About This Quiz
If you grew up south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the word "homecoming" means something a little different to you than it does to those who hail from colder climes. While it's a big celebration just about everywhere, in the Deep South, there are layers of ceremony and issues of societal standing that go far beyond the fancy dresses and football games.
Of course, the high point of the entire celebration is the homecoming dance! While the senior prom is a big deal for those about to graduate high school, homecoming is a time for all grade levels to put on their best bib and tucker and strut their stuff. This part of homecoming is pretty much exclusively the province of high school. At the college level, homecoming is more a time to get the alumni to return to campus in hopes they'll be so moved by their alma mater's hospitality that they'll open their checkbooks and donate to the endowment, the booster club or the slush fund for stadium improvements. The festivities also get a little wilder, as you'll learn in the quiz!
Even if you're not from the South, you'll enjoy this quiz! You'll learn something about the genteel ways of your Southern cousins, and it might even bring back some fond memories of your own high school days. Put on your dancing shoes and get started!
If you've seen "Carrie," you know the answer to this one, although rest assured that most king and queen coronations do not involve buckets of blood and telekinesis-spawned horror and mayhem. They're usually mock-serious ceremonies involving cardboard crowns and lots of pictures.
This is a tradition that has gone by the wayside at many smaller schools, but at large and medium-sized high schools in the South, the queen must have her court! These can be young ladies who are elected on their own ballot, are selected by faculty or by the queen herself.
The homecoming parade can be as simple as the homecoming court riding in convertibles and waving to the crowd or as elaborate as glee-club-created floats, marching bands, dancing groups and other festivities. Thanks to technology, they're also now frequently webcast for alumni who can't make it to the festivities.
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Just as with pro football, college football tailgating is a major affair. What used to be convivial gatherings of backyard grillers and sandwich chefs has now become dominated by giant tailgating clubs with all manner of equipment and huge setups.
This can be as simple as swiping a statue or as complex as coaxing an animal of some sort into a transportable container for temporary relocation. This can become very complicated if the mascot is something like a buffalo, although the University of California-Santa Cruz mascot (the banana slug) would be an easier proposition.
Spirit Week is one of the more fun and entertaining events leading up to the game. Different schools have different traditions surrounding it, but it's sure to be one of the most Instagrammable events of the school year.
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These bonfires can be gigantic affairs, sometimes incorporating the talents of engineering students to design the structure in such a way that it will burn effectively. When the homecoming game involves a heated rivalry, effigies of the opposing team's mascot will frequently adorn the fire.
According to "Southern Living," most of the fried chicken comes from the Publix supermarket chain, although none of the grande dames in attendance will ever admit to it, and it's a tremendous breach of etiquette to ask. The dessert tables are also something to write home about.
The University of Texas at Austin, the flagship campus of the system, has had a longhorn named Bevo as its mascot for decades. On more than one occasion, enterprising troupes of Aggies, as the Texas A&M students are known, have given Bevo a ride to new quarters without the permission of his keeper.
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The Aggie Bonfire was (and still is) a legendary event, with an immense stack of logs and kindling. When the stack collapsed, fear of using heavy equipment led to many of the logs being removed by hand. The entire A&M football team, along with much of the Corps of Cadets, worked together to clear the collapse.
An important part of the homecoming experience is the big football game, especially for high school, and just as with college and the National Football League, football season is mostly during the fall. In the South, of course, another good reason to have the dance in the fall months is that there will be fewer cases of heatstroke among the formalwear-clad attendees!
In 1958, a group of more than a thousand girls was presented to Queen Elizabeth, marking the final time this ritual was observed. The tradition was more than two centuries old, but societal changes had made it obsolete.
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A Southern church homecoming, often held in the summer when church attendance traditionally falls, is a day-long affair with feasting, singing, preaching and reminiscing. This is the covered-dish supper on steroids, for those of you familiar with that tradition.
The University of Georgia football players take buses to the stadium and disembark before walking through a cheering gauntlet of students and the UGA band on the way to the main gate. During homecoming, the crowd often doubles in size.
According to "Business Insider," the tradition began in 1995 when someone shoved the campus president into the water. Florida has no shortage of bodies of water, but the significance of the reflecting pond lends an air of civil disobedience to the proceedings.
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You might be scratching your head at the idea of the humble chrysanthemum being the featured flower of the homecoming ritual, but these are no ordinary mums! The flowers themselves play a supporting role to ribbons, garlands, plastic geegaws and other tchotchkes that can turn the "mum" into a giant affair requiring two hands to hold.
Back when transportation wasn't as simple or as fast as it is now, it was a much bigger deal for alumni to come from all over to attend homecoming. As it's become easier to attend, the ceremonies have gotten even more raucous.
The whole thing started, of course, with a simple flower or arrangement of several blooms. Over time, in most cases, the flower was replaced by a silk or other faux bloom so the mums could be stored as keepsakes. Now, of course, most of them are too large for traditional keepsake boxes.
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The alumni band is a time-honored tradition, and it usually takes one of two forms. Either a band of all-alumni performers put on a show at some point using their own instruments or ones borrowed from the school. If there aren't enough alumni to fill the ranks, they're merged with the current student band.
With themes like "wacky tacky," "disco day" and the ever-popular "'80s day," which always leads to the raiding of parents' and grandparents' closets and attics, the dress-up days generally lead to the student body (and the cooler teachers) looking very different from the usual school days.
Louisiana is known as the Bayou State for good reason. Go in any direction from Baton Rouge, and you'll come across miles and miles of alligator-infested bayous. At certain times of the year, you can even get baskets of fried gator bites at fried chicken restaurants.
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The Marching Owl Band is somewhat ... unconventional. While most bands march and execute formations with military precision, the MOB takes the field in a mad dash, frequently in costume, and the ensemble features one of the few marching electric basses in collegiate history. They always put on a very special (usually fairly adult-themed) show for homecoming.
The tradition of debutante balls began in the 19th century in European society, and they were initially intended as coming-out parties for young ladies considered to be of marriageable age in hopes that they would find husbands of good social standing. In the South, that tradition endured until societal changes made the whole thing more of an exercise in etiquette and establishment of the social pecking order.
The idea is that they'll all rub good mojo into the ball to bring victory against VT's traditional homecoming opponent, Virginia Military Institute. According to tradition, the ball should cover at least one hundred miles before game day.
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Since the NCAA keeps records of college athletics, the organization's reporting of a 1911 game that alumni were encouraged to attend was good enough for Trivial Pursuit to include it as an official answer. If that's not authoritative enough, Missouri was also the correct answer in "jeopardy!" Baylor and other schools disagree and have their own points of history to support their claims.
The Spirit Cup is a coveted award given to a student group that shows its collegiate spirit the best by participating in a plethora of events. The usual schedule includes bowling and basketball tournaments, dodgeball games, a "cash for cans" drive and, of course, the homecoming parade.
Almost always a black-tie affair, the homecoming banquet is a genteel tradition that involves fancy dress, fine food, speeches from notable alumni and lots of stories shared among the attendees. With smaller schools, keeping the alumni involved is always a challenge, and the homecoming banquet is a good way to keep the home fires burning.
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Baylor may not be the oldest (although don't mention that on campus), but their parade is generally considered to be the biggest. Rivaling Thanksgiving Day parades in scope and attendance, it's a show whose planning begins not long after the previous year's parade ends.
The combined score of the three games was an awe-inspiring 114-0. When the team arrived on a special train, student served as "horses" to transport the players' carriages to the university campus.
The soapbox derby pits faculty organizations, fraternities and sororities and many other campus groups against each other in the quintessentially low-powered race. The race recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
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Over the years, YardFest has seen a tremendous talent slate of both established and up-and-coming R&B and hip-hop talent including Kanye West (before most people knew who he was), the Notorious B.I.G. and Ghostface Killah, along with surprises like Drake and 2 Chainz performing together.
The Gator Growl began early in the 20th century when the university was still an all-male school, students' fathers were invited to visit the campus for one day a year. In 1916, the invitations expanded beyond just fathers, and it's grown exponentially since then.
Usually less than half the size of the girl's mum, the garter is worn on the gentleman's arm — hopefully not when he is attempting to drive his date to the homecoming dance. The garter is a much more recent addition to the homecoming tradition.
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At the high school level, the picnic frequently takes the place of a lunch period during the week before the game, and the form of the food offerings ranges from place to place, from classic covered-dish affairs to big grilling events with burgers, dogs and the like over hot coals.
Especially for outdoor afternoon events during Homecoming Week, hats are a must to keep the sometimes brutal Southern sun from roasting ladies in their party best. Of course, so much time and effort go into creating the hats that they are often worn to evening events, as well.