[PW] College jack-o-lantern tradition

[Denise Montgomery]

Meredith,

I'm a graduate of Swet Briar--still proudly single-sex and right down the
road from Randy-Mac--and as I recall, our school's historical traditions
also included the lantern parade, though it was long gone by the time I got
there in 1971.

It does suggest, however, this was something that was not exclusive to R-M.

I might try checking Proquest historic newspapers to see if I can find some
mentions of Lantern Parades anywhere else.

                                                       Denise Montgomery
                                                       SBC Class of '75
                                                       and Re/ILL Librarian,
Valdosta State University Library


On 5/18/07, Meredith Dixon <dixonm at pobox.com> wrote:
>
> This is for me, so no great hurry.  I'm an alumna of Randolph-Macon
> Woman's
> College in Lynchburg, Virginia, which has just gone co-ed and changed its
> name to Randolph College. I'm trying to write a book about our campus
> traditions.
>
> One such tradition is the Lantern Parade, later known as the Pumpkin
> Parade.
> In the Parade, the Seniors line up in cap and gown to carry lighted
> jack-o-lanterns across campus on Halloween.
>
> Our yearbook first mentions the Lantern Parade in 1908.  But I have just
> learned that, in October 1905, the Ladies' Home Journal published a
> magazine
> cover by Harrison Fisher which shows a group of classic "Fisher girls", in
> cap and gown, carrying lighted jack-o-lanterns in a long nighttime
> procession.  The cover is uncaptioned, but it seems to be intended to
> accompany an article on "College Girls' Merry Pranks".  Unfortunately, the
> article does not mention R-MWC.
>
> It is tempting to conclude that our Lantern Parade had started by 1905,
> but I don't know what Fisher would have been doing in Lynchburg, Virginia,
> as
> his studio was in New York.  On the other hand, we did have
> some students from New York and he could have heard about the parade
> somehow.
> The drawing is somewhat stylized and he needn't have drawn it from life.
>
> Anyway, what I'd like to ask Project Wombat is, does anyone know whether
> there
> are any other women's colleges who have or used to have such a tradition?
> And can you think of any better way to find out than calling the reference
> library of each woman's college, or former woman's college,
> extant in 1905 and asking them?
>
> I've Googled.  Googling brings up a lot of references to our own tradition
> (one of them a column of mine from my student days, in fact)
> and a reference to a school in the Midwest where seniors carve and hide
> jack-o-lanterns and freshmen search for them.  Nothing else.
>
> --
> Meredith Dixon <dixonm at pobox.com>
> Check out *Raven Days* <http://www.ravendays.org>
> For victims and survivors of bullying at school.
> And for those who want to help.
>
>
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