Tag Archives: Cornell

Cornell Superstitions

Title: Cornell Superstitions – Izzy Daniels

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Magic Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Izzy Daniels
  • Date Collected: 11/15/21

Informant Data:

  • Izzy Daniels is a female athlete at Cornell and is in the class of 2024. She is from Edina, MN and has lived there her whole life. She is currently living in Ithaca, NY and is playing for the women’s ice hockey team. She is involved in many things on campus and loves spending time with her teammates.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context is that many teams pass down superstitions from one class year to the next.
  • Social Context: The social context is being in a small group of people participating in the same action of wearing the bracelet. 
  • The magic substances in these superstitions are the bracelets. 

Item:

  • These items are customary types of folklore under the genre of magic superstition. Izzy wears the bracelet with her teammates before and during each home game. 

Transcript:

  • “Every other year three seniors hand down special bracelets to three juniors on the team. I received one this year along with my three closest friends and we have to wear them for each game or we will not play well. This has been going on for as long as I can remember.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Izzy adopted these superstitions from teammates before her who she was friends with, and now does these things with two of her closest friends on the team.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think it is very unique that a group of three people has the opportunity to wear these bracelets each year, and it is a superstition that is passed on to new teammates every other year that helps players gain confidence in their new teams and feel connected to the people that came before them. 

Collector’s Name: Currie Putrah 

Cornell Superstitions

Title: Cornell Superstitions – Lily Delianedis 

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Magic Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Lily Delianedis 
  • Date Collected: 11/09/21

Informant Data:

  • Lily Delianedis is a female athlete at Cornell and is in the class of 2025. She is from Edina, MN and moved there when she was in middle school from Cape Cod. She is currently living in New York and is undeclared for her major. She plans to get her Master’s Degree after Cornell and wants to live on the East Coast when she is older.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context is that many hockey players go to coffee shoes before games and re-tape their sticks as well.
  • Social Context: The social context is interacting with people who participate in the handshakes and re-taping their sticks together. 
  • The magic substances in these superstitions are hot chocolate, tape, and the team sign. 

Item:

  • These items are customary types of folklore under the genre of magic superstition. Lily performs these before each home game. 

Transcript:

  • “I have to drive to a coffee shop and get a hot chocolate, then drive around and listen to music. When we have our team warm ups I have to tap a certain wall during warmups, and do a specific handshake with one of my teammates. I have to tape my stick before our team warm ups and tap our team sign in the locker room with my stick on the way out to the ice before the first period. If I do not do these things then I will feel off and I will not have a good game.”  

Informant’s Comments:

  • Lily said she adopted these superstitions from teammates before her who she was friends with, and now does these things with two of her closest friends on the team, recommending others to do so as well.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I was interested that their team does not have any collective superstitions or group superstitions, but they do have rituals that they like to complete before games such as playing spikeball or participating in a race. However, these things are not cause and result and are not necessary to be completed in order to play well. 

Collector’s Name: Currie Putrah 

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Magic Superstition 
  • Sticks
  • Tape
  • Sign
  • Hot Chocolate