Customs and Curiosities

Written by Caroline Hopkinson-Woolley

The clue is in the name.  A university is, quite literally, a world of its own.  Think of it as a miniature universe with a distinct appearance, atmosphere and attitude.  Call it character.  A small but strong part of that personality derives from each establishment’s unique customs.  Many of these rituals are ceremonial.  Others are spiritual or recreational.  And some, as you will hear, are really rather strange…

 The clocks went back this weekend but have you ever wondered what happens to the hour - between 2am and 1am - that lies sandwiched and effectively stilled between British Summer Time and Greenwich Mean Time?  As a graduate of Merton College, Oxford, I’m in the privileged - or peculiar! - position of being able to tell you from first-hand experience.  Thanks to Merton’s annual Time Ceremony, inaugurated exactly 50 years ago by some, shall we say, imaginative undergraduates, the so-called space-time continuum is preserved by a host of committed Mertonians processing backwards around the College’s Fellows Quadrangle for 60 minutes, all dressed in their academic gowns.  Drinking Port.  In the middle of the night.  This, we claim, creates a vacuum into which the surplus time is drawn…  I could also claim it was a truly memorable experience but for some reason, my recollections are hazy…  At least I remember the toast:  Long live the counter-revolution!

 In fact, when considering the various bizarre traditions which continue to flourish at British and Scottish universities, it’s almost possible to produce an alphabet of institutions.  At the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1485, every new Rector - the students’ representative at the University Court - must commence his or her tenure by riding through Old Aberdeen on a life-sized model of a bull (‘Angus’, as he’s known) borne aloft by students.  Journey’s end is at the pub and the reward for heavy lifting?  A pint, of course.

 At Birmingham, it’s said that any student who stands beneath the university’s Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower incurs bad luck.  Why risk failing Finals?  Then again, Lord of the Rings enthusiasts might not be able to resist, given that Old Joe, as it’s known, is reputed to have been the inspiration for the towers in J R R Tolkien’s celebrated trilogy.  True or not, as the tallest freestanding clocktower in the world, Old Joe definitely has presence if not power.

 Come to Cambridge and you might no longer be allowed to keep a bear in your room as the famous Romantic poet Lord Byron was said to have done but if you’re a member of Trinity College you could attempt the college’s annual Great Court Run.  Taking place every October and immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire, it involves sprinting around the largest enclosed courtyard in Europe in the time it takes for the clock to chime 12 o’clock.  That’s 297 metres in around 47 seconds…  Work it out!

 Durham claims the crown as the UK’s most haunted university.  It’s not hard to believe this boast if you’ve ever explored the ancient and eerie castle grounds at the heart of England’s third oldest university but if you get past the ghosts, there’s also a thriving tradition of college ‘marriages’, a custom whereby every fresher is mentored by college ‘parents’ from the year above.  So successful is this informal system of peer support that Durham is rumored to have the highest rate of graduates actually marrying one another of any British university!

 Graduates of Edinburgh University, founded in 1583, share the singular honour of having been ‘capped’ by the so-called Geneva Bonnet.  In other words, each and every one has their degree conferred with a tap on the head from an ancient black cap made from the breeches of 16th Century scholar John Knox.  Who cares if the famous beret is, in reality, no more than 150 years old?

 The list goes on but it would be remiss not to scroll through to the University of St Andrews in order to mention some of the oddest customs of all.  Students at Scotland’s oldest academic institution have just celebrated the annual ‘Raisin weekend’ during which ‘children’, aka freshers, traditionally present their ‘parents’ with a pound of ‘raisins’ and receive, in return, a ‘receipt’ welcoming them to the university.  Nowadays, the raisins are more likely to take the form of a bottle of something grape-based and suitably strengthening, while the receipt is no longer written in Latin and could be, well, anything embarrassing (canoe? cuddly toy?) provided it can be carried to the mass foam-fight with which the celebrations end…  And did I mention the fancy dress?  Or obligatory sea swim?

 These, and many, many more, are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the host of weird and wonderful rituals which await undergraduates across the UK’s universities.  Call them what you will, they share a common feature.  Every single one, serious, silly or simply strange, is an unforgettable bonding experience.