Category Archives: Game

Ring Alivio: Italian Tag

Nationality: Italian- American and "mix of other ethnicities"
Age: 58
Occupation: General Surgeon
Residence: San Diego, California
Performance Date: 3.23.12
Primary Language: English

Ring Alivio (pronounced by informant as both Ring Uh-Leevy-oh and Ring Leevy-oh) is an Italian version of tag where one person is It and everyone else is at base, which is a safe area. Running out of the safe area means you can get caught by the person who’s It, but you leave the safe area to show you can run out and back to base without getting captured. Once captured, you go to jail, which you cannot leave. Once everyone is captured and taken to jail a new person becomes It.

Ring Alivio described verbatim by informant:

“Ring Alivio: a game of tag. One guy was It and uh anytime a person left the base which was a safe area he had to capture that person in the jail and once he captured everybody uh a new person became It so we used to play it all the time on the playground um because we didn’t have any other games we could really play we didn’t have balls. It was really interesting because most of my friends were Irish American but we still called it Ring Alivio. We learned it from some of the older Italian kids.

We played it from kindergarten through the sixth grade, because, again you know it was the only game we could play on the playground because it was just a big concrete parking lot… at Catholic school. (disruptive dog howl) We had a lot of fun. I remember uh [my mother] was very upset with me because in my first year of Catholic School I tore my I tore five pair of pants because the uh um you know I played, I played and sometimes the game got a little rough and playing on concrete all the time if ever you fell and scraped your knees you’d scrape the knees right off your pants so she was kind of upset with me after that first year. And, well, I had a uh I once got slammed into a bus. So.

The parked buses were, are base, and so you hold your hand against the bus um and then you run out and you run back to the bus and one day I ran back to the bus but the guy who was chasing me didn’t stop and he just ran up my back and slammed my head into the bus, the side of the bus, and I busted all my teeth.

Once you leave base you can get caught… you leave base because you’re tough you’re provocative. Who wants to stay in at home? You want to run (cooking wife interjects and he repeats what she says) You want to be free. (dog howls) You wanted to prove to the guy who was It that you were faster, that he couldn’t catch you.”

The first thing that comes to my mind is that “ali,” in Italian, means wings, which allow one to fly and be free, though the informant was not sure as to how Ring Alivio should be spelled. The theme of purposefully leaving a safe place to be wild and free, knowing the threat of getting caught and being thrown into jail, appears to be characteristic of the age group. From 6/7 to 12/13 when this game is played, kids lose their child-like “innocence” as they become aware of their choices and begin making deliberate actions. The person who’s It captures them and puts them in jail, where they are stripped of such freedoms, which perhaps holds a dramatic resemblance to punishments by parents, teachers, or other authority figures. That this game was wildly popular at a Catholic School in the 1960’s is no surprise, with the rigidity of the belief system and inherent strictness surrounding all behavior at such an institution. Running free in the game of Ring Alivio is a benign way of resisting this oppressive feeling, all the while leveling the natural competition between kids during that time when social hierarchy becomes more and more apparent.

Lacrosse Superstitions

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/5/12

Playing sports in high school, I was familiar with sports superstitions and pre-game rituals that certain players might believe in. For this specific case, my informant is a sophomore midfielder on the USC lacrosse team. I asked him about any specific superstitions he might have. He told me that he wasn’t too unique in that he had a pair of lucky underwear, or compression shorts, that he would wear on every game day. “After my high school team won the state championship my senior year of high school, and I was wearing these compressions, I’ve thought they were lucky ever since”. He admits to not really believing and buying into superstitions, but noted “for some reason, I still would find myself nervous if I wasn’t wearing them. It’s like a sort of comfort; knowing that I’m in my element”.

He notes that for extremely important games, like playoffs or against UCLA, he also has a pair of lucky socks that he sports. Those, like the underwear, are also riddled with holes and battle scars. “It’s part of their personality, their history” he says. They are a special brand of “Adrenaline Lacrosse Socks” that have lacrosse players stitched on the side. I found it interesting to see that athletes such as him choose superstition over comfort and functionality in many situations. He noted that sometimes he gets blisters when he wears those socks because of all the holes.

“I just have to”, he says, “we have too much history together”.

Superstitions such as this span across the globe and are present in many different sports. I had seen rituals and superstitions such as this as a football player in high school where players would have lucky socks, boxers, t-shirts, and shoes. I believe that this superstition is here because players are constantly nervous to play their best, and any extra boost helps. Confidence is such an important aspect in sports, that I truly believe that if a player is more confident because they are wearing their ‘lucky’ clothing, that they will play better in the end.

White Elephant Gift Exchange

Nationality: American/ Mexican
Age: 50
Occupation: Contractor
Residence: Sacramento, California
Performance Date: April18th 2012
Primary Language: English

This tradition started for my informant on Christmas Eve, 1975. On this particular Christmas Eve, after dinner, his mother planned it to be a fun game for the friends and family present.

Since that Christmas Eve, they have continued to do the White Elephant every year. The object of the game is to try to pick the best gift from a pile of re-gifted presents. No one knows what anyone else has wrapped up, so there may be something you want or you may get ceramic flip flop planters, (which my informant one year got) something goofy, crazy, and useless.

The rules according to his family are as follows:

The attendees are notified that if they want to participate in the game they must bring a present (an object that is gift wrapped) to the party. This present should be something from around their house that they would like to regift, the more ridiculous, the better, is emphasized. Twenty dollars or under in cost.

On the night of Christmas Eve, when the attendees arrive, they must place their present down when no one is looking or in a concealed room. This ensures no one knows whose brought which present.

A single person acts as the rule-master. They count the number of participants and and presents to make sure everyone is accounted for.

The attendees are positioned in a circle around the room, and the presents are placed in the middle.

The rule master will write numbers on little pieces of paper and place them in a hat (if there are 22 people at the party, the numbers 1 from 22 will be in the hat).

They will then go from person to person and have them choose a number. The best numbers to pick are the highest, which means you get to pick from the pile of presents after most of them have been opened, and can therefore decide if anything is worth “stealing.”

The person who chooses number 1 gets to choose last, so 1 is really the most desirable number.

If someone has a higher number than you, and likes what you chose, they can steal it, in which case you have to either steal from someone else, or choose another gift from the pile and hope for the best.

A gift can only be stolen twice, and there is no stealing-back.

The game is fun and exciting because you never know what strange item or desirable item will be opened next. My informant says their White Elephant can get pretty competitive with steels and making choices. Family members will use manipulation, “You don’t need that gift! You should choose something else, like the big one…oh I bet thats good!” Then snatch up the admired one at their own turn!

Over the years, some gifts make re-appearances, like the Raggedy Anne figurines, a stuffed elf doll with a scary face, and the shower stereo that didn’t work to begin with. Each item usually has a story or can create some tension… “Hey! Didn’t I give that to you for your 50th birthday! That’s nice, your giving that away!”

The game for his family is always looked forward to, a time to laugh, tell stories, get rowdy, and let loose. My informant was unsure of how the game got the name White Elephant and where it came from.

I think the term can be related to the fact that a white elephant would be rather odd. The game is supposed to use gifts that are odd, a gift chosen to be given away. So maybe a white elephant is something one does not want and wants to trade. The fun of the game is the unpredictability, that one could have great satisfaction from a choice or frustration.

It is a very economical game as well and could have been developed out of a need to stop spending money on things that are just going to be put in a closet, on a shelf, or given away in a couple years anyways. My informant is from a working class family and said his mother felt the game was good for some of the family members who were in a tight financial spot. The holidays for them were a bit disheartening with little money to go around. White Elephant was a way of gift giving that did not put anyone in an awkward position and emphasized the experience of giving rather than the actual gift.

German Christmas Pickle

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Physical Therapist
Residence: San Raphael, California
Performance Date: April 25th 2012
Primary Language: English

A fun, childhood custom that my informant always enjoyed around Christmas time is called the German Christmas Pickle.

Her grandmother is of German descent and learned the custom from her grandparents. The custom is done on Christmas Eve evening. The children will gather around the Christmas tree, which at this point is covered in decorations. Prior to the children gathering around, an adult will have hung up a pickle ornament, which they try to conceal in the tree. The children will then try to spot the pickle ornament first.

The legend is that whomever spots the pickle first will have good luck for the rest of the year.

I asked my informant, “Why a pickle?” and she said she had no idea, but that perhaps because it is green it blends in, making it hardest to spot.

In doing my own analysis, the most observant, the quickest eye, keen of senses, child most likely will be the one to spot it first, getting the good luck. So this pushes children to perhaps work on being observant and sharp of the senses. Of course it could be purely based on luck that a certain child just spots the pickle first. So it is hard to say if it truly has a purpose or not, other than to be a fun, light hearted game.

Hide and Seek

Nationality: American
Age: 7
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 16, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Games

Collection Context:

The following folklore was collected during a Joint Educational Project assignment (volunteer program) at an elementary school near USC.

Text:

Informant (I) : We…um…sometimes we play…um…hide…hide and seek

Collector (C) : Ok how does that work?

I: By…someone needs to count…and then you need to and the rest of us, the rest of our friends, needs to hide somewhere.

C: Ok. And what do they count to?

I: Um…you could tell them whathever but except…uh…until 100, not 100.

C: Ok, you can’t count to 100?

I: yeah.

C: Ok, what number do you guys usually count to?

I: Um…20

C: Ok, so how do you play hide and seek?

I: ok if you find the people…um…they need to find the person. If yous know where the person, you can help them where are the person.

C: So if you  were hiding but you get found you can help the it person find everyone else?

*Informant nods*

C: Ok, so who’s it next?

I: um…who you found first.

Meaning/Why perform:

When asked, the informant expressed that hide and seek is something they play because it is “so fun.” When I asked her she also stated that she learned it from her grandpa who speaks mostly Spanish.

Analysis:

I think the informant accurately identified the main reason she and her friends play tag at recess when she stated that it is “so fun.” Generally, people like to play games that they find fun. However, I also think that they play this type of game because you get to run around a bit which is something that they do not get to do in class. In class they have to sit still and listen to the teacher whereas when they play hide and seek they get to come up with the rules and be in charge. They also get to help the person in charge or the it person find other people which allows the people without the control to take some of the control. This is something they cannot do in the classroom.