Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Superstition/Ritual

Nationality: Italian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Westlake, CA
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

“Before every soccer game I’ve played since I started playing AYSO, I have put my socks on starting with the right foot.  My best friend and I did it when we played AYSO.  I’m not sure if other people did it, maybe they were older than us, but we definitely always did it before every game, every time.  Even when I played club and played for the high school team, I always put my right sock on first.  It just became a habit, and I knew I would have a horrible game or something really bad would happen if I didn’t put that sock on first.  Obviously, I didn’t win every game, but it just would be wrong if I didn’t put my socks on in that order.”

Rachael told me that she put her socks on starting with her right foot ever since she started playing soccer.  Since that time, she has formed an association between putting socks on in a specific order with performing well on the soccer field.  In Rachael’s case, putting on socks is both a superstition and a tradition.  Although she said that usually only she and her best friend would put on socks in a specific order, Rachael knew older teammates that followed the same tradition.  When asked if seeing other teammates put on socks in a specific order provoked her to do the same, Rachael could not remember because she has been playing soccer since elementary school and does not know when the tradition began.

Like Rachael, many athletes have certain pre-game rituals that are associated with superstitions.  Whether it involves putting on socks, or going through a certain locker room door, or saying a certain chant three times, various teams have developed traditions that must be performed before they can play.  When an entire team has a certain ritual, it seems like that kind of activity would reinforce team unity and help the team to feel connected before they face an opponent.

In Rachael’s case, however, the rest of her team did not put on socks in a given order.  For Rachael, following this superstition made her feel more in control and like a better player.  Like she said, without the right sock order, things were “wrong.”   Even though it seems unlikely that breaking this sock tradition would actually impact Rachael’s soccer ability, it is possible that the ritual gives her the extra boost of confidence she needs to perform well on the field.  Also, performing the ritual allowed Rachael to focus on other things.  If she did not put on her right sock first, she would feel like she was not going to play well and would dwell on the sock issue instead of the game.  Thus, even though superstitions may be deemed silly or insignificant, they actually can impact they way a person thinks and feels if there is a strong belief in the superstition.

Folk Celebration – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cypress, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Japanese Housewarming Celebration

When a couple gets married, and buys a new house, they have a big dinner for a housewarming celebration.  At this dinner, everyone is supposed to eat fish eggs, usually eaten with rice.

The informant claims that eating the fish eggs is supposed to bring good luck, especially in the realm of starting a family.  This practice is supposed to help them have a baby, hence the connection of eggs with fertility.

I agree with my informant.  Because the new couple has a new house, I suppose it would be expected to fill that house with a family, including children.  I’d also like to add that I think this celebration involves fish eggs rather than another kind of egg because fish are an important staple of a traditional Japanese diet, as Japan is an island surrounded by water.

Folk Ritual/Superstition – Los Angeles

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

Softball Clothes Ritual

While on the softball team, it was customary that, after the team had won a few games, for each individual player to dress in the same clothes and in the same way each game.  We had to wear the same uniform, socks, shoes, underwear, and sports bras (of course all these things could be washed for each game).  For example, I (the informant), would put on underwear and bra first, then yellow compression or sliding shorts, and then put red mesh shorts on over those shorts.  Then I would put on my jersey, right sock first, then left sock.  The right sock was red, “red for right,” and the left sock was yellow, “lellow for left.”  Then I would put my sliders on, right then left.  Then shoes, right then left.  Then she had to braid her hair in pigtails and put one red ribbon and one yellow ribbon on each pigtail.

The informant did this age ten to twelve before softball games.  She believes it to be superstition and thought that dressing the same way each time would bring good luck.  Since they had won dressed in a certain way once, they thought dressing in that same way would help win more games.  According to the informant, her team won the nationals when she was ten, and got second place when she was twelve, so, something must have been working.  The informant went on to explain how she thought the ritual was more of a mental preparation: “As long as you feel like you’re prepared for the game, and you think you’re lucky, then you will make your own luck and play well because you think you’re going to play well.  It might have been a mental thing, but it seemed to work for us.”

I agree with a lot of what my informant thought about the superstition.  Often superstitions act as self-fulfilling prophecies, and this softball ritual for winning is a good example.  Having the ritual probably helped give the team confidence which would help the team play at their best and give it their all.  After winning in the same clothes, with the same ritual several times, it’s clear that the players think the clothes had some kind of power and doing the ritual right would help win games.  However, alternately, the ritual also gives the players something to blame if they do badly.  They could qualify a lose and think, “oh, it’s not my fault, maybe I just accidentally put my left sock on before my right sock, which ruined my luck for the whole game.”  So, the ritual acts both as a confidence booster and a scapegoat, displaying one of many ways in which a person may try to rationalize good and bad things that happen to them.

See Also:

Burger, Jerry M and Lynn, Amy L.  “Superstitious Behavior Among American and Japanese Professional Baseball Players.”  Basic and Applied Social Psychology.  Vol 27.  Issue 1. Page 71.

Folk Song/Cheer – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

Softball Cheer

Cheer is meant to be said by leader line by line, with the rest of the team repeating after the leader line by line.  It is also supposed to get progressively louder.  Regular text represents the leader, where italicized text represents the rest of the team.

“Icky la Boom Ba, Icky la Boom Ba”

“Icky la Ticky Wicky, Icky la Ticky Wicky”

“Ohfa Toefa Roefa, Ohfa Toefa Roefa”

“Oompa Chi Ahhhh, Oompa Chi Ahhhh”

“Icky la Boom Ba, Icky la Boom Ba”

This was a cheer used during softball games when the informant was age eight to fourteen.  The leader was usually the informant because her sister had introduced the cheer to the team.  This cheer was used to pump up the batter and get the team excited, as well as, to annoy or antagonize the opposing team (hence the repetition and loud volume).  It encouraged their teammates to do well and let them know they were cheering for them.

The cheer seems like almost a special language her team has.  Since the cheer is comprised of rhymes that aren’t even real words, this shows how only her team shares this unique rhyme and brings them together.  The cheer probably reminds the batter that they share this common tie with their team and this familiarity and this bond makes her want to succeed for the sake of not only herself, but for the whole team.

Folk Ritual – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

Sportsmanship Ritual

At the end of the game, whether the team had won or lost it was customary to give high fives to the other team and say good job.  Typically, guys shake hands, whereas, girls high five or slap hands.  The team lines up at home plate in a line and walk past one another, slapping hands and saying good game.

The informant said that doing this after a game exhibited good sportsmanship.  However, sometimes when they played their rivals, some of the girls would just walk past and not slap hands or say good game.  This said that they were bad losers—doing that was very unsportsmanlike, and the coaches would often get angry.

I see this tradition in a lot of sports and I think it’s very interesting how disrespectful and controversial it is to not give that final word of good game and the physical high five.  Someone in another culture might be baffled by this, wondering why it’s such a big deal that someone doesn’t give a high five.  I believe this physical and verbal assurance at the end of a game is important in establishing a comradery and understanding between the teams, an understanding that they were playing a game and that it was purely for fun.  The tradition emphasizes the idea that there should be no losers if everyone played well and had fun, which is a very child-like concept that many are taught from a young age.  While a competitive spirit is fostered in America, children are also taught to find a balance and remember that winning is not everything.  This tradition is just one reminder of that lesson.

See also:

Chandler, John and Fletcher, Jeff.  “Schools Dump No-Handshake Sports Policy.”  Los Angeles Times.  April 20 1994.  Page 1.