Tag Archives: Customary

Blood Stripe

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Title: Blood Stripe

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Customary Lore, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: When a soldier in the military gets promoted to the level of Non-commisisoned officer they are given a ceremony and pants with a red stripe on the side. This stripe is called a “Blood Stripe”. During the ceremony, other NCO traditionally go up to the person being promoted and punch him in the thigh along the red stripe to give him a blood stripe on his leg.

Associated file: Blood Stripe

Transcript: “There’s also when you become like a corporal and a Non-Commissioned Officer, you get these things called a blood stripe,you see it like, next time you see a Marine Corps uniform ya its like blue pants that have a red stripe that go right down the side. They call it the blood stripe. You get that when you become a non-commissioned officer. Or an officer. So um back in the day, they’d used to uh you’d get… you’d become an NCO like and maybe they still in some places they still do it i don’t think they do it too much anymore but uh  you buddies would pull you aside if you were a sergeant or corporal already they would like pound and just like beat the shit out of you. And you’d have these bruises that run up and down the side of your legs. You’d have your ‘blood stripe’.”

Informant’s comments: Informant thought this was a funny tradition. He mentioned that a lot of the traditions are dying down.

Collector’s comments: I thought this was an interesting tradition that was similar to hazing at our school.

Tags/Keywords: Blood Stripe, Customary, Military, Tradition

Novack Sushi

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1. Title: Novack Sushi

2. Informant info: 

Cameron is a 19-year-old male from Baltimore, Maryland and was born on November 16, 1996. He is a freshman studying math at Dartmouth College and is not religious. He is on the Smart choice 10 meal plan, which gives ten meal swipes per week. He also likes sushi.

3. Type of Lore: Customary, Magic, Superstition

4. Language: English

5. Country of Origin:  Hanover, New Hampshire, United States

6. Social / Cultural Context: 

Novack is a café in Baker Berry library at Dartmouth College where people typically go for a cheap, quick snack or coffee. They also sell sushi, which people do not tend to buy, so there is a very low turnover and can sometimes be days old.

7. Associated file (a video, audio, or image file): N/A

8. Transcript (if verbal lore): N/A

9. Informant’s comments:

“Everyone knows not to buy Novack sushi. Personally, I don’t know anyone who has actually gotten food poisoning from the sushi, but I have heard reports from Yik Yak and word of mouth. In all honesty, the sushi is probably fine to eat, but it just looks like it has been left in the fridge for days. Also, Novack is like the fast food place on campus, so it is less trustworthy than say, Collis.”

10. Collector’s comments:

“The reputation of Novack as a lower quality food option as well as the purported cases of sickness likely gave rise to this aversion to their sushi. The magic behind this logic follows the format of if you do A, then B will happen: if you eat the sushi, you will get sick. Thus, it has become a superstition to avoid Novack sushi.”

11. Tags/Keywords: Novack, Sushi, DDS, Food Poisoning, Customary

Foco Apple Game

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1. Title: Foco Apple Game

2. Informant Information:

Parker Johnson was born on October 24, 1996, and he grew up in Houston, Texas. He is currently a freshman at Dartmouth College. He is on the track team and wants to study Economics, and he has participated in this game.

3. Type of Lore (Genre and Sub-Genre): Customary Lore, Game

4. Language: English

5. Country of Origin: Hanover, New Hampshire, United States

6. Social / Cultural Context:

Three important pieces of Dartmouth slang that are necessary for understanding this game are “Foco,” “Droco,” and big weekends. Foco is short for Class of 1953 Commons, which is the main dining hall at Dartmouth. Droco is a combination of the words ‘drunk’ and ‘Foco,’ referring to when people go to dinner at this dining hall after consuming alcohol. Big weekends constitute Homecoming in the fall, Winter Carnival in the Winter, and Green Key in the Spring.

7. Associated file: N/A

8. Transcript: “The game involves throwing an apple from person to person at the dining table, but the catch is that you can only catch the apple with a fork. So, the object is to stab the apple you’re your fork and get the apple to stay on the fork. And you try to keep passing it down the row and across the table, and see how many people can catch the apple with the forks in it. And you leave the fork in the apple once the person catches it. Then you just keep passing it. By the end, you have six or seven forks stuck in the apple until someone misses or the apple breaks.”

9. Informant’s comments:

“It can be a lot of fun, I’ve played it myself.”

10. Collector’s Comments:

“Usually, the game is played on Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday, and especially on big weekends when people tend to go to Foco a little inebriated. The apples at Foco are notoriously bad, so maybe it originated as a type of statement against the quality of apples. Ultimately, nobody really knows how the game was invented, but it caught on.”

11. Tags/Keywords: Game, Apple, Foco, Alcohol, Droco, Customary

Sorority Welcome Song

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Welcome Song Initiation/Ritual

  • Informant Info
    • Sophomore Year of Dartmouth College
  • Type of Lore
    • Verbal
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • Dartmouth Sorority
  • Informant’s Comments
    • Taken very light-hearted. The sorority and those who wish to partake sing a welcome song to new members that replaces the lyrics of notorious “Sweet Home Alabama” with lyrics that are unique to the sorority. Only members of the sorority sing the song.
  • Collector’s Comments
    • Anonymity in order to not reveal identity of fraternity and informant. The seriousness with which the songs are treated varied greatly between southern houses and Dartmouth. The amount of time and material coordination was directionally proportional to seriousness/geographic location.
    • See “Bid Chant” post for example videos of sorority welcome songs

“TDX-mas”

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“TDX-mas” Initiation/RitualScreen Shot 2016-05-31 at 4.41.43 PM

  • Informant Info
    • Sophomore Year
  • Type of Lore
    • Customary
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • Dartmouth Fraternity
  • Informant’s Comments
    • Taken light-hearted yet seriously as all brothers of the house partake in the festivity. The basement is completely covered in Christmas-styled wrapping paper. This is done for an end of the term party that the entire school is welcome to join.
  • Collector’s Comments
    • Anonymity in order to not reveal identity of fraternity and informant
    • Further research of publicly available fraternity information revealed that this practice is also done at other campuses that have this fraternity, such as MSU, dating back past 2010.

UCLA Initiation

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Initiation/Ritual

  • Informant Info
    • Freshman year of UCLA (1983)
  • Type of Lore
    • Customary
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • UCLA Fraternity
  • Informant’s Comments
    • Taken very seriously while light-hearted as the event could last up to 12-24 hours. The freshmen were painted, blindfolded, then driven 30 minutes from UCLA’s campus to USC’s and then duct-taped to the flag pole in the center of campus at midnight. During this time, USC students would say profanities and throw items at the freshmen until they were cut down.
  • Collector’s Comments
    • Anonymity in order to not reveal identity of fraternity and informant

Keg Jumping

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Winter Carnival Keg Jumping

keg jumping

  • Informant info
    • Junior fraternity member at Dartmouth College
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Customary
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • Banned tradition of fraternity
  • Informant’s comments
    • It was a tradition of our fraternity to have a keg jumping contest every winter carnival. Empty kegs would be lined up in the lawn and people would put on ice skates and a jump would be created to see who could jump the farthest. This was banned prior to my arriving at Dartmouth, but is a story that is always shared when joining the fraternity and is a defining story of our fraternity.
  • Collector’s comments
    • The fraternity is kept anonymous in order to protect the fraternity and the informant.

 

 

Fraternity Handshake

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Greeting Handshake amongst brothershandshake

  • Informant info
    • Junior Fraternity member at Dartmouth College
  • Type of lore (verbal, material or customary), Genre, Subgenre
    • Customary
  • Language
    • English
  • Country of Origin
    • United States
  • Social / Cultural Context
    • This handshake is done at meetings, all fraternity events, and when brothers see each other around campus
  • Informant’s comments
    • The handshake is relatively easy to perform. The handshake is 4 fingers over, and the pinky under. We learn this handshake during the initiation ceremony and it continues as a tradition amongst brothers even after college.
  • Collector’s comments
    • The fraternity is key anonymous in order to protect the fraternity and the informant

 

 

When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking

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When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking

Informant information:

Mike and Sue have a daughter who has autism. She is twenty years old and participates in the “My Own Voice” choir, a choir for children with special needs in Andover, Massachusetts.

Type of lore: Customary

Genre: Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: This poem is passed on to new members of the special needs community – these new members are family members of children who have been recently diagnosed. It is unique in it’s own way because it is meant to give the family a sense of what their child is feeling, because ascertaining that from a child who cannot speak is very difficult.

Poem:

“When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking”

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you hung my first painting on the refrigerator and I wanted to paint another.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you fed a stray cat and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you baked a birthday cake just for me and I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you kissed me at night and I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes we can cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you smiled and it made me want to look that pretty too.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, you cared and I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I looked and I wanted to say thanks for all those things you did when you thought I wasn’t looking.

–Your special child

Informant’s comments:

 Hello Angelina,
We received an email from your mother about your project and thought we would send a few quick things along. Our 20 year old autistic daughter participates in rehearsals at “My Own Voice” but really can’t completely join in so she does not participate in the concerts. However, your mother is great and of course she welcomed Jamie with open arms and it has been a really good experience for [her]. [She] is verbal but really has no language so it is difficult for her  to get the whole concept of singing, etc. but she does enjoy being there.
Sorry we’re running late on getting it to you …..
There are two attachments: One is a little funny story that my wife always remembers [her] doing for a long time and the other is a poem I have hanging up in my office. It is a poem  that someone wrote that kind of sums up maybe what [she] is thinking since she can not articulate her thoughts.
Good Luck
Mike and Sue
Collector’s comments:
The poem that Mike and Sue sent us is particularly something we thought could be considered folklore. Once again, like “Welcome to Holland”, this poem serves to help the family transition into this new community and serves to remind parents of the impact their actions have on their child on a daily basis, even when it cannot be expressed.
Tags/Keywords: special needs, Autism, tradition, folklore, customary

 

 

 

The Holland Poem

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The Holland Poem

Informant information:

We received the same submission from 2 sources; both are listed below.

Pam has a daughter who has Down Syndrome. She is seven years old and participates in the “My Own Voice” choir, a choir for children with special needs in Andover, Massachusetts.

Diane has a son who also has Down Syndrome. He is twenty-five years old, and has been a member of the “My Own Voice” choir for several years now, and still participates. “My Own Voice” is a choir for children with special needs in Andover, Massachusetts.

Type of lore: Customary

Genre: Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: This poem is passed on to new members of the special needs community by friends, families and even doctors. These new members are family members of children who have been recently diagnosed with various forms of special needs.

The Holland Poem:

“Welcome To Holland”

by Emily Perl Kingsley. c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.

Informant’s Comments:

Pam’s Submission:

Hi Angelina,

My name is Pam, I have a 7 year old daughter with Down Syndrome who participates in the “My Own Voice” choir.  My husband and I were trying to think of something specific to tell you but I’m not sure how insightful we can be…  I figured you already have the Holland poem ( and your mom said you already have it).  but I know that poem was very helpful to me, and has allowed me to put a lot of things in perspective. 

  The holland poem, rings true during all stages of life as well.  Not just as a baby, but a toddler on the playground or a high school kid going to the prom. Similar to the holland poem, is the folklore of everyone sitting in a circle  and they all throw their problems in the middle, and after seeing and hearing everyone’s issues, you would always want your own problems back…..Folklore being It is not as bad as you think… Maybe a humbling experience. 

Not sure if this is helpful or not.  I hope you are doing well at school and enjoying it all!  Wishing you luck on your presentation.  

Kindly, 

Pam

Diane’s Submission:

Hi Angelina, What a great assignment, and of course, we would love to help you out.  I hope my contribution is relevant and helps …  Take care, Diane
The day after [my child] was born, we received a beautiful teddy bear from my aunt with a framed poem inside the gift bag.  The name of the poem was “Welcome to Holland” written by Emily Perl Kingsley (see link below).  From day one, it had a very profound effect on me.  I read it daily for at least the first year of [his] life, and it served as my own personal support message as we learned about his disability, Down syndrome; and subsequently, grew to love and appreciate him more and more each day.  We think [he] is funny, cute as a button, mischievous as all get out, totally awesome, and of course, lights up a room like a huge vase of tulips!

Collector’s comments:

While “Welcome to Holland” itself is a literary text because it is a poem with an author, the act of giving this poem to others is folklore – it is a tradition. Moreover, it can also be considered similar to an initiation ritual – the family is being initiated into the special needs community, and the act of giving them this poem is very similar to rites of transition, because they aim at helping  this family transition into this new community/phase of their life.

Tags/Keywords: special needs, tradition, customary, poetry