Tag Archives: rush

Fraternity Rush Party Themes

Title: Fraternity Rush Party Themes

General Information about Item:

Customary/Material Folklore
Informant: W.M.
Date Collected: 05/25/2020

Informant Data:

W.M. is a male Dartmouth College student. He is unaffiliated.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: The celebration of new members into a fraternity is celebrated amongst the brothers in a social event open to campus as well. The celebrations include a theme, sometimes a traditional theme of the house or decided on each year. Members of the house, new and old, dress in costumes in accordance with the theme and celebrate together.
Social Context: Social gathering is a common event put on by a fraternity and open to the campus. In these instances, a theme for the party is decided on by the house and is put on, usually around the end of the rush process.

Item:

Many fraternities hold social gatherings before, during, and after the rush process. It is common for these to have themes decided on by the members, new and old, of the house hosting the gathering. Typically the new members are celebrated as the members all dress in costume and decorate the house for the gathering.

Collector’s Comments:

I found this tradition to be an interesting custom as it is open to non-members. The fraternity members are typically the ones deciding and dressing in theme, but then they open up the celebration to the campus as well.

Collector’s Name: Charlie Wade

Tags/Keywords:

Celebration
Costumes
Fraternity

House Families

Title: House Families

General Information about Item:

Customary Folklore
Informant: R.C. ’22
Date Collected: 05/19/2020

Informant Data:

R.C. is a male student at Dartmouth College. He is affiliated.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Families are small units of close individuals. The adoption of this technique into fraternity culture serves a similar purpose.
Social Context: House families are smaller groups in the house new members are sorted in to. These act as smaller and closer social groups for the new members in the house.

Item:

This specific fraternity gives its new members “families” within its members. These families consist of one to two new members and a handful of older members to serve as a resource during and after the rush process.

Collector’s Comments:

I found these families to be an interesting and useful way to help new members during the rush process. They stay families for life, long after active membership in the fraternity ends. In this specific example, the family the informant was in was easily dated back to Dartmouth alumni from 2014.

Collector’s Name: Charlie Wade

Tags/Keywords:

Customary Lore
Family
Social

Invitation Letter/Card

Title: Invitation Letter/Card

Information about Item:

Form of material and customary folklore
Informant: S.I.
Date Collected: 5/8/2020

Informant Data:

S.I. is a female member of the Class of 2021 at Dartmouth. She is affiliated with Greek Life, and she is from California.

Contextual Data:

Cultural: A letter or card is given to you that invites you to be part of the house. The letter is usually signed by the president and the recruitment chair of the house.
Social: This information was collected through a video chat interview.

Item:

A letter or card that is sent to the individual as an official invitation to be part of the house

Collector’s Name: Gia Kim

Tags/Keywords:

Material folklore
Customary folklore
Letter
card
rush