Nobody at the University of St Andrews in Scotland seems to remember how Raisin Monday became a giant foam fight.
asserted
Monday → seem → Scotland
For 600 years, first-year students have taken part in the ritual of thanking older students for mentoring them through their first few weeks of university life.
asserted
students → take → life
Traditionally, freshers would give their elders a pound of raisins – hence the name.
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freshers → give → raisins
This Monday however, hundreds wore fancy dress as they streamed on to St Salvator’s lower college lawn at 11am armed with cans of shaving foam, covering one another in soapy clouds as they have for the past few decades.
asserted
they → wear → decades
Groups of students dress as Smurfs, mice, bananas, grandmas, sunflowers and chefs to participate in the annual rite of passage.
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Groups → dress → passage
The theme for each group is chosen by second- and third-year students, known as “mums” and “dads”, who have been matched with the first years.
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who → choose → years
The proud “parents” stand on the edge of lawn screaming and waving to their “children”.
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parents → stand → children
Within minutes, the smell of shaving foam fills the square as cans are emptied over other students.
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cans → fill → students
It quickly becomes impossible to distinguish between costumes.
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It → become → costumes
Getting to do something like this brings everyone together,” says Freya, a first year whose group has been dressed as periodic table elements by their chemistry student parents.
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group → get → parents
Simon, who is part of the same family, says: “When you are covering each other in shaving foam, how much more bonded can you get?”
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you → say → foam
Everyone involved recognises that this activity is particularly strange in a crowded field of unusual university rituals.
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activity → involve → rituals
At Merton College, Oxford, students walk backwards around Fellows’ Quadrangle when the clocks go back in October.
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clocks → walk → October
In Aberdeen, each new rector is carried around campus on the back of a stuffed bull by students.
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rector → carry → students
More than half of the small town is made up of students – who come from all over the world – and the tradition helps break down barriers between students.
Deborah, an American medical student, is looking out at her academic children in the crowd.
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Deborah → make → crowd
Her group has dressed as the blue-skinned supervillain, Megamind, from the animated DreamWorks film.
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group → dress → film
“Because it’s such a small university, we get to have these sort of events.
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we → ’ → events
It brings people together.
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It → bring → people
We do not have as many things going on because we are so small, so it helps create community and people you wouldn’t usually meet,” she says.
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she → have → community
Sunday has always been a crucial part of the weekend tradition, when first years are woken early, “kidnapped”, and made to take a dip in the North Sea.
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years → wake → Sea
For the Monday foam fight, students are encouraged to donate to a local food bank before they start spraying from their canisters – and appears to be far less alcohol-fuelled than it has in previous years.
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it → encourage → years
After about half an hour, the excited students running around the green begin to slow.
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students → run → green
The cans of shaving foam are empty and the first years head to the exit to be hosed down despite the single digit temperature.
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years → head → temperature
Away from the green, foam-covered students greet their parents with bear hugs, covering them with foam, before heading home for a shower.
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students → cover → shower
“It’s amazing,” says Henry, an American student whose camouflage face paint has been completely covered in foam.
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paint → ’ → foam
“I only really know Americans, so getting to meet people from Singapore, England, South America, Africa and the Middle East through this is great.
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getting → know → this
It’s rare to find a place where you can meet such a diverse group of people.”
asserted
you → ’ → people
The Aporia
