Folklore Collection University of Maine May 10, 1965
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399 ,()1 :folklore Collection Cp 80 Nancy l1hi bod eau University of Maine May 10, 1965 Nancy 'I'hibodeau l I. Area: I'he first section of this paper draws its material from the female students at the University of Maine. ;I'he majority of the material was collected in the dormitory in very informal gatherings. It is remarkable how easy it is to get a coed to reminesce about incidents from childhood and little things they used to do. 'I'heir memories are surprisingly vivid, and they can remember in detail games, stories, and wishes. I did not limit myself to one specific dorm but instead tried to hep the limitation within an age range. 'I'hat is to say that most of the informants are over twenty years old, but all in this first group are still college students. I'he second portion of this collection has a very broad area. I found that I could not limit the area from which I gathered the material as to do so would be too binding on the material. Instead, I limited the genere and the informants. II. 1'he Informants: Section one: l. ~ s an elementary education major in the class of 1965 at the University of Maine. She is a graduate of Cony High School in Augusta, and she has lived most of her life in Augusta and Southern Maine. Janice is the oldest of two girls. 2.<:M"ary-Ellen Wili~s a graduate of Gould Academy in Bethel,Maine and-·------- a senior ir. elementary education at !;he University of Maine. She has always lived in the Bethel area and comes from a family of seven children of which she is the youngest. (U. of M. '65) 3. <i':c:_net Salt~ is a sociology major in the college of Arts and Sciences -·-·······-·--... _./ at the University of Maine. Janet is not a resident of Maine, but says she has enjoyed her school years here. She went to high school in Waltham, Mass. and her home is there. (U. of M. '65) 4. is an English major in the college of Arts and Sciences at ne University of Maine. She spent her early childhood in Vermont, but the last ten years she has lived in Maine. She is a graduate of Caribou High School. (u. of M. 1 65) 5. ~is the youngest contributor of this group, but her 399 ca Nancy Thibodeau -2- contribution offers a good contrast to the wishes of the older contributors. Miss MacAvoy is a member of the class of 1967 at the university. She graduated from Traip Academy in Kittery. 6 . ~ a senior in elementary education at the University of Maine. She comes from Stonington, Maine where she has lived all her life, and she is an only child. 7. ~1fu~l s a history major in the college of Education at the University of Maine. She has lived in Maine all her life but moved a~ound alot in the area of Biddeford, Dayton, Locks Mills, and Bethel • . Like Miss Willard, Merry is a graduate of Gould Academy. However, Merry is the only girl in a family of four children. Her attitude toward wishing is that she likes to go through 11\he motions but never makes a wish. For instance, she wants the biggest end of the wishbone, but then she doesn't make a wish. 8 . E:3 is also a senior at the University of Maine, maJoring in elementary education. She spent her first year in college at Bouvee in Boston majoring in physical education. Augusta is her home and she graduated from Cony High School. Kate is the oldest of three girls. 9 - ~s a staunch down east inhabitant from Southwest Harbor, Maine. Like Kate she is the oldest of three girls. Judy is also a senior at this university and is majoring in physical education in the college of Education. 10. Sandra Urquhar is the daughter of an informant for the second half of chi s paper. She is also a senior in the college of Education at the University of Maine, majoring in Biology. She has lived in Maine all her life, wintering in Portland, and summering in Northeast Harbor. Sandra graduated from Deering High School and attended U.M.P. for one year before coming to the Orono campus. 11. ~ s a resident of Glens Falls, New York and a graduate of Potsdam, a part of N.Y.U. She has been at the University of Maine 0 //6?-LO for the past two years and will receive her M.S. degree this June. ;!.~ While she has been here she has been employed as a graduate resident ~~~~v in the g;lrls' dormitories. /)Y~;(}~7 {]~/li~ ~- r d M (1.lftwfiff!4 ;t;'V au.-~ IJ:UJ 1 • ~dti/JIYL // y ~{.,&~~7 //f&<J rYtnff~,,w;{ Jj;cdu.l., Nancy 'rhibodeau -3- 391 04 Section two: This gentleman has a touch of down east minglej with a true "County" flavor that seems to make him a deeply entrenched Mainer. He is a resident of Portland but swears that upon retiring he will move down east. Mr. Urquhart spent most of his youth in the Aroostook county area. He came from a large and not too well- to-do family and moved quite frequently. He loves to reminesce about potatoe picking time, and at the same time he can elaborate on the beauties of the Maine coast. Although he did not complete high school, M~ Urquhart received excellent traininE in the Navy and now has a managerial position at the Messer Co. in Portlan and has managed to put two girls through college without any help. 2. Erd"';-~rq~s the wife of the previous informant. Her contribution came when she :felt that Mr. Urquhart was not going to do the story justice. Al th.&ugh she has lived most of her life in Portland and l.acks the Maine universality that her husband has, she i s nevertheless a firm adherent to Maine's beauties. Mrs. Urquhart was able to complete her high school education but did not attend college. She worked for several years as a semestress. Now, she is an avid antique collector. She loves to attend auctions and knows her business well enough so that she is not fooled by imitations and junk. I'his interest is one reason that her recounting of the castle in the woods was so effective. 3- ~ th Rin · is the other informant in this section. I have also included--------- her in the other section where you can find most of her biographical material. However, most of the stories that she contributed to this section she said that she learned during the summer that she worked in West Paris. Nancy rhi bodeau - -4- 399 05 III. 'rhe Folklore rhis collection is di vie ed into two separate sections, both progressing from specific to general. In the first section, for instance, I have begun -with one specific "ldsh and gotten as many variations of it as I could. Then I gradually broadened the area until I concluded with as many different forms of -wishing as I had found. With each wish that I collected I have tried to include the informants attitude toward the wish. I'his attitude was the thing -which interested me so about wishes. I was also suprised at the amount of both variety of wishes and universality of certain wishes. I'he second portion of the collection is also arranged from specific to general. I began this with the in ten ti on of collecting stories of how places got their names. However, I was not able to find enough people that new the same story about the same place, and I was forced to make the topic more general. Contrary to what I had intended this portion nov.: stand as several stories on sevE:. ral places and how they got their names;i,with a few miscellanious stories added at the end because I felt they were good enough not to be omitted. ~V:. Evaluation l't1e ability to hope is a wonderful thing and mo s t people seem to learn it early in life. ·rne wisbes which I collected seem to reflect this. I wa s delighted to find that all but one of the coeds that I questioned still wished -when the opportunity presented itself. Some lad favorite wishes natl others wished on everything. All my informants for wishes said that they learned to wish v.hen they -were very young. Some remembered being taught by their parents, others learned from other children, and others thought they must have just always known. 'I'he last of these is an obvious exaggeration for such elaborate routines as the simultaneous speaking wish are not ""just known" - they are learned. One could easily put this attitude toward wishing wllich I found so prevalent among coeds in a psychological interpretation, but I don't feel qualified, and I don't think it's necessary. I think that fo1 eac1:1 of the informants there was a slight variation in the intensity of belief which cannot be expressed. I was content in observing them as an overt expres sion of hope an a simple refutation of the 2otb century idea of complete disillusionment. Nancy Thibodeau -5- ~·· 08 '!'he area of wishes isJ I feel, one that has ample opportunity to be explored. It could be classed in the realm of Skipping rope jingles or children's games, yet it is much more involved.