St Andrews students celebrate Raisin Weekend
Every year, St Andrews University undergraduates take part in Raisin Weekend, where student “parents” inflict tasks on the unfortunate first-years they have adopted as “children” as part of a mentoring scheme.
The annual Raisin experience, which took place over the weekend, came to an end today with a foam fight in the normally tranquil setting of St Salvator’s Quad.
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Hide AdIn exchange for being dressed up in embarrassing costumes and taken on a pub crawl, the students usually give their academic “parents” a present - which is now normally a bottle of wine but used to be a pound of raisins, hence the name.
But the origin of the ritual remains a mystery to this year’s intake of students.
Jack, 17, a classics student, said: “This is Raisin Monday, and it’s a supposed tradition every year that you get academic parents, and on the Sunday you have a good time with them, get drunk, and then on Monday you have a foam fight.
“It’s just an excuse to have fun, really. I don’t know much of the history behind it but it’s a good day.
“The foam feels pretty weird. Some people are using top-quality stuff like Gillette, which isn’t quite as sore on the eyes, but the Sainsburys stuff is a bit sore.
“It’s weird, it’s fun, everybody is having a good time. It’s bizarre but I’m enjoying it.”
Shona, 19, an English and history student who is studying to be a teacher, said: “On Raisin our academic mum dresses us up and our dad gives us something to carry into town in a procession, and we all have big foam fight.
“It is traditional. I know that they have done it for a long time, but I’m not totally sure where it came from originally.”
St Andrews was founded in 1413 and is Scotland’s oldest university.