Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for F537 returned 241 results.
The first snowfall at the University of Notre Dame, calls
for the annual snowball fight between the North Quad dorms
and the South Quad dorms.
Where learned: INDIANA ; University of Notre Dame ; South Bend
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 08-00-1986
(sung to the tune of the Notre Dame fight song)
Cheers, cheers, for old Fraser High
You bring the whiskey
I'll bring the rye.
Send the Freshmen out for gin
And don't let a sober sophomore in. MM
Juniors and Seniors are always on the ball
They sober up on pure alcohol.
When your son comes staggering in
You'll know he's from Fraser High!
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; FRASER
Keyword(s): Drinking, Parody,
IN THE GYM AT MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WE USED TO HAVE A ROPE
ABOUT THIRTY FEET LONG THAT HUNG DOWN FROM THE CENTER OF
THE CEILING. EVERY YEAR EACH PERSON WAS REQUIRED TO TRY TO
CLIMB THE ROPE AS FAR AS THEY COULD FOR GYM CLASS. EVERY
BOY THAT TRIED CARRIED A PENCIL IN HIS MOUTH. IT WAS BELIEVED
THAT IF YOU GOT TO THE TOP AND WROTE THE NAME OF THE GIRL YOU
LIKED ON THE CEILING, SHE WOULD LIKE YOU BACK. THE TEACHERS
USUALLY ENCOURAGED THIS PRACTICE AND EVERY YEAR THE CEILING
WAS CLEANED TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE NEXT YEAR'S CLASS.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; SAGINAW
| Subject headings: | Favorites CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School BELIEF -- School BELIEF -- Marriage BELIEF -- Word Letter |
TRADITION
IT HAS BECOME A TRADITION AMONG HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE
STUDENTS TO HANG THEIR TASSELS FROM THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR
OF THEIR CAR.
Submitter comment:
THIS REFERS TO THE TASSELS WORN ON THE HATS WORN WITH
GOWNS AT SCHOOL (HIGH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE) GRADUATIONS.
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School ART CRAFT ARCHITECTURE -- Dress Head |
Date learned: 00001970S CA
Dance
It is a custom at our high school to teach dancing
to the freshmen gym class. We learned the waltz,
fox trot, polka, and grand march. At the end of
the term, we have a dance contest among all the
students. It is an assembly and everyone must
attend.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; NEW BALTIMORE
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 00001984CA
OPPOSITES DAY
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, A POPULAR THING TO DO IS DECLARE AN
OPPOSITES DAY. ONCE DECLARED, ANY INSULT DIRECTED AT A PERSON
WAS REVERSED. IF BILLY SAID ERIC WAS MEAN, AND ERIC DECLARED
OPPOSITES DAY, IT WAS AS IF BILLY HAD SAID THAT ERIC WAS NICE.
THIS IS OFTEN USED IN THE MIDDLE OF HEATED ARGUMENTS.
KIDS CAN USE THIS TO REVERSE PERSONAL INSULTS: "YOU ARE STUPID",
"YOU ARE UGLY"; AND PHYSICAL INSULTS: "YOUR CLOTHES DON'T
MATCH", "YOUR MAMMA WEARS ARMY BOOTS."
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Sterling Heights
James Callow Keyword(s): INVERSION
| Subject headings: | Favorites CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Typical Elements of a Festive Pattern CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Irregular |
Date learned: 00001976CA
DURING MAY, THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN WOULD CELEBRATE THE
BLESSED VIRGIN AS THE MAY QUEEN WITH A PROCESSION. ONE YEAR MY
GRANDMOTHER CARRIED THE STATUE OF MARY. THE OTHER CHILDREN
FOLLOWED HER IN TWO ROWS. THEY CARRIED COLORED RIBBONS. THIS
OBSERVANCE DOUBLED AS A FUND RAISER FOR THE SCHOOL. GRANDMA'S
MOTHER GAVE A DOLLAR SO HER DAUGHTER COULD LEAD THE PROCESSION AND
CARRY THE STATUE. THE OTHER CHILDREN GAVE COINS IN EXCHANGE FOR
THEIR RIBBONS.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- May CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 00001930S
Whenever I study, I have to wear my hair in a ponytail.
Where learned: MICHIGAN
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School BELIEF -- Body part Senses |
Date learned: 00001980S
The only why I can study is if I have a two-liter of coke, a
pack of cigarettes, and classical music playing on the radio.
Where learned: MICHIGAN
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Hello
H-E-L-L-O; hello-hello.
ummmm
H-E-L-L-O; hello-hello.
Well my name is Melanie.
hello-hello
I'm in the eighth grade.
hello-hello
I like to dance and shop.
hello-hello
And I'm a smart, smart Virgo.
hello-hello
ummmm
H-E-L-L-O hello-hello.
Submitter comment:
Melanie says that this song is used by girls to introduce
themselves to one another. The game is sung primarily by girls on
the playground or at lunch. It gives new girls a chance to let other
girls know their grade, interest, and names.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Daily Life Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Children CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 00001980S
Festival of the Star
The Christmas Eve events in Poland are called the "Festival of
the Stars." This Festival begins when the young children see the
first star that evening. The mother has a white table cloth on
the table with small amounts of straw on it to symbolize the
Bethlehem stable in which Jesus was born. After the first star is
seen by the small children, the mother puts out the food. But
before anyone eats the dinner the family says a prayer of
Thanksgiving and the father passes out small wafers with religious
pictures stamped on them. These wafers have been blessed by the
priest. Those present at the dinner wish each other good health
and happiness and share the wafers with each of the others. One
at a time you go up to another member of the family, wish the
other family member good health and happiness and then break off a
small portion of their wafer and eat it. The special dinner
consists of borscht soup (beet soup) or duck soup, fish (it is a
pike fish with saffron and raisins in it), pierogi, sauerkraut,
mushrooms, nuts and kolatchi cookies (these are cookies made of a
sugar dough which is wrapped around a fruit jam in the middle).
One place setting is left vacant for either the Christ child or an
unexpected guest. This is significant of Mary and Joseph's search
for a place to stay when Mary was to give birth to Jesus. Since
there was no place for them to stay, not even in the inn, this
place guarantees a place for them. After supper, the Christmas
tree is lit, and Polish Christmas carols are sung. The star man
comes to the house and asks the children about religion and tests
their catechism knowledge. Three boys dressed as the Three Wise
Men carry a lit star into the room singing Polish Christmas carols
and bring presents to the children. The children do not believe
in Santa Claus; they receive their presents from the Three Wise
Men, only if they answer the religious questions posed by the star
man correctly. Sometimes men would also dress up to be a camel
and accompany the Three Wise Men in their entrance into the home.
At midnight, the families attend the midnight mass which they call
"Pasterka" or in English, "Shepherd's Mass." The church is
decorated with the manger scene throughout the Christmas season.
On January 6, "The Day of the Three Kings," the Christmas season
is over.
Submitter comment:
Many of the activities listed in this Polish Christmas were
practiced by both her mother and father when they lived in Poland.
The Polish Christmas dinner, Christmas Carols, and the tree
decorating are still practiced in the family. Also the family
attends the "Shepherd's Mass" each year.
Where learned: POLAND
Keyword(s): Festival of the Star
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 00-00-1950
Blessing of the Easter Basket
When my mother was growing up, she would prepare an Easter
basket with her mother the day before Easter. The basket
contained Polish sausage, hard boiled eggs which symbolized new
life, a pound cake molded into the shape of a lamb, a pound of
butter shaped into the form of a lamb (the shape of the lamb
reminds us of Christ being sacrificed like a lamb), and homemade
bread with a cross cut into it (the cross symbolized the
crucifixion of Jesus). After all of these foods were made and put
into the basket, they carried the basket to Church on Holy
Saturday. At the Church, the priest would bless the basket of
food with Holy Water and say prayers. Then the basket of food was
taken home and eaten the next day on Easter Sunday. This food
basket was the base of that year's Easter Sunday dinner.
Submitter comment:
Our family still practices this custom of blessing the Easter
Basket only in Chicago, Illinois when we go to visit our Polish
grandparents. They live in a Polish dominated area of Chicago and
we all attend the Polish church down the street. The Mass is said
completely in Polish, and then the priest will bless all of the
Easter Baskets for the people.
Keyword(s): Polish Easter
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Latvian School
When Latvian school children reach the early teenage years, they
must attend Latvian school. There, they are taught the history,
traditions, music, and language of their country.
Submitter comment:
Guy attended this school, and learned a great deal about the
birthplace of his father.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; SAGINAW
Keyword(s): EDUCATION
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 00001985ca
Homecoming Parade
Every year during football season, my high school celebrates
Homecoming with a big parade. All the grade schools, middle schools,
and other high schools are represented by floats, bands, and marching
people. Area organizations, such as the Lion's Club,
are also represented. At the end of the parade, all of the
participants and observers meet at the school for a tailgate party,
and then go to the football game.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; SAGINAW
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Entertainment Diversion CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Typical Elements of a Festive Pattern |
Date learned: 09-00-1988
I've been a resident advisor for the past two years and a
tradition we have is a" thank God the semester is over" party
every term where we get together and talk about the term gone by
and what happened to who or with who. We have dinner and drinks
and just let our hair down for the whole night.
Where learned: DETROIT
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 00001990s
There was immense fear of starting high school due to the way
every class before me had been terrorized by upper classmen and
the way that you were intimidated by them through the entire
summer leading to the new school year with talk of ritual beatings
and drownings you had to face during gym classes. Most of my
classmates were on the verge of nervous breakdowns when we were
delighted to hear that because of the ritual beatings the gym
classes had become segregated by grades.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; RIVER ROUGE
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
In grade school while eating lunch in the cafeteria, I would
see children drop food on the floor. But to be sure the food
wouldn't harm them when they picked it up to eat it, they would say
a little prayer;
God made dirt so it won't hurt
Put it in your mouth and it won't work.
Where learned: MISSISSIPPI ; Louise
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Belief CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School BELIEF -- Prayer BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1970
In 1967, a composite picture of our sorority sisters fell off
the lounge wall. The crash awakened the girls and they ran from
their bedrooms to the lounge. They found that the crack in the
glass only cut across one face on the picture. It was later found
that this sorority sister's fiance was killed in a car accident at
the exact time that the picture had fallen. His car clock stopped
running upon impact which was the same time that the girls had
been awakened by the picture crashing to the floor.
Submitter comment:
I pledged this sorority in 1969 and was told this by my
sorority sisters. The glass had been replaced and the picture
still hung on the wall. The sorority sister whose face was marred
by the crack had transferred to a different university following
her fiance's death.
Where learned: WEST VIRGINIA ; West Liberty State College ; West Liberty
| Subject headings: | Observation Favorites PROSE NARRATIVE -- Product or activity of man or animal CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: 00-00-1969
Detroit Catholic Central High School Boys Bowl
Each year in October the varsity football team of Detroit
Catholic Central High School participates in the Boys Bowl. This
is a traditional football game played every year where the
Catholic Central Shamrocks play their biggest rival. The first
Boys Bowl came into effect in 1944 when the school opened. The
tradition started because a priest from Catholic Central once
went to a town in Ohio called Boystown and got a team from that
city to come and play Catholic Central every year. From then on
one day each year was set aside to play their most competitive
rival and this came to be known as the Boys Bowl. Since 1966
Catholic Central has played Brother Rice High School on this very
special day. Other teams played before this date were U of D
High, Notre Dame, and Cathedral. Each year this one game is
played to celebrate competition and athletic excellency.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; REDFORD
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Entertainment Diversion CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 00-00-1989
Every year in March at Gabriel Richard High School in
Riverview, Michigan the Junior class receives their class rings.
It is traditional (since 1964) for the entire class to attend a
special mass in order to bless each student's ring and celebrate
the coming of their Senior year.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; RIVERVIEW
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- March CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Church BELIEF -- Prayer |
Date learned: 00-00-1983