This tradition was practiced by the informant during his time on the high school lacrosse team. The informant went to high school in upstate New York, where lacrosse is by far the most popular highs school sport. A lot of pressure is put on the team and it regularly makes it to, and often wins, the state championship title. At the end of the season, they would go to sectionals, or the playoffs. This would usually involve traveling around upstate New York as a team and staying in a hotel, etc. Before taking off for this trip, the team would gather at someone’s house and buzz each others’ hair with clippers. These weren’t just normal haircuts, though. Everyone would shave ridiculous mohawks, patterns, words and shapes into their head so that they all looked absurd. They would keep these haircuts until either they were eliminated from play or they won. It was considered good luck and was done every year.

Although this is obviously a silly tradition, it represents solidarity amongst the team. Alone, it would be hard to go out in public with a penis shaved into your head. However, if you are with a group of people in matching uniforms with equally ridiculous things shaved into their heads, it might not be as hard. It is symbolically of how they will be more successful on the field if they stick together and are on the same wavelength. In this way, it can be considered a case of contagious magic. The belief is that if they have the same haircuts, they will have similar thoughts and be able to communicate better.