Category Archives: Game

Camping for Brotherhood

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA/New Orleans, LA
Performance Date: 3/31/15
Primary Language: English

Collector: What camp did you go to?

Informant: I went to Fallen Creek in North Carolina.

Collector: Did you guys have any, like, special songs or chants or anything?

Informant: Every Sunday we’d do this campfire. It was kind of like church, minus, like, the religious aspect, more of just a community thing. And it would always end with taps, but throughout there would be all these songs, like counselors and campers would get up and sing and stuff. And we’d do skits and stuff. Every week we would have special messages about brotherhood.

Collector: Was it an all guys camp?

Informant: Yeah. I went Eight years.

Collector’s Notes: A huge aspect of folklore, and one of its purposes, is that it builds community.  One of the long-used ways of doing this is through song.  Singing has been around for a very long time, and people teaching others songs that the community is familiar with to welcome them and make them part of the group.  I also think that the message about brotherhood is important here.  The camp is creating a tight-knit group by repeatedly reminding this group of young boys that they need to be there for each other.  The taps are somewhat ceremonial almost.  Historically, the TAPS is something that has only taken place in the United States military.  Oddly enough, it’s usually used at funerals, wreath-layings, and memorial services (Villanueva).  The military is one of the most well-known tightly knit, family-like communities that exists, so it makes sense that they would use this to subconsciously provide that type of atmosphere.  Also, the ceremonial use of it is important.  These ceremonies, like funerals, are really important in folklore.  They signify someone passing out of the community and into whatever afterlife they believe in.  Also, some cultures use funerals to celebrate life instead of grieve over death.  This could possibly be an underlying message in the Fallen Creek tradition of playing.  Skits also have been a usual way of getting people to become more comfortable.  A lot of ice-breaker games are centered around working together and team building to work toward a common goal (“Ice Breakers”).  This is a way that the group in question, in this case the boys in the camp, make a special bond with other boys around the same age, thus creating a “folk.”

REFERENCES:

“Ice Breakers: Getting Everyone to Contribute at the Start of a Successful Event.” Mind Tools. Mind Tools Ltd., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
Villanueva, Jari. “History of Taps | JV Music.” JV Music. WordPress, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Sex Circles

Nationality: Dutch
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/23/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Dutch

Informant: I actually have another folklore story. So, the musical at my high school was great. So, what happened was there was like a patriarchy with males and females. And so there was the male tradition and the female tradition. And so, once the show started…well, before every show we’d have a Grand Master. You know, for both men and women. And that’s always elected the year prior. It’d be whoever was going to be in the musical the next year.

Collector: Oh. That’s a little bit presumptuous!

Informant: Well, I mean, if you’re in the musical as a junior, you’re probably going to be in it as a senior.

Collector: That’s true.

Informant: Yeah, and so we had our own chants as well. I don’t know what the women did.

Collector: I wouldn’t expect you to know!

Informant: We all had to do our first assignment. It was that we had to give a name to our penises.

Collector: Oh!

Informant: That was our first assignment. It was due by the next performance.

Collector: Like homework!

Informant: Yeah it was homework, right? A lot of guys were like, “Oh, I already got that.” And then our second assignment was that we had to go to our musical crush and whisper our “name” in a context to them. Some had harder times than others. And then the last thing we had to do was before our final show we had to draw our “member” on some place on school property.

Collector: Oh my God.

Informant: So, it was great. Normally janitors found them before Monday morning, so they would all be cleaned already. But the ones that we hidden well enough, they’re still there.

Collector: Yes! Did yours get to stay?

Informant: I think so because I drew mine very small and on the back of a security camera.

Collector: Smart! What a genius. What name did you pick?

Informant: Mayor Dipschtick.

Collector’s Notes: It’s funny that the gender roles played out in such a unique way.  Automatically, the two sexes separated, and formed their own little secret groups with assignments.  All these assignments, however, were based on things that technically involve the opposite sex and sex in general.  This addresses the sexual tension between the two groups and how they chose to cope with that.  Also, I’ve reported other instances of “marking” school property, but never in a way quite like this.  Adolescents feel the need to leave a physical reminder of their presence at their schools, as if they’re saying goodbye in a way that can remain permanent.  Also, I think that it’s interesting that the whole thing played out as kind of a metaphor for their school life.  There was a Grand Master, who acted like a teacher, and there were assignments that needed to be completed in a certain amount of time.  Maybe this was a way of them turning something that they didn’t quite understand, like sexuality and tension, into a format that they could deal with, like a classroom.

 

 

 

 

Do it for the Vine!

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA/Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: English

Collector: Where did the phrase “Do it for the Vine” start? Because people use it, like, not for Vines…

Informant: Okay, so like, I think it specifically started with this little girl and she was being filmed and someone was like “Do it for the Vine” and she was like “I ain’t gonna do it!” And they were like “Do it for the Vine,” and she’s like, “I ain’t gonna do it!” Then finally they’re like “Do it for the Vine!” and she just started dancing.

Collector: Oh! I feel like I’ve seen that one!

Informant: It’s just this girl and she’s like (acts out dance). And she’s like three! And so I think that’s where it started.

Collector: So now I feel like it’s used whenever you want someone to do something like…

Informant: Crazy! Yeah. Like, the image just came to mind: rolling down in shopping carts or something through a parking lot. Someone would be like, “Do it for the Vine!” Cuz it’s like crazy things that you would see on Vine.

Collector’s Notes: I’ve just started hearing this this year, and I’ve heard it used in many context yet similar contexts.  I think my Informant got it right on the nose when they said it’s for doing something “crazy.”  I think I also saw that original Vine once before and it had many, many “revines” or repostings.   Vine in general is a fairly new phenomenon.  Pretty much you get about 6 seconds to do something that people will want to watch or share.  You can film consistently, or you can stop and go with the recording.  I’ve seen a lot of different types of Vines, which is most interesting to me.  I’ve seen stunts, magic tricks, time lapses of recipes being acted out, jokes, and singing.  People have even become “Vine stars” or celebrities now.  Meaning, if their Vine account has a lot of followers, they become verified as a significant person.  This sets up a completely different culture.  Generally only people who spend a lot of time on Vine know who these people are, or what they’re famous for.  I learned from my Informant that a couple “Vine stars” have even been featured in movies like actors.  These people have millions of fans just for posting six second videos that catch people’s attention.  For the “Do it for the Vine” scenario, I think people saw the little girl, thought it was funny, then decided to put their own spin on a trendy video to get views and be a part of the trend itself.  Then, that permeated the division between the digital forum and real life.  It reminds me of the transition from texting terms like “lol” and “rofl” being written, and now being spoken like real words.

REFERENCE: https://vine.co/search/do+it+for+the+vine

 

 

 

Bands, Bands, Bands, Bands

Sara is a very gossipy, religious, fun girl. Sophomore at USC, she’s in the Helene’s and a sorority. She’s from Anaheim, California. And she has an incredibly interesting memory and past.

No not bands like music bands. Bands like the one you wear around your wrist. When I introduced folklore to Sara, and I talked about weird games or silly gestures this came to mind:

Took place in middle school: The new fad in the early 2000’s were these very cute plastic multi-colored bands. Very easy to put on, cheap, and stylish (for some reason). After the trend settled in, boys started coming up with ways to use this new fad to their advantage. There were several colored bands. They thought – what if each of them meant something. Then they came up with the game. When a boy comes up to a girl if he manages to break or “pop” the band, the girl would have to act out what ever action was attached to the color of the band. Green meant hug, pink meant a kiss, and eventually the list goes to: black means sex.

Analysis: Whether or not middle school-aged students were doing who knows what with those bands, I definitely remember seeing girls at my school wearing them. That goes to show the multiplicity across state borders. Sara and I didn’t go to the same school. IN fact, she was in California and I was in Pennsylvania. Games like this were very popular in middle school. Middle school is an age of experimentation. Especially with our sexuality. Middle school, while it may be a very painful time for some of us, is where we start growing into a more permanent person.  Phases and hats tend to lessen in high school where cliques and identities are formed.

Cooties!

Sara is a very gossipy, religious, fun girl. Sophomore at USC, she’s in the Helene’s and a sorority. She’s from Anaheim, California. And she has an incredibly interesting memory and past.

We all know and remember this one from grade school. Boys and girls at their toddler age played with each other like it was nothing. Being a boy or being a girl did not impact the way they played with each other. They may have played with their given toys (dolls versus the fire truck), but overall gender had no role in a child’s fun. Once children get to that age where they start getting curious about what’s different between me and him, it’s time to scheme up some evil plan that will keep them from playing too much with each other. There is an appropriate time in society for boys and girls to start messing around with each other physically or sexually. Society isn’t ready to see their 5 year old girls sexualized. The idea of cooties makes it seem gross and almost wrong to touch the other sex. All in playful fun, it works in a way that doesn’t damage or influence there hormonal nature at about 8th grade.

Informant:

I remember when I was little, my parents freaked out. Me and my brother…[laugh], we were playing house in our little…house kitchen play thing. And at some point, my little brother pretended to get sick. So I played doctor. But my parents didn’t really like how I was trying to heal him.” Out of context that sounds awful. But she goes to explain that she was holding a magnifying glass looking at her siblings buttox. But nothing out of the ordinary. We all get curious to understand why we were made. It’s that time in the child’s life where all they can manage to do is get in their father’s ear and pester them with millions and millions of “why’s”.