M.N. is a female member of the Class of 2022 at Dartmouth. She is affiliated with Greek Life, and she is from Boston.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: These terms are used for every incoming new member of the sorority. They are used to help make incoming members easily identifiable and to also help them feel more connected with each other.
Social: This information was collected through a video chat interview.
Item:
Terms that refer to the incoming new members of the sorority.
S.I. is a female member of the Class of 2021 at Dartmouth. She is affiliated with Greek Life, and she is from California.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: Events where sororities invite potential new members to the house. This allows the potential new members to meet sisters and check out the house before the official rush process begins.
Social: This information was collected through a video chat interview.
Item:
An event associated with sorority rush that happens before the official rush process begins.
S.B. is a member of the Class of 2020 at Dartmouth from New Jersey. He is affiliated with Greek Life and is studying Mathematics.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: Rush lunches may be a part of the Interfraternity Council rush process.
Social: This item was collected through a video chat interview. According to the informant, rush lunches add a new component to the rush process by allowing more personal connections to be formed. The potential new members are able to get to know current members of the specific organization.
Item:
Rush Lunches are organized events where members of a specific fraternity may go to lunch with a potential new member.
Collector’s Comments:
I found this item to be informative of fraternity rush, as it displays an aspect of the rush process that occurs in smaller groups and allows for more conversation. It seems as though this would help potential new members decide if they are interested in a specific fraternity.
M.N. is a female member of the Class of 2022 at Dartmouth. She is affiliated with Greek Life, and she is from Boston.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: Every potential new member participating in sorority rush is assigned to a rho gamma, who guides them through the rush process. Rho gammas are affiliated but their affiliations are kept secret from the potential new members throughout the whole rush process. They are serve as a resource for potential new members to ask questions or make reports with confidentiality.
Social: This information was collected through a video chat interview.
Item:
A word that refers to a confidential resource that helps and leads potential new members throughout the rush process for sororities.
H.W. is a member of the Class of 2020 at Dartmouth from Portland, OR. She is affiliated with Greek Life at Dartmouth.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: Rush rounds are the three steps of the Inter-sorority Council (ISC) sorority rush process taking place over 1.5 weeks.
Social: The item was collected through a video chat interview. Only current members of the organization dress according to the theme. According to the informant, the social significance of this item is that it is a way to “be memorable” to potential new members and ultimately tells something about the specific organization.
Item:
Current members of sororities may dress according to different themes for the three rounds of the rush process. Some examples given by the informant are Outer Space theme and Rock and Roll theme.
Collector’s Comments:
This item made clear the importance of how the Greek organization presents itself to potential new members during the rush process.
The informant, K.I., is a member of the Class of 2020 at Dartmouth. He is from Massachusetts. At Dartmouth, he is affiliated with Greek Life and is studying Engineering.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: Shake Out is a part of the Interfraternity Council rush process.
Social: The information was collected through a video chat interview. Participants in Shake Out are potential new members of the Greek organizations, and the event indicates possible intent to join a specific house.
Item:
Shake Out is a two-night event that occurs during fraternity rush. For this event, potential members must shake the hands of current members. Additionally, during Shake Out, potential members communicate their interest in a Greek organization by signing their name in a book.
Collector’s Comments:
I found this item to be interesting, as it indicates a unique component of the fraternity rush process. I was not aware of the details of this process prior to the interview.
R.B. is a member of the Class of 2020 at Dartmouth and is affiliated with Greek Life. He is from California and studying Engineering.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: Shake Out is a step of the Interfraternity Council rush process.
Social: This item was collected through a video chat interview. Not all fraternities request that potential new members wear formal attire. It may be “out of respect” to dress formally, and this is only done by potential new members.
Item: Potential new members of fraternity organizations wear formal attire for the Shake Out event.
Collector’s Comments:
This item is similar to a different item collected- Sorority Pref Night clothing. Formal attire may be required for both processes, potentially indicating the significance and formality of certain events.
M.F. is a female member of the Class of 2022 at Dartmouth. She is affiliated with Greek Life, and she is from Minnesota.
Contextual Data:
Cultural: Pref night is the third and final “round” of Inter-Sorority Council rush, where each round is a different step of the process. After pref night, potential new members must determine which sorority they are interested in joining.
Social: This information was collected through a video chat interview. All current members of the Greek organization and selected potential new members must participate in pref night. The significance of dressing in more formal attire for pref night may be out of respect and to demonstrate that the matter is taken seriously.
Item:
On pref night, potential new members and current members of the organization must dress formally, often in all black clothing.
Collector’s Comments:
I recognized a similarity between this item and a different item collected- Fraternity Shake Out Clothing. It seems that formal attire is a common feature of both.
Material Folklore: South Korean Supersition – Chuseok
Language: English
Country of Origin: South Korea
Informant: Jeeseob Jung
Date Collected: May 24, 2019
Informant Data:
Jeeseob is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2020. She was born in South Korea and attended boarding school in the United States. Before school, Jeeseob lived in South Korea with her family. Her family still lives there and continues to practice the tradition we collected.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: Chuseok is a very important tradition in South Korean culture. It occurs in mid-August and many individuals travel to be with their family to celebrate. Family plays a very important role, and it is believed that a connection must be made to both living and deceased family members to uphold the familial connection. The tradition stems from autumnal harvests, where the family would connect with their ancestors and celebrate the conclusion of the agriarian season.
Social Context: The superstition was relayed through an in-person interview with the informant at Dartmouth College. The superstition is practiced by the informant and her famiy each fall.
Text and Texture
Chuseok
추석
Chuseok
Chew-sok
Autumn Eve
Thanksgiving
Item:
Chuseok is celebrated by preparing a large feast for the family. However, before anyone can eat, the family must open the doors to allow their ancestoral spirits into the home. If one does not open the door, then the ancestors will be angry and is bad luck.
Audio File:
Transcript:
J: Jeeseob
S: Saif
S: All right, so you can start your name and a little bit about your background.
J: Okay. My name is Jeeseob Jang. I’m from South Korea, and I am currently a ’20, and I went to boarding school in the States. But before that I lived in Korea like for my entire life, I guess.
S: And are there any like, you know, superstitions you guys have or beliefs in like bad spirits or traditions you do to ward off bad luck?
J: I guess like during during Korean or Chinese New Year, or like that’s also when we celebrate Korean New Year, I guess. Like if you… so it’s basically just honoring your ancestors like every year, we have like a large feast, and we put out all the food, but before we eat it we have to like cut all the fruit a certain way and like kind of arrange all the different foods like in different sections and then you always have to open the door so that the ancestors can or like the spirits can kind of come in and like feast on the food before we do, and so if we don’t do that, it’s technically bad luck because the ancestors will get angry. And so you always have to make sure to do that.
S: Is there a name for this tradition?
J: It’s called chuseok. Okay. Yeah.
S: All right. Awesome. Thank you so much.
Informant’s Comments:
Family is a very important aspect of the tradition, since all members of the family need to be present. We open the door so the ancestors can come.
Collector’s Comments:
The opening of the door is an item of homeopathic magic, since the open door symbolizes the welcoming of spirits into the home for the family meal.
Dartmouth Climbing Customary Folklore “Thumb On Rope”
Sarah Jennewein Hanover, NH May 22, 2019
Informant Data:
Sarah Jennewein is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. Sarah grew up in Tampa, Florida, before coming to Dartmouth. Sarah only began climbing when she got to Dartmouth. She was a member of a Hike and Climb freshman trip. While she initially found climbing at Dartmouth to be intimidating, after going on a climbing trip with Dartmouth students during a break freshman year, she fell in love. She now climbs and attends mountaineering events regularly. She is a member of the Dartmouth climbing team and has the designation of a leader in the mountaineering club for sport climbing, ice climbing, and top rope climbing. Climbing has made Dartmouth feel like home for Sarah.
Contextual Data:
Social Context: This piece of folklore was collected via a video interview with Sarah Jennewein while at Dartmouth College. Sarah learned about this piece of folklore as a freshman on the Dartmouth Climbing Team. This tradition is not unique to only the Dartmouth Climbing Team, but it is routinely performed by the team each time they climb outdoors. This tradition is performed by members of the team only; non-climbers typically do not participate. The “thumb on the rope” game is played specifically when climbing outdoors with a top rope. At Dartmouth, this usually means that the game is performed at a climbing location called Rumney or on a trip during a school break to other outdoor climbing locations. Typically, only a small group of all climbers are present on these trips, and the game is performed as the group is getting ready to end the climbing for the day. Specifically, this game occurs as the top ropes are being taken down. Sarah noted that the tradition gives a sense of bonding and fosters the feeling of family. She added that the game is both fun and competitive, and it provides a forum for jokes and entertainment. Whoever manages to get their thumb on the top of the rope has bragging rights within the community.
Cultural Context: The two major types of climbing are bouldering and sport climbing. Unlike bouldering, sport climbing involves being roped in and wearing a harness while being belayed by another climber on the ground due to the dangerous heights that the climbers can reach. Top rope climbing is a type of sport climbing. The rope is attached to the climber, passed up through an anchor at the top of the climb, and then passed down to a belayer at the bottom of the climb. At Dartmouth, top rope climbing is not performed in the climbing gym on campus, as the climbing gym on campus is a bouldering gym. Therefore, no ropes are used in the Dartmouth Climbing Gym, and the “thumb on rope” game cannot be played unless the climbers are not on campus. Dartmouth climbers typically top rope climb at an outdoor area called Rumney or on break trips. This item of folklore is a fun and competitive way for team members to bond after top rope climbing.
Item:
(While i have recorded the Dartmouth climbing tradition of the thumb on the rope game as closely as possible to Sarah’s exact words based on notes taken during the interview, this is ultimately my own phrasing of Sarah’s words.)
The “thumb on rope” game does not have an official name, but rather is a game commonly known by the climbing community. This game is played by members outside of the Dartmouth community, but these are the specific rules that the Dartmouth community adheres to. When disassembling the setup of a top rope climb after everyone has finished climbing, the top rope must be allowed to fall from the anchor at the top of the climb. Before the rope hits the ground, if you are able to catch the end of the rope within a thumbs length of the end so that you can put your thumb on the very top, someone who you are climbing with has to buy you a beer or other beverage.
Kelly Peterec, Age 20 Hinman Box 3552, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Dartmouth College Russian 013 Spring 2019
