Tag Archives: Magic

Introduction

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Given the members of our group consist of three Dartmouth women’s ice hockey players, we thought it would be very interesting to learn about how folklore is both similar and different amongst our main competitors, other Ivy League women’s ice hockey teams. Dartmouth in particular has many rituals and superstitions that occur before games. These traditions have developed over time and continue on each year, as they have been passed down from past players to current players. As we took a closer look into each 2021-22 Ivy League hockey teams and the individual players on them, we analyzed their superstitions to see if there were common tendencies with their game day routines. 

For this collection project we interviewed 12 women (at least one from each Ivy League Women’s Hockey team). We interviewed them over FaceTime to create an open and casual environment so each informant would be comfortable sharing their individual and team superstitions. These informants ranged from freshman-seniors in college. From these 12 informants, we were able to gather 18 different items of folklore.

We tried to get a range of perspectives from each hockey team, and each person we talked to provided a new view on the way we look at superstitions and how we interpret them – specifically amongst the women’s ivy league ice hockey teams.

Conclusion

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Throughout this collection project we identified some similarities and differences among individual and team superstitions throughout our opponents in the Ivy League.  One of the similarities was that most of these superstitions were categorized by magic superstitions, which are based on cause and effect, and also containing cultural and social contexts. The second similarity that we found was that most team chants are passed down each year. Team chants were one of the most common team superstitions amongst the people we interviewed. Chants are a big part of team camaraderie and are a way to make sure every player heads into the game with high positive energy. Teams believe that if they all routinely chant together, they will enter the game strong and play well. There were many differences among individual player’s superstitions and these were inherited from others who came before the players, which have been passed down for generations. 

As we learned in class – everyone is the folk. All of the people we interviewed are the folk as they have their own folklore and share that folklore with others around them. Another main theme that we gathered is that most of the superstitions we collected were a result of a specific event that happened to the informant… for example, they broke a stick and had to use their backup with a bad tape job, which resulted in them playing badly, and they looked up to a teammate for guidance for an action to perform in order to play well.

Sarah’s Willow

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Title: Sarah’s Willow

General Information about Item: 

  • Literature, Childhood story, Fiction
  • Language: English, translated into Italian
  • Country of Origin: Unknown; informant heard it in Italy
  • Informant: Sara Fossati
  • Date Collected: 11-06-19

Informant Data: The informant’s name is Sara Fossati. Sara is a twenty-one-year-old female who attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as an exchange student from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Sara studies economics with a focus on finance. Sara was born and raised in Sovico, Italy, a small town approximately 20 minutes outside of Milan; she lives there today. Sara lives with her mother and father—she is an only child.

Contextual Data:  Sara’s mother would read this story to her at bedtime when she was about 5 or 6 years old. Sara loved to hear this story, and always wanted to hear this particular story because she was able to relate to the plot of the story. The tale centers around a whimsical willow tree where two girls spend their time playing. The tree is threatened to be taken down, and the girls succeed in keeping it alive for future generations. Sara explained that when she was growing up, she also had a willow tree in her backyard where she would play. One day, the tree had to be cut down. This story holds a special place in her heart because she had a personal connection to it.

Item:

“Once upon a time there were these two little girls who used to play under this willow. At some point, unfortunately, they discovered that the tree would’ve been uh—I don’t know how to say that—that they will take away the tree. And they were very, very sad about this. They talked about this with their parents and so their parents brought them to like, a new place and they decided to plant a new tree—a new willow so that like, in the future their daughters, their sons, could play under a similar willow like they used to.”

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

Sara Fossati – Italian & English

Informant’s Comments:

“I think that my favorite part was when their parents helped the two girls plant a new tree because they really understood that it was an important thing for their daughters, which was very sweet…I mean for me, I remember that in my garden we used to have a similar willow, which I loved, but at some point, they had to uh cut it. And so, this story really reminded me of that—of my willow. So, I think that it was special to me because of that.”

Collector’s Comments: 

Sara’s childhood bedtime story is actually a work of literature, written by Friedrich Recknagel, that did not originate in Italy. After Sara told me this story, I did some research on my own to see if I could find out more details; when I searched it up, I read in a blurb on Amazon that the story presents the themes of loss and renewal. Sara interpreted the story as one that tells children to stay true to their roots, which is very different from loss and renewal. She also only happened to remember the parts of the story that were similar to her own life experience growing up. This is interesting because she interpreted the story from the perspective of her own experiences and connections to it. The message she learned as a child contrasts to the one the author intended to communicate.

Collector’s Name: Milla McCaghren

Tags/Keywords: Literature, Childhood story, Magic, Fiction

 

 

Green Ribbon

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Genre and Sub Genre:

Material Folklore: Superstition, Contagious Magic

Language: English

Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

Ellen Louise Smalley ’19 is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College. She is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She originally decided to start figure skating at the age of 4 or 5, and was the first in her family to begin skating. She was told to skate by her physical therapist due to her short achilles tendons. She began skating at Dartmouth’s Figure Skating Club due to the recommendation of Vanessa Szalapski ’12 and Maria Spertudo ’14.

Contextual Data:

  • Social: Informant was interviewed by John Gilmore at Dartmouth College’s Novack Cafe. The informant was asked to talk about figure skating folklore unique to the club.
  • Cultural Context: Informant began skating at age 4 or 5 as a way to stretch her short achilles tendons without running.  She encountered this piece of folklore during her time as a member of DFSC.

Item:

Green Ribbon

Skaters & Sloopy wearing the Green Ribbon

Associated Audio:

Transcript:

Ellen: “Yeah, yeah, I like this. I don’t know, I think its pretty fun. I still have the ribbon on my backpack from nationals.”

John: “Can you tell me more about that?”

Ellen: “I can’t remember. I think we were all going on ice for the awards, I think it was when it was. I think we all put the ribbons in our hair, or Alex and i think you wore them on your wrists, or I don’t know, I don’t know, what you did on your head. Um, But yeah. And then we all kept, I know Isabelle and Anna keep it on their backpacks, and I think Clara does too. And I have mine on my backpack”

Informant’s Comments: Ellen describes the origin story of the Green Ribbons that are worn by all of the team.

Collector’s Comments: The green ribbons commonly worn by the Dartmouth Figure Skating Team originate from a recent trip to nationals. They now continue to wear these ribbon on their backpacks as good luck charms. It is a form of homeopathic magic.

Tags/Keywords:

  • Green Ribbon, Superstition, Contagious Magic

Collector:

Jonathan Meng

Tying Skates in Specific Order

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Title: Tying Skates in Specific Order

 

Genre: Customary, Ritual, Magic

Language: English

County of Origin: USA

Informant Data: Regina Yan ’19 is currently enrolled at Dartmouth College. She was born in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and moved to Overland Park, Kansas when she was seven. In addition to being on the Dartmouth Figure Skating Team, Regina is also an active member of the Dartmouth Outing Club and a leader in the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club.Regina started to skate when she was 10 years old after watching the 2006 Torino Olympics. She skated for five years with the Silver Blades Skating Club but due to health problems, stopped skating in high school. She began again her freshman year at Dartmouth College.

Social/Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed alone at Dartmouth College. The informant was asked to talk about figure skating folklore in relation to the Dartmouth Figure Skating Club.

Regina encountered this piece of folklore and began to engage in the practice during her time at the Silver Blades Skating Club. She had seen other skaters engage in this piece of folklore but only started to participate after a particularly memorable performance. This is a common piece of folklore across all skating communities and she continues to engage in it here at Dartmouth. , causing new skaters to pick it up as well.

Item:

Often times, skaters will always tie one skate before the other (right before left or left before right). Which skate the skater ties first stems back to exceedingly excellent performance he/she had in the past.

Transcription of Interview

“I always have to tie the left skate first. I never tie the top hook…. I skated well once when I tied my left boot first so I’m going to tie that boot first every single time. I won my first competition tying my left boot first so you always like to attribute good things.

” 

Collector’s Comments:

This is a form of homeopathic magic. Skaters are attempted to channel a previous performance by recreating the conditions that they believe led to that performance.

Collectors: Samuel Lee

Tags/Keywords:

  • Skating, Dartmouth Figure Skating Club, DFSC, Ritual