presence of each other rather than anything religious.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The superstition originated as a means for the children to get to bed at a reasonable time on the night before Christmas. In addition, it’s interesting to note that the tradition started by the children being coerced by their parents in fear that they wouldn’t receive gifts from Santa, but L.J. and his sister have adopted this tradition themselves.
  • Social Context: Socially speaking, this superstition only involved L.J’s immediate family. While many other family traditions include members of the extended family it was interesting to see how L.J’s favorite tradition was specific to just his sister, his parents, and him.

Item:

  • L.J’s family tradition started when his sister and he were young children, when their parents told them that if they did not hang up their stockings at exactly 9:45 on the night of Christmas Eve, they would not receive any presents the next day. As the years have passed and the children have moved on from the lore of Santa, his family has continued this tradition to represent health and happiness moving forward throughout the holiday season and into the new years.

Transcript:

  • “Ever since my sister and I were young children, we’ve had a tradition of hanging our stockings up on the fireplace at exactly 9:45 PM in hopes that Santa would bring us gifts the following morning. My parents enforced this superstition one may call it, by saying that if we hung them up a minute early or a minute late, Santa might be unhappy with how we prepared for his arrival: he wanted it to be right on time. As we grew older and realized that Santa was not real, my sister and I took agency in this tradition and decided to keep it going to represent our familial health and wellness moving into the new year. It has turned into a superstition for my family that we do each and every year, and up until this point, it has not let us down so we will continue to do it!”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I recall one year hanging my stocking up a few minutes after 9:45 and being worried that I would not receive any gifts the following day.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • L.J’s family tradition of hanging stockings at exactly 9:45 PM on Christmas Eve is the first superstitious tradition which I encountered in my interviews. It was interesting to hear how superstition adapted as the children grew older and learned that Santa is not real. L.J. mentioned that his parents worried that the tradition would fade away when the children reached a certain age, but it has truly developed into their family’s Christmas folklore.

Collected By:

Daniel Hincks

Boston, MA

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS013

Fall 2021

Family Tales

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General Information About Item:

  • Customary Lore,  Celebration
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: D.G.
  • Date Collected: 11-11-2021

Informant Data:

  • D.G. is a recent college graduate who grew up in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. He now works in Atlanta, Georgia but makes his way home every year during the Christmas season to spend time with his family. The oldest of his siblings, he has two younger sisters and a younger brother.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context of D.G’s family gathering is to share stories of their family lineage and especially to explain to the younger generations within his family how they came to the United States.
  • Social Context: The social context of D.G’s family gathering is that it is a means for his extended family to catch up and share stories of the past.

Item:

  • D.G’s family has an annual tradition of gathering in their household and telling stories about their family’s immigration from Ireland. When possible, his cousin, aunts, and uncles also come to share stories over a nice meal with loved ones. D.G. recalled that stories range from his great grandparents first stepping foot in the United States to funny memories of Christmas parties in the past.

Transcript:

  • “Every year my family gathers at my house in the Boston area to share each-other’s company. The centerpiece of this party is when we sit down for dinner, instead of saying grace we share stories of our family heritage which date back to our first descendents in the United States. It sounds like something a family would typically do for Thanksgiving but it’s ultimately a great way for us to be thankful for what brought us all together. It’s probably the only time of year when my entire extended family is able to gather, as we are spread across the United States just about as much as a family could be. One distinct memory I have about a particularly impactful story was when my great uncle shared the story of my great-great grandfather officially changing our last name on Ellis Island to escape persecution.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I think the tradition is particularly impactful due to the fact that all the stories are things which my family can individually relate to. For example, if you came to the party, you may find it to be a bit boring as you would have no grounds for relating to these stories, but I and I know my family finds it especially rewarding.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • D.G’s family tradition is the most traditionally folkloric of the people I had interviewed. It was interesting to hear his take on how the tradition has evolved and how special it is to his family, especially due to the fact that I had not mentioned to him prior to the interview that this class was on folklore itself. His family, while geographically dispersed across the country, remains extremely close in part due to traditions like this one which shares his lineage from generation to generation.

Collected By:

Daniel Hincks

Boston, MA

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS013

Fall 2021

Wake-Ups

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General Information

  • Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: USA
  • Informant: LS
  • Date Collected: 11/9/2021

Informant Data

  • LS did three sports in high school before she talked to a private coach and began to like running more. At Dartmouth she runs the mile and 3k races.

Contextual Data

  • Cultural Context: Lots of sports teams have traditions that are meant for team building. These traditions bring the members of the team closer together and help build comradery.
  • Social Context: Freshmen in college can sometimes be nervous about joining a new team or coming to college generally. Activities that bond the team together can help them mesh into their new environment and upperclassmen can act as guides.

Item

  • Everyone dresses up in flair (colorful clothes) and go to the dorms of freshman that they are assigned to. They wake them up and pretend that the coach wants to do a morning workout. They then run around and sing songs.

Associated Audio Recording

Informant’s Comments

  • This tradition builds comradery among the team. It makes sure everyone has the mindset and brings people together regardless of ability or status.

Collector’s Comments

  • Team building activities like this are great for building team morale. They help participants feel like they are part of a large organization of which they are an important part.

Collector’s Name

  • Alex Printsev