Title: Dragées

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Greek Superstition (Good 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:

• Cultural Context: Dragées originated during the Golden Age of ancient Greece. They are a sweet treat made up of sugar coated almonds. During the Renaissance they were passed around the dinner table and noble men would offer Dragées to welcome their guests a symbol of hospitality.
• Social Context: Dragées are associated with landmarks of a person’s life. They are present at births, baptisms and weddings. The informant explained that they are more commonly referred to as Jordan Almonds. They are given as gifts from the couple to their guests eat their wedding. Couples are supposed to sleep with them next to their bed to give their relationship prosperity and single people are said to dream of their future spouse in their sleep.

Item:  

• They have been said to hold marital powers that if a single person sleeps with a Dragée under his/her pillow they will dream of the person they are to marry.

Informants Comments:

• “My godmother would tell me that I need to put them under my pillow and that the person I dream about will be the person I marry.”

Collector:

• Madeline Donahue