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Wednesday, October 30, 1957

THE COLLEGE NEWS

Page Three

 

Students At Large Consider Some Aspects Of Tradition

 

Junior Year Abroad Student Compares
European Traditions With Bryn Mawr’s

by Anne Wake ’58
Jr. Year Abroad, Geneva»

During my first two years at
Bryn Mawr my attitude towards
traditions evolved from freshman
absorption to sophomore superior-
ity. When I left I thought them
interesting customs: or relics of
barbarism _still-observed-by a more
enlightened . age. I found them
amusing and so participated, even
in those which outsiders find ridic-
ulous like May Day. I liked the
ritualism of the larger patterned
traditions like Lantern Night and
the individualism of the smaller.
such as the senior skits. on the
last day of classes. I looked on
them as something unique to Bryn
Mawr. ,

When I arrived in Europe I was
amazed at the mass of tradition
that surrounded me, traditions that
varied from the unity of pattern
of the large harvest festivals to
the individual adoration of the
religious celebrations.

I found that student organizations

—hadtheirritudis “within the uni-

versity, the nation, and all over
Europe. These vary from the na-
tional gathering of the Swiss” Zo-
fang fraternity at the hamlet of
their origin to the Unibal at
Geneva when the students gave a
huge ball in the university with a
dance band and a bar on each floor.

There is far more contact be-
tween the town and the students in
Geneva, for there is no university
dormitory and the students live in
private houses. Students and town-

people mingle in such traditions as
Escalade, the Genevan 4th of
July. This is the celebration of the
free city of Geneva’s greatest mili-
tary triumph, the repulse of a
sneak attack by the army of Savoy
in 1603. On this notable occasion
thirteen Savoyards were killed, the
majority by a soup kettle flung out
the window by “la Mére Royaume”.
Ever since there has been furious
debate over whether it was lentil
or vegetable soup. In honor of the
victory the Genevois hold a three
day carnival with dancing in the
streets in pajamas as the highlight.
When once I had gone through
l’Escalade I looked back to the
sanity and sobriety of May Day
with longing eyes.

Now I feel that European tradi-
tions are better than ours because
they unite the university with the
outer world, both other student
groups and the citizens. Thus they
are a uniting rather than isolating
factor, a bridge rather than an
ivory tower,

‘Although some of our traditions

Jare.ortifieial Ivfeel that they per-

form a vital function within the
structure of Bryn Mawr. They are|
the necessary link between and
within the classes and they give a
feeling of continuity to the whole.
In a weekend oriented community
it would be hard to find this bond
in any other way. They give us a
break from the routine acadamic
life and are a marvelous escape
hatch. I approve of traditions more
after my year away than I did
before, for I see their value to the
college.

 

Kaiser, S. S., Likes

Second Nap Better
Than May Day Air

by Tulsa Kaiser 58, Slothful Senior

When one undertakes to evaluate
or examine traditions in general or
a tradition in particular, one puts
the greatest emphasis upon the
time element involved — that is,
that it has been going on for many
years, perhaps since the organiza-
tion or institution was founded. This
time element, which as the yars
go by seems to embed the tradi-
tion more strongly”almost in geo-
mtric ratio to the number of years
involved, seems to be the most
important argument in favor of
many traditions, not only on this
campus, but elsewhere. It would
seem, however, that in contrast to
the new Air Force academy most
traditions grow spontaneously,
rather than being forced creations
of the institution. The spontaneity
of the development of traditions
would indicate a certain amount of
enthusiasm at least at the incep-
tion of the events. This enthusiasm
and spontaneity would in the opin-
ion of this writer have to be main-
tained in order to justify the con-
tinuation of the traditions. ©

Many of the traditionalists cite
the beauty of our traditions as
sufficient justification ‘for their
existence. This beauty, in many
eases, Lantern night and May Day
in particular seems to be combined
with many hours of practice and
arrangements, Though admittedly
we cannot, as do choruses in many
movies, burst into spontaneous song
without any practice whatsoever,
and perhaps the greatest spontane-
ity cannot make up for a flat song,
it does seem that two weeks is a
rather long time to practice for
one evening’s entertainment, if it
can be called that for any but
those of our friends at neighboring
colleges.

__ May Day, of all our traditions,

Continued on Page 5, Col. 2

4

-s

Student Praises

BMC Traditions

by Sue Fox ’58

I heard excelsior being rustled
around in the north-east corridor
of the library the other day. Upon
investigating, I found that some
indigent neatherds from Upper
Darby were preparing a custom-
made winding sheet for Pallas; not
with the fairest intentions, it seem-
ed to me, so I asked temperately
if they would’ get the bells-for-
wethers out of there and give P.
back her window-stick. Their reply
gave me cause for some digestive
moments of ill-will. They had heard>
they said humbly, knocking their
foreheads to their fists, or perhaps
my fists, in any case endeavoring
to display their honest up-bringing,
that the New principles and prac-
tice of Life and Architecture were
on their way to the embraces of
the students. Now they were of the
opinion that the iron maiden had
seen the last of fair weather at the
col., but they hoped to assure the
lady a new lease on life; and what
with a knock here and there to get
her down to kettle size, they were
sure she would appreciate pastures
new, and how had I known that
what they certainly needed were
new bells for their wethers, whose
bleating apparatus’ was apt to stick
in the fog?

I gave them each a biscuit and
a book to read while I thought

 

What is the general feeling on
campus toward Bryn
traditions? This week, the NEWS
has asked six students with var-
ied backgrounds and opinions to
present their views on this sub-
ject. This page is by no means a
poll, but rather a representative,
forum. Views presented are those
of a transfer student, a foreign
student, a Bryn Mawrter who
spent her.junior year abroad, a
student generally pro-tradition,
one generally anti-tradition, and
One discussing tradition’s accom-
panying features. We invite ALL
readers to send in comments to
the NEWS. Undergrad will con-
duct a poll on the subject this
week,

 

 

 

Monotone Decries
Rehearsal Regimen
For Lantern Nights

by. Anna Kisselgoff ’58, monotone

I cannot sing. .Anyone who has
had the painful experience of sit-
ting next to me at a song meeting
can well-attest to this fact.

For. this..reason;“my attendance
at song meetings’ is not only some-
what on the useless side but is
also a means of creating dishar-
mony (literally) within an other-
wise unified group. Trying to learn
the melody is hard enough; but no,
the class has to be divided into
first sopranos, altos, second sopra-
nos, mysically inclined students,
not ‘So-musically inclined students,
argyle-knitting hummers, etc.—
all singing different parts-at once!
Yet when I and similarly afflicted
students try to relieve the class
of our disconcerting one-note
chanting by our absence, we are
fined (money) for our good deed.

Since songs are the backbone of
Bryn (Mawr tradition, the life of
the monotone here is hard. Until
this year, Undergfad’s position on
attendance at Lantern Night re-
hearsal was never clearly defined.
In my freshman year, monotones
were graciously excused from at-
tending preliminary rehearsals but
were theh urged to come and
mouth the ‘words in the back: line
during later meetings. The fact
that Lantern Night takes place in
the dark and that a back row of
miming unfortunates may not be
visible at 8:00 p.m. apparently did

Continued on Page 4, Col. 2

Mawr |.

Recalls Traditions

by Eila Hanni ’58, Finland

I have been given the task to
compare and evaluate the tradi-
tions here and in my home coun-
try. I really have to say that I
compare the traditions of Bryn
Mawr :College alone with the stu-
dent traditions of Finland as a
whole and this already shows the
first difference. Here most col-
leges and universities seen-to have
their own traditions, whereas we
back home are a national union of
students, Every student who has
passed the final high school exam-
inations and received the white cap
as a sign of this success belongs
to the same group which is united
by the student cap “festivals” if I
can call them so. Our white stu-
dent cap is rather an informal
symbol whereas the caps
gowns here only serve for formal
events.

We celebrate unofficially certain

\where-we'¢éme from or where we
study or where we used to study.
These traditional days are, above
all the first of May, or Vappu as
we call it, when, with ceremonies,
we start the student cap wearing
season, and the last of October
when we take the caps off for the
winter. Especially May Day is an
event about which all the city
knows. Student caps, balloons and
singing fill the air on the night
before May Day. In Helsinki peo-
plé gather around a statue sur-
rounded by a fountain to expect
the greatest event of the night. At
twelve o’clock midnight it happens.
Two students with a student cap in
hand wade through the ice-cold
water of the fountain to give the
cap to the ever-young symbol of
students, Havis Amanda. And the
city officials take care that nothing
too gay is done in the intoxication
of the first day of summer.

From this experience you can

see how important: May Day is for
Finnish students and for Scandi-
navian students ir’ general. There-
fore I was very happy to learn
about the May Day activities here.
The singing, dancing, and parades
made me imagine that I was on the
rocks of Kaivopuisto early May
Day morning participating in the
summer songs, listening to the

 

and,

national student days no .matter!.

Hanni, Finnish Exchange Student,

Here and There

welcome speech for summer, and
rejoicing with thousands of other
students. I think Bryn Mawr has
made May Day an event to remem-
ber.

The traditions which I at home
associate with student nations—
students coming from the same
area—I here associate with class
traditions. The student nation an-
niversaries correspond here to
class weekends with their manifold
activities. If student nation activ-
ities make for a closer associa-
tion of students coming from the
same area, so class activities unite
the students of the same class. I
think Junior and Freshman Shows,
Freshman Hall Plays and Arts
Nights are a very good form of
student activities bringing forth
their talents as actresses, dancers,
show directors and stage planners
and at the same time offer public
good entertainment. Every stu-
dent who feels the desire to ex-

has the opportunity to do so in
the broad and flexible framework
of these annual events.

‘Parade Nights and Lantern
Nights, on the other hand, are
more formal events whére students
are given prescribed parts merely
as representatives of the group
carrying caps and gowns, singing
the traditional songs, and, in gen-
eral, obeying the rules of the game.
No doubt the ever-repeated per-
formance of these same ceremonies
will make the participants and the
spectators feel the mystical unity
of the school and the students, but
the present will only be a link in
the chain from past to future, and
will make the little students look
up to the big school and recognize
its importance.

I am somehow more accustomed
to see the student traditions center
around clubs and little informal
meetings where exact organization
does not play such an important
part. I would rather consider cer-
tain clubs like language clubs, col-
lege theatre, soda fountain, radio
station and
clubs as carriers of school tradi-
tions than automatic, nonspontan-
eous group performances, And then
I think of the Diaper Club in my
South Osthrobothnia student na-
tion and smile.

 

 

by Naomi Cooks 758
(transfer student)

Most students at the large uni-
versities of the Midwest seem to
have a rather nebulous idea of
what life is like at an Eastern col-
lege—and especially at a “female
college”. Among the many myths
and miseonceptions (most of which
seem to have been originated by
pseudo-sophisticates returning to
good old State U. after two years
at Howcome Junior College), is
the firm and widespread belief that
the Eastern seats of higher learn-
ing are submerged in a primeval
sea of tradition which is .surround-

 

about this, and without much effort
came to a brief conclusion.
Unlike some institutions of Hila,
B.M. is not in the swim. Most col-
leges began with some sorts of
mud-larking and pageant-flexing
which have since transmuted their
original \impetus of clandestine
foolery and organized irreverence
to a kind of class enthusiasm for
venerable objects. The enthusiasm
fades when Worthwhile Pursuits
heave into the extra-curricular
horizon. Ambitions winds loving
arms around big sports and big
offices, and presumes that there is

 

Continued on Page 5, Col. 1 '

?

ed by an impenetrable forest of
ancient custom. After spending
two years at the University of
Wisconsin—one of those parvenu,
wild and woolly colleges which is
a quarter-century older than Bryn
Mawr—I decided to find out if the
ivy really was greener on the other
side of the Alleghenies, and trans-
ferred to Bryn Mawr.

Among my first impressions,
stimulated perhaps by the Gothic
architecture and the truly all-en-
veloping ivy, was this feeling of

 

being surrounded by and absorbed

I was not then precisely sure of
what this tradition stood for. But
after several weeks, I realized that
it was something which concerned
not only large-scale “productions”
like Lantern Night or May Day,
but which embraced even seeming-
ly insignificant, although never-
theless ever-present habits such as
holding a button when passing un-
der the railroad tracks.

Having been cautioned by solic-
itous friends “back on the farm”
to avoid becoming “affected” by
my new environment, I was deter-
mined t6 view all this custom and
tradition with a cynical eye and
restrained emotions. I thought
‘back to my days at Wisconsin with
a feeling of smug certainty that
we in the Big Ten had never in-
dulged in anything so inane and
foolish as maypole dancing or lan-
tern swinging, or wearing of aca-
demic gowns on occasions other
than graduation! It was at this
point—at the height of my scorn
for the imitation-Gothic, the ivy,
and the tea cups of Bryn Mawr—
that I one day found myself clutch-
ing a button as I walked under the
tunnel into the ville. It was then

N. Cooks, Transfer Student, Disparages Habitual Apathy
Here; Sees Significance, Meaning in College’s Traditions

a part of Wisconsin, but was be-
coming very much a part of Bryn
Mawr—and Bryn Mawr’s customs
were becoming very much a part
of me. Suddenly, thinking-of the
once-cherished traditions of Wis-
consin, I saw that they too-looked
quite foolish to me now that I was
an “outsider”. The solemn, secre-

various—--discussion *

a

tive rites of sorority initiations |

seemed like silly mumbo-jumbo;
the beloved custom of drinking
green beer and dancing in the
streets on St. Patrick’s Day ap-
peared senseless; andthe-pageant-
ry of “Senior Swingout”, when the
senior girls walk across the cam-
pus dressed in white ‘and carrying
flowers was . . . well, really quite
dull without maypoles!

I finally realized that Wisconsin,
like Bryn Mawr or any other

 

school, has its customs and-tradi=

tions—all of which seem quite rea- .

sonable as long as one feels him-
self to be a part of the school.
Unfortun , ds Wisconsin grew,
many of the old; campus-wide cus-
toms were abandoned—it is very
difficult to have required-and-fined-
meetings for 13,000 students. Thus,
the sororities, fraternities, and

 

 

into a long, long line of tradition.

that I realized that I was no longer

Continued on Page 4, Col. 4 E

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