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“So before lacrosse games I’ll always close my eyes and visualize what I want the game to look like for me. And I always, um, listen to like classical music. Kinda like, movies, like I listen to Interstellar sound tracks and like classical music like orchestra stuff or anything by Hans Zimmer to calm down. I don’t really like listening to loud music, I feel like calming down is helpful. And I always drink a lot of water and pray before games, just to help with calming down and like getting in the zone too.”
Context
HL says that unlike many of his friends, or many athletes of this generation, he dislikes loud (often rap) music and prefers calm classical instruments and soundtracks. He used to just go with the flow before games and mess around with friends, but for the past year or 2 he sets aside 5 minutes on the bus or in the locker room to close his eyes, tune everything out, and visualize and calm himself down. He will also pray to honor his faith of Christianity and keep him connected to God and have a strong mind during games.
Analysis
HL’s pregame routine is an example of a personal spin on a very common ritual for athletes to calm down and get in the zone before games. In his routine, he includes specific music choice, his Christian faith through prayer, and embodiment/performance through sitting with his eyes closed before every game. HL’s routine embodies Kaptchuk’s description of rituals, as his structured ritual is meant to transform him into a game ready mental state through sensory actions and attention to emotions. The embodiment/performance aspect of the ritual also shows that belief is more than just an idea of the mind, and can be present throughout one’s body. The act of getting mentally ready pregame was something that HL learned from his family as well as other athletes, but the specifics of his routine were created on his own, showing how even as folk lore is transferred, people put their own spins and interpretations of it. I think it’s really cool that everybody has their own ways and methods (multiplicity and variations) to achieving the same goal, which is being mentally ready and calm before a big moment like a performance, game, or interview.
Category Archives: Folk Beliefs
Valorant 9-3 Curse
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“I play a game called Valorant and basically in ranked games there are like two halves of twelve rounds each and there is a well known curse among people that play the game that if a team is up 9-3 at the half then they’re cursed to lose the game. I swear it happens so much too like you’ll be easily winning the first half and it’ll be 9-3 and you’ll just lose bad in the second half. So yeah like me and my friends or even if you’re playing with teammates if you’re down 9-3 people will say like oh it’s the 9-3 curse we’re gonna win and stuff like that.”
Context
JC says that the 9-3 curse has existed since the early days of Valorant around 2020/2021 and pretty much everybody involved with the game knows what it is. He says he vividly remembers moments where he was up 9-3 and lost as well as moments where he was down 9-3 and came back, but doesn’t remember other comebacks or blown leads as vividly. JC says that more times than not, if the score is 9-3, someone will bring up the curse.
Analysis
As someone that also plays Valorant, the 9-3 curse is definitely a legend that has blossomed and stuck among the game’s folk group over the years. No one knows who started or popularized the curse, but it spread extremely fast orally through being mentioned in ranked games and by streamers. As such, it’s a great example of Peck’s discussion of digital folklore, as it was created online and spread asynchronously as well as orally and visually, and each time the 9-3 curse resulted in a comeback only served to add to the legend. The curse is not particularly evidence based, but because of its infamy as a curse, all of us in the Valorant folk group will always remember losing 9-3 leads way more than any other scoreline, which shows how the belief is social and situational because it fits into the lore and the Valorant world. For losing teams, the 9-3 curse has become a way to manage the uncertainty of the game’s result, and something to back you (or predict the future) as you try to mount a come back.
Matzo Ball Soup
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“My dad’s side of the family is Jewish so they had a lot of like food and meals that they would eat either for special occasions or like just throughout the year because it’s like Jewish food. And the one that’s carried through to my immediate family is matzo ball soup because it’s a really good remedy for like a cold or just general sickness normally in the winter so the cultural tradition here is getting lots of matzo ball soup and using it as like a cure to sickness when we’re not feeling well.”
Context
ML says that not a ton of Jewish customs carried over to her immediate family, but matzo ball soup was one that did because of their belief in its comforting and curing powers. She remembers eating it when her or her sister were sick, and she said that eating it did make her feel better.
Analysis
ML’s story is an example of material culture, specifically foodways, as well as folk medicine. The tradition of eating matzo ball soup contains religious and traditional values in her family, but also showed a long standing belief in its remedial and comforting powers. ML notes that not many other Jewish meals or traditions were passed on to her family, showing that some beliefs or pieces of folklore are stronger or hold more meaning and are able to be passed on more easily even as other traditions of the same folk group fade away. For ML, this belief was enforced by evidence, as she said that eating matzo ball soup did genuinely make her and her sister feel better, which only serves to enforce the folk belief. ML’s story with the soup is a great example of Kaptchuk’s discussion on healing rituals, as the soup represented a sensory experience, family, and hope along with the nutritional value, all of which combined to comfort ML. I think this is a very powerful idea, because my mom would make a specific noodle dish when my brothers and I were not feeling well, but I remember the love and the care that the meal represented more than how I felt after eating it.
Interlocking Arms
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“I played varsity basketball all 4 years in high school, and one like common thing that would always come up throughout the season was interlocking arms. On like senior night, the seniors would interlock their arms with each other before the game as their names were getting announced to like walk up and take their pictures and get flowers and stuff. I think it was like a way of showing that we were together, kinda like one group, one team sort of thing. But also during like clutch free throws at the end of the game everybody on the bench would interlock arms for the free throws. It was kind of like a superstition, something we did for good luck. You see it a lot on like TV too like in college basketball games they’ll do it and also in soccer games during penalty shootouts a lot of times the players in the back will have their arms interlocked, so yeah like the same thing we were doing.”
Context
DZ remembers interlocking arms as an unspoken act that would come up throughout the season for his high school basketball team in moments of solidarity (senior night) and in clutch moments when they needed the best luck. He says that the whole team would always participate, and no one would have to say anything; if one person started it, everyone would follow suit. DZ notes that this wasn’t something independent to his team and that he has seen it on TV a lot, so even the first time that his team did it he had an understanding of the meaning behind the act.
Analysis
DZ’s story of interlocking arms contains a lot of different folkloric themes. He says that the gesture was always unspoken and that he knew the meaning behind it from the very first time that his team locked arms, showing how folklore can be shared and enacted through example. The gesture also become a core part of the basketball team’s identity, representing unity and the team’s bonds in valuable moments. This gesture also served multiple purposes. In moments like senior night, it was used as somewhat of a rite of passage, marking the seniors transition into a new beginning. In clutch moments during games, it served as a superstition with magic behind it, a gesture that would create good luck and influence the outcome of the game positively. These different uses are an example of Santino’s point that rituals are both symbolic and instrumental, as interlocking arms represented team togetherness and helped create good luck. DZ saying that the gesture was not one created by his team, but rather a popular gesture among athletes shows that it is a core piece of lore among the athlete folk group, and also that it exists in multiplicity and variations around the world. I, for one, always noticed this gesture by sports teams in games I watched on TV, so I thought it was very cool that somebody I knew engaged in it in their own team as well.
Christian Ritual – Blessings, Bible Verse, Appreciations
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“Every day, my grandpa on my dad’s side sends me his blessings and a Bible verse in the morning, and I write it down every day in my notebook and I say three things that I’m grateful for and I also say well like what I guess the Bible like means to me so yeah that’s like a ritual or tradition of my faith that I do.”
Context
Having grown up in a family of devout Christians, IK explains that the daily routine of sending blessings and a Bible verse is one that his grandpa does for all members of his family. For IK personally, he also adds saying his appreciations and the meaning of the Bible to his daily routine as a way to honor his faith and start off each day strong.
Analysis
This is an example of a ritual in IK’s life that exemplifies his belief, which in this case is his Christian faith, and is an example of Kaptchuk’s ritual theory as repeated routines that create some emotional change. It represents a core piece of his family lore that has been passed from his grandfather to every member of his family and that he will continue to share to his kids and grandkids. This ritual also serves a specific function, as for IK the blessings, Bible verses, and appreciations are a way for him to honor his faith before the start of each day and go into each day with the strength of God behind him. For IK, this routine is not just a habit, it is a ritual that serves a specific powerful purpose each morning. As a Christian myself, this story strengthened my place in the Christian folk group because my mom and my grand uncle also send me daily Bible verses, and it’s cool to see that it is a common practice and one that I should continue to honor and eventually pass down to my kids.