Superstition #13

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Title: Eating with Chopsticks

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Customary Folklore: Superstitions, Traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data:

Lauren is a freshman (’21) at Dartmouth College. Her father is American and her mother is Japanese. She has family in both New York and Tokyo and resides in the latter. She is fluent in Japanese and was born and raised in Japan.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Lauren learned these superstitions from her elders in Japan growing up.
  • Cultural Context: These “bad luck” superstitions center around thematic ideas about death and are largely derived from symbolism.

Item:

  • Bad Luck: With regards to chopsticks, it is bad luck to stick your pair of chopsticks directly upright into your food, particularly if it is rice.
  • Bad luck: It is also improper to pass food between people from chopstick to chopstick.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

Informer: “First they are all related to chopsticks and the usage of chopsticks in Japan. Basically, if you’re eating, you’re not allowed to stick your chopsticks directly into your food, usually it’s rice. But it’s not allowed to stand upright because it’s reminiscent of the incense we use to honor the dead. So if you do that, it’s like you’re going to go to hell or something like that. And the second one, you’re not allowed to pass food from chopsticks to chopsticks because at funerals, you pass around the bones of the deceased from chopsticks to chopsticks. So it’s all related to death.”

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • Lauren says that both these practices deal a great amount with symbolism and similarity. These practices emulate actual traditional rituals and practice that deal with death.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I noticed that these superstitions were not only based on symbolism, but also exhibited Japanese belief in homeopathic magic, as defined by James Frazer.

Collector’s Name: Natt Chan

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition/Bad Luck/Japan/Chopsticks

Auditions and Initial Choreography

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Auditions and Initial Choreography

Title: Auditions and Initial Choreography

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore: Rituals
  • Language: English
  • Country: United States of America

Informant Data:

Raegina Hill, aged 21, is a Director of Ujima who joined the group her freshman fall (2014). She is a senior at Dartmouth College majoring in Anthropology with a concentration in Biological Anthropology and minoring in Theater. Raegina was born, raised, and currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Before Ujima, Raegina had six years of dance experience with hip hop, theatrical dance, high stepping, and cheer.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The entire team participates in Auditions and Initial Choreography. Both occur at the beginning of the school year in the fall in the Alumni Gym and other practice rooms, such as Sarner and Wilson 301. The ritual originated at the group’s founding, and Raegina first learned of it when she participated during her freshman fall.
  • Cultural Context: During their audition process, Ujima works as a team to accept new members. By ensuring that each preexisting member has a say in the selection process, Ujima utilizes auditions to advance the group’s culture as a democratic organization. Furthermore, by pairing old members with new members to teach choreography, Ujima effectively reflects the value they place on mentorship and closeness.

Item:

Every fall term, Ujima hosts auditions with three other dance groups in order to gain new members. The entire team is involved in the audition, callback, and final decision process. After new members are initiated, old members teach new members choreography by pairing up with them one-on-one. Initial choreography may also involve a dance choreographed entirely by new members.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

“Ujima’s actually the oldest dance group on campus—it was founded in 1985. And I don’t really know much about their old traditions, but I know that we used to have auditions independently. And so, to gain more members, we started doing them with the other dance groups, and that definitely has helped in terms of members and just getting a more dynamic group. Dance auditions happen every fall with four groups, so its Ujima, Sheba, Sugarplum, and Fusion. And its a group audition, and so if you have no idea what group you want to be in, you get to experience all four groups at once and then you get to pick your preference after callbacks and things like that.

And typically, the first week is just teaching old dances just so they can get used to the style. And choreography-wise, we often pair new members up with old members so they’re just not jumping in right away and it makes it a little easier. And some of the new members will just go off and do it by themselves. I did my freshman year, I just was like, ‘I’ll try!’ And it was a lot of members’ favorite dances, so it was nice.”

Informant’s Comments:

Although Ujima prefers to pair old members and new members while teaching choreography, they also emphasize a preference for openness and creativity by allowing new members to choreograph their own pieces.

Collector’s Comments:

It is interesting to note that Ujima’s audition process has changed over time. Initially an independent tradition, Ujima now takes part in joint auditions in order to better reflect their new values of diversity and inclusivity.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed By: Shinar Jain

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual
  • Dance
  • Team

Fort Lou’s

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Title: Fort Lou’s

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA
  • Informant Data:
    • Tara Joshi ’18
    • Age: 21
    • Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
    • Joined Dodecs Freshman Fall
    • Current President

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

All members of the Dodecaphonics participate in this event, including the new members. This event occurs in the fall term at night after new members have been chosen. The informant does not remember when this tradition began but it has been happening for many years (before the informant joined the team).

  • Cultural Context

Many groups often bond with each other through hardships and other activities. By being kidnapped and taken away from campus for a fun night, the new members of the group will always have that memory to share and cherish. They can also bond with each other by trying to accomplish tasks such as the jelly straw pods. By doing an activity like this during the beginning of the term, the new members are immediately thrown into a group of tradition and are able to bond with one another. This reflects the group’s efforts to create an inclusive and close knit culture.

Item:

After new members have been chosen, returning members will go to the new members rooms at night and “kidnap” them. The group will go to Fort Lou’s and order fried pickles, talk, and get to know each other. The new members also use straws to eat jelly pods. Whoever finishes first gets to pick from a list of baby tasks first, and whoever finishes last picks last.

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

Fort Lou’s

Transcript

“We kidnap our new freshman at midnight. We tell them to go to bed early so they should be in bed by then and then we take them to Fort Lou’s. We always get deep fried pickles. We also have this tradition at Fort Lou’s or whatever diner you’re at  you have to have all the new members finish a jelly pod using a straw and it’s absolutely impossible, especially grape Jelly.

Informant’s Comments:

The informant thinks this is a very fun ritual because the group gets to know each other, and members remember the night they were “kidnapped” even when they are much older. It is also very funny to watch the new members eat jelly pods with straws because it is very difficult to do.

Collector’s Comments:

Although the task of the jelly pods is difficult to complete, it’s never about actually completing the task. It’s more so just about the attempt and the memories associated with it.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Singing
  • acapella
  • Kidnapping
  • Fort Lou’s
  • Jelly

Superstition #12

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Title:

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Verbal Folklore: Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data:

Leeya is a current sophomore (’20) at Dartmouth College. She lives in Hawaii and is native Hawaiian as well as Japanese. When she was younger she spent summers in Japan attending elementary school. She speaks Japanese and English.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant learned of these superstitions from older figures. This piece of folklore was collected in the McLaughlin cluster on Dartmouth’s campus.
  • Cultural Context: The superstitions pertaining to dreams is largely symbolic and partly mnemonic, likely unique to Japan. Mt. Fuji is an important landmark in Japan as the country’s tallest peak and is rooted in the region’s endemic animistic religion of Shinto.

Item:

Good luck: Having a hawk, Mt. Fuji, and an eggplant appear in your first dream after the new year is a very auspicious omen for a very good year ahead.

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

 

Transcript of Associated File:

Informant: “So, your first dream (I think) after new years is really important. So if you dream about a hawk, Mt. Fuji, and an eggplant then you are supposed to have a really good year.”

Collector: “Cool, is there a reason for the three things in your dream?”

Informant: “They are supposed to be symbolic, I don’t exactly know why, but they are symbolic for something.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • The informant admitted post interview that she doesn’t know the exact background for the particular piece of superstition that she shared, but remains convinced it is because they are symbolic.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Some follow up research revealed that some of my assumptions were correct. Mt. Fuji is a significant landmark and is a generally auspicious symbol. Other things I learned was that Japanese people regard hawks as very intelligent, possibly due to a history of falconry practice during Japan’s feudal era, and that the Japanese word for eggplant sounds similar to another Japanese phrase that connotes achieving greatness.

Collector’s Name: Natt Chan

Tags/Keywords:

  • Superstition/Good Luck/Japan/Dreams

Numbers 8 & 4

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Chinese Good Luck/ Bad Luck Superstition

Title: Numbers 8 & 4

Title: Numbers 8 & 4

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Verbal Folklore: Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: China

Informant Data:

  • Informant is 19 years old and is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College studying computer science. He was born in Beijing, China and lived there until coming to the United States to attend Dartmouth College.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This is a very widespread good luck/ bad luck superstition in China. The informant equates this superstition to be common knowledge observed from the Chinese language.
  • Cultural Context: The negative context behind the number 4 is because it is a homonym for the word that means death in Chinese (死). The positive context behind the number 8 is because it rhymes with the Chinese word for wealth (发). Thus, the connotations of these two numbers is largely attributed to how they are pronounced in the Chinese language.

Item:

  • In China, the number 8 is considered to be good luck
  • In China, the number 4 is considered to be bad luck

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

Transcript of Associated File:

Informant’s Comments:

  • Socially, when people select license plate numbers for their cars, they usually want the last number to be 8, so the sequence ends with like the number 8. So if you read the sequence, the last number rhymes with like getting rich. While people would avoid having the last number be 4 so when you read the license plate number it sounds like something death. The same applies for phone numbers as people want a lot of 8s in their phone number.

Collector’s Comments

  • It is interesting to see that this good luck/ bad luck superstition take on a tangible form in that people are very particular about avoiding the number four in phone numbers and license plate numbers while trying to maximize the amount of 8s in phone numbers and license plate numbers.

Collector’s Name: Leo Lei

Tags/Keywords:

  • good/luck/bad/chinese/license/phone/four/eight/china/death/wealth

Gambling on New Year’s Eve

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Title: Gambling on New Year’s Eve

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre
    • Customary Folklore: Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: Greece

Informant Data:

  • Judith “Judy” Varlamos is from Seattle, WA. Her mom is from Karpenisi in Central Greece, and she still has relatives who live in Greece. Her husband also speaks fluent Greek, and they and their children follow many Greek customs. They are practicing Greek Orthodox Christians and own a Greek pizza restaurant in the neighborhood.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This superstition is practiced on New Year’s Eve. Participants believe that gambling, such as playing cards, poker, etc. on New Year’s Eve brings good luck for the new year. This superstition is often practiced with family on New Year’s Eve and is a superstition as well as a tradition. This customary superstition is passed down through families by tradition and practice.
  • Cultural Context: This superstition stems from the belief that handling money on New Year’s Eve will bring good economic luck for the new year. This superstition also has ties to sympathetic and contagious magic, by having contact with money on New Year’s Eve, the hope is that you will be prosperous in for the whole next year.

Item:

  • It’s good luck to gamble on New Year’s Eve. Gambling on New Year’s Eve is thought to bring you good luck for the new year in Greek culture.

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

  • None

Transcript of Associated File:

  • None

Informant’s Comments:

  • None

Collector’s Comments:

  • Judy was interviewed over FaceTime by Ellen Pattinson.

Collector’s Name: Interview conducted by Ellen Pattinson. Webpage published by Ellen Pattinson.

Tags/Keywords:

  • Gambling, New Year’s Eve, Greek Superstitions, Customary Folklore

Uji Tails

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Uji Tails

Title: Uji Tails

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore: Rituals
  • Language: English
  • Country: United States of America

Informant Data:

Raegina Hill, aged 21, is a Director of Ujima who joined the group her freshman fall (2014). She is a senior at Dartmouth College majoring in Anthropology with a concentration in Biological Anthropology and minoring in Theater. Raegina was born, raised, and currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Before Ujima, Raegina had six years of dance experience with hip hop, theatrical dance, high stepping, and cheer.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The entire team participates in Uji Tails. The event typically occurs on a termly basis towards the end of the term in a member’s dorm room. The ritual originated at the group’s founding, and Raegina first learned of it when she participated during her freshman fall.
  • Cultural Context: Dartmouth extracurricular groups, Greek houses, and societies often host their own Tails to increase closeness and commitment to the group. In line with Dartmouth’s culture, Ujima hosts similar events every term. Furthermore, Uji Tails plays into Ujima’s cultural focus on inclusivity and togetherness by promoting bonding.

Item:

Once a term, Ujima hosts a social gathering known as “Tails” (short for “Cocktails”) to bring the team together outside of practices and performances. Uji Tails allows Ujima members to better familiarize themselves with the team and bond with one another, inadvertently increasing their comfort on stage.

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

Transcript of Associated File:

“My first Uji Tails is when I got my name. Everyone’s having fun and it was towards the end of the term and everyone was really stressed out, but it was just so nice to have a group of people that I could just hang out with. And the five of us, we got our new names. And it was just kind of like, ‘Ooh, well I’m this person now.’ And it was just fun to get another sense of self, so to speak.

We have Uji Tails, when its a get-together, and we typically just ask random questions in this game called ‘Hot Seat.’ And it really just breaks down any barriers between people being uncomfortable and just shy. And it just makes us bond a lot more, which really translates in our performances. There’s no like, “I don’t know how I feel about performing this with this person.” For example, in our last show we had a chair dance and everyone was extremely comfortable because we break those barriers pretty early on. And so everyone’s comfortable with each other and I think that really helps for a great performance in the long run.”

Informant’s Comments:

The bonding aspect of Tails plays an integral role in improving performances through greater familiarity within the team.

Collector’s Comments:

As Raegina mentioned, Tails during a member’s freshman fall not only serve to strengthen team bonds, but also establish the new member’s identity as part of the group.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed By: Shinar Jain

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual
  • Dance
  • Team

Dodecafun

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Title: Dodecafun

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA
  • Informant Data:
    • Tara Joshi ’18
    • Age: 21
    • Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
    • Joined Dodecs Freshman Fall
    • Current President

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

Current members of the Dodecaphonics and sometimes members of other acapella or other performance groups and alumni or graduated members of the Dodecaphonics participate in these events. There is no specific time or place for these events. One event that occurs every year is the first one of the year which focuses on the new members. There is also an Alumni Dodecafun during homecoming weekend.

  • Cultural Context

Every time the group has a social event, they include the name of their group in the name of their event, representing the pride the group has in itself. Furthermore, the first Dodecafun of the year in which the new members are showcased represents the group’s efforts to make the new members feel included and special. The alumni Dodecafun in which Alumni and the new members get to meet each other and alumni get to sing represents the group’s efforts to create long lasting connections not only amongst current members of the group but throughout different classes of members. This represents the group’s very inclusive culture and close relationships.

Item:

Any time the Dodecaphonics have a social event they call it a Dodecafun. There are many different kinds of social events that they have, but two happen every year. The first is the first Dodecafun of the year. At this event the new members sing the songs with which they auditioned and showcase their skills. The second is the Alumni Dodecafun which occurs during homecoming weekend. Many alumni return and are able to meet the new members, hear them sing, and alumni sing the songs that they auditioned with years ago.

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

 Dodecafun

Transcript

“Every social event we do is called a Dodecafun, even if it’s with another group. Like if we do an event with the Aires, it’d be the Dodec-Aire-fun. Or with the Subs it’d be the Subs-decafun. At the first Dodecafun, each baby sings their first solo or their audition piece. And at the homecoming Dodecafun, the alumni from the past years will come and meet the babies and realize the legacy they left behind….and now you have these people in the real world singing what they sang freshman year.”

Informant’s Comments:

This is a great way to see the group’s history and for the alumni to see the legacy they left behind. The informant believes it is really nice to see the alumni reconnect with the group after so long and remember what it was like to be in college.

Collector’s Comments:

It’s always a great to meet Dartmouth alums and hear about their stories, but to meet an alum for a more intimate group like the Dodecs must be even better, especially given that they share their first audition pieces with you.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Singing
  • acapella
  • Alumni
  • Auditions
  • Team
  • Bonding

Babies Making Babies

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Title: Babies Making Babies

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition
  • English
  • USA
  • Informant Data:
    • Tara Joshi ’18
    • Age: 21
    • Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
    • Joined Dodecs Freshman Fall
    • Current President

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

All of the sophomores and new members of the team participate in this ritual. It happens towards the end of the fall term, very early in the morning. The ritual ends at a house with a kitchen where the sophomores can make the new members breakfast. This ritual has been happening for many years and the informant cannot remember its origin.

  • Cultural Context

This experience acts as the passing off of the torch from the Sophomores to the Freshman as they come to an end of their first term in the Dodecaphonics. This tradition between the sophomores and new members helps to create a strong bond between the two classes, and once again helps the new members feel included and special. This reflects the inclusive culture of the Dodecaphonics.

Item:

At the end of the fall term, the sophomores will create a fun and silly scavenger hunt for the new members. The new members have to complete the scavenger hunt early in the morning and the hunt usually takes them all around campus. The hunt ends at a house or building with a kitchen and the sophomores then make the new members breakfast, and the sophomores and new members spend time together. The tradition is called “Babies making Babies”.

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

Babies Making Babies

Transcript

“The sophomores will have the freshman do this scavenger hunt, and by the end, [the new members] will find their way early in the morning to a house in a kitchen where the sophomores will make breakfast for the freshman, and we call it Babies making Babies.”

Informant’s Comments:

This is a very sweet and beautiful moment for the Dodecaphonics babies and really makes them feel special and welcome. 

Collector’s Comments:

This seems like a very cool tradition that’s incredibly intimate and really demonstrates how the babies are transitioning into “full” members of the group.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Singing
  • acapella
  • Food
  • Scavenger hunt
  • bonding
  • Team

Warm Ups

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Title: Warm Ups

General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore: rituals, traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

  • Trevor Davis is an ’18 that joined X.ado his freshman year and sang in his high school choir for three years. He is 21 years old. He was born in Wheaton, Illinois. He grew up and still lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is majoring in computer science, and minoring in math and anthropology.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context

All group members participate in the exercises. These warm-ups have been used for years, and the informant believes possibly since the founding of the group.

  • Cultural Context

Acapella groups and other singers warm up before they have to sing with exercises for their throat, and just to practice and make sure they’re on pitch. The group warms up together as opposed to individually,reinforcing the group’s efforts to be inclusive and maintain strong relationships between members.

Item:

  • X.ado’s group members have a warm up routine that they conduct before each show and rehearsal. These are typical things that you would expect from an acapella group, such as breathing exercises and sounds so they can warm up their voices and get ready for the show. X.ado completes these warm up exercises before every rehearsal and show to prepare themselves.

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

https://youtu.be/Bf7qgwJN3ts

Transcript of Associated File:

“One thing is, being in an acapella group, we have a regular rehearsal schedule and we have a certain set of warmup, different breathing exercises, different sounds we need to get prepared. Being a Christian group, we do some different things before shows and rehearsals, so before each show, we’ll do a prayer circle about the show and about the people we’re singing to. So, one thing that makes X.ado unique to compared to other groups on campus is that we pray before all of our shows and rehearsals even in our performance group we’re going in with intention to each of those and that’s something we do on a regular basis”

Collector’s Comments:

  • It is interesting that X.ado has the same exact warm up before every one of its rehearsals and performances. Many groups have slightly different warm ups every time and often, group members get warmed up on their own. The fact that X.ado members warm up together before every practice and performance reflects the inclusive and strong group culture X.ado has.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Afnan Enayet/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

  • Prayer
  • Religion
  • Christianity
  • Warm up
  • Acapella
  • Singing