Title: Brown Superstitions – Megan Forrest

General Information about Item: 

• Customary Lore, Magic Superstition 
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States 
• Informant: Megan Forest 
• Date Collected: 11/08/21

Informant Data: 

• Megan Forrest is 22 years old and was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, however, she lived in Dubai, UAE from age 5-11 which is when she started playing ice hockey. She finished her undergrad in May 2021 and is pursuing a Masters degree at Brown while continuing to play on the women’s ice hockey team.  

Contextual Data: 

• Cultural Context: The cultural context is being on a team where other teammates sit in specific seats before their games. This team also does the same cheers before every game and announce their starting line-up which are traditions that have been passed down through many years. All of these superstitions are common among individual hockey players and hockey teams. 
• Social Context: The social context is that Megan didn’t sit in her red #13 seat one game and she played poorly, so she vowed to never sit in another seat again. In regards to the team superstitions, the same idea is present; in the past there had been games where these superstitions were not performed and the team ended up losing, so they stuck with what worked (doing their team cheers and announcing their lineup in a certain way). 

Item: This is a customary type of folklore that is categorized under the magic superstition genre. Megan performs these specific rituals before every home game and has to adjust them slightly for away games. 

Transcript: 

• “Before the game to get a caramel swirl iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts. Then I head to the rink. I sit in the stands in seat 13 in the top row of the red chairs and walk through our systems in my head while listening to a pump up playlist I have. At this point I’ll be finishing my coffee so I head downstairs and throw it out in a specific trash can by the stairs.” 

• “As a team, we always do the same cheer after off ice warm up and a different one in the locker room before going on the ice for the first period. We also have one girl announce our starting lineup in a fun and creative way”

Informant’s Comments: 

• Although 13 is usually considered an unlucky and “cursed” number, Megan told me that she has been number 13 since she started playing hockey because her mom suggested it as she is the 13th child in her family. This number has always been special to her mom and therefore to Megan as well so it serves as a lucky number rather than a cursed one.

Collector’s Comments: 

• Before Megan told me the reasoning behind her superstition with the number 13 I thought it was a bit odd as well, but as we learned, a lot of folklore can be passed down by family members so it makes sense why Megan believes this number brings her good luck.