Tag Archives: games

Shower Games (Evan Hecimovich)

General info:

  • Type of Lore: Customary, Games
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: A.L.
  • Date collected:10/29/2021

Informant Data: A.L. graduated from Valparaiso University in 2019 after playing four years of football. He is originally from Lisle, Illinois where he grew up with his two parents and sister. A.L. has always been a large individual for his age and began football in the 4th grade. A.L. and his friends growing up would often play tackle football without pads in the park, which is where he first discovered his passion for the game.

Context:

  • Cultural: Valparaiso is a division 1 FCS football program. They typically do not win most of their games. Valparaiso is in the non-scholarship Pioneer League and most of the players are playing for the love of the game. It is a private Catholic University in Indiana.
  • Social: With Valparaiso traditionally not a winning program, the occasions in which they win games are very special. Players get especially excited over wins. The team enjoys celebrating these wins together in the locker room.

Item: Following a victory, players head into the locker room as they usually do and after some initial celebrations, begin to get in the showers. In the showers, several upperclassmen will cut to the front of the line with only their helmets on. The people in the shower will spray their soap in the middle of the shower and turn their showerheads so they are spraying the middle of the shower. The upperclassmen will then slide through the middle of the showers into the far wall.

Transcript: “After we win and talk with our coaches, we head to the locker room to celebrate. Everyone begins to take their stuff off following the game. The seniors put on their helmets and head to the shower. The people in the showers already spray their soap in the middle of the showers to make it slippery. So, then the seniors slide down the middle of the showers sort of like a slip n slide into the wall at the end.”

Informant Comments: As wins are not come by that often, the celebration with your teammates afterwards makes it that much more special.

Games on the Green

General Information about Item:

  • Genre (Subgenre): Customary Folklore (Games)
  • Language: English
  • Country/State: United States/New Hampshire

Informant Data:

  • Senior (Class of 2018) from New Jersey
  • First participated in trips his freshman year (Fall 2014)
  • Led climb and hike trip during Fall 2017 term

Contextual Data:

  • Social context: The games are played in trip groups on the Green; trip leaders lead and explain the games as necessary.
  • Cultural context: The games are all meant to help trippees and trip leaders bond and get to know one another better.

Item:

  • Mafia and Llama, Llama are popular icebreaker/introductory games played by first year trippees and their trip leaders when they assemble on the green for the first time as a group.

Transcript of Informant Interview:

  • “…then you go to the green and meet your trippees, and you play llama, llama or Mafia, and not everyone knows what those games are, so you explain them, and while you’re doing that everyone’s still getting to know each other, and the same thing is happening at all of the other group circles around you.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • The informant discussed the significance of games on the green as the first real conversations that many first-years have with each other and with their trip leaders. He indicated that he especially enjoyed that games on the green conveyed to first years that “it’s okay to be weird, because you’re trip leaders are upperclassmen that are settled into Dartmouth, and they’re still into playing weird, childish games.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The informant’s face lit up as he described both the games played on the green and his personal experiences with these games first as a freshman and later as a trip leader.

Collector’s Name: Abhishek Bhargava

Tags/Keywords:

  • First-year trips, games, traditional lore

The Wine Game

Informant info: The informant was Ian Raphael, a Dartmouth ’18, who was born in Kirkland, WA and raised in Miami, FL. He learned to climb when he was 18 from an older, close friend in Port Angeles, WA.

Date Collected: 5/16/16

Place Collected: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

Type: Customary Folklore, Ceremony, Prayer

Language: English

Country of Origin: U.S.A

Social/ cultural context: The wine game is ceremonial in climbing culture and is used to bring members together. Climbers often go on day trips together. At the end of each trip, climbers are usually tired and hungry. The wine game is a way to finish off the night and come together to reflect on the day.

Associated File:

Picture1

Lore: After a long day of climbing, climbers gather around in a circle with a gallon of wine and christen it by making toasts into the fire to famous past climbers and the climbing “gods”. The climbers toast to Earl and Valerie, John Joline, DMCers of the past and present, and the “homies and the homeless”. Afterwards, the gallon wine bottle is passed around the circle. Participants may only hold the bottle to drink with their pinky finger. The person who drinks the last drop of wine is considered the winner of the game.

Informant’s Comments: This is a way to celebrate after a climb. It is a fun way to wrap up the day and have fun with your friends. No one knows why we toast to the “homies and the homeless”, but we toast to Earl, Valerie, and John Joline because of their importance to the club.

Collector’s Comments: The wine game begins with a prayer when the climbers christen the wine. It is followed by a game where each player tries to drink the last drop. The game is a celebration of the end of a long day of climbing. It is a way to reflect on the day and relax after a long climb; basically, it encourages mindfulness and team bonding. While playing the game, climbers celebrate their friendships and their outing.

Tags/Keywords: wine, games, prayer, climbing, alcohol, celebration, Customary, DMC, folklore