Tag Archives: initiation ritual

Gertrude the Theater Ghost

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Pastry Chef
Residence: Napa, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Here is a transcription of my (CB) interview with my informant (AH).

AH: “So when I was at Salinas High, I was very active in theater. And the first year of my theater program, the older classmen have always told the freshmen about gertrude who is our theater ghost. And I kinda thought that it was all bullshit at first, you know, I didn’t really believe in ghosts, and I didn’t think that it was anything worth paying attention to until my sophomore year. Now the story behind Gertrude, is um… Gertrude was one of the first students at Salinas High back in…..actually I don’t remember when the school opened. But the story was that she was one of the first students there, the first freshman when the school opened. And she was in love with a boy from the opposing school, and he was colored as well. So it was a big to-do. And one night she snuck out to go see him, and he got caught, and he got beaten up by some of her family members. And so he ended up dying from the beating. And she was just so overwhelmed with grief, and she was in the basement of the theater, which back then I don’t remember what it was, at one point it was a bowling alley… but yeah, she went down to the basement and took her own life. And so she has continued to haunt Salinas High for the rest of eternity.”

CB: “Why do you think that the upperclassmen would tell the underclassmen the story?”

AH: “I used to think that the upperclassmen told them to try and scare them and as a kind of hazing sort of thing. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I actually thought gertrude might be real.”

CB: “Well why do you think it’s important to share the story still?”

AH: “As a warning for one, because some scary shit goes on. Like some really unexplainable stuff has happened. And so we explain it with Gertrude, you know, it’s kinda our way of reasoning. And I think that it also passes down a certain tradition to kinda keep a connection between older and younger generations.”

CB: “And what does Gertrude mean to you?”

AH: “Gertrude will forever hold a place in my heart as my first theater ghost. She probably scared the shit out of me more than any other theater ghost I’ve ever encountered.”

Background:

My informant has spent many years actively involved in theater programs, and attended a high school with a very active program. There are tons of stories of theater ghosts, and the tradition can be seen going back to ancient times. Every theater has a different ghost, with a different personality. The story and moral associated with the ghost changes depending on the theater in order to represent the values associated with the theater.

Context:

My informant called me with stories prepared after hearing that I had been interviewing other members of our family for folklore. We had a fun and casual conversation, exchanging versions of stories that we had heard growing up.

Thoughts:

Growing up in Salinas, my informant was in a very diverse community with staggering differences in socioeconomic status. This led to a lot of racial tension. It makes sense that their ghost’s story would portray this tension, however it’s interesting that it is portrayed as tragic. By doing this, this specific theater makes it clear what sort of attitudes are and are not tolerable within their community. My informant cites that the older members of the community told the new members as a warning against the actions of the ghost, but I believe that it was also told as a code of conduct. The older members used the story as a way to acknowledge that bigoted sentiments are common in the larger community, but to remind the new member that they are not tolerable in their theater’s community. My informant also cited the ghost as a means to explain unexplained incidents. She claims the ghost is memorable because of these incidents and her belief in it. In this way, by first explaining the code of conduct, and then by introducing the new members to a shared belief, the story telling acts as an initiation ritual. Once the new member accepts the code of conduct and respects the beliefs, they are a member of the community.

Convocation

Nationality: Iranian-American
Age: 16
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Albuquerque
Performance Date: 3/17/19
Primary Language: English

Main Piece (Direct Transcription):

A tradition at my school for all sixth graders is called convocation.  I remember my first day of sixth grade, they paired me up with a senior the first day of school and we walked up the long brick pathway at our school up to the gym.  It’s a way of initiating the entering sixth graders into the school, and kind of a way of saying farewell to the seniors since it will be their last year.   After we went to the gym, we took our seats to listen to a convocation speech.

 

Context:  The informant K, my brother, is a high school student living in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  He attends the same middle/high school that I attended, and we were talking about all the interesting and unique traditions that our school has while I was home for spring break.  I was reminiscing about different events that I was able to take part in while I was a student at the school, while listening to my brother’s perspective and take on these different traditions.  We both agreed that we feel like our school is very unique, and that we don’t believe a lot of schools have the traditions that ours does.  Although folklore is often considered to be something that larger groups of people can relate to, I believe that folklore and tradition surrounding schools and small local areas are sometimes some of the most interesting to hear about.  It gives insight into how the individuals in these areas live and gives valuable insight into what their values might be.  Because of this, I asked my brother to tell me more about his experience with these traditions to tell in my folklore collection.

 

 

My Thoughts:

I have an interesting perspective on this tradition because I was both the sixth grader and the senior.  Although it is one event that the whole school takes part of, there are several different perspectives individuals can have on the event.  Since my brother is only a junior in high school right now, he has not yet gotten to walk a 6th grader up the path and has only been the 6th grader walked by a senior.  I was both the 6th grader, feeling nervous and excited on the first day of school, and the senior, feeling sentimental on the last first day at the school.  I was also able to be the spectator from grade 7 to 11, and still felt excited watching the seniors and new sixth graders walk into the gym after their walk up the path.  This traditional ceremony at the school is something that a lot of people look forward to every year, and I believe it serves as an excellent first entrance to the school for 6th graders.  The school has so many unique and powerful traditions and ceremonies that happen year after year, and the new students are able to get a small taste of what is in store for them throughout their time at this school.

Touching the Fire

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 23
Occupation: Computer Engineer
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: April 20th, 2019
Primary Language: English

Main Piece
I don’t know how it started, but every year during homecoming, the freshman are in charge of building a big bonfire in the center of the green at Dartmouth, and you run around it for as many years of your graduation year, plus 100 now because it started in the 1900’s, so for example for my 2018, we were supposed to run around 118 times, but usually we just ran around 18 times. The upperclassmen would stand on the outside and like, jeer and stuff. So every year, something they want the freshman to do is to touch the fire, it is like a sign of being cool, like if you touch the fire, because its dangerous or whatever, and even now the police surround it, because they really don’t want people to do it, so it is really hard to do. So like, every year, all the upperclassmen scream “touch the fire! Touch the fire!”, and at least one person will do it every year. So this year, they even put a chainlink fence around the fire, but people still hopped it and touched it. And you are known for the rest of your Dartmouth experience for it.

Background
The informant attended Dartmouth University in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she learned this story. She learned of this through experience and action, although she never personally touched the fire. She heard of the change this year through her college friends.

Context
The informant is a 23-year-old women, born and raised in Southern California. She attended Dartmouth up until last year, having graduated in 2018. She provided this information while sitting outside her family home in Palm Springs, California on April 20th, 2019.

Analysis
I love this tradition, but really am saddened to see institutions destroying traditions in the name of social progress or “safety”. I mean, it makes sense that the university wouldn’t want students touching a bonfire, for their own safety, but also that the university doesn’t wanted to leave itself open to a lawsuit. I just think they should not endorse the tradition, but not forcefully try to stop it! I love how enduring traditions are when they are held by a large group of people – even though the school is trying to stop the students, they have not been able to. With a university as old as Dartmouth, it makes complete sense that they have a lot of long-term, enduring traditions. I also love how legendary you become after taking part of the tradition – if I attended Dartmouth University, I would be sure to try my best to touch it! The continuation of this tradition in verbal form allows the informant to interact back with her own experience in the tradition, keeping it alive in her mind, but also in the world by passing it on.

Fraternity Fountain Sticker Tradition

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: University of Southern California
Performance Date: 3/20/15
Primary Language: English

“Every semester, the pledges always have the job of making sure a sticker with our fraternity’s letters are stuck onto the side of the Finger Fountain. It’s almost a game, and if actives see the stickers they’re supposed to take them off the fountain,  and then a pledge is supposed to immediately replace it. If no stickers are found on the fountain then the pledges get in trouble.” 

When talking with my friend about whether his fraternity hazes or not, the informant told me about this tradition first, which I found rather humorous. Helearned about it in his pledge semester and older brothers in the house say that it’s been done since the finger fountain was first built. The informant didn’t really understand the purpose of constantly applying stickers but I came to the conclusion that it’s a way of the house making its mark on the school and identifying with it. Furthermore, it could be seen as a way of having the pledge make his mark on the fraternity. It’s a task meant to test those who are dedicated and really want to join, as those who don’t replace the stickers display a less serious and caring attitude about pledging the fraternity chapter.

The Circle

Nationality: Latina
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2014
Primary Language: English

Context:

I had asked one of my friends, who was an actor and writer, if she had any sort of acting or theater folklore.

 

Interview:

Informant: In my theater group that I participated in when I was in high school. Before every show, we had something called the “Circle” where we would all circle up and we would all hold hands. It was very, very ritualized. In the center of the circle we would have like a little table and it would have a candle on it. We changed candle-holders a couple of times, and the last one was this really cool dragon-style candle-holder. And we would have a copy of the script and a coin. It would be any coin that the director literally pulled out of his pocket. And he would tell us that every time – it was just an average coin that he would pull from his pocket every time. And while we were in this circle what we would first do is hold hands and he would have us breathe together. And he would go, “breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. As we breathe together as one, we are as one.” And that’s how we would start it every time. And he would go – It would change slightly every time, but the speech that he would give would be pretty much “we walked in each other’s footsteps, we’re a great team, we’re going to make this a great show.” And then at the end of this little spiel, he would pull out the coin. And he would talk about how the coin is a circle and the circle is a symbol of all of us together, so put yourself into this coin. And the coin would be passed around the circle and usually what people would do is people would hold it over their hearts. Some people would just hold it in their hands, but most people would hold it over their hearts and then would pass it on to the next one. Then he would talk about how excited he was for this. And then at the very end we would all, instead of holding each others’ hands we would put our hands over each others’ shoulders and we would get in really close, as close as we could. And the candle was lit the whole time, and at this point he would blow it out. We would get down really close and we would all kneel down and we would start really, really quietly and we would be like, “It’s showtime. It’s showtime.” And we would build, build, build, until we screamed it. And then that was the end of our circle, and that is how we would start every show.

Me: So a little pep rally type thing?

Informant: Yeah, so even, even when it wasn’t a big show, even if it was a little charity show and it was only like five of us, we would still do the circle.

Me: Nice. Nice.

Informant: Yeah. And that was our opening circle. And we would have the closing circle at the end wihich wasn’t as elaborate. IT was just we get in a circle and we all kind of cried about missing it and then we would do the showtime thing again.

Me: Uh huh.

Informant: I do remember one time we were doing this, we had a live band who had never been in a theater show before, like they had no idea what we were doing. And it was perfect because none of this was planned. But one of these guys, the guitarist was joking around as was like, “what is this, is this some kind of cult thing?” ‘Cause we were like literally all standing in a circle around a candle in the dark.

[Laughter]

Informant: And is this some sort of cult thing, and my director goes no it’s not, guys tell them. And so every single person – about twenty people – answer in like a low monotone chant, “this is not a cult.”

Me: [Laughter] That is absolutely hilarious. And entirely spontaneous?

Informant: Yes, entirely spontaneous and we really freaked out the band members, it was great. We got them to get in the circle, but it was funny.

Me: That is really funny.

Informant: So that’s the circle that we had for our theater.

 

Analysis:

Most performance groups, like a theater troupe or a sports team, have their own little ritualistic warm-up routines. This ritual that my friend’s theater group performed was used to psych themselves up for their performances. It got their blood running, and the adrenaline pumping. It was, essentially, a highly ritualized pep rally that was catered towards a close-knit group of people who did what they loved and loved what they did. Also, this shows just how weird such pre-game, pre-performance rituals can be, but also how effective they can be for preparing a member of the group, for getting the group into the right state of mind to go out there and do whatever it is that they are doing. Furthermore, it can be seen as a way to initiate new members into the group, as evidenced with the live band members who were invited to join, and join they did. Such rituals help also to create a strong bond of friendship and camaraderie among the members of the group, which is incredibly important for such groups as a theater troupe or a sports team, as such groups rely heavily on teamwork.