Tag Archives: individual

Brush Every Time (Tanner Palocsik)

Leave a reply

Title: Brush Every Time

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: D. E.
  • Date Collected: 11-3-21

Informant Data:

  • D.E. is a 20-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2024. He is from Arizona and is on the Track and Field team where he participates in the javelin throw. He played many sports growing up and kept the same mindset for his performance through them all.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: D.E. grew up under a lot of influence from his coaches. He takes a lot of pride in their advice and tries to be like them. He played a lot of sports growing up and was always taught to respect what they taught him and always work his hardest.
  • Social Context: D.E. has been doing this since high school. He picked it up from a coach that told him many great players have done and do this superstition. It is meant to give him performance powers and he does the superstition right before putting on his last piece of equipment (hat or helmet) or right before he heads out to his competition surface.

Item:

  • The item here is a superstition that D. E. has performed since high school. He takes a brush to his hair before putting his hat on during his meet. Even if he doesn’t wear a hat, he still brushes his hair back.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “When I was 15, I was a freshman in high school and one of my coaches told me that an old superstition in the sport of football is, if you brush your hair back under your helmet, you’ll be faster than every guy on the field. I’m not sure where this came from or where he learned it, but he passed the info on to me. I don’t play football anymore, but I still perform in the Javelin throw for Dartmouth. So, before every meet, I still brush my hair back into my hat with the belief that it will give me a great performance. At this point it is more so just a habit of tradition and I don’t really believe that it makes me perform better.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • He doesn’t think that this really changes anything but practices it out of habit of the tradition. It’s a force of habit for him at this point and on a side note he also told me he plans to pass this down to his kids or a younger teammate someday.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is a great superstition. I think that everyone has their own unique performance techniques that can help them, but they don’t always have some supernatural power. Maybe this is one of those. I think Derek may just do this out of respect for his old coach now.  

Collector’s Name:

Tanner Palocsik

Dartmouth College

Russia 013 Fall 2021

Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Same Socks Skier (Tanner Palocsik)

Leave a reply

Title: Same Socks Skier

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Magic Superstition, Homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: D.P.J.
  • Date Collected: 10-29-21

Informant Data:

  • D.P.J. is a 21-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from California originally but then moved to the area of Vail, Colorado.  He is a member of the ski team. He was raised very closely to his family and has a special relationship to his father.    

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Skiing is an individual sport but also has team competitions as well. D.P.J. has been skiing since he was young and has always lived in mountainous areas where skiing is popular. The team competition has always driven him to succeed.
  • Social Context: Skiing requires a lot of detail put into their equipment and skill into their performance. D.P.J. learned of his superstition from an older teammate and was told that this was something all great skiers have done since skiing was first invented. Dash believes it has been the key to his success.

Item:

  • The item here is a superstition where D.P.J. has worn the same pair of lucky socks his whole ski career. He still washes them and keeps them clean and sanitary but he has the same ones that he always wears in his ski boots.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “When I was young, an old captain on my team said that I should pick out a pair of socks and make them my lucky socks. He said it was a superstition that all the great skiers have and that if I wanted to be great I had to do the same thing. So when I was 13 I picked out a pair and have been wearing the same socks ever since. I think now looking back, I realize it was just a mental tactic to make yourself think you have luck on your side, but I am a believer in the motto of ‘You create your own luck’”.

Informant’s Comments:

  • He is not a strong believer in this as shown in the transcript. Even though it has always been a popular thing in the ski world, at the end of the day you just need to perform. There is no actual magic that will help you.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This superstition made me laugh a little bit. It’s interesting to see what pieces of equipment (merely socks in this case) are valued throughout different sports.

Collector’s Name:

Tanner Palocsik

Dartmouth College

Russia 013 Fall 2021

Professors Apresyan and Gronas

A Chant and a Prayer (Tanner Palocsik)

Leave a reply

Title: A Chant and a Prayer

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Magic Superstition, sympathetic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: C.B.
  • Date Collected: 11-1-21

Informant Data:

  • C.B. is a 21-year-old student athlete at Dartmouth College in the class of 2023. He is from Texas and is on the football team. He was raised very closely to his family and has a special relationship to his father.  

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Superstitions are important to sports teams. In football there are many players on the team that all contribute to the win. In C.B.’s case, Texas football is one of the most serious things in this country. They have a ton of pride in their teams and victory.     
  • Social Context: Team’s rely on every guy to contribute toward a winning effort. C.B.’s superstition came from his father who may have learned it from his father before him or somewhere else, he wasn’t certain of the whole chain. He is strongly religious in the Christian faith and performs his superstition before every game. This is something that puts Cameron in the most optimal mindset heading into

Item:

  • The item here is a superstition unique to C.B. Before every game he calls his father on the phone and says a prayer right before he is about to go on the field. He believes that God’s power gives him strength and confidence going into the game and that this will help him perform to the best of his abilities. Another is a team superstition where they all say the same chant before heading out for the game.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “I pray with my dad before going out to the field before every game. I started this my freshman year in high school when he would physically be with me to do it but now I just call him before each game right as I’m about to go out to the field and he is expecting it as well. This one originated from my faith and just the fact that I want to glorify God before anything else in my life. I definitely believe strongly in this one.”
  • “As far as team stuff goes, we all start chanting “juice” together loudly in the locker room. Then one of the leaders on the team (it will be the same guy for that whole year) will chant “juice check” three times and then we all finish it off with one more shout saying “juice” And that tradition has been going since I’ve been here”

Informant’s Comments:

  • He believes in these superstitions and believes in their power to help him perform and the team get a win.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I think this is a very powerful superstition. It clearly has some power that enables him and their team to perform. They have an extremely good record and won the Ivy League Championship last year.

Collector’s Name:

Tanner Palocsik

Dartmouth College

Russia 013 Fall 2021

Professors Apresyan and Gronas

One Strip Wonder (Jack Cameron)

Leave a reply

Title: One Strip Wonder

General Information about Item:

  • Sign superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: NU
  • Date Collected: 10/29/21

Informant Data:

  • NU is a 21-year-old Dartmouth student in the class of 2024.  He was born in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada and raised from age 12 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Nick is a member of the Men’s Varsity Hockey team at Dartmouth. Away from hockey, Nick is an amateur DJ who enjoys playing his music at various functions.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Hockey players have to un-tape and re-tape their stick after almost every use. Tape on a hockey stick allows for more grip on the puck when passing, shooting, or stickhandling. Some players elect to apply wax onto the tape to prevent the buildup of snow and ice on the blade of their stick over the course of a practice or game.
  • Social Context: This specific superstition was mentioned when the interviewee was their pre-game routine. Hockey players tape their sticks in a multitude of different ways, all depending on personal preference.  Though the taping of the stick is often different, every hockey player does it after almost every use.

Item:

  • Un-taping a hockey stick happens very quickly, but in this case, the tape must come off all in one piece. Hockey sticks are taping in a looping motion, slightly overlapping each strip so that there are no gaps. To be able to take the tape off in one piece means that the tape was worn down in a specific pattern.  

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “A sign of good luck in Canada is when your tape comes off all in one. I don’t really know where it started, but we were always told that if your tape comes off all as one piece then you have to stick it to a wall somewhere in the room for good luck. I was told that it means that your stick is ready for a new tape job which means you’re more likely to score a goal, kind of like a snake shedding its skin to get a new layer.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • All of the Canadians on my team have heard of this and done this, but the Americans always look at us funny and think it’s dumb.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this sign superstition to be very interesting. I am also a hockey player, and this was something that I was taught when I was young – maybe ten or twelve years old. I was equally as surprised as Nick when I heard that Americans do not treat it the same way, and always feel a sense of happiness when my tape comes off all in one go.

Collector’s Name:

Jack Cameron

Dartmouth College

Russ013 21F

Prof. Apresyan and Prof. Gronas

White Left Wrist (Jack Cameron)

Leave a reply

Title: White Left Wrist

General Information about Item:

  • Magic Superstition, homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: PO
  • Date Collected: 11/3/21

Informant Data:

  • PO is a 21-year-old male Dartmouth student in the class of 2023.  He was born and raised in Schenectady, New York. Pete is a third baseman on the Men’s Varsity Baseball Team at Dartmouth. Pete has played baseball since he was six years old, and also enjoys fishing and golfing. A Government major, Pete plans on attending graduate school after Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Baseball players are some of the most superstitious athletes in the world. Baseball is a very mental sport, with preparation and focus being a big part of success – more than the physical aspect. Baseball is traditionally played more frequently than any other sport in America, often being played almost every day.
  • Social Context: This specific superstition was mentioned when the interviewee was asked about pre-game preparations. Baseball players often have regional superstitions or routines before facing a pitch that are shared with one another when players from all over the country. This particular superstition comes from the Schenectady/Troy/Saratoga region of New York State.

Item:

  • Right-handed batters tape their left wrist with white tape, and left-handed batters tape their right wrist with white tape. This is used to help remind the batter to keep the wrist locked while swinging a bat, making for more likely and more powerful contact with the ball. In this picture, we can see that Pete is a right-handed Tbatter, with his right wrist taped in white tape even though he is fielding a ball and not batting.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “I’m not sure where it started, but everyone in my area tapes their wrist of their bottom hand on their bat. We were told it helps you keep your wrist locked, but after I got stronger and didn’t need that anymore it just felt right. After a while it just became customary and made me feel more connected with the bat”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I like taping my wrist because it reminds me of home, and it’s cool to see other players now at different colleges with the same white tape and know they’re from my region”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I liked how Pete was able to relate this regional superstition and not only bring it to college, but also use it as an indicator when he sees other people around at different schools from his region. I find this superstition to be especially effective after he said that it makes him feel more connected with the bat.

Collector’s Name:

Jack Cameron

Dartmouth College

Russ013 21F

Prof. Apresyan and Prof. Gronas