Category Archives: Verbal Lore

Cologne & Perfume as Gifts

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Title: Cologne & Perfume as Gifts

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Greek Superstition (Bad luck)
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Greece
  • Informant: Katherine Spanos
  • Date Collected: November 2, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Katherine Spanos is a junior studying Biology at Dartmouth College. She participates on the Dartmouth Field Hockey team and is hoping to pursue a career in medicine after graduation. Katherine was born in Hummelstown, PA, but her father is originally from Neohari, a town in Greece. Her mother is not from Greece, but the family practices many traditions and superstitions of the culture. Many of Katherine’s family members still live in Greece, and she believes her grandparents have been the most significant factors in instilling Greek practices in her daily life.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant was interviewed in person regarding the cologne and perfume superstition.She said that she first learned the superstition from her grandparents at Christmas. It is commonly passed from older to younger generations. In order to prevent bad luck, the recipient of the cologne or perfume must be the one to give the coin.
  • Cultural Context: Perfume has played an instrumental role throughout the culture and history of Greece. Perfume was first made on the island of Crete in the 4th century, and the accessory quickly spread throughout the country. Made from herbs, spices, and flowers, perfume was thought to be a gift of the gods and was commonly worn by men and women throughout society. It composed a massive industry in ancient Greece and became known as a positive omen for marriage and childbirth. Perfume and cologne was kept in small containers shaped as animals. Giving perfume as a gift is a popular practice today, as it is a sign of affection and an item that is not often purchased.

Item:

  • When an individual gives cologne or perfume to someone as a gift, that person must give a coin in exchange for the gift. If a coin is not reciprocated, then evil will follow the two individuals and threaten their relationship.

Associated file:

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “Coins have a lot of significance relating to luck, and my Papou, my grandfather, used to have a large collection of coins. We would come look at them, and they were supposed to be lucky.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “When we visited my Papou’s house for holidays, he would often show us the coins and told up that they were good luck. One year at Christmas, my Yaya, my grandma, handed my Papou a gold coin from his collection. He knew he would have to give it back to her after opening his gift because he got cologne. They are very superstitious.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Katherine’s family practices many superstitions.

Collector’s Name: Kira Koehler

Tags/Keywords:

  • Greek. Superstition. Cologne. Perfume. Coins. Customary Folklore. Magic Superstitions.

Crows

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Title: Crows

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Greek Superstition (Bad luck)
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Greece
  • Informant: Evangelia Constantine
  • Date Collected: November 2, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Evangelia “Lia” Constantine is a sophomore studying Neuroscience at Dartmouth College. She is on the Dartmouth Field Hockey team and engaged in medical research with one of her professors. Lia was born in Fredericksburg Virginia, but her family is of strong Greek origin. Her father lived in Greece before coming to the United States, and her mother’s parents were both born and raised in Greece. As a child, her grandparents were extremely influential in instilling aspects of Greek folklore in her life. Her favorite Greek custom is the roasting of a goat on Easter Sunday. Her family practices many greek traditions on a daily and annual basis.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant was interviewed in person regarding the crow superstition. She said that she first learned the superstition from mother after a dead crow was found on their front porch. It is commonly passed from older to younger generations. Seeing a crow or interacting with a dead crow in any situation is said to bring misfortune and death.
  • Cultural Context: Crows are birds that are generally thought of in a negative context within Greek culture and mythology. The ancient Greeks claimed that the crow symbolized Apollo, God of Prophecy. In a Greek legend, Coronis betrayed Apollo, and a crow delivered the news to him. Although crows are black, it is believed that Apollo punished the birds by tainting their original, pure color, white. Ancient Greeks then began interpreting the crow’s color and direction of flight to predict foreboding omens.

Item:

  • Seeing a crow fly is an omen of bad luck, misfortune, death, and disease. When a crow caws, it is generally thought that someone will die in the near future.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “My mom claims that if a dead, black crow shows up anywhere near our house, that mean someone she knows is about to die. One time, a black crow ended up on our doorstep, and she thought that my great grandma was going to die that week.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I always think back on when my mother found the dead crow and laugh. She really reacted emotionally to the experience. I think she was being a bit overdramatic, but her parents taught her to believe very strongly in this superstition.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Despite the evil undertones surrounding the Greek superstitions of crows, Lia seemed to recount stories about crows with excitement. She clearly values her family’s traditions and beliefs.

Collector’s Name: Kira Koehler

Tags/Keywords:

  • Greek. Superstition. Crows. Customary Folklore. Sign Superstitions.

Divorce Joke

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Title: Divorce Joke (Christina Wulff)

General Information about the Item: 

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Colin M.
  • Date Collected:10-16-18

Informant Data:

  • Colin M. is a 24-year-old financial analyst who was born and raised in the United States.Colin learned German in a German Immersion elementary and high school program and has practiced German on his travels in Europe.

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: In Germany, divorce is now a more accepted occurrence than in previous generations. Like many cultures, divorce is often a source of content for jokes.
  • Social Context: The informant first heard the joke told to him in a bar in Germany, by an older gentleman.

Associated File:

Transcript/Translation: 

  • The English translation of the joke is as follows: What do women and hand grenades have in common?  When you pull the ring off, your house goes away.

Informants Comments:

  • “I think this joke is sexist, but a bit representative of the culture in Germany, especially of an older generation.  The joke was told to me in a bar by an older man, and I am not sure if he would have been telling it to me if there were any women around to hear.”

Collector’s Comments: 

  • I agree that the joke is sexist, and a bit representative of a more traditional male-centric German society. It is also interesting that divorce is a common thread in humor of many cultures and nations.

Collector’s Name: Christina Wulff

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Divorce Joke in German

Reflection on Writing About Science for the Public

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ulyiGVHYFmm2nMj4xXko5wBvcY7J_xzfCaO8KVaeyik/edit?usp=sharing

I enjoyed this assignment because I had to freedom to research a topic of my choice and could try and translate my findings to an audience of the general public. I think the hardest part about  this project was trying to dissect the findings in the research I looked at and making it easy to understand for my readers. Overall, this paper helped me learn how to read complicated studies about nutrition and take bits and pieces that are important. Although it can be tough to synthesize the evidence a study provides, this paper helped to train me to use what is important and apply it in a way that the public can understand.

Blog Post 1

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http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/five-bite-diet-work-9698.html

 

Perhaps one of the most bizarre diets in theory has been announced and has risen with popularity within the last year. The Five Bites diet, consisting of a meal plan where there is not breakfast and one can only eat five bites of whatever food he or she desires has gotten too much attention from young women in particular. Allowing for any food to be eaten with as big of a bite as needed, this diet still can only consist of nearly 800 calories a day. However, there are much more negative effects to this style of heating than the positives of losing weight. The San Francisco Gate, an online news source based in the Bay Area, reports on this fad diet.

To give some more details, a day in the life of a Five Bite user consists of only 10 bites of food. Breakfast is skipped, which should be the first concern as breakfast has been proven to increase likelihoods of academic achievement as well as help promote cognitive and behavioral development. Thus, diet followers are left with 10 bites to divide between lunch and dinner. There are no limitations on the foods used for the precious bites so long as it includes protein and users remember to take a multivitamin everyday. The appeal of this diet stems from the simplicity of the rules and the ability to continue eating unhealthy foods. The dangers of this fad diet lie in the lack of healthy nutrients based on the limiting intake of healthy foods and the low calorie count.

The online source for the San Francisco Chronicle appears valid in it’s claim that the Five Bite Diet should not be encouraged simply because it will not work. Writer Jessica Brusso highlights the difficulties associated with this plan such as lack of nutrients and proteins going into the body on a daily basis, as well as there not being enough food to curb hunger  causing the person to quit quickly. She also provides a healthier alternative to the diet of the USDA’s MyPlate Program. While she doesn’t provide links within the article to other sources, she includes citations at the bottom of the article and provides names and websites she references. Ultimately, Jessica Brusso successfully denies this unhealthy diet and provides a healthy alternative for readers.

 

Question:

Due to the lack of food intake on a daily basis, is it safe to classify this diet as a form of anorexia, or it causing anorexia?

Lucky Number 4 – Germany

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Title: Lucky Number 4 – Germany

General Information about Item:

  • Sign Superstition
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: German
  • Informant: Juergen Buchsteiner
  • Date Collected: 02-26-2018

Informant Data:

  • Juergen Buchsteiner was born in Ennepetal, Germany on May 16th, 1958. He spent his entire education and higher education in Germany, after which he began working as an accountant at various companies. In his late 20s he moved to Missouri, United States for work. After seven years, he met his wife Meifang Buchsteiner through work. As soon as they got married, Juergen accepted a job back in Recklinghausen, Germany and after moving there, his first son Juergen “Wei Wei” Buchsteiner was born. He kept working at the same company until he retired as Wei Wei started high school. They moved to California, where they still reside to this day.

Contextual Data:

  • Juergen is quite well-versed in German culture as he lived there all his life until his late 20s, when he moved to the United States. He knows various different facets of German culture, including lucky numbers.

Item:

  • The number 4 is lucky in Germany because it is a number that is associated with balance and evenness. Germans tend to keep this number close to them, such as wearing it on sports jerseys or choosing it for their lottery numbers. Furthermore, Juergen said this is part of the reason four-leaf clovers bring lucky.

Collector’s Name: Juergen Wei Buchsteiner

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition
  • Lucky Number
  • 4
  • Germany

Chesties

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Title: Chesties

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Syd Hill
  • Date Collected: 2-28-18

Informant Data:

  • Syd Hill was born in Brandon, Manitoba. She is a sophomore at Dartmouth College and a member of the Varsity Women’s Ice Hockey team. She is majoring in Economics and her family owns a farm. She has two younger brothers.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Every player on the Dartmouth Women’s Ice Hockey team has a different pre-game warm up. A lot of players use handshakes and chants to prepare and get pumped up for game days. Handshakes are performed between two of more people and they can be formal or informal.
  • Social Context: In the locker room, before going on the ice, Syd performs this item of folklore with three other teammates. She, along with her class, made it up this season. The three minutes in the locker room before every time the players take the ice is very important to the team.

Item:

  • Syd and her three other classmates meet in the middle area of the locker room around the Dartmouth “D” on the carpet. They all stand facing each other and perform a hand shake were they each take their hands and extend them to the chests of the teammate on both sides of them. They are all connected, in a type of circle or diamond, and hold their position for a few seconds. After that they all break apart and get ready for the game.

Transcript:

  • “It’s funny because sometimes we make silly faces at each other and everyone laughs since we are “holding” each others breasts.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • It’s a fun new tradition that she believes will continue for the rest of their Dartmouth career.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Its a very simple and different type of handshake.

Collector’s Name: Claire Bird

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Chesties

Lucky Number 16 – Family Number

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Title: Lucky Number 16 – Family Number

General Information about Item:

  • Sign Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Henry Goodwyn
  • Date Collected: 03-01-2018

Informant Data:

  • Henry Goodwyn was born and raised in Rumson, New Jersey. He comes from an Ice Hockey family, as his dad and all his brothers played it as their main sport. He started playing in his elementary Pewee league and played throughout middle school, high school, and on his club team at Dartmouth College. He is currently pursuing a Government major there and hopes to work in congress one day.

Contextual Data:

  • Henry’s father was a rather superstitious hockey player. Throughout his entire youth, he always wore the same number, when playing and even when it was taken by another player, he would do anything it took to get for himself. As soon as he had his own kids, which were old enough to play hockey, he made them all wear the same number.

Item Data:

  • The number 16 is lucky in Henry’s family because it is his dad’s lucky number. He declared to the family that it would be their lucky number as well because it’s very important to them.

Collector’s Name: Juergen Wei Buchsteiner

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition
  • Lucky Number
  • 16
  • Hockey
  • Family Folklore

Legend of the Overexerted Swimmer

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General Information about Item:

  • Text Folklore – Legend
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: James Edward Thompson III
  • Date Collected: 03-03-2018

Informant Data:

  • James Thompson was born and raised in Tracy, CA. A lifelong swimmer, James came to Dartmouth as part of the Class of 2017 and was an accomplished member of the Men’s Swimming team for four years between 2013 and 2017. He is no longer a member of the Dartmouth Swim and Dive Team.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Swim and Dive team has a storied tradition of lore. This particular legend utilizes a walk-on underdog figure to help the team motivate themselves and remind themselves that effort, and not reputation, is what is most important.
  • Social Context: James relayed this legend in a one-on-one interview. It is often told either after an extremely hard day’s practice to help team members vent their anger through sarcasm, or when they feel that the team is not working hard enough, in order to motivate themselves through the hyperbole of this legend.

Item:

  • James relayed a story of a walk-on (a team member who was not good enough to be recruited but eventually made the team after coming to Dartmouth), who trained so hard to be on the team and then set a pool record, but who perished in the attempt.

 

Transcript:

  • “One story I remember was from a speech a Captains gave a long time ago about a swimmer a while back who was a walk-on, but trained super hard and ended up setting a pool record, but he died while training.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This story of a hero who sacrificed everything, including their lives, to achieve some fantastic goal is quite familiar in many different types of lore, but is always inspiring to hear. It also has some elements similar to Max Luthi’s tragically underequipped hero, who still succeeds.

Collector’s Name: Ashwath Srikanth

Tags/Keywords: Text Folklore, Legend, William Bascom, Max Luthi, Swimming

D on the Chest

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal Folklore/Material Folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Brendan Callahan is the Head Coach of Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Coach Callahan started his career as head coach in 2015. Coach Callahan graduated from Stony Brook College in 2007. Prior to Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Coach Callahan was an assistant coach at Lehigh University for seven years. He also was defensive coordinator Lehigh University.

Contextual Data:.

Social Context: D on Chest represents honor and pride that each player has while wearing it. One does not have to be a member of any athletic team to know it is an honor to wear any clothing that has a Dartmouth logo on it.  A D on Chest, symbolizes by the wearer that they take pride in representing Dartmouth anytime they may say Dartmouth College throughout their lifetime.

Cultural Context: D on our Chest represents the core values of Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse. Since 1926, the team has represented Dartmouth College in intercollegiate competition. As a team, we represent resilience, ingenuity, valor and excellence like all other teams at the college.  In addition, “it is understood with great privilege comes great responsibility.” So when wearing a D on our Chest, on and off the field, each day verbally we chant Dartmouth during practices and games. When we speak those words it is with honor and respect.

Item: These images represents Coach Callahan and image of a Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse shirt with D centered on shirt. Message is to always wear shirt with honor and represent Dartmouth to the highest integrity. The Dartmouth D can be seen as Material folklore because we make sure whenever we are wearing something with the D on it, we conduct ourselves in a respectable manner because we not only are representing ourselves, but also representing the team as a whole. 

Associated media:

Informant’s Comments: The informant has shared that D on Chest is a symbol of our heritage as a Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse. It represents core values that are lived every day, all day.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • Wearing D on Chest throughout the history of Dartmouth has been a verbal folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team over the last year. These verbal folklore rules help to set social expectations starting in the Fall and should be maintained always. They are a good reminder of what you do not what to happen while at Dartmouth
  • The informant has verbally stated to Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse team over and over again that wearing a Dartmouth uniform is to be worn with honor, respect and pride.

Collector’s Name: Parker and Westy

Tags/Keywords: Verbal and Material Folklore