Tag Archives: Body Folklore

Special Handshake

General Information about Item:

  • Poly-modal Folklore – Ritual
  • Body Folklore
  • Magic Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Brandon Liao
  • Date Collected: 02-20-2018

Informant Data:

  • Brandon Liao was born in Toronto, Canada on October 29, 1998. Brandon’s family now resides in China; however, Brandon has traveled all around North America and the world. After Canada, Brandon moved to Connecticut, California, China, and then finally went to a boarding school in Connecticut for his high school years. Brandon started to swim when he was six years old, because it was an after-school activity that was offered. He is a freshman at Dartmouth College, who is a swimmer on the Swim and Dive Team who specializes in freestyle and breaststroke.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context of this folklore reflects how some people, especially in sports and swimming, need some extra help to get themselves ready before races. Whether that be doing a ritual, or maybe even drinking a lot of caffeinated drinks, people will go through many extremes to help prepare themselves.
  • Social Context: The ritual was documented during a one-on-one interview on the bus-ride to Princeton for the Ivy League Championship swim meet. Brandon described a ritual he does before the start of his individual races to help him get excited and angry. Brandon talked about how his best friend on his team, Cam, helped him come up with his folklore ritual. Ever since Brandon discovered this ritual, he does it when he needs to get excited and ready, so he does not do it every single time.

Item:

  • Brandon and his high school teammate, Cam, would do a unique handshake before each of their races.

 

Transcript:

  • “It has been working for me since I started trying it back when I turned 16. My friend Cam helped me come up with a way to help prepare myself for my races when I could not seem to get excited. Before a race, we decided to do a handshake behind the block because we were racing next to each other. Since then, we would always do the same handshake before each of our races. Since we started it, we have perfected the handshake, and it helps us get excited and ready to race.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Although I am not teammates with Cam anymore, this handshake helps remind me of the experiences we had together and makes me feel supported in my races.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This folklore is interesting in that it is not shared by a large folk, but only 2 individuals (still large enough for this to be folklore), making it a very intimate ritual.

Collector’s Name: Matthew Luciano

Tags/Keywords: Poly-modal Folklore, Ritual, Body Folklore, Handshake, Swimming