Tag Archives: ball

The Whoosh Ball Game

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Title: The Whoosh Ball Game

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Game
  • Language: English
  • Country: United States

Informant Data:

  • The informant is a Dartmouth ’21 male. He went on a first-year trip in September 2017; the trip was canoeing.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • All the trippees and trip leaders stand around in a circle together with a ball in someone’s hands
  • Cultural Context
    • Trippees bond with each other over a fun and simple game
    • It is nice to be able to play a relatively easy game to allow everyone to relax

Item:

  • The Whoosh Ball game: the group stands around in a circle passing a ball and saying whoosh. There are specific rules about what a person is allowed to do when receiving the ball.

Transcript of Informant Interview:

“We played the Whoosh Ball game. This game gave trips a very “campy” feel. You play by passing the ball to the left and saying “whoosh.” And then the person receiving the ball can either ramp it or put up a wall with his/her hand to deflect the ball.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • It was a really fun game, and a cool way to learn interesting things about the other people on my trip.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Informant was able to give a detailed account of the experience that he had on trips.

Collector’s Name: Madison DeRose

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Folklore, Game, Whoosh Ball, Ball, fun, trippees, bonding

Having a Ball

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Title: Having a Ball

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. Jason has served in Fort Bend, Georgia, Fort Riley, Kansas, and overseas in Eastern Afghanistan.

Type of lore: Customary, Ceremony, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Jason was asked to talk about any ceremonies or traditions that took place in his time in the army.

Associated File: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KcnEdk7Q4 (start at 2:05)

Transcript: [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Each, each unit has there own, uh, specific history. So a lot of what you’re doing in the military is tied to your unit lineage. Um, so understanding, uh what your unit did in previous wars is really important. Um, so change of command ceremonies are always important. There’s a lot of, regal things that happen with that. Um, so I guess some of the main traditions is to have a ball and bring your girlfriend or husband and uh have like a traditional dance, if you will.

Informant’s comments: Jason has been to a few military balls and values the regal traits.

Collector’s comments: During Jason’s response he smiled when recalling the ball and was very animated when he talked about the idea of lineage in the military.