Tag Archives: Northeast America

The Whole Nine Yards

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General Information 

Informant: Justin Ko 

Place: Hanover, NH 

Date: October 28, 2021 

Genre/ Form of Folklore: Customary/Material 

Title: “The Whole Nine Yards” 

Informant Data: Justin Ko was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA where he attended William Penn Charter School and was the Class VP and Varsity Tennis captain. He is a current student of the Class of 2023 at Dartmouth College studying economics. Justin Ko is a member of a fraternity on campus, and often attends Sheba dance shows and Rockapella performances. Ko has spent several months in New York City during his Winter off-terms working internships and visiting family. 

Contextual Data: Christmas in the Northeast is nothing short of spectacular. With a fast-paced ambience and excessive festivity, a truly “white” Christmas brings the holiday season to a completely different level. Christmas is most proactively celebrated in the Northeast and most recognized. Culturally, Christmas is depicted in cold, snowy weather, under big city lights where neighboring families actively decorate and transform their properties to fit the spirited theme. 

Social Data: Celebrating Christmas in ways that avoid the aspects of religious beginnings show that for many, Christmas is rather a time of sharing love with one another. Families use this time to recognize that simply being with your loved ones brings joy into their lives. As Christmas becomes a growing secular celebration, we see how decoration amid the holiday becomes a means of exercising this belief. Putting up decorations early extends the excitement of the festive season and acts as a pathway to old childhood magical emotions, ultimately making those who do it together happier. This item of folklore was collected through a face-to-face interview of the informant just before the beginning of the Christmas season. 

Item: Christmas, a Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus, has evolved into a worldwide religious and secular celebration, incorporating many pre-Christian and pagan traditions into the festivities – observed primarily on December 25th. Different types of decorations developed across various cultures and local traditions. 

Transcript: 

Collector: “How does you and/or your family go about decorating your house during the Christmas season? What sorts of decorations do you put up every year and what factors do you think influence this decorative style?” 

Informant: “Every year, an entire month before Christmas, my family and I decorate literally the entire house with festive decorations. My mom has furniture and decoration replacements totally designated for Christmas in 5 massive boxes in the attic. My dad and I carry them down and unload them one by one so my mom can set them up where she wants them. There would be lights, ornaments, stockings, a wreath, curtains, pillows, ribbons, candles, and some figurines. After that was all done, we’d set up the tree together as a family and take turns putting up the ornaments. When the inside was done, we’d go outside and put some yard decorations up and finish with the roof lights. We really do the whole nine yards every year. My mom loves it.” 

Informant Comment: 

My family has always been super festive around the holidays. My grandparents follow the same protocol. But most of the decorations we put up aren’t necessarily related to the origins of Christmas, but more whimsical and childish, for lack of a better word.  

Collector Comment: 

For this American family in the Northeast, decorating for Christmas is a ritual that they take pride in and always do together. Regarding their family’s more pagan decorative style, their time living in the Northeast likely heavily influenced this. Because Justin and his family all grew up in the Northeast, where Christmas decoration and celebration is practiced the most, it is probable that the folk custom of pagan-style decorating influences the way they go about decorating for Christmas.  

Collected by: 

Joshua Betts, 21 

Bradenton, FL 

Hanover, NH 

Dartmouth College 

RUSS 013 

Fall 2021

Sweatpants

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Title: Sweatpants

General Information about Item:

  • Magic Superstition, Sympathetic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: D.H.
  • Date Collected: 11-3-2021

Informant Data:

  • D.H. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2022.  He was born in Massachusetts.  During his time at Dartmouth, Daniel enjoys playing xbox and video games in general. While at home he often watches sports and would love to gamble if it wasn’t against D1 rules for athletes. He is currently studying economics and government and hopes to find a job in either of those fields after graduation.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In sports there is always an expectation to perform. Therefore an item of clothing is often associated with a good or bad performance. If a player wears a different pair of socks than normal and performs badly, then they will often associate the poor performance with the pair of socks. For lacrosse, a lot of good older goalies he played with always wore sweatpants instead of shorts and pads on their legs. D.H. saw this as a kid and begun to wear the sweatpants instead in order play well
  • Social Context: D.H. explained that his team has a large number of individual superstitions. While he picked up the sweatpants superstition from older teammates, he has found that it is a particularly rare occurrence for lacrosse goalies to wear sweatpants. He has been wearing sweatpants for around six years and does not know if he will ever stop wearing them (maybe if he has a really bad few games in a row he would consider changing). 

Item:

  • The sweatpants he wears are not a specific pair of sweatpants, but he always wears a set of sweatpants that represent his team. He knows that the sweatpants do not protect his legs from blocked shots in the game, but he finds them comfortable and relates them to his good performances over the years.

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

Transcript:

  • “Most of our team’s superstitions exist from individual standpoint rather than team actions. My superstition originates from a time where I played particularly well while trying something new from an older teammate, so I adopted a new superstition. On the other hand, if I play a bad game, I perhaps will find a new superstition. I’ve been wearing sweatpants for probably 6 years.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I’m not sure whether it is a superstition or just a tradition I’d like to keep going, but I do know that if I went into a game without the sweats, I would be uncomfortable.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • D.H.’s superstition of wearing sweatpants is really interesting to me because when I grew up playing lacrosse, I never saw a goalie wear sweatpants instead of shorts and pads. Therefore, when I originally saw D.H. wearing them during the game I assumed maybe he was cold or thought it was for style. After hearing the origin of his sweatpants, I now consider it to be a superstition and find it extremely unique. 

Collector’s Name: 

  • Brock Paul
  • Class of 2023
  • Dartmouth College
  • Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Tags/Keywords:

  • Sympathetic Magic
  • Dartmouth College Athletics
  • English
  • Northeast America
  • Lacrosse

Bandana

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Title: Bandana

General Information about Item:

  • Magic Superstition, Sympathetic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: D.R.
  • Date Collected: 11-3-2021

Informant Data:

  • D.R. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2024.  He was a 2023, but took a gap year due to covid. He was born in Massachusetts.  During his time at Dartmouth, D.R. has played squash and enjoys philosophy. He is currently studying philosophy and economics in his sophomore year. He has not made a decision on what his plans are for after graduation. However, he has mentioned plans to see his family in France for a year or two after college.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: D.R. has played squash since a kid and has always worn a bandana during his matches. The matches are one on one matches forcing him to rely a lot on his mental fortitude. When he was younger he just wore a bandana because he liked them, but as he got older he was forced to develop his mental abilities in order to stay dialed during his matches. He then began to focus on his pregame methods and actions in order to prepare him for a match.
  • Social Context: D.R.’s father often wore bandanas when D.R. would play squash with him when he was young. So he developed a desire to wear them due to his father. He began wearing them during matches. After beginning to focus on the mental aspects of his squash matches, D.R. began to fold his bandana into parallel quarters. He also began to wear the same bandana every game as he associated it with good luck.

Item:

  • The bandana D.R. wears did not begin as a specific bandana, but it developed into one specific bandana that he must wear for each match. He uses the bandana and the method of folding it into parallel quarters to sharpen his focus before matches and believes it helps him stay dialed while performing. 

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

Transcript:

  • “I always wear the same bandana when I play, and my ritual comes in the form of the folding/tying process of the bandana. I lay the bandana on my knee and fold it in half, then proceed to fold the bandana into equal parallel quarters. Focusing on the perfection of each fold helps me lock in and focus, and I’ve been doing this ritual since I was 15 years old.

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I don’t really believe in superstitions, but I do believe that mental triggers can help put a person in the right mood to compete, and beliefs are a strong way to get there. In other words, I don’t believe in superstitions, but I believe that they can positively or negatively affect humans due to our psychology.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • D.R.’s method of folding his bandana is particularly interesting to me. It seems to be an effective method to help him focus and is extremely unique. Wearing the same bandana makes a lot of sense to me seeing how he got it from his father (His grandfather also wore bandanas so it seems to be a trend), but the method of folding the bandana is completely his own. The emphasis he places on the folding of the bandana over the bandana itself is also inspiring as it exemplifies a routine and work ethic that D.R. has maintained for almost 6 years.

Collector’s Name: 

  • Brock Paul
  • Class of 2023
  • Dartmouth College
  • Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Tags/Keywords:

  • Sympathetic Magic
  • Dartmouth College Athletics
  • English
  • Northeast America
  • Squash

Green D

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Title: Green D (Dartmouth D)

General Information About Item:

  • Magic Superstition, homeopathic
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: R.L.
  • Date Collected: 11-3-2021

Informant Data:

  • R.L. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2023.  He was born in Maryland.  During his time at Dartmouth, R.L. enjoys listening to music and hanging out with his team in his free time. While at home he often watches sports and spends time with his family. He has plan to work on wall street after college and is dialing in his schoolwork to achieve a quality education for his work after graduation.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In sports there is often a logo in the center of the locker room. The logo is meant to represent the school or team and to show respect to the players that have been on the team before. The logo plays a large role in a team dynamic and provides a connection between players.
  • Social Context: As a team, the Dartmouth lacrosse team has the Dartmouth D for their logo in the middle of the room. The players never step on the D and if anything touches the D then they have to kiss it as a sign of respect. The superstition seems to encourage camaraderie and unity within the team.

Item:

  • The Green D is a simple logo and is not designed specifically for anyone on the team. Instead it is meant as a symbol to represent the culture built for the program. Players do not step on the D in order to respect the legacy of the program. Furthermore, it is bad luck to step on the D and not kiss it afterwards.

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

Transcript:

  • We never step on the D in the center of our locker room, if someone does they have to kiss it.

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I enjoy superstitions and traditions as it is a way of keeping the group tied together from year to year. This is because when alums of the program come back they still know not to step on the D”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I enjoy this superstition because the hockey team has the same tradition. I find it to have a unifying effect on not only the current team, but the program as a whole. Reece specifically outlined the effect the logo has on the Alumns when they come back and it seems to be a profound way to keep the respect for the program alive.

Collector’s Name:

  • Brock Paul
  • Class of 2023
  • Dartmouth College
  • Professors Apresyan and Gronas

Tags/Keywords:

  • Sympathetic Magic
  • Dartmouth College Athletics
  • English
  • Northeast America
  • Lacrosse