Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

The Etiquette of Sharing Instruments

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2015
Primary Language: English

My informant considers himself to be a musician and was an active member of his High School’s band and the community that surrounded it. In this group there are many well followed customs involving how you are to act when borrowing or otherwise using someone else’s instrument. While casual play on someone else’s instrument is acceptable it is important that you “actually play music with it” because it “would be disrespectful to just pick up someone else’s instrument and do nothing of value with it.” This is because in this community, your instrument is “almost an extension of you.” Understandably so, if someone were to take something this significant of yours and create unenjoyable music with it you may be offended. However, this is not that big of a deal, especially if it is a one time sort of thing. On the other side, the prospect of completely sharing an instrument with another band member would be “kind of ridiculous” to my informant and the members of his community, “even if it made sense logistically.” This is because, to them, “sharing an instrument is like sharing a toothbrush. Our instruments are very personal parts of our lives, so to give that to someone else would be a little uncomfortable.” Of course, this rule has exceptions. “One weird thing that would happen is that whenever people from the same section (for example the rhythm section or the brass section) would date, it would be alright for them to share instruments. Actually, that would be kind of considered sweet or cute.”

This reveals that in this community an instrument is more than just a tool. Rather, your personal instrument is to be treated as an extension to yourself. Whatever you or someone else does with that instrument reflects directly back to you. Because of this, members of this community are more protective of their instruments than you would ordinarily expect. I believe that this extreme protection over an instrument shows that in this community, the music you make and what you sue to make that music is a defining aspect of how you are viewed.

Color in Super Smash Bros

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Peachtree City, GA
Performance Date: 4/26/2015
Primary Language: English

My informant is an avid player of the Super Smash Brothers game series. This game has fostered a very unique community due to its wide appeal and unique gameplay mechanics. This community encompass all players who play the game, but in this interview when my informant talks about the “Smash Brothers community” he is referring to the community of thirty or so individuals who meet up weekly (or biweekly) at his local game store to play the game together. When they meet up and compete with each other it is called a “local” which simply is shorthand for local gathering or local tournament.

Transcription:

Me: So knowing that your main character is a large part of your identity in this game, is there any way to decide who is the definitive player of a certain character.

Him: Well yes and no. Because Super Smash Brothers is such a complex series there often isn’t an objective best player of a certain character within a community. If there is however, he would be the definitive player if that makes sense. However, when you pick a character you also pick what color costume you want him to wear. There are between four and 8 alternate costumes for each character I believe, depending on which game in the series you are playing. When you main a character you usually also pick your color. For example, I am our communities gold Captain Falcon and my friend uses pink Captain Falcon. This way people can tell us apart when watching the game even if they cannot see who is playing.

Me: But what if two people use the same color?

Him: Actually that doesn’t really happen. Once you’ve claimed a color it is kind of yours. Sure some else could use that color, after all there are tons of smashers (slang for members of the smash bros community) and only so many color combinations, but if they do it in your local area, or in a big tournament it would be pretty disrespectful.

Me: Why would it be disrespectful?

Him: I’m not actually sure why people make so much of a big deal out of it, but I guess it is because using someone else’s color is kind of like calling them out. If you use their color and lose the match it looks like you were saying they are bad. If you win the match while using their color it looks like you were saying that you are better than them. People actually get really serious about this. Sometimes at tournaments or other large gatherings people of the same main (people who play the same character regularly) who use the same color will challenge each other to a best of 5 match. Whoever wins the match gets to keep the color. Its kind of a big deal.

Me: So if you lose you just have to stop using that color.

Him: That’s right. At least publicly.

Analysis:

It is fascinating how much a color matters to members of this community. At first glance it seems almost unreasonable how much they fight for “their color” when there is no way to determine whose color it was first. However, when you see the sheer size of the smash bros community, you realize that it must be very hard to stand out. Given that, it makes sense that these players fight to cling on to whatever little piece of unique identity they can have.  In this game there are only two ways to change how you look like. You can pick a different character or you can change your color. That means that your color is half of your visual identity. Knowing that, it is understandable how these player would take their color so seriously.

I Hate White Rabbits

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Peachtree City, GA
Performance Date: 4/26/2015
Primary Language: English

My informant was a Boy Scout as child. Throughout his childhood he was dedicated to the scouts and ultimately earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Because of this he has spent a lot of time in the Boy Scouts’ community and knows of the customs attributed to the branch of this community located in Georgia.

Transcript:

Me: So you mentioned you were a boy scout.

Him: Yeah I was.

Me: Are there any rituals or traditions that you would do in the boy scouts that you wouldn’t do elsewhere?

Him: Oh? Yeah I now a good one like that. So when I used to be a Boy Scout we would often go camping as a troop. At night the whole troop would often gather around a campfire. We would usually sit in a circle around the fire and because it was usually windy the fire would always be blowing in some direction. Smoke would be blowing in someone’s face. We had this superstition that if you said “I hate white rabbits” when the smoke was blowing in your face it would magically change direction. It obviously didn’t work much, but it was still a superstition that we bought into.

Me: And where did you learn this?

Him: I learned it from an older scout when I was a Tenderfoot and then when I was a leader within the troop I would tell this to the new scouts.

Me: One more thing. Why white rabbits?

Him: Honestly I couldn’t tell you.

 

Analysis:

There are two things from this that are particularly interesting. The first thing is that the informant acknowledged that his folk ritual was a superstition and didn’t work. This implies that despite the apparent meaning, they do not say “I hate white rabbits” in order to actually get the smoke away. Instead, I believe that they do this ritual as a subtle sense of community. That is to say that even if you do not believe that saying “I hate white rabbits” will work, you would do it anyways because thats what members of the community do. Knowing this makes you an official member. The second thing of note is the line “I hate white rabbits.” It seemingly makes no sense, as white rabbits have nothing to do with smoke. Furthermore my informant revealed that while he partook in the ritual, he did not know why they used the specific phrase “I hate white rabbits.” I believe that this reveals that the tradition is at least a few generations old, meaning that the original creators have long been forgotten by the Boy Scout troop. As such, it is plausible that the phrase was initially meant to be used as a joke, but ended up persisting and becoming a tradition.

Assay DKA

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/27/2015
Primary Language: English

My informant is a member of USC’s co-ed film fraternity DKA. In this fraternity there are many hidden rules and customs not known by the general public. She has a part of this fraternity for over a year now and is well versed in most of these customs. In this interview the term “active” is used. An “active” of DKA would be someone who is currently a part of and involved with the fraternity.

Transcription:

Her: Oh! I can tell you about DKA. We have a lot of customs for instance we have chapter every Monday. Actually, I’m going to talk about something else. If an Active says assay then everyone around who is an active in DKA responds with “DKA.” Its kind of a rhythm thing. Then everyone recognizes that their attention needs to be called and normally its only the president or hte vice president or someone on the board who says it. You can’t just call it out because then it loses its officialness.

Me: I’m sorry what do you guys say.

Her: Assay. A S S A Y.

Me: Okay. Could you just give me a hypothetical situation in which this would be used.

Her: Well like if we were throwing a party and our neighbors complained about noise then we should all say Assay DKA and then we could tell everyone that the party is over.

Analysis:

This seems like a pretty standard way of getting people’s attention. It seems somewhat militaristic in that a figure of authority says something and then everyone under him or her is expected to respond and listen. I believe that this custom stems from practicality as it seems to be used primarily at parties when it would be hard to gather the organization’s attention. By having this unwritten rule, the organizers of the party or event can quickly determine who is a part of their organization and gather their attention in an efficient manner.

Purple Fuzzy Bear

Nationality: African American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: March 25, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant H is 19 years old and was born in Inglewood CA. She moved to a place near Valencia just outside of LA soon after she was born. After 5 years, her little sister was born, then her little brother, and then her youngest sister. The family then moved to Bakersfield. H homeschooled for many years and then transitioned into a public high school.

 

H: So the very first people who started Xpressions started this um I guess its like a pre-show ritual where they have this little purple fuzzy stuffed animal and he’s about, I don’t know, he’s very small like this size, like a small ball. And we stand in a circle um backstage before its time for our show and the director holds the little fuzzy bear and he goes around and he puts it in front of everyone and everyone has to kiss the fuzzy bear for good luck.

Me: That’s really cute. Do you think people believe this will actually give them good luck and if they don’t do it like maybe they wont have a good performance that night?

H: Not necessarily. I think we know that the amount of effort and time we put into it is what’s gonna make it a good show but I think its just something that everyone has done every semester. So just knowing that from the very first group of people who did it now were doing it its cool that connection to the people who started it.

Me: So it’s about the history and the tradition more?

H: Right.

Me: Do you think the bear itself has any significance? Other than it was picked sort of randomly, do you know why it’s purple…?

H: I don’t know why its purple, I think its just a personal article, I don’t know any other significance to the bear.

Me: Do you believe personally that if you had done this or if you don’t, do you think something is going to happen?

H: Nope! I just think it’s a cute tradition.

Me: Do you think that’s why people do it? They just do this because it’s a nice bonding exercise?

H: Yes, I think it’s very much like a bonding exercise.

Me: Do you think it serves any other function besides a bonding thing between you guys?

H: I feel like bonding is mainly…and just that you know that that’s something you have in common with the Xpressions people because I know its changed over the years. So that’s something you have in common with someone who is an alumni of Xpressions, like oh you remember when you kissed the fuzzy bear?

Me: Is this like a secret thing? Do you guys talk about it very much?

H: Um no its just something we do like right before the show just like oh remember guys kiss the bear.

Me: And all the new members everyone together…?

H: Yeah everyone.

 

Analysis:

This dance group uses this fun tradition and ritual to bring all its members together and prepare them to work together as a unit for the show. Like other rituals, it ties them to the past and the origins of the group while keeping them in the present as they are about to perform. Also like other rituals, this takes place on a liminal moment in time, right before the dancers perform and is used to bring the dancers good luck.  This ritual also includes a kind of folk item, the fuzzy bear.