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Twilight Ceremony (Other Freshman Fall Traditions)

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General Information:
Title: Twilight Ceremony
Form of Folklore: Customary, ceremony
Language: English
Place of Origin: Hanover, NH, United States
Informant: L.A.
Date Collected: October 29th, 2021

Informant Data: 
L.A. is a 21-year-old member of the Dartmouth class of 2022. She is a student-athlete on the rugby team, and is a double-major in geography and anthropology. At Dartmouth she is a tour guide, a snowboard instructor, and works for the Sustainability Office. She is from Colorado Springs, CO and enjoys the outdoors, and is very grateful for Dartmouth’s engagement with the surrounding nature. She does not come from a tradition-heavy background, and has thus really enjoyed partaking in the Dartmouth traditions. The second tradition she experienced at Dartmouth was the Twilight Ceremony, after participating in the DOC Trips.

Contextual Data: 
– Social Context: The first thing L.A. did upon arriving at Dartmouth was participating in Dartmouth’s Freshman ‘Orientation-Week’. This program is aimed at introducing the freshman to the various aspects and operations of Dartmouth College. On the Sunday before the first day of fall-term classes, the last day of Orientation-Week, she participated in the ‘Twilight Ceremony’. The ceremony is organized by the Tucker Center in collaboration with the Collis Student Center, and all incoming freshmen participate. This was Lannan’s first experience with an organized Dartmouth tradition, and she really enjoyed participating alongside her whole class. 
– Cultural Context: The Dartmouth experience is heavily influenced by many traditions, whereof some are organized and some occur naturally, and some are repeated every year by members of all classes and some are aimed specifically at freshman. Particularly, Dartmouth places heavy emphasis on freshman-only organized traditions as part of an initiation rite to make the freshman feel introduced as part of the collective Dartmouth community. The Twilight Ceremony incorporates the use of candles and two socially-significant locations on campus (the Green and BEMA), making it very Dartmouth specific rather than a general ‘you are now a college student’ initiation rite. 

Item: 
The Twilight Ceremony is organized and hosted by the Tucker Center and the Collis Center, and it marks the end of the ‘Orientation Week’ program the evening before fall term classes begin. All freshmen are gathered on the Dartmouth Green and provided with an unlit candle. A selected member of the recently graduated class will literally pass the flame from their candle to members of the incoming class, from candle to candle. All the freshmen walk in the dark to BEMA, only illuminated by the wave of flickering flames. At BEMA, a senior student offers a personal reflection on their experience transitioning from a freshman to a senior. The ceremony concludes with the singing of the Alma Mater and the extinguishing of the candles, to mark that students have now formally begun their Dartmouth journey. 

Associated File:

Image courtesy of Dartmouth, the William Jewett Tucker Center

Transcript: 
Collector: “Are there any other traditions we haven’t discussed that you think are important to freshman fall at Dartmouth?” 

Informant: “The candlelight ceremony was the first tradition I experienced after Trips, and because it was a one-time event it almost felt as the most ‘proper’ tradition. It felt very culty seeing all the freshmen walk into the woods with candles and singing the Alma Matter made me feel initiated into a Dartmouth cult. But it was also very fun, as it kind of cemented our class together and gave me the feeling of ‘whatever happens, we are all in this together’. Because none of my friends at other schools did anything like this with their whole class, it made me feel part of a very tight-knit and special community regardless of who there I would end up being friends with or not.” 

Collector Comment:
I had a very similar experience when I participated in the Twilight Ceremony. Although I did not know any of the students around me, I felt as part of a collective group that was embarking on a college journey together in the woods. The Twilight Ceremony is a very formal execution of an initiation rite, including all the stages in a rite of passage. 

Collected By:
Una Westvold
Oslo, Norway
Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS 013
Fall 2021

North America Initiation Rituals: The Importance of Family at a Quinceañera

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Title: North America Initiation Rituals: The Importance of Family at a Quinceañera

 General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Rituals
  • Culture: Latinx and Catholic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Mexico/America
  • Informant: Athina Schmidt
  • Place Collected: Kappa Delta Sorority
  • Date Collected: 11-2-18

Informant Data:

  • Athina Schmidt, age 29, is a female Dartmouth student who is graduating with the class of 2019. She was born in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She is currently living in Brooklyn, New York. Her ethnic background is half Dominican and half German. She went to a public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Athina is in Kappa Delta sorority, a member of the club Squash team, and a member of the Gospel Choir. She is planning to major in Psychology with a minor in Digital Art.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The U.S. Latinx culture has deep roots in respecting their cultural customs, traditions, and religion from the past. The main religion practiced by this cultural community is the Catholicism. In the U.S. a way many their Latinx families continue to pass down their cultural and religious customs is through the Quinceañera. The Quinceañera is an important way for a girl of Mexican American decent to stay connected to their ethnic history. After completing theQuinceañera a girl becomes incorporated into the cultural community in a meaningful way.
  • Social Context: The Quinceañera is practiced by most self-identifying Latinx members no matter their economic and geographic situations. TheQuinceañera can vary in how elaborate the ceremony and party is, depending on the particular socioeconomic state of the individual family and community. This coming of age ceremony is not only important to the girl and her family, but also the cultural and Catholic community she is a part of.

Item:

  • One of the most important aspects of the Quinceañera is the family of the girl. The event is just as much for the girl as it is for her family. The whole extended family is invited to the Quinceañera. For my informant, that meant having over 150 people at her Quinceañera. The past generations are honored and symbolized through the candle lighting ceremony at the church. The family gives speeches at the Quinceañera about the birthday girl. An iconic aspect of the Quinceañera is the father and daughter dance. The family is just as active in the initiation traditions as the girl. The family is initiating the girl and welcomes her into womanhood throughout the ceremony. As a result, the family is involved in all three stages of the initiation rite.

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

 

Transcript:

  • “For the Quinceañera it was done in Brooklyn with my entire family. So my aunt and uncles were there and all my cousins. And all my girl cousin had matching dresses and of course we went to the first part of the service was at our Catholic church. And we did like a special mass and you know the lighting of the candles for like our dead relatives and all that stuff… And after that, then there was like a big party at a dining hall. That’s when the family, like all of the families, got together. And it had to be like 150 people. It was so crazy, I didn’t realize there was so many people in my family… They all had speeches… We did the dance with your dad, the first dance. That was really cute.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • She thought that she had a small family before her Quinceañera. She was amazed by the amount of people at the Quinceañera.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I never realized just how family centered this the Quinceañera

Analysis:                

  • All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup: Both the Quinceañera and Sweet Sixteen are very family centered events. There are many overlapping family traditions that are a part of both initiation rites. For example, at both many family members give speeches about the birthday girl. One of the most iconic parts of both traditions is the father and daughter dance. Both have the meaning that the first man in a girl’s life should be the father.
  • Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvahsare rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. In all three coming of age ceremonies the family is an interregnal part of what makes the tradition special. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones,Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary folklore
  • Initiation
  • Quinceañera
  • Catholicism
  • Family
  • Candles
  • First Dance
  • Speeches

North America Initiation Rituals: Sweet Sixteen Birthday Candles

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Title: North America Initiation Rituals: Sweet Sixteen Birthday Candles

General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Rituals
  • Culture: American
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Morgan Gelber
  • Place Collected: Dartmouth College Library, First Floor Berry
  • Date Collected: 11-2-18

Informant Data:

  • Morgan Gelber, age 20, is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2020. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her ethnic background is half Russian and half Caucasian. She went to a small public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Morgan is in Kappa Delta sorority and is a member of the fencing team. She is planning to major in English with a minor in Russian studies.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Many consider America to be the “melting pot” of a diverse range of cultures. The blending of cultures is reflected in many traditions in America, including sweet sixteen. Sweet sixteen’s borrow various traditions from othercoming of age ceremonies. The two main celebrations that it borrows from are the Jewish Bat Mitzvah and the Latinx Quinceañera. ​
  • Social Context: Sweet sixteen are typically thrown by middle class toupper class families. The frequency of girls that have a sweet sixteen varies from region to region, but in generally since the celebration is quite a financial burden regions that are economically well off tend to have a higher frequency. Sweet sixteen’s are celebrated by girls in America, regardless of ethnicity.

Item:

  • The birthday candle is one of the most important traditions involved with birthdays. A common tradition to make a wish before blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. Most believe that all the candles must be blown out in one breath for good luck and the wish to come true. The blowing out of candles marks the true point when the person transitions to the next year of their lives. As a result, blowing out the candles is part of the transition stage of the three stages of initiation rites.  For sweet-sixteens this transition point also represents moving from childhood to adolescence. For this particular person’s sweet-sixteen the candles had an extra tradition associated with them. Each of the sixteen candles would represent a friend or family member who helped her get to that point in her life. For each candle she would tell a short story about what those people important in her life.

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

           

Transcript:

  • Morgan: “My friend… for the candles around the cake, she calls up (people). My friend made a speech for each candle and had either one or a group of people come up for each (candle) that were significant in her life and we lit the candle together.”
  • Darien: “So a story pre-candle basically?”
  • Morgan: “Yeah, so one was like her very best friend, one was like her parents, one was like a group of four or five people. But (they were) who had helped her get to that point in life. And she blew them (the candles) out and ate the cake.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Even though this was not her sixteenth birthday party, the story about the candles was a defining memory for her when she looks back on birthday parties she’s been to.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found the extra tradition that was involved with the candles on her sixteenth birthday really special and meaningful. The retrospective thoughts on the people who were important in her childhood was a nice way to reflect and move on from her childhood to adolescence.

Analysis:                

  • All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup: A comparable piece of folklore within the subgroup of North American initiation rites is the candles used in the Quinceañera. Both initiation rites include candles as a central symbol in the tradition. In the case of the Sweet Sixteen the candles only represent the transition from one year of life to the next. On the other hand, for the Quinceañera the lighting of the candles is in honor of the deceased relatives.
  • Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvah are rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. For example, all three use candles as a central tradition associated with the ceremony. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.

Collector’s Name: Darien Jones, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary folklore
  • Initiation
  • Sweet Sixteen
  • Candles