John Dean is a twenty four year old male who plays football at Yale University. John was born in White Plains, New York, but was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Xaverian Brothers High School, where he played both football and lacrosse, and was also named to the academic scholar athlete all-star team. Currently, John resides in New Haven, Connecticut, where he has attended Yale for the past five years. John is the current and only captain of the Yale football team, and has played football his entire life.
Contextual Data:
John decided to attend Yale University out of high school, a wise decision both academically and athletically. He had received offers from bigger and better schools in terms of football, but decided that he wanted an Ivy League education. As a freshman, John was worried about college expectations, and what managing football and academics would entail. College, especially Ivy League institutions, can be overwhelming for new students at times. This is why Yale Football has a tradition that helps the younger players get a feel for college life, and it’s called “Senior Spotlight”
Text/Tradition:
“Senior Spotlight” is a week to week tradition that takes place during every Yale football season. The night before every game, a random senior is chosen to give a speech in front of the entire team in the Yale locker room. These speeches usually last around twenty to thirty minutes, and are about that seniors’ experience with the school, team, and/or their life. “It is meant to be an open conversation”. The significance of this tradition lies in the unity of the team. It gives everyone a senior’s point of view of what they went through. It also helps the young players, bringing them closer to the team as a whole. Yale does this every season to help better the culture of their team, and bring the new players up to speed on what it means to be a Yale football player. The origin of this tradition is unknown, and has been going on since John arrived as a freshman (and well before that), making this a piece of Yale folklore.
Folklore Form/Genre: North American Initiation Rituals
Informant: Sarina Kothari
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States of America
Place Collected: Baker Lobby
Date: 11/13/18
Informant Data:
Sarina Kothari, 19, was born on March 20th, 1999 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She moved to Orlando, Florida when she was very young, and she has lived there for most of her life. When Sarina turned sixteen, her parents chose to help her celebrate by throwing an elaborate party where many of her friends and family members were invited.
Contextual Data:
Social Context: Sarina attended Trinity Preparatory School, a small Catholic private school. Despite going to a Catholic school, Sarina herself is not of the Catholic faith. Her family is upper class, and she comes from an Indian background.
Cultural Context: Many girls in Orlando, Florida celebrated their sixteenth birthday with a large Sweet Sixteen celebration. More than half of the girls in her grade had sweet sixteens.
Item:
During her sweet sixteen, there was a part when all of the people important to Sarina got up and read her speeches that they had written for her. They were all people that Sarina was very close to including her parents and her boyfriend. The speeches spoke about how special Sarina was and about different aspects of her life and her future.
Audio:
Transcript:
E: Alright Sarina, could you please describe the tradition that happened at your sweet sixteen?
S: So basically around five people gave speeches at my sweet sixteen, so it was my mom, dad, my brother, my boyfriend at the time, and then my best friend, and they all, like, had prepared it before, and they did like two minutes or three minutes each, and it was really nice because everyone was, like, in a circle just, like, listening to them and, like, laughing and it went on for, like, ten minutes.
E: So how did this specific tradition symbolize your transition into womanhood?
S: I thought it was a good transition just because I had never really heard all of the, like, important people in my life at the time speak at the same time, so it was nice to, like, hear them, like, in success[ion] and, like, one after another, and I felt like they all really cared about me, and it was really nice for like all my other friends to hear that just because everyone really felt like in the moment, like, super happy and I felt like really grateful to have all these, like, people who cared about me in my life and I just make, it more made me feel, like, at home and, like, at peace with, like, becoming sixteen, rather than like transitioning I guess.
E: Alright, thank you.
Informant’s Comments:
It was so nice to be able to have all of the special people in my life in one place and it was so nice hearing them talk about how much I meant to them and how I had changed their lives. It was just such a great way to mark my transition from girl to woman.
Collector’s Comments:
I feel like the speeches are one of the staples of a sweet sixteen celebration. Since sweet sixteens are a fairly new concept, they don’t have many set traditions, but it appears that most people choose to do the speeches and I think it’s because it’s a way for the girl to hear from those who mean the most to her.
Folklore Form/Genre: North American Initiation Rituals
Informant: Chetana Kalidindi
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States of America
Place Collected: First Floor Berry
Date: 11/2/18
Informant Data:
Chetana Kalidindi, 19, was born on August 4th, 1999 in Mountain View, California. She lived there for all of her childhood with her parents and her sister Divya. Although Chetana did not have her own sweet sixteen, she attended her sister Divya’s sweet sixteen and many of her friends’ sweet sixteens. She is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College.
Contextual Data:
Social Context: Both Chetana and her sister Divya grew up in Mountain View, California and they both attended The Harker School, a small private school. They come from a south Asian/Indian background and their family is upper middle class.
Cultural Context: Sweet sixteens are a very common celebration to have in Mountain View, California, and most girls celebrate their transition to adulthood by throwing one.
Item:
At Divya’s sweet sixteen there were many special traditions that happened including a dance where the birthday girl was lifted up by her friends, cutting the cake, and the presentation of speeches about the Divya by her family members and her close friends. The speeches were the most important event of the night. For the speeches, friend and family members went up one by one and each spoke about how they have watched her grow up and about her journey to womanhood. They also speak about why she’s special to them and about their hopes and goals for her future.
Audio:
Transcript:
E: Could you please describe the tradition?
C: Yeah, so I think the main, like, the biggest part of the night was dancing, and then we had a photographer, so, taking pictures with all of her friends, and they all lifted her up, and I think that was a big part of it, and then right after that we all cut the cake and my parents had speeches.
E: And could you please explain why these ceremonies were important as far as her transition into adulthood.
C: I think, yeah, I think the speeches were the biggest, like, symbol because my parents talked a lot about that and just her growing up, and I know that a lot of other sweet sixteens that I’ve been to are kind of the same situation, but specifically for that we had a lot of speeches. Actually, I gave a speech, and we basically just talked about how she’s grown and I think my dad actually did mention that this was like a symbolic event and she’s now a young woman, so.
E: Alright, thank you.
Informant’s Comments:
The speeches are symbolic as they are meant to reminisce on the birthday girl’s childhood and to hope for a bright future. Everyone who gave a speech was someone that was very close to the birthday girl and was someone who had watched her as she had grown up.
Collector’s Comments:
When I was younger I went to a family friend’s sweet sixteen and she had a very similar ceremony where her family and friends gave speeches about her. It really was a special moment for everyone involved.
Title: North America Initiation Rituals: The Importance of Family at a Quinceañera
General Information about Item:
Initiation Rituals
Culture: Latinx and Catholic
Language: English
Country of Origin: Mexico/America
Informant: Athina Schmidt
Place Collected: Kappa Delta Sorority
Date Collected: 11-2-18
Informant Data:
Athina Schmidt, age 29, is a female Dartmouth student who is graduating with the class of 2019. She was born in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She is currently living in Brooklyn, New York. Her ethnic background is half Dominican and half German. She went to a public high school in the city. At Dartmouth, Athina is in Kappa Delta sorority, a member of the club Squash team, and a member of the Gospel Choir. She is planning to major in Psychology with a minor in Digital Art.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context: The U.S. Latinx culture has deep roots in respecting their cultural customs, traditions, and religion from the past. The main religion practiced by this cultural community is the Catholicism. In the U.S. a way many their Latinx families continue to pass down their cultural and religious customs is through the Quinceañera. The Quinceañera is an important way for a girl of Mexican American decent to stay connected to their ethnic history. After completing theQuinceañera a girl becomes incorporated into the cultural community in a meaningful way.
Social Context: The Quinceañera is practiced by most self-identifying Latinx members no matter their economic and geographic situations. TheQuinceañera can vary in how elaborate the ceremony and party is, depending on the particular socioeconomic state of the individual family and community. This coming of age ceremony is not only important to the girl and her family, but also the cultural and Catholic community she is a part of.
Item:
One of the most important aspects of the Quinceañera is the family of the girl. The event is just as much for the girl as it is for her family. The whole extended family is invited to the Quinceañera. For my informant, that meant having over 150 people at her Quinceañera. The past generations are honored and symbolized through the candle lighting ceremony at the church. The family gives speeches at the Quinceañera about the birthday girl. An iconic aspect of the Quinceañera is the father and daughter dance. The family is just as active in the initiation traditions as the girl. The family is initiating the girl and welcomes her into womanhood throughout the ceremony. As a result, the family is involved in all three stages of the initiation rite.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript:
“For the Quinceañera it was done in Brooklyn with my entire family. So my aunt and uncles were there and all my cousins. And all my girl cousin had matching dresses and of course we went to the first part of the service was at our Catholic church. And we did like a special mass and you know the lighting of the candles for like our dead relatives and all that stuff… And after that, then there was like a big party at a dining hall. That’s when the family, like all of the families, got together. And it had to be like 150 people. It was so crazy, I didn’t realize there was so many people in my family… They all had speeches… We did the dance with your dad, the first dance. That was really cute.”
Informant’s Comments:
She thought that she had a small family before her Quinceañera. She was amazed by the amount of people at the Quinceañera.
Collector’s Comments:
I never realized just how family centered this the Quinceañera
Analysis:
All initiation rituals consist of three main stages: separation, transition, and incorporation. For the North American Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera, the separation stage consists of the girl getting prepared and planning for the ceremony. This includes, for many girls, their first time wearing tall high heels, getting the makeup professionally done, and wearing elaborate gowns. The transition stage is marked by the various ceremonial traditions. The ceremonial traditions include the opening of gifts, the dance between the father and daughter, reading of speeches, and blowing out candles. The incorporation stage of the Sweet Sixteen and Quinceañera is the party after all the ceremonial traditions are completed. The girl celebrates becoming a women with her friends, family, and community.
Comparison:
Comparison within the subgroup: Both the Quinceañera and Sweet Sixteen are very family centered events. There are many overlapping family traditions that are a part of both initiation rites. For example, at both many family members give speeches about the birthday girl. One of the most iconic parts of both traditions is the father and daughter dance. Both have the meaning that the first man in a girl’s life should be the father.
Comparison to the rest of subgroups: Many of the culturally based initiation folklore include tasks and physical activities as an aspect of the initiation rite. A comparable initiation rite to the North AmericanQuinceañera and Sweet Sixteenfrom another subgroup was the Jewish Bat Both the Quinceañera and Bat Mitzvahsare rooted in religious beliefs and customs. Since, both these religious based initiation rites are common in America, customs from both are commonly borrowed in Sweet Sixteen celebrations. In all three coming of age ceremonies the family is an interregnal part of what makes the tradition special. In the context of the rest of the our group, this piece of folklore is another example of a tradition that is a transition point in a person’s life.
Collector’s Name: Darien Jones,Dartmouth College, Russian 13, Professor Valentina Apresyan, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Fall 2018
