TARGET 101124

Foam!!!

A student at St. Andrews University gets a foam hair styling.

Freshmen have always had it a little rough in college, but at the St. Andrews University, in Scotland, their plight at the hand of senior students has become a celebrated tradition called Raisin Monday.

The traditions of Raisin Monday date back to the early days of St. Andrews. New students (also known as “bejants” and “bejantines”) had to show their gratitude to seniors, for showing them the ropes around campus, and a pound of raisins was considered an expensive and tasty enough sign of appreciation. With the passing of time, some freshmen started ignoring the custom, so senior students came up with of receipts written in Latin acknowledging the receipt of the pound of raisins. If one of the freshmen students didn’t have such a receipt, he would get doused in one of the local fountains. Another reason for a freshman getting a dousing was for mistakes a freshman might make in written Latin.

Since St. Andrews University opened its gates (in 1410), the traditions of Raisin Monday have changed according to the times. Nowadays, new students have to buy seniors a bottle of wine as a token of gratitude, and the dousing in water fountains has been replaced by a general free-for-all with lots and lots of shaving foam.

The students gather for the Raisin Day celebration.

On November 22, 2010, (2 days before this posting) in St. Andrews, Scotland, the first year students met in the university's St. Salvator's Quadrangle to celebrate the annual event and to present a gift of wine to the faculty and seniors as a thank you for their guidance,for which they they receive a receipt in Latin. Then, whether they had a receipt or not, they all shared in a good, full dousing in shaving foam.

Once the fun begins, school woes are forgotten.

And everybody is a friend.

And after the fun is over, the fun continues. This is college, after all.

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To learn more about Raisin Monday, take a look at the following web sites:

Oddity Central
Zimbio.com
The Ottawa Citizen
Wikipedia (St. Andrews University History)