Tag Archives: Ritual

Initiation Rituals of Music Groups at Dartmouth College – The Dartmouth Sings

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Title: Initiation Rituals of Music Groups at Dartmouth College – The Dartmouth Sings

General Information about Item:

Genre: Initiation Ritual
Language: English
Country of Origin: USA
Informant: Summer Cody, female, 20 years old
Place Collected: Dartmouth College, Occom Common
Date Collected: 11-01-2018

Informant Data:

Summer Cody was born and raised in New York City, New York. She is a junior at Dartmouth College and has been singing all her life. On campus, she is a member of the Dartmouth Sings. Summer joined the Dartmouth Sings her freshmen year because she was interested in a co-ed acapella group and felt like the Dartmouth Sing had a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this folklore from Summer Cody, a junior at Dartmouth College. She is a close friend of mine, and the only person I know who is in the Dartmouth Sings. I asked her about initiation rituals in Dartmouth Sings. Summer told me how she learned about the Dartmouth Sing’s initiation ritual after experiencing it for the first time freshmen. During her second and third year, she was the upperclassman that performed the initiation rituals to the new members. The initiation rituals involve the upperclassmen of the Dartmouth Sings and the newly accepted members.

Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Sings is the College’s premier co-ed acapella group, singing an eclectic repertoire ranging from contemporary pop, folk, R&B, musical theatre, and Dartmouth traditional. The initiation rituals of the Dartmouth Sings is important because all members get to meet each other for the first time and learn about its history.

Item:

The audition process consists of two parts; the standard audition and the callback. If people don’t get into the group they went to callbacks for, there is a post-callback audition called a “Pref audition” that they can go to. Generally, the Sings test for pitch matching and musical scales, as well as listen to solo songs during the auditions. Then they hear those who auditioned sing with members of the group in the callback. They decide who gets in strictly on musical ability; if people can blend their voice with others well, match pitch, and/or has an excellent solo voice. No other considerations are taken into account (e.g. looks and personality are not considered). Summer participated in “wake-up” where older members of the Dartmouth Sings knocked on new members door after determining who gets in. The new members were woken up by loud poundings on their door. This process separated the new members from other Dartmouth students. Summer and the other older members went inside the new members’ dorms to pickup their new members and drove them to the golf course. At the golf course, they told their new members the history and origin story of the Dartmouth sings. Later, Summer and the other members of the Dartmouth Sings took them out to dinner, all the while making jokes and singing songs with them. Summer thinks their initiation rituals is pretty fun because up until that point, none of the new members really know who else got into the group, so it was their first time meeting everyone.

Associated file: She did not want to be recorded.

Informant’s Comments: According to Summer, she personally really likes the Dartmouth Sings’ initiation ritual. She thinks their initiation ritual is fun, exciting, and welcoming. Because the initiation ritual also speaks to the founding of the Dartmouth Sings, she thinks the initiation ritual is a significant part of being a member of the Dartmouth Sings.

Collector’s Comments: The Dartmouth Sing has a fun and uplifting initiation ritual. From Summer’s description of the members sitting at the golf course and listening to the history of the Dartmouth Sings while the sun is rising is beautiful and memorable.

Comparison:

Comparison within the subgroup: Since most of the new members of all the groups within the subgroups were mostly freshmen, they had never heard of wakeup and were surprised to experience it during initiation. All of the musical groups’ initiation rituals compose of wakeups and getting a meal together with their group. However, compared to other acapella groups, the Dartmouth Sings went over the history of the Dartmouth Sings; therefore, it incorporates a more serious aspect to initiation. The purpose of the initiation ritual is to integrate the new members into the group more easily and for the group members to bond with each other.

Comparison with the rest of the subgroups:  The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Vanessa Chhoa; 20 years old
Hanover NH, 03755
Dartmouth College
Russian 13: Slavic Folklore
Fall 2018

Initiation into Dartmouth Social Spaces – Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority

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General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Ritual
  • Dartmouth College
  • Informant: Sarah Roberts
  • Date Collected: Fall 2016

Informant Data:                   

  • Sarah Roberts was born in Miami, FL in 1996. She has lived in Miami her entire life with her mother, father, two sisters, and brother. Today, she still lives with her family in Miami and is currently a senior at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. At Dartmouth, Sarah is majoring in cognitive science and minoring in education. In the fall of 2016, Sarah’s sophomore year at Dartmouth, she rushed Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority (KKG) and was initiated into the house as a new member. Sarah’s Grandmother, mother, and older sister are also all members of KKG since they joined the sorority when they were in college. In the spring of 2018, her junior year at Dartmouth, Sarah was elected as New Member Educator (NME) of KKG. When a new class is chosen in KKG, NME helps to initiate the women into the sorority. Sarah served as NME in the fall of 2018 when a new class of women became members of KKG.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: KKG is a national sorority that was founded in October of 1870 as a women’s fraternity at Monmouth College. Since then, KKG sorority has expanded and currently has 143 chapters throughout the country. Although the chapters are very different, all of them must perform the same initiation ritual with new members.
  • Social Context: The Epsilon Chi chapter of KKG was founded at Dartmouth College in 1978. It was the second sorority at Dartmouth. Approximately fifty new members are taken every year from the sophomore class at Dartmouth—freshmen are not allowed to rush Greek houses.

 

Item:

  • The initiation ritual for new members in KKG lasts for about 6 weeks. The new members are required to go to a meeting hosted by their NME every week. In these meetings, the NME teaches the new members about the rules and values of the sorority and facilitates getting-to-know-you games. The NME also creates “Big-Little” pairs, where one older member of the sorority is paired with a new member and acts as the new member’s mentor. Finally, at the end of the initiation, there is a formal initiation ceremony that every chapter of KKG has been required to conduct with their new members since the sorority was founded. The new members of the sorority dress in white robes to symbolize new beginnings. The older members lead the new members in traditional songs about togetherness and sisterhood. Finally, the old members put a special KKG pin on the robes of the new members, marking the official initiation of the new members into the sorority.

Analysis: 

  • Initiation rituals consist of three stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For this initiation ritual, separation occurs when the new class is chosen. The transition period occurs throughout the 6-week period when the women are learning about KKG but are not yet official members of the sorority. Finally, incorporation occurs after the official initiation ritual when the new members become permanent members of the sorority and are fully integrated into the house.

Meaning and interpretation: 

  • For members of KKG sorority, this initiation ritual is a very important part of joining the house. The ritual helps new members learn more about the house they joined and what their experience will be like as an active member for the next 3 years. In addition, the initiation period helps new members get to know other women in the house and to feel comfortable in their new social space. This ritual is taken very seriously by older members of the house and the NMEs.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup:  In this sub-group, we focused on Dartmouth College social initiation rituals. One similarity between most of these rituals is that they are experienced by freshmen. A student’s freshman year is a time learn about his or her new community and the traditions that form its unique culture. Freshman year is also the time that most students join the clubs or sports teams that they will be most involved in throughout their Dartmouth careers. Therefore, it makes sense that so many of the Dartmouth social initiation rituals take place during the freshman year, such as the homecoming bonfire ritual. One difference within our subgroup is who initiates and runs each initiation ritual. Sometimes these rituals are set up and funded by the Dartmouth administration, and sometimes they are student-run. Another difference is the duration of each ritual. Some social spaces take a while to initiate into or involve a few different rituals that initiate new members, whereas others only require one short ritual.
  • Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Transcript: “One special thing (about initiation) is how much things open up immediately. Suddenly you have 100 upperclassman girls saying hi to you as soon as you join…they know your name and they know your face and I think that is really special”

Collector: Caroline Elliott, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Initiation
  • Ritual
  • Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority
  • Freshman class
  • Dartmouth

Initiation into Dartmouth Social Spaces – Homecoming Bonfire (Original)

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General Information about Item:

  • Initiation Ritual
  • Dartmouth College
  • Informant: Matthew Hayes
  • Date Collected: Fall 2015

Informant Data:                 

  • Matthew Hayes was born in Ealing, England in 1997. He lived there with his mother, father, sister, and brother until the year 2007 when they moved to Darien, CT in the United States. Matthew went to Darien public school until he started college at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH in the fall of 2015. Matthew is currently a senior at Dartmouth College majoring in mathematics and economics. As a freshman in 2015, Matthew Hayes participated in many of these first-year traditions, one of which was running around the bonfire during homecoming weekend.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Dartmouth College was founded in Hanover, NH on December 13, 1769, as an all-male private college. In the fall of 1972, 1000 women were enrolled into Dartmouth’s freshman class, making it the last Ivy League college to begin admitting women. As the ninth-oldest institution for higher education in the United States, Dartmouth College has many student traditions that have developed throughout the years. Many of these traditions revolve around integrating the freshman class into the Dartmouth community.
  • Social Context: Homecoming weekend is an event that happens every fall on campus when alumni of all ages are invited back to Dartmouth in order to commemorate the college and their class. The bonfire is a major event that all alumni and current Dartmouth students are encouraged to attend for the homecoming celebration.

 

Item:

  • Freshmen running laps around the homecoming bonfire is a very old tradition at Dartmouth. The homecoming bonfire is built to be approximately 2-stories tall with the numbers of the freshmen class’s graduation year at the top. On the Friday night of homecoming, the freshman class gathers as a huge group and marches around campus. When the bonfire is lit, the freshman class goes to the green where the bonfire is set up and begins to run around it. Upperclassmen and alumni stand on the outskirts of the bonfire and cheer for the freshmen as they complete their laps. Typically, the freshmen wear t-shirts with their graduation year on it to show support and pride for their class. The ritual serves as an initiation into the Dartmouth community for the freshmen running the laps. It is tradition to run around the bonfire as many times as the year one is graduating for good luck. However, as a new member of the Cords A Capella group, Matthew was encouraged to run around the bonfire 119 times—his class year plus one hundred. He completed his 119 laps with his classmates—most of which did not do 119—and symbolically became an integrated member of the Dartmouth community.

Analysis: 

  • Initiation rituals consist of three stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. During this initiation ritual, separation occurs when the freshman class isolates itself from the rest of the student body and comes together as a group to march around campus. The transition period occurs as the freshmen are running around the bonfire. Finally, the freshmen are incorporated back into the student body when the bonfire ends and the class disperses.

Meaning and interpretation: 

  • Running around the bonfire has been an initiation ritual at Dartmouth for over a century, and is, therefore, an important rite of passage that every Dartmouth student experiences. It is a chance for the freshman class to get attention and support from upperclassmen and alumni and to truly feel as though they are a part of the Dartmouth community. It is also a chance for the freshmen to come together as a group and to feel like a cohesive class.

Comparison:

  • Comparison within the subgroup:  In this subgroup, we focused on Dartmouth College social initiation rituals. One similarity between most of these rituals is that they are experienced by freshmen. A student’s freshman year is a time learn about his or her new community and the traditions that form its unique culture. Freshman year is also the time that most students join the clubs or sports teams that they will be most involved in throughout their Dartmouth careers. Therefore, it makes sense that so many of the Dartmouth social initiation rituals take place during the freshman year, such as the homecoming bonfire ritual. One difference within our subgroup is who initiates and runs each initiation ritual. Sometimes these rituals are set up and funded by the Dartmouth administration, and sometimes they are student-run. Another difference is the duration of each ritual. Some social spaces take a while to initiate into or involve a few different rituals that initiate new members, whereas others only require one short ritual.
  • Comparison with the rest of the subgroups: The subgroups differ dramatically across the board. Some of the subgroups focus on various ethnic groups while others focus on groups within Dartmouth. The initiation rituals of the groups within Dartmouth usually have the purpose of welcoming new members into their community and are symbolic. Ethnic-based group rituals have the purpose of testing the new members. Additionally, ethnic groups’ initiation rituals tend to be related to religious practices. Initiation rituals of Dartmouth groups are not religious in character. What all groups have in common though is the fact that the process of initiation creates closeness with the rest of the group and makes one feel completely immersed into the group.

Transcript: “Looking back on it (the bonfire), you are really able to see the significance it has. And even if you don’t realize it at the time, as you get older and look at the freshmen who are running it, you can definitely see that it is an important and cool part of homecoming”

Collector: Caroline Elliott, Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

  • Initiation
  • Ritual
  • Homecoming Bonfire
  • Freshman class
  • Dartmouth

The Stick Slap

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Title: The Stick Slap

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Megan Cornell
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Meg Cornell is an 18 year old freshman defenseman on the Dartmouth College women’s hockey team. She is from Bloomington, Minnesota and is currently undecided on her major. Meg started playing hockey when she was six years old and hasn’t looked back since. Meg is the youngest in her family and has two older brothers.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: This ritual was not bequested nor handed down to Meg and Linda. They began this ritual on their own, and thus the origin of the ritual traces back to this past season (2017-2018). Meg and Linda enjoy this ritual between each other, and believe that it instills a confidence within them to perform their very best.
  • Social Context: Before every game before the first period begins, the entire team get into a huddle by the net. In the pregame huddle before her teammate Alyssa Baker joins, Linda and Meg stand next to each other. First Linda slaps Meg’s stick, then Meg slap her stick, then Linda slaps Meg’s stick–it gets pretty aggressive! Meg is not exactly sure how or why this ritual started, but they kept it up all season.

Item:

  • The pregame stick slap ritual was not bequested to either of them, but they just began doing it spontaneously on their own and ultimately became a ritual between them. They definitely plan on keeping up this ritual for the next three years and maybe will bequest it to two other players at the culmination of their senior year. This ritual gets them ‘pumped up’ and ready to go for the game!

Meg and Linda are next to each other in the huddle, slapping each other’s sticks a few times

Transcript:

  • “Yeah, so Linda and I just kind of started slapping each other’s sticks in the huddle before games–honestly it gets pretty aggressive! We definitely have a lot of fun with it. I’m not sure if we will pass this down to younger teammates, but Linda and I will definitely keep doing this for the next three years.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Like I said, the stick slapping can get pretty aggressive ,so you need to make sure you have your feet (or skates) under you!

Collector’s Comments:

  • Meg was interviewed by Sarah Tabeek in downstairs Collis on a friday afternoon. Webpage published by Sarah Tabeek.

Collector’s Name: Sarah Tabeek

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Stick Slap

 

Special Handshake

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General Information about Item:

  • Poly-modal Folklore – Ritual
  • Body Folklore
  • Magic Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Brandon Liao
  • Date Collected: 02-20-2018

Informant Data:

  • Brandon Liao was born in Toronto, Canada on October 29, 1998. Brandon’s family now resides in China; however, Brandon has traveled all around North America and the world. After Canada, Brandon moved to Connecticut, California, China, and then finally went to a boarding school in Connecticut for his high school years. Brandon started to swim when he was six years old, because it was an after-school activity that was offered. He is a freshman at Dartmouth College, who is a swimmer on the Swim and Dive Team who specializes in freestyle and breaststroke.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context of this folklore reflects how some people, especially in sports and swimming, need some extra help to get themselves ready before races. Whether that be doing a ritual, or maybe even drinking a lot of caffeinated drinks, people will go through many extremes to help prepare themselves.
  • Social Context: The ritual was documented during a one-on-one interview on the bus-ride to Princeton for the Ivy League Championship swim meet. Brandon described a ritual he does before the start of his individual races to help him get excited and angry. Brandon talked about how his best friend on his team, Cam, helped him come up with his folklore ritual. Ever since Brandon discovered this ritual, he does it when he needs to get excited and ready, so he does not do it every single time.

Item:

  • Brandon and his high school teammate, Cam, would do a unique handshake before each of their races.

 

Transcript:

  • “It has been working for me since I started trying it back when I turned 16. My friend Cam helped me come up with a way to help prepare myself for my races when I could not seem to get excited. Before a race, we decided to do a handshake behind the block because we were racing next to each other. Since then, we would always do the same handshake before each of our races. Since we started it, we have perfected the handshake, and it helps us get excited and ready to race.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • Although I am not teammates with Cam anymore, this handshake helps remind me of the experiences we had together and makes me feel supported in my races.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This folklore is interesting in that it is not shared by a large folk, but only 2 individuals (still large enough for this to be folklore), making it a very intimate ritual.

Collector’s Name: Matthew Luciano

Tags/Keywords: Poly-modal Folklore, Ritual, Body Folklore, Handshake, Swimming

Cello Lineage

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore, tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Timothy Green
  • Date Collected: 2-26-18

Informant Data:

  • Timothy Green was born in Ocala, Florida on December 27, 1997. According to Timothy, his family is not at al musically talented, as he was the first in his family to play a musical instrument. Since no one in the family has played any musical instruments, they had to hire a cello teacher for Timothy at a young age. Currently, Timothy is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. At school, Timothy enjoys going to Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra (DSO) concerts. He plans on majoring in government and psychology.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Within any group of students/peers/friends, there is always some sort of “culture.” Going off of this idea, there is definitely a strong culture within any cello section. And like any culture, everybody in the cello section is aware of how they all became cellists. They went through rigorous training methods that only they could identify and understand. Cellists go through years of training under a teacher in order to be able to play in orchestras.
  • Social Context: This item was mentioned when I asked Timothy about any rituals or traditions that a cello section could be a part of. At first, he had a hard time coming up with these items, as he was unsure whether the item he had in mind was actually an item that could be used for this project. During the interview, Timothy noted how he had a cello teacher from a young age, and that most successful cellists he met also had a cello teacher from a young age.

Items:

  • The item of folklore that Timothy mentioned during the interview was that there is a ritual where cellists rub rosin on their fingers before playing in order to have friction. And he noted that rituals such as that one are passed down from your cello teachers, so cello teachers are also important in passing down certain rituals and traditions that a cellist performs before a concert/practice.

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

Image result for cello rosin

Transcript:

  • “I’ve actually rub rosin on my fingers before every time I play the cello, so if I stop and take a break, I will rub rosin again after my break. And I do this both at practice and concerts. But I definitely know some people who only use rosin once during the entire practice or concert.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This is Timothy’s second year at Dartmouth, and although he isn’t part of DSO, he is still part of a symphony orchestra back home.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Timothy was easy to interview and seemed very enthusiastic about answering questions regarding, cello’s, orchestra’s, and rituals.

Collector’s Name: Aditya Srivastava

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary lore
  • Traditions
  • Rituals
  • Cello
  • Cellists

Block Ritual

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General Information about Item:

  • Poly-modal Folklore – Ritual
  • Magic Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Alie Hunter
  • Date Collected: 02-18-2018

Informant Data:

  • Alexandra “Alie” Hunter is a swimmer on the Swim and Dive Team at Dartmouth College, and is a member of the Class of 2021.  Alie Hunter was born in Toronto, Canada on September 8, 1999.  Alie is the first swimmer in her family.  She began swimming at the age of five, and decided to swim and go to college in America her junior year of high school.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context of this folklore reflects the stress and pressure that many swimmers feel before they race.  The swimmers will help do rituals to calm down and relax before their races because of the environment that swimmers face. 
  • Social Context: The data was collected during a one on one interview in the RWIT studio/room, right after she finished her IVY League Championship meet.  Alie described a ritual that she does before every race.  Alie noted that every person, boys and girls, on the team would also do during their swim meets.  Their coach recommended it to the team as a way to help them build confidence and stay calm before their races.  This folklore ritual was created when Alie turned 12 years old.

Item:

  • Alie will stand on the blocks and look at her teammates at the other end of her lane before her races.  Her friends and teammates all make sure to be behind the lanes to cheer for the swimmer and give them something to look at before the race. 

Transcript:

  • “Before my races, I will always stand up on the block and look at my teammates who are at the other end.  Until the starter say’s ‘Take your Mark,’ I will continue to look at my teammates as they cheer for me on the other end.  My Coach told us to do this when we were twelve to help us relieve stress and know that our team was there to help cheer for us.  My teammates and I started to do this before every race since then, and we make sure we are always at the other end of the pool for whoever is starting so they can see us.  The first time I tried this, it helped me go fast and stay calm, so I have and will continue to do it forever.” 

Collector’s Comments:

  • This song is pretty catchy.

Collector’s Name: Matthew Luciano

Tags/Keywords: Poly-modal Folklore, Ritual, Magic Superstition, Swimming

“123 Dartmouth” Chant

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General Information about Item:

  • Textual Folklore – Chant
  • Poly-modal Folklore – Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Ziqi Wang
  • Date Collected: 02-23-2018

Informant Data:

  • Ziqi Wang is a male student in the Dartmouth College Class of 2018.  He was born in China and emigrated to the United States when he was 9 years old; he has spent most of his life in the Hanover, NH area, having attended Hanover High School. He studies economics and environmental science at Dartmouth, and intends to pursue a career in business in Boston, MA after graduation. Ziqi has been an active member of Dartmouth’s Club Swim Team since the fall of 2014.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Club Swim Team has a variety of bonding rituals which help the team come together. This particular ritual is mandatory for all members, with the repetition helping to enforce the primacy of the team in all members heads, while establishing the hierarchy of the team, by having team leaders lead the chant in a loud, authoritative voice and having junior members echo the leaders.
  • Social Context: This chant was explained in a one-on-one interview with the informant at Baker-Berry Library. It is performed at the end of the meet, with the members all huddling up together in close contact, creating a close bond. Various team leaders then lead the chant, with the rest of the members following them in the chorus. The chant is also used to signal the end of practices, illustrating the transition from the intensity of practice to post-practice relaxation.

Item:

  • At the end of every practice, the members of the Dartmouth Club Swim Team come together in a huddle and finish with the “123 Dartmouth” chant. It is led by one or more of the team’s leaders or senior members, with the rest of the team acting as a chorus. The text of the chant is shown below.
  • “Team Leader: ‘Club Swim on 3! 1, 2, 3!                                                                                         Rest of Team: ‘Club Swim!'”

Transcript:

  • “We end practice every day with a simple chant which is called 123 Dartmouth. One of the seniors or older people on the team shouts ‘Club Swim on 3!’ And then counts off “1,2,3.” Then everyone else shouts ‘Club Swim!'”

Informant’s Comments:

  • It seems kind of simple and is pretty similar to what a lot of other teams do, but it still adds a lot of excitement and energy for the team after practices.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This chant does seem similar to the huddle-ending practices of many sports teams at Dartmouth, but uniquely, it is led by senior team members, rather than the coach, like in most teams, illustrating a greater level of independence. It has a vague similarity to children’s folklore, in that as Bettelheim emphasizes, repetition is used to reinforce ideas for junior members. Also, it is composed and performed exclusively by and for students. This reflects the nature of club sports, which generally do not have formal coaching staff, requiring club athletes to learn and maintain their traditions and skills independently, much as children’s folklore is used by children to teach themselves and others, as opposed to adults teaching them.

Collector’s Name: Ashwath Srikanth

Tags/Keywords: Textual Folklore, Poly-modal Folklore, Ritual, Chants, Children’s Folklore, Swimming

Goalie Warm Up

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Title: Goalie Warm Up 

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Game/Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Christie Honor
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Christie Honor is a Junior at Dartmouth College and a goalie on the Varsity Women’s Ice Hockey Team. She was born in Mississauga, Ontario in Canada, and has lived there her whole life. She started playing hockey when she was five years old because she looked up to her two older brothers who played. She is a biology major and just finished her first year as the starting goalie.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Goalies are a unique position. They do workouts that are a little bit different than the rest of the team, thus explaining why they have a different warm-up routine. A very important task for a goalie is to track the puck with their eyes and catch pucks with their glove
  • Social Context: There are two goalies on the team in the same year: Shannon and Christie. They are very good friends and share a special bond, especially since they both play the most unique position in the game: goalie. Although Christie plays in a majority of games, this does not affect their bond as they are still great friends and roommates. This item has been practiced for three years.

Item:

  • During the teams off-ice warm up, the two junior goalies, Shannon and Christie, started getting a racquet-ball and throwing it off the wall back and forth to each other. While throwing the ball back and forth to each other, they maintain a low squat position. This is an important ritual to them as it warms-up their hand-eye coordination that is crucial for peak performance.

 

Transcript:

  • None

Informant’s Comments:

  • I find this pre-game routine particularly interesting because to be a goalie in hockey is a very different, particular position. It makes sense that they should warm-up in a different way than the rest of the team. They also carry this special bond by doing this warm-up together which I could see through Christie telling me about this ritual they do together.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Christie Honor was interviewed by Brooke Ahbe in Thompson Arena, Dartmouth College. Webpage was published by Sarah Tabeek.

Collector’s Name: Brooke Ahbe

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Game
  • Goalie Warm Up

The Jersey Tuck

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Title: The Jersey Tuck

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Canada
  • Informant: Christina Rombaut
  • Date Collected: 2-22-18

Informant Data:

  • Christina Rombaut is currently a sophomore on the varsity women’s ice hockey team. She is a biology major and was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. She started skating when she was three and started playing hockey when she was five. She has two older brothers, 21 and 22,  and they are the reason why Christina started to play hockey.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: While Christina grew up playing hockey her whole life, she never sported the ‘full tuck’ style (tucking her hockey jersey in her pants). She feels a bond with each of the girls in the different classes that all share this fun “secret” between one another.
  • Social Context: Christina first learned about this folklore during the Thursday night practice before her first game freshman year. The three older girls in each class who were a part of this ritual sat her down and told her about this bequested ritual. She would be the girl in the 20’s class that would do full-jersey tuck for pre-game skate. She was very excited to do this but thought it was pretty odd at first because it’s very uncommon and considered “bad style”. But, she enjoyed being part of a small group on the team, which the rest of the team knew nothing about.

Item: 

  • There is a pre-game skate for every Friday’s game and in this pregame skate, every player only wears sweatpants and a jersey. Christina is a girl from the sophomore class that tucks in her jersey all the way into her sweatpants because it was bequested to her. It looks terrible but when people ask you about it they can’t tell them that it’s a ritual. Only the people in the group know about it. There are only four players that do this ritual–one person from each class. A freshman is added each year to the group and the people in the group get to decide who joins among next year’s freshmen.

Christina Rombaut, sporting her full jersey tuck before pre-game skate

Transcript:

  • “This ritual is important to me because creates a bond between teammates and also adds fun to our pregame skates. People always chirp us for wearing our jersey fully tuck but it’s always good to have a laugh with those in the group cause we all know we look dumb but important to hold the tradition”

Informant’s Comments:

  • The jersey tuck is not an attractive look, but a fun tradition within the Dartmouth hockey program

Collector’s Comments:

  • I find this as a particularly special tradition because of the secretive significance. The bond between the four players seems to be something that they are able to have between each other without anyone else particularly aware. It is captivating seeing a psychical expression of something that is more internally motivating.

Collector’s Name: Brooke Ahbe

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Ritual
  • Jersey Tuck