Tag Archives: Customary Folklore

A Christian Christmas

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General Information 

Informant: Ethan Davis 

Place: Hanover, NH 

Date: October 28, 2021 

Genre/Form of Folklore: Customary/Material 

Title: “A Christain Christmas” 

Informant Data: Ethan Davis is a 29-year-old former U.S. Marine and current student of Dartmouth College where he is pursuing a medical degree. As a member of the Class of 2022, Ethan is avidly involved in outdoor activities such as fishing and hunting and serves as a member on the board of a wildlife conservation club here in Hanover. Ethan was born in Boston, Massachusetts but lived much of his life in Andover. Ethan Davis is a registered EMT and leads a Sunday service group at his local church, while also engaging in community service events and helping non-profit organizations with their various goals. 

Contextual Data: At its roots, Christmas is a religious holiday, with its purpose being to observe and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ of the Christain religion. During this holiday, folk of the Christain religion use this time to express their gratitude to God and memorialize his exceptionality. Many rituals and decorations are utilized to express this, and members of the folk have found differing cultural methodologies for doing so.  

Social Data: When the Christmas season comes around every year, members of a Christain religion come closer together to celebrate what they all share, their faith. As a holiday that stems from this religion, this time of year brings commonality amongst family and friends, regardless of external factors. Christmas is a time of happiness and celebration and allows families to recognize the reasons they believe they are able to enjoy their lives. This item of folklore was collected through a face-to-face interview of the informant just before the beginning of the Christmas season. 

Item: Christmas, a Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus, has evolved into a worldwide religious and secular celebration, incorporating many pre-Christian and pagan traditions into the festivities – observed primarily on December 25th. Different types of decorations developed across the Christian world, dependent on local tradition and available resources, and can vary from simple representations of the crib to far more elaborate sets. 

Transcript: 

Collector: “How does you and/or your family go about decorating your house during the Christmas season? What sorts of decorations do you put up every year and what factors do you think influence this decorative style?” 

Informant: “My family has always kind of looked at Christmas as a fairly religious holiday. Rather than your typical green and white decorations, my mom usually decorates the house with a lot of white décors. Things like pillows with Christmas carols on them, signs with “joy”, “hope”, and “peace” on them, and small nativity sets and figurines. In our front yard is usually an inflatable nativity set with a cross and even the lights around the house would be little angles rather than Christmas-colored bulbs. I think one of the biggest things I have noticed about our decoration is the angel on top of our Christmas tree, rather than a star or other symbol.” 

Informant Comment:  

Christmas has always seemed controversial in my opinion. It feels like it’s meant to be celebrated religiously, but it feels so culturally separated that it’s sort of ambiguous now. 

Collector Comment:  

Hearing about Ethan’s Christmas decorating customs and formalities was intriguing and somewhat relatable. Ethan and his family celebrate Christmas in a way so many others do, but even more are unfamiliar with. His family follows a strict narrative in recognizing the holiday and using a unique decorative style to express this. The holiday is recognized by Ethan and his family at its roots, rather than its cultural alternatives, which I believe emphasizes the aspect of folklore in this collection. 

Collected by: 

Joshua Betts, 21 

Bradenton, FL 

Hanover, NH 

Dartmouth College 

RUSS 013 

Fall 2021

Freshman Orientation Program (Nick Hepburn)

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General Information about the item:

Title: Freshman Orientation Program

Form of Folklore: Customary/Ritual (Freshman Tradition)

Language: English

Place of Origin: Hanover, NH, United States

Informant: CG’24

Date Collected: October 25th, 2021

Informant Data: CG is 20 years old and a member of the class of 24 at Dartmouth College. He is originally from just outside Chicago, Illinois where he attended high school. CG has been rowing most of his life and is a member of the heavyweight rowing team at Dartmouth. Outside of rowing CG is a member of DIPP and is involved in Greek life. 

Contextual Data: 

– Social Context: Due to Dartmouth’s strong emphasis on community, the College uses its orientation program as a way to build community among the new class of students. Orientation Peer Leader groups allow new students to get to know one another in a personal setting, as well as to get to know a couple older students that they can go to if they have any questions or need advice. 

– Cultural Context:  There are many aspects of Dartmouth that are unique to the college and need to be learned by freshmen in order for them to be successful at the school. Some of this knowledge is implemented by the College such as the honor principle and course selection and other knowledge is implemented by the peer leaders such as nicknames for buildings on campus. The orientation program allows time for freshmen to get to know all of these things and begin to dive into the community that is so prevalent at the College.

Item: Dartmouth’s orientation program is completed by all new students before their first term at Dartmouth. The purpose of this program is to introduce students to Dartmouth and all the resources that are available, as well as to give students the opportunity to bond with the other students in their orientation peer leader group. These groups usually are made up of around 15 students and two peer leaders. The peer leaders walk the students through course selection, the liberal arts, the honor principle, and student involvement to name a few. The peer leaders also lead games that allow the new students to get to know each other. This program takes a fair amount of time, but is something that all students have to go through 

Transcript:

Collector: “What was the orientation program and what has been its importance to your Dartmouth experience?”

Informant: “Last fall before the start of classes the entire freshman class had to do orientation. It was a bit different than other years because we had to do everything over Zoom and this made it more of a challenge because of all the time we had to spend on a computer. Anyways, during orientation our peer leaders gave us a lot of information about Dartmouth and stuff we should know as freshmen. We also attempted to play ice breaker type games, but it was challenging to do over zoom. The thing that I took away from it though was my relationship with my peer leaders. They helped me answer all the questions I had and I still talk with them today. One of them is actually the reason I ended up rushing the frat that I did.”

Collector Comment: I enjoyed hearing CG’s perspective on the orientation program because I was not as involved and did not get to know my orientation leaders that well, but now I wish that I took the time to get to know them. 

Collected by:

Nick Hepburn 20

Hampton, NH

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Superstitions Surrounding Santa Claus

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General Information Data:

Customary Folklore, Superstition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Informant: L.M.

Date Collected: 11/10/2021

Informant Data:

L.M. is an 18 year old girl born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She is also the sister of the Collector. L.M. is currently a Freshman at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In High School, L.M. was a two-sport athlete who involved in both academics and extracurricular. At George Washington, L.M. is a member of the Trails club who enjoys spending time with her friends and exploring the Nation’s Historic Capital. 

Contextual Data:

Cultural: Christmas Gatherings in America are generally centered on two days: Christmas Eve, which occurs on December 24th, and Christmas Day, which occurs on December 25th. On these days, friends and families descend upon a certain household to engage in socialization and holiday activities. It is at these events that folklore traditions often emerge since they create a rare, jolly gathering of Folk. Christmas Eve is of particular importance because it is believed that Santa Claus comes to peoples homes on this night. Santa Claus is a culturally relevant character with magical abilities who brings gifts to Children during the Holidays. Christmas Eve gatherings can create folklore centered around Santa. 

Social: The informant’s family is a tight-knit community which gathers every year without fail on Christmas Eve at the house of one of the family members to celebrate the holidays. Christmas Eve is an intimate gathering which is generally restricted to family members and close friends. Yearly gatherings have created folklore amongst the children in the informant’s family.

Item:

L.M. and her cousins developed a tradition of tracking and informing their fellow family members of the whereabouts of Santa Claus using a mobile app called SantaTracker. This tradition was important because the children believed that they must be asleep when Santa Claus arrives at their home in order to receive presents. This represents a customary superstition surrounding the magical character of Santa Claus. While this superstition that Santa comes when children are sleeping is culturally relevant, in L.M.’s family the superstition was told by the Mothers of the family. 

Transcript: 

“Me and my younger cousin Mallory every year had an app on our Mom’s phones called Santa Tracker. We would track Santa while he was flying around delivering presents around dessert time to make sure he wouldn’t come to our house before we were asleep because we wouldn’t get any presents. Sants’s not going to give you any presents unless you’re in bed and asleep. If you weren’t in bed when Santa came it ment you were naughty and got Coal in your stocking, thats what our Moms told us.”

Informants Comments:

This superstition and tradition began to fade away as belif in Santa faded. 

Collectors Comments:

This is an interesting piece of folklore. It represents a customary superstition surrounding Santa Claus. However, as the older brother in the Family, I was less inclined to believe this. I saw my younger sister and cousins obsessing over the app, but witnessed the folklore as an outsider. I think that my Mom just wanted a way to keep my sister in her room on Christmas Eve so she wouldn’t see my Mom wrapping presents. 

Collectors Name: Jackson McGinley

Christmas Prayer

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General Information Data:

Customary Lore, Prayer

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Informant: E.S.

Date Collected: 11/12/2021

Informant Data: E.S. is a 19 year old Women’s lacrosse player at the University of Vanderbilt. Prior to college, E.S. attended Jesuit, Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon. Outside of her love for athletics, E.S. enjoys hiking and other outdoor activities along with spending time with her friends and family. E.S. and the collector have been friends for years. 

Contextual Data: 

Cultural Data: Christmas was originally established in the United States as a Christian holiday to celebrate the brith of Jesus Christ. While modern Christmas traditions have begun to stray away from this original intention, there are still aspects of religiosity within certain Christmas traditions. Oftentimes, religious observances during Christmas can be seen in attending church on Christmas Day or decorating one’s home with Nativity sets. 

Social: E.S. comes from a religious family and attended Catholic School since her youth. Her family still attends church and considers themselves members of the Catholic community. For her family, Christmas is an important religious holiday. The informant’s family take the time to attend mass on Christmas Eve and hold a special prayer during Christmas Dinner. 

Item: E.S.’s family follows the tradition of holding a unique catholic prayer on Christmas. The prayer always starts the same: “Dear Heavenly Father, love brought Jesus to the earth, and love brings us to this Christmas table. Today as we share this holiday feast, may we also share gratitude.” Following this traditional prayer, the family goes around the table to discuss what they are grateful for during the holiday season before concluding the prayer. This is a unique tradition which incorporates both a standardized prayer which is followed by individual oral contributions. 

Transcript: “Each year, on Christmas Day, my family tries to keep the religious part of Christmas around. One of the ways we do this is by going to Church. Another way we do this is in our Christmas dinner prayer. It always starts the same, when we say “Dear Heavenly Father, love brought Jesus to the earth, and love brings us to this Christmas table. Today as we share this holiday feast, may we also share gratitude.” Then each person goes around the table sharing something they’re grateful for. You’ve been there, so you know what I’m talking about.”

Informant’s Comments: “I don’t know when we started doing this”

Collectors Comments: This Christmas dinner prayer is certainly unique. After questioning wether or not it was folklore, I settled on “yes”. This is an oral tradition which is passed down yearly. It has unknown origins and benefits from a memorable mnemonic design. Furthermore, this is a collective folklore which exhibits multiple existence. Every year, following the first prayer, each member of the Folk—in this case, people sitting at the table—give an individual oral contribution. This means the prayer is different every year. I myself have contributed to this folklore once. 

Collectors Name: Jackson McGinley

TDXmas

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General Information Data: 

Customary Folklore, Events/Decorating

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Informant: H.N.

Date Collected: 11/10/2021

Informant Data: 

H.N. is a 21 year-old Dartmouth ‘23 originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. At school, H.N. is the CFO of a mental health awareness non-profit. Additionally, H.N. is a member of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity, also known as TDX. H.N. enjoys hunting and hanging out with his friends in his free time. 

Contextual Data: 

Cultural: At Dartmouth, Fraternities are known for being the prime social spaces. They host social events nearly every weekend, with the Majority of these events being un-themed and simply for the sake of a social gathering. Therefore, these events are simply gatherings and not folklore. However, there are some fraternity events which can constitute folklore because of their unique nature. 

Social: Along with hosting general events on the weekends, Theta Delta Chi has a few particular traditions which they are known to host. As a brother of Theta Delta Chi, the informant is the member of a folk group. Our interview concerned traditions within this folk group. These traditions are possibly folkloric, as will be explored further.

Item:

Every year, as the Fall Term ends and the Holidays approach, TDX throws their annual TDXmas party after the last day of classes. TDXmas is a unique tradition with a multitude of facets which make it a truly special event. The basement, which is the fraternity’s social space, is covered in Christmas wrapping paper and colored lights. This decoration process is quite unique. After decorations are put up, the fraternity brothers gather in the basement in Christmas Garb for a traditional Secret Santa gift exchange, in which each brother gives a gift to a fellow brother. Following this exchange, the campus is invited to join the brothers in partaking in festivities in their last week on campus before Winter Break. 

Associated File: 

An image of TDXmas Decorations

Transcript: 

“I remember my first time setting up for TDXmas. It took hours. All of the guys in my class were down in the basement and we were blasting Christmas music. I think we used staple guns to attach the wrapping paper and lights to the wall. With all of us working together, it was pretty cool to see the finished product and then have a party with our friends after.”

Informants Comments:

“No, I couldn’t tell you who started TDXmas. For all I know, we’ve has been doing it for 100 years”

Collectors Comments

The Unknown Origins of this event are particularly interesting because it reveals a traditional folklore activity which is passed down through generations. I think the decorating process is particularly folkloric. It is a collective effort which is passed down orally. There are no written directions to decorating. The brothers are just told to decorate and they do. This also means there is probably a multiple existence to TDXmas, and there have been many iterations of TDXmas celebrations. Plus, the name TDXmas itself is a mnemonic play on words from the term X-mas. Nonetheless, the tradition continues to be passed down through generations as a customary folklore event. 

Collectors Name: Jackson McGinley

Yale Superstitions

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Title: Yale Superstitions – Addie Burton

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data:

  • Addie Burton is a 19 year old female from Orono, MN. She is a female student-athlete in the class of 2024. She went to a private school in Minnesota before going to the University of Minnesota, which she transferred from this year to attend Yale. At Yale she is on the women’s ice hockey team and is in an acapella group.  She has 2 superstitions that she follows strictly before games.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context is that putting on gear in a specific order is common amongst hockey players, and re-taping your stick is a very common action that hockey players perform before games. 
  • Social Context: The social context is interacting with people who also re-tape their sticks before games, and interacting with others who put a certain side of their gear on before the other side.
  • The magic substance in the superstition about taping her stick is stick tape. 

Item:

  • This item is a customary type of folklore under the genre of magic superstition. Addie performs these before each home game. 

Transcript:

  • “I re-tape my hockey stick and put the blade in the air so it does not touch the ground until game time, and when I get dressed I put my right skate on before my left.”  

Informant’s Comments:

  • Addie described the feeling of dread and disdain if her stick touched the ground after she re-taped it, needing it to stay in the air in order to play well. She 

Collector’s Comments:

  • I was very intrigued by Addie’s superstitions because while some of her superstitions are common amongst most players, she has a spin on them such as keeping her newly taped stick in the air, something she told me she started doing after watching her older teammates do it. 

Collector’s Name: Currie Putrah 

Dartmouth Superstitions

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Title: Dartmouth Superstitions – Annie King

General Information about Item: 

  • Customary Lore, Magic Superstition 
  • Language: English 
  • Country of Origin: Canada 
  • Informant: Annie King 
  • Date Collected: 11/06/21

Informant Data: 

  • Annie King is 19 years old and is a member of the 2024 class at Dartmouth college. She is in her second year of being on the Dartmouth Women’s Ice Hockey team, however, due to COVID this is the first season she is actually playing with the team. She is from Regina, Saskatchewan Canada where she was born and raised. 

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context is that gatorade is a common sports drink among athletes. The Dartmouth team even has gatorade on the benches during their games and gatorade has been promoted by many professional athletes in commercials. 
  • Social Context: The social context is that Annie is one of many people who drink gatorade before the games. The magic component in this superstition is drinking the gatorade in ¼ increments and if she doesn’t do this she will play bad. 

Item: This is a magic superstition that comes from the category of customary folklore. 

Transcript: “I Always have to wear a purple under armour sports bra under my gear. I drink the gatorade in specific ¼ increments so ¼ before warm ups, ¼ before the first period, ¼ before the second period, and ¼ before the third period. 

Informant’s Comments: 

  • Annie also told me that if she doesn’t drink gatorade before warm ups she will have an off game. She also mentioned that these two superstitions brought her sister good luck when she played hockey, so she passed them down to Annie hoping that they would bring her luck as well. 

Collector’s Comments: 

  • This is one of the most specific superstitions I collected, but it is nice how Annie has kept her sister’s superstitions alive by bringing them to college hockey. 

Collector’s Name: Gabby Billing 

Hush Little Baby (Emma Macaione)

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General information about item: 

  • Verbal Folklore
  • Childhood Lullaby
  • Language: English
  • Country and State of Origin: Connecticut, US 
  • Informant: Maggie O’Gorman 
  • Date Collected: 11-01-21

Informant Data: 

  • Maggie O’Gorman is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. She was born and raised in Connecticut by her father. During her time at Dartmouth, Maggie plays Division 1 lacrosse and sings in an acapella group. In her time away from Dartmouth, Maggie enjoys community service, especially with her father. Given that grew up in a single-parent household as an only child, Maggie mentioned that her and her father have a very close relationship. 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This lullaby was sung to her, among others, before going to bed when she was young. It sends the message that no matter what happens to the person (little baby) he or she has nothing to fear, and that Papa (in Maggie’s case) would be given things to make her feel better. This message of this lullaby meant a lot to Maggie, as she mentioned that her father has always been her backbone. 
  • Cultural Context: This lullaby is a traditional, American lullaby. When singing this lullaby, she mentioned “Papa” as opposed to “Mama,” which demonstrates that the lullaby had interchangeable lyrics.

Item: 

Hush little baby, don’t say a word

Mama/ Papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird

And if that mockingbird won’t sing, 

Mama/ Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring 

And if that diamond ring turns brass, 

Mama/ Papa’s gonna buy you a looking glass

And if that looking glass gets broke, 

Mama/ Papa’s gonna buy you a billy goat 

And if that billy goat won’t pull 

Mama/ Papa’s gonna buy you a cart and bull 

And if that cart and bull fall down

You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town

Recording:

Informants Comments: This lullaby helped me fall asleep and always made me feel safe and protected with my Dad. I remember hearing someone sing using “Mama” instead of “Papa,” when I was younger, and tried to correct them because I thought the lyrics were wrong.

Collectors Comments: I found this lullaby and interview to give me an interesting perspective on how lullabies can be shifted and formed to match the identity of the deliverer. I remember this lullaby sung by my mother to me, and although Maggie remembers the lyrics with a slight difference, it is still sending the same message. 

Collector’s Name: Emma Macaione

Harvard Superstitions

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Title: Harvard Superstitions – Kyra Willoughby

General Information about Item: 

  • Customary Lore, Magic Superstition 
  • Language: English 
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Kyra Willoughby 
  • Date Collected: 11/05/21

Informant Data: 

  • Kyra Willoughby is in the 2023 graduating class at Harvard and plays on their women’s ice hockey team. She was born in Minnesota and played high school hockey for the Blake School in Minneapolis, MN. During her time playing on the Harvard Women’s Ice Hockey team she has actively tried to get rid of her individual superstitions because if anything went wrong she was convinced she would play poorly and could not properly prepare for games. 

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: At Harvard these traditions/superstitions have been around for many years (at least 10 according to Kyra). The new members of the team have adopted the superstitions as they have brought their team success in the past and continue to bring them good luck and success today. 
  • Social Context: The social context for this superstition is that Kyra performs it with her other teammates to get pumped up and dialed in before games. They are all able to collectively clap, snap, and cheer along with each other throughout the dance performance that is going on. 

Item: 

  • This item is a customary type of folklore under the genre of magic superstition. Although Kyra doesn’t follow many individual superstitions, she still participates in her team’s superstitions and rituals such as performing handshakes and dance performances before games. 

Transcript: 

  • “There are two handshakes that must be performed during every warmup and they are passed down by graduating seniors every year. 
  • “Our team has a dance to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody. This dates back to 1990, and the creator is unknown. One person dances to the song (this position is passed down by graduating seniors), while the rest of the team cheers and snaps or claps along. As a freshman, each player picks their seat in our home rink and has to sit there for the next 4 years of the performance.  

Informant’s Comments: 

  • Kyra said the creator of these two handshakes is unknown, and this tradition is at least 10 years old to her knowledge. She also said that if someone sits in the wrong spot during the performance to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” the whole thing feels off and their team won’t feel properly prepared for their game. 

Collector’s Comments: 

  • I found it very interesting how Kyra has actively tried to get rid of her personal superstitions because speaking from experience they can be pretty harmful. If one thing is off in my routine it could cause a chain reaction of bad events to come. It is also interesting how she still participates in her team superstitions to be supportive and add to their team chemistry before games. 

Collector’s Name: Gabby Billing 

Joint Rush Parties

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Title: Joint Rush Parties

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore
  • Informant: E.W. ’22
  • Date Collected: 05/22/2020

Informant Data:

  • E.W. is a female Dartmouth Student. She is affiliated.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Fraternities and Sororities at Dartmouth both partake in rush and bid night parties. These are parties for the new members of their respective houses. Sometimes a Fraternity and Sorority will together throw a joint party for their new members.
  • Social Context: The celebration of new members of a house is usually some form of social gathering. The combining of two different houses for a social gathering meant for the new members is a common social practice.

Item:

  • The joint parties of a Fraternity and Sorority refer to parties thrown by two houses together to celebrate their new class of members. These are therefore much larger and grander than celebrations done just by members of the house themselves. 

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this to be a cool tradition as it mixes the somewhat separate processes of rushing a Fraternity versus a Sorority.

Collector’s Name: Charlie Wade

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Celebrations
  • Fraternity/Sorority