Tag Archives: tradition

Lobster and Steak Dinner

General Information:
Informant: Sophie Pinnie
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: November 4, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Customary/Ritual
Title: “Lobster and Steak Dinner”

Informant Data: Sophie is a 21-year-old Dartmouth student who is a part of the class of 2023. She is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but she lives on campus at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire. She is a student-athlete participating on the soccer team and is majoring in government.

Contextual Data: At the end of orientation week, the Dartmouth Dining Services provides a dinner for the students consisting of steak and lobster. The freshmen come to the ’53 Commons dining hall together to eat the meal. This meal is the nicest meal that they offer during the whole year since it is meant to celebrate the freshmen’s incorporation into Dartmouth College.

Social Data: The lobster and steak dinner is an exciting end to orientation week since it provides an expensive meal to the freshmen class. This dinner allows the freshmen to continue to meet and become acquainted with each other over a nice dinner.

Item: The lobster and steak dinner provided to freshmen at ’53 Commons.  

Transcript
Collector: “Are there any other traditions we haven’t discussed that you think are important to freshman fall at Dartmouth?”

Informant: “The steak and lobster dinner was something that was memorable to me during my freshman fall since it felt like a celebration for me entering the Dartmouth community. It also set my expectations really high for the dining hall, which didn’t end up being as true as I’d hoped.”

Collector Comment: I recall the lobster and steak dinner as being a surprise my freshman fall since I did not expect the dining hall to provide such an expensive meal. I still look forward to the meal since all individuals on campus are able to join in the celebration of welcoming the freshmen class.

Collected by:

Carson Reich 21

Houston, TX

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

Highlighter Party

General Information:
Informant: Keegan McHugh
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: October 23, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Customary/Ritual
Title: “Highlighter Party”

Informant Data: Keegan is a 22-year-old Dartmouth College student who is a member of the class of 2022. He is from Bel Air, Maryland, but he has lived around or on campus at Dartmouth continuously for the past 3 years. He is a student-athlete on the football team and is majoring in sociology.

Contextual Data: During freshmen fall there is a fraternity ban, which last for the first six weeks of the term. This ban means that freshmen are not allowed to enter a fraternity or Greek life house except for one party held by Chi Heorot. This party is referred to as “highlighter” due to the theme being neon or highlighter colored attire.

Social Data: The Highlighter party allows Dartmouth freshman to experience an alcohol-free fraternity event specifically designed for their class. This event allows the freshmen to enjoy a party while also building relationships within their class.

Item: The Highlighter Party is a dry event for the freshmen held at Chi Heorot during the fall term.

Transcript
Collector: “Are there any other traditions we haven’t discussed that you think are important to freshman fall at Dartmouth?”

Informant: “The highlighter party at Heorot is one of my fondest memories of freshman fall since it allowed us to enjoy an actual fraternity party rather than being in a dorm room due to the fraternity ban. I was able to meet a ton of people outside of my team and built relationships with a lot of people that I am still friends with today.”

Collector Comment: I remember the highlighter party being so popular that individuals were doing anything possible to get inside. This tradition also provides a much more efficient way to meet people than dorm parties that typically occur during freshman fall since dorm parties typically involve people you have met previously.

Collected by:

Carson Reich 21

Houston, TX

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

Snowball Fight

General Information:
Informant: Patrick Wright
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: October 27, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Customary/Ritual
Title: “Snowball Fight”

Informant Data: Patrick is a 20-year-old Dartmouth student who is a part of the class of 2023. He was born and raised in Georgia, but he lives on campus at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH for most of the year. He is a student-athlete participating on the football team and has an interest in studying economics. His grandfather, James Wright, was the President of Dartmouth College from 1998 to 2009.

Contextual Data: On the first snow fall of the year, Dartmouth undergraduates receive an email from Dr. Seuss to Robert Frost and the undergraduate community. The email entails a poem, which invites the students to partake in a snowball fight on the green at midnight.

Social Data: The first snowfall of the year can be a sign of a long winter coming for Dartmouth freshman coming from areas with a more moderate climate, but the snowball fight provides an opportunity for freshman students to see the positive aspects of Hanover, New Hampshire’s snowy weather. The involvement of the whole undergraduate community in a playful snowball fight introduces the freshman into a campus that celebrates the location of the college.  

Item: Snowball fight conducted at midnight on the first snowfall of the year, which is initiated by an email from Dr. Seuss.

Transcript
Collector: “Are there any other traditions we haven’t discussed that you think are important to freshman year at Dartmouth College?”

Informant: “The snowball fight was a pretty cool experience since I’m originally from an area that rarely ever sees snow. I prefer the warmer weather so the first time it really snowed; I knew that it was going to be a big adjustment for me. I was pretty confused when I randomly received the email about the snowball fight, but I ended up going and having a really good time. I think it definitely helped me adjust to the weather.”

Collector Comment: As someone from a warmer area, I understand how difficult it can be to adjust to the winter weather in Hanover, New Hampshire. The snowball fight allows students to see that they are not alone in cold, but they can actually turn the weather into something fun and constructive.

Collected by:

Carson Reich 21

Houston, TX

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

Returning as Alumni

General Information

Informant: The informant is a Dartmouth graduate from the 2020 class and wishes to stay completely anonymous. 

Place: Hanover, NH

Date: October 19th, 2021

Form of Folklore: Tradition

Title: Returning as Alumni

Collector: Maria Angelino

Contextual Data

Cultural Data: Dartmouth was founded in 1769 and is one of the nine colonial colleges charted before the American revolution. Located in Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth is a small, private liberal arts school and is a part of eight Ivy League institutions in the United States. The school is best known for its focus on undergraduate degrees, strong Greek life culture, and supportive alumni base.

Social Data: Homecoming weekend is an important weekend in the Fall term at Dartmouth College for both the freshman class and alumni. With so much activity going on, former students find this weekend to be a great opportunity to come back to campus and relive their “glory days”. This folklore was conducted via an interview a week after the informant went to her first homecoming weekend as an alumni, not a student. 

Item:

Alumni coming back to Dartmouth on Homecoming Weekend.

Transcript: 

Collector: “What do you know about the origins of the bonfire tradition?”

Informant: “ I don’t know much about how the whole thing started. I remember hearing about how the fire used to be way bigger and the classes would run, instead of walk, around the fire. I do know that it was always a time for a lot of alumni to come back because they warned us our freshman year to lock our dorms. They said alumni would try to come into their old rooms just to see what they look like now and reminisce on the good old days. I thought it was just another weird prank our UGA was pulling on us, but there were actually a ton of alumni that came back Homecoming Weekend when I was a student. This year was kind of weird for me because I experienced it as an alumni. It was crazy coming back and feeling like I was just another Dartmouth kid again. I love the adult life, but my four years here were the best years of my life. Coming back and seeing old friends reminded me of all the great memories and friendships I made. I definitely plan on coming back on Homecoming Weekend whenever I can.”

Collector Comment

This aspect of Homecoming Weekend often gets overlooked by the students because of the focus on the Bonfire and other events. The return of alumni speaks to the multiple existence and variation of Homecoming Weekend as students who graduate continue being apart of Dartmouth’s culture after graduation.

“HEPS-oween” run

General Information about Item:

  • Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: SM
  • Date Collected: 10/20/21

Informant Data:

  • SM is a Dartmouth class of 2021 who is currently in his fifth year at Dartmouth. He has been on the cross country and track teams at Dartmouth for all five years and this year, he is captain of the men’s cross country team.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The men’s and women’s cross country teams at Dartmouth are extremely close and do almost everything together. However, the one thing the teams don’t do together is run because the teams have different coaches and run at different speeds, so the teams split by gender for actual practice. This event is one of the few times each year that the men’s and women’s teams run together. Additionally, Dartmouth is one of eight colleges that are grouped together as the Ivy League. These teams are all located in the eastern U.S. and often compete both in academics and athletics. They created an athletic conference and the biggest competition each season for many sports is the Heptagonal Championships, or HEPS for short. This is called the heptagonal championships because there used to be only seven teams in the Ivy League and although some schools left and some schools joined to create a total of eight teams, the name stuck. This race is the only one all year where only all eight teams come together to race and it is a very important race for all of these teams. Lastly, “flair” is a term at Dartmouth used to describe funny clothes and costumes that people dress up in for fun events. It is common to see people wearing funny costumes any day around the college campus.
  • Social Context: This tradition is a fun one that brings both the mens and womens cross country teams at Dartmouth together before the biggest race of the season. It is a fun way to let the campus know about the upcoming event, especially when the teams run to ask the president of the college if he will attend. Additionally, it builds excitement within the team with a fun, silly, easy run and reminds everyone on the team why they love running and why they love to be a part of Dartmouth cross country.

Item:

  • The week before the ivy league championships (HEPS) race, the men’s and women’s cross country teams dress up in flair and run together around campus. The teams run through the library and show up at President Hanlon (the president of the college)’s house to ask if he will come watch the race the following weekend. This run is called Hepsoween and is a combination of the name of the race (HEPS) and the upcoming holiday (Halloween), and this combination also explains the funny costumes that the team wears during this run.

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

Transcript:

AB: Ok so do you want to just say your name for us and give me a little bit of background about who you are?

SM: Yep, um, so I am SM. I am a ‘21, 5th year here on the team and also the captain of the men’s cross country team.

AB: Perfect! Um, and then do you want to give me a piece of folklore about the men’s cross country and track teams?

SM: Yeah, one thing that comes to mind is hepsoween, um, which is basically a run where the men’s and women’s cross country teams get together and wear flair. They run through the library, they show up at Presiden Hanlon’s office and make him come out and ask him if he is coming to HEPS, which he never is, um, and yeah it’s right before HEPS and I guess, kind of a reason that it’s such a big deal is because, one, it kind of gets people excited for HEPS. It’s like right before, um, right around Halloween, which explains the costumes and flair and um, this team is kind of steeped in tradition and that kinda just, you know, kinda adds to the list of traditions that this team does and what gets people excited about being part of Dartmouth cross country.

AB: Perfect thank you!

Informant’s Comments:

  • Though the teams go to the president’s office every year, and he always tells the teams good luck, he never agrees to come watch the ivy league championship races. However, it is still always a fun tradition to send in two of the freshmen, one guy and one girl, to ask him if he will be in attendance.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is probably my favorite cross country team tradition! The energy on the run is so fun and although I can get stressed leading up to such a big race, having this fun event to look forward to allows me to relax a bit and remember why I love being on this team!
  • This is a piece of customary folklore because it involves many actions that the men’s and women’s cross country teams do together, such as running through the library, though it has a bit of verbal folklore when every year, the teams ask the same question to the president of the college.

Collector’s Name: Abby Brazil

Hair bows on race day

General Information about Item:

  • Tradition/superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: LA
  • Date Collected: 10/19/21

Informant Data:

  • LA is a Dartmouth College graduate of the class of 2020. She was a mid-distance athlete while at Dartmouth, but ran both cross country and track for all four years. She majored in economics at Dartmouth, is originally from Florida and now lives in North Carolina.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: All cross country runners on a team must wear the same uniform top and a pair of team issued bottoms at a race. However, anything else that the runner chooses to wear is up to them. Some women’s teams wear matching bows or hair ties in their hair to continue the matching outfits, but this is not a requirement. Another important thing to note is that cross country is unique because it is both an individual and team sport. Individuals run on their own, but in the end, the points are tallied for an overall team score, which makes it especially important for teams to be cohesive and work together to do well as a whole.
  • Social Context: Dartmouth is a school steeped in tradition and one tradition for the women’s cross country team to wear ribbons in their hair during a race. LA explained that for her, the meaning of wearing these ribbons was to continue these traditions and run for both current and previous teammates. This knowledge of those who came before her gave her strength during races. Additionally, the matching element of the ribbons allowed the team to feel united on the starting line because even though each person runs alone, in the end, cross country is a team sport.

Item:

  • The women’s distance athletes at Dartmouth would always wear ribbons in their hair for both cross country and track races. These ribbons are some combination of Dartmouth colors and are made by the sophomores for everyone else on the team.

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

Transcript:

AB: Ok, here we go! Um, yeah so do you want to give a quick background on who you are?

LA: Sure! My name is LA…that seems very formal but um…..I am a Dartmouth ‘20, and was on the cross country and track teams and studied economics at Dartmouth, originally from Miami, Florida.

AB: Perfect! Um, and then do you want to give me this piece of folklore or any piece of folklore about the women’s cross country and track team?

LA: Sure! Um, something that our team was…kind of a team tradition that we always did on race day, whether it be cross country or track….we had ribbons that we’d wear on race day. And this is something that we had the sophomores make each year, sometimes they were….some years they were green, and then a different year it was green and white, and then a different year was black. And, essentially they would just get…they would write the names of each person on one side of the ribbon and then, I think on the other side we would just write DXC, Dartmouth cross country, and um maybe draw a lone pine or something like that. But, we would, you know, put those in our hairbands and um, wear them with our uniforms on race day and I think this is, you know, just something that really brought us together and kinda allowed us to share in the moment in the same way and kind of have that uniform look. But also, just feel ready to go on race day and have that kind of team tradition to carry on, it really helps you think about all of the women that have run on the cross country team, um on the Dartmouth team, throughout the years. To see pictures and um, hear stories about previous teammates, to kind of know that you carry on that tradition and um, that kind of strength going into a race is pretty special.

AB: Perfect thank you so much!

Informant’s Comments:

  • LA also used to wear bows in her hair for workouts as well, but these bows would be a variety of different colors and patterns and weren’t limited to the Dartmouth colors of green, black, and white. She said that wearing these would get her excited for workouts and made her feel fast!

Collector’s Comments:

  • A saying that I have heard throughout my time as a runner is “look good, run fast”. I think that wearing hair bows is a similar idea to this, where we dress up a bit for race day so that we are going to run fast in the race!
  • This is a tradition that has also been kept alive for all of my time at Dartmouth and I have loved wearing these hair bows while I race.
  • This is a material piece of folklore, since it is something physical that the athletes wear on race day. Additionally, it is a bit of a superstition in the form “If I do A, then B” because LA believed that if she wore the bow, then she would race well.

Collector’s Name: Abby Brazil

Captain note tradition for women’s cross country HEPS

General Information about Item:

  • Ritual/tradition/gift
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: JS
  • Date Collected: 10/13/21

Informant Data:

  • JS is a Dartmouth graduate of the class of 2020. She is originally from New York but now lives and works in San Francisco. While at Dartmouth, JS was a distance athlete on the women’s cross country and track teams. Additionally, she was a team captain her junior and senior years.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Dartmouth is one of eight colleges that are grouped together as the Ivy League. These teams are all located in the eastern U.S. and often compete both in academics and athletics. They created an athletic conference and the biggest competition each season for many sports is the Heptagonal Championships, or HEPS for short. This is called the heptagonal championships because there used to be only seven teams in the Ivy League and although some schools left and some schools joined to create a total of eight teams, the name stuck. This race is the only one all year where only all eight teams come together to race and it is a very important race for all of these teams.
  • Social Context: Although cross country rosters can be quite large throughout the normal season, only twelve female and twelve male athletes are allowed to compete at the cross country heptagonal championships. Therefore, selection into this group is an honor based on whoever has been racing the fastest throughout the previous races that year. These notes and gifts are a symbol that the upperclassmen and leaders on the team recognize the efforts put in by the rest of the women to do well enough to make the team. This is a way to get everyone confident and excited to race the next day and bring everyone together as a team.

Item:

  • The night before the Heptagonal Championships cross country race, the captains of the women’s cross country team give a little gift and personalized note containing kind words of encouragement to each of the twelve female athletes who will be competing the next day.

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

Transcript:

AB: Ok, here we go. Um, so do you want to give us a little bit of background, you know, what your name is, who you are, about your time at Dartmouth?

JS: Yes I would love to!…My name is JS. I graduated from Dartmouth in 2020, um, I was a runner and a captain on the women’s cross country team. Right now, I am in San Francisco, I am from New York originally and I am doing diabetes research and applying to med school.

AB: Perfect! Um, ok so can you give me the piece of folklore that we talked about?

JS: Yes, so one piece of lore from the women’s team was that the captains would kind of give a little gift and personalized note to each of the twelve athletes competing at HEPS for cross country at the end of October/early November. So that would normally be something that the night before the race, the captains would distribute kind of a little personalized note or gift and kind of words of encouragement to each of the women who would be competing the next day.

AB: Perfect, um, and then do you want to give me just a little bit of like, you know, what this tradition meant to you, why you continued it as a captain?

JS: Yeah, so I remember when I was a freshman in 2016, I kind of scraped my way onto the HEPS squad in the fall. I was I think our 11th out of 12 who was competing and I was introduced to the tradition when our captains, Helen and Jennie, gave us little pendants that they had made in the jewelry studio. So they, like, stamped out, kind of pieces of metal and they stamped HEPS 2016 onto them and gave them to us along with a little kind of note. And the physical side, kind of died out over the years, where we didn’t really continue doing the jewelry or like the physical gift, just because of — it was, you know, pretty time consuming. But it was definitely memorable to me as kind of a marker, you know, of what the significance of competing at HEPS is, um, and I do think that even, you know, even when it was the physical token along with a little note, it was really like the words that someone who was a leader on the team shared that kind of meant the most. And I think, you know, especially for a freshman, or someone who is on, you know, the tail end of the twelve, just kind of hearing something — hearing that, you know, the leaders that I was looking up to were like noticing particular things about like the work I had put in and that they believed in me really meant a lot. So over the years, that was something that was really cool to kind of continue and be the person that was writing those notes and you know, maybe finishing them on the bus to the meet. Um, and I do think that it was also important that even though HEPS wasn’t necessarily even the biggest or like most competitive meet that we did…we always had the NCAA northeast regionals the week or two weeks after, and then a couple years the team did go to nationals, um….HEPS was always like the only race where we did kind of, you know, give those letters and those words to the roster that was competing. And I think that kind of speaks to how that was an opportunity to, um, like represent oneself and also represent Dartmouth and you know, kind of an event where there was extra meaning assigned to wearing the Dartmouth jersey, um, and everything that that stands for. So, hopefully it’s something that the team continues even now past my time. But that is what it meant to me.

AB: Perfect thank you so much!

Informant’s Comments:

  • During her freshman year, JS was one of the last people to make the Dartmouth women’s heptagonal championship team. Therefore, she was nervous coming into such a big race and yet also excited to be selected for this team. The team captains at the time gave her a stamped piece of jewelry made in the jewelry studio at Dartmouth.
  • She continued this tradition as captain on the team for two years and although it was sometimes rushed and she had to finish the notes on the bus ride to the race, she always made sure to keep doing it.
  • JS also commented on the fact that our team is also competitive on the national scale, so heptagonal championships are no longer our biggest race. However, she felt that the reasoning for only writing notes for HEPS is that it is the race where wearing the Dartmouth uniform means the most, since it is in direct competition with the other Ivy League schools.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is a tradition that has been carried on for all of my time at Dartmouth as well. As a captain of the cross country team this year, I will be giving out notes to the team when we go to the heptagonal championships at the end of October.
  • However, the physical gift part of the tradition is something that was lost before my time at Dartmouth, and I think it is interesting to find this out just before I must continue on the tradition. I will talk to my co-captain about potentially bringing this part of the tradition back!
  • This is a material piece of folklore because it involves gift-giving from the team captains to the other athletes at the race.

Collector’s Name: Abby Brazil

Patriots Beer Burial

Title: Patriots Beer Burial

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore – Tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: ET
  • Date Collected: 5/7/20

Informant Data:

  • ET is a Dartmouth student in the class of 2022. He was born and raised in Framingham, Massachusetts. He has been an avid Boston and New England sports fan his entire life, whether that is the Red Sox, Bruins, or Patriots. During his time at Dartmouth, ET enjoys skiing competitively as part of the Club Ski Team. His plans after Dartmouth include becoming a foreign policy analyst.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The New England Patriots are both one of the most hated and most beloved teams in all of American sports. Their fans are also regarded as being rowdy, and are considered to be obnoxious by some fans of rival teams. Much of this disdain stems from the fact that the Patriots are also one of the most successful football teams in recent memory. The Patriots’ home field is Gillette Stadium, outside of which many fans choose to tailgate before home games.
  • Social Context: Tailgating is the practice of many fans gathering before a game that is going to be played at their home stadium. Tailgating consists of driving to the parking lot of said stadium, and then often drinking copious amounts of alcohol in the hours leading up to the start of the sporting event.

Item:

  • ET’s family has a long-standing tradition that has been occurring during the Patriots’ season for as long as he can remember. The extended family of ET all meet to tailgate at the exact same location outside of the McDonald’s restaurant nearest to Gillette Stadium each game of the Patriot’s season. Friends of the family can also be present, and before the first game of the season, the group digs a hole near the McDonald’s parking lot and buries several cans of beer in this same location. Then, they leave the beers buried for the entire 17-week regular season, and then before the Patriots’ first playoff game of the season, the group uncovers and drinks the beers they have been storing in that hole.

Image of typical tailgate at a Patriots Game

Associated File:

Transcript:

  • “[My family and I] have [a tradition] for the Patriots. We tailgate at the exact same spot in the McDonald’s parking lot every single home game. So, the first game of the season, we dig a hole in the ground and bury a bunch of beers in there, and then at the first playoff game we dig them up and drink them. This will be right when we get there, about two or three hours before the game starts. It is us and some family friends who share season tickets.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • They have been doing this tradition since before ET was born. He thinks that it brings the Patriots good luck for the season.
  • The beers usually freeze and expand so they are actually full of dirt when they dig them up in early January. ET joked that they “marinate in the earth to get some of those nice earthy notes in the beer.”
  • ET also wears a specific game-day outfit for these Patriots games. This consists mainly of a jersey he wears on top, with a specific shirt underneath. He only washes the shirt if the Patriots lose.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I was very interested in this tradition. It seems completely counter-productive and wasteful to bury multiple beers in the ground for months. Additionally, the fact that many beers burst or become filled with dirt adds to the less-than appetizing taste of the beer. However, the argument that it brings the team good luck is a common theme in many traditions similar to this one.

Collector’s Name: James Baumann

Tags/Keywords:

  • Tradition
  • New England Patriots
  • Burial
  • Beer

Jesus and The Plastic Bong

Title: Jesus and the plastic bong

General information about item:

  • Tradition, Material Lore
  • Location: Appalachian Trail, United States
  • Informant: Jimmy Coleman
  • Date Collected: 11/06/19

Informant Data:

  • Jimmy Coleman, age 20, is a sophomore at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he is studying mathematics and computer science. He was born in Baltimore County and loves the outdoors, which he learned from his ample hiking and camping trips with his family as a child. He undertook his thru hiking adventure on the Appalachian Trail when he was 17 years old.

Contextual Data:

  • The Appalachian Trail (AT) begins in Springer Mountain in Georgia and continues north up the Eastern United States until Mount Katahdin in Maine. The trail is about 2,200 miles long and generally takes someone seven months to complete. People can hike this trail either from north to south (SOBO) or south to north (NOBO). 

Item:

  • Jimmy told us a tradition involving a man with the trail name Jesus and his plastic bong. Apparently, Jesus was a homeless man, a common demographic of people on the trail. He had been on the trail for many years, and he always had with him his plastic bong. Every time he passed through the midpoint of the trail, he carved a little notch in the bong. He would then pass it off to someone heading the opposite direction, so they could carry the bong. This created a tradition of hikers passing the bong to other hikers traveling the opposite direction, each time carving a little notch into the bong as they passed the midpoint of the trail.

Interview:

Collector notes:

  • I continued this conversation with Jimmy at a later point in order to gather additional information.

Collector: Erica Busch

Colorado Trail Cairns

Title: Cairns

General Information about Item:

  • Material and Customary Folklore (Tradition)
  • Informant: Sam Lincoln
  • Date Collected: 9 November 2019

Informant Data:

  • Sam Lincoln is a 21 year old college student studying mechanical engineering at Arizona State University. He was born in Wisconsin and raised in Arizona. He began overnight backpacking when he was 15 and hiked the Colorado Trail after he graduated from high school in 2016. He enjoys archery and playing video games. Sam is the twin brother of Rachel Lincoln, who collected this item.

Contextual Data:

  • Historical context: Humans have built cairns for thousands of years to memorialize the dead, track the calendar, and create landmarks. Now, cairns have become a fixture of hiking trails to show the way.
  • Social context: Hikers on all lengths of trails build cairns to leave a reminder of their presence. Though cairns serve practical purpose, popular trails usually have many more than necessary because building cairns is a tradition that helps hikers feel connected to the land.

Item:

  • A cairn is a man-made stack of rocks used to mark a trail route. The rocks are stacked and balanced in a manner that would not occur naturally, so they can easily be identified by hikers looking for a trail. Building cairns is a tradition across nearly all hiking trails.

Associated file:

Transcript:

  • “Cairns are just piles of rocks stacked up to mark the trail in places where you can’t really put a sign or there are no signs so people don’t get lost…Just a basic pyramid structure, just pile rocks up in a way that would not normally occur in nature so it’s pretty obvious that someone did it for, like, a purpose—which was to mark the trail.”

Informant’s comments:

  • The tallest cairn Sam saw on the Colorado Trail was about two feet tall.

Collector’s comments:

  • Unlike carving your name on trees or rocks, cairns are a memento hikers can leave that doesn’t irreversibly disrupt nature.

Collector: Rachel Lincoln

Image result for cairn

Tags/Keywords:

  • Cairn, Colorado Trail, Tradition, Material Folklore