Tag Archives: ornamental folklore

Snail Shell Ornaments (Julia Cross)

Leave a reply

Title: Snail-shell Ornaments

General Information about Item:

  • Material Lore
  • Language: English
  • State of Origin: Vermont, USA
  • Informant: O.C.
  • Date Collected: Nov. 14, 2021

Informant Data:

O.C. is a Dartmouth student in the class of 2024. This informant is unique in that they and their family are Jewish. Part of the family lives in Vermont, while part lives in Paris and all around Europe. O.C. occasionally spends Christmas in Europe, or their European relatives spend Christmas in America. O.C.’s Christmas experience is very much shaped by European practices.

Contextual Data:

Cultural: Decorating a tree is a very common practice in most Christmas traditions, including American traditions. The tree plays a central role in gift-giving traditions because not only are gifts stored under it, but it has the function of being an object that the family gathers around to practice their gift-giving traditions. Ornaments are often spherical and made of a shiny metallic material, or includes glitter.  O.C.’s grandparents used to follow different religions, their grandfather was Jewish while their grandmother was Christian. Not wanting to let his wife down on their first Christmas in France, their grandfather collected snail shells as makeshift tree ornaments, so she would have something to decorate the tree with. 

Social: This lore was collected in a casual interview. I had informed O.C. that I will collect folklore on Christmas, but little detail beyond that. I recorded this interview. This piece of material folklore is only used during Christmas to decorate the tree, and is symbolic of the diversity of Christmas participants. The creation of these ornaments also has a social function in that the family will remember notably nice shells and discuss them. Children are included in the painting of them and it is a fun activity to bring the family together. 

Item:

The item on a larger scale is the use of ornaments to decorate the tree, which is a common practice across America and across the world. O.C.’s family, being Jewish and historically not active participants of Christmas, uses an unusual home-made ornament to decorate the tree: snail shells painted with nail polish. The shells are then put on a string then strung around the tree.

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

Recorded interview with Ora

Transcript:

Paraphrased from audio recording

“We have accumulated many many strings of snail shells painted, now we use nail polish. We go to the supermarket to buy the snail shells. The shells have different dates from when they were painted, some of the strings are gross yard wire and some are nice red ribbon.”

Collector’s Comments:

Since there is a known collector, this may or may not qualify as folklore, however over time as the family passes on this tradition (and the origin story morphs) it will be folklore. Perhaps the origin story may even become a family legend. 

Collector’s Name: Julia Cross

Dartmouth College

RUSS13

Fall 2021

Swim Meet Flair

Leave a reply

General Information about Item:

  • Material Lore – Ornamental
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Aidan Pierce
  • Date Collected: 03-02-2018

Informant Data:

  • Aidan Pierce is a male student in the Dartmouth College Class of 2018.  He grew up splitting time between Hong Kong and London. He is a pre-med student and intends to pursue a career in medicine after graduation. Aidan was briefly a member of Dartmouth’s Club Swim Team in the fall of 2014.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The competitive nature of swim meets requires strong team cohesion, and so traditions such as this one are often utilized in order to further bond the team. Furthermore, the practice of wearing bright clothing is common across many organizations at Dartmouth, indicating that it may be imported from other facets of Dartmouth culture at large, but was made specific to swimmers and the club swimming team. Having all of the members of the team wear ridiculous, easily identifiable pieces of clothing, allows them to easily associate with each other, while publically displaying their association with the team.
  • Social Context: This tradition was mentioned in a one-on-one conversation with the interviewee, more than two years after he had left the team. The traditional clothing is specifically worn for competitive meets, and allows competitors to somewhat identify their teams and supporters in the stands, when they surface for air during the pandemonium of the race, thereby giving them a feeling of support.

Item:

  • “Flair” is a slang term in the lexicon of Dartmouth College, which indicates brightly colored, absurd costumes such as neon tutus (both for men and women), cartoon character onesie suits, and nonsensical accessories. The Dartmouth Club Swim Team members all wear flair to all of their meets,

Image of Flair:

Transcript:

  • “A common tradition we always used to follow [when Aidan was on the team] was that we would wear flair to all of our meets. It’s pretty widely practiced, a lot of people actually did it. It’s funny to see everyone dressed up so ridiculously, it really helped us relax and connect with the rest of the team before meets so that we’re prepared to compete.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Flair is ridiculous when you first see it, but once you try it on, it’s really fun.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Having worn flair to other events, I completely understand the informant’s sentiments. When a large organization has a uniting uniform (whether serious or silly), it certainly helps to build camaraderie.

Collector’s Name: Ashwath Srikanth

Tags/Keywords: Material Lore, Ornamental Lore, Flair, Swag, Clothing, Swimming