With Homecoming just around the corner, Baylor students and alumni alike will soon get to participate in all the fun traditions of Baylor Homecoming Weekend. 

From the good ole’ Baylor Line running every home football game to the Diadeloso university-wide holiday in the spring, here is a rundown of all the best Baylor traditions. 

1. All-University Sing is definitely one of the most fun traditions here at Baylor. Sing began way back in 1953 with eight student organizations performing three songs in front of an audience of less than 15 people. It’s come a long way since then. Now 20 organizations participate in Sing each year, preparing and rehearsing for months prior to opening night.

2. Running the Baylor Line as a freshman is one of the most fun experiences any Baylor student will ever have. Freshman students, wearing their bright yellow line jerseys, run onto the field at every home football game and create a tunnel to welcome the team onto the field. 

3. Homecoming Weekend is quite the event at Baylor. The weekend begins Thursday night with the Freshman Mass Meeting in Waco Hall, where students hear the story of the Immortal Ten. The following night, a bonfire and extravaganza (carnival) are held in Fountain Mall, and alums come with their children who are dressed in mini football and cheerleader outfits (it’s the cutest thing). After the Homecoming parade (the first and largest in the nation) on Saturday morning, you can go to Pigskin Revue and the football game. It’s one of the most fun weekends of the year! #sicem 

4. Pigskin Revue is over Homecoming Weekend and it is when the top eight acts from the last Sing perform just for fun. It is a shorter and more chill version of Sing, basically.

5. Diadeloso, or just Dia for short, is a university-wide holiday in the spring. Classes are cancelled on a Thursday and you can either go to campus, where they have events like roller skating, tug-of-war, food trucks and mini pigs you can hold, or you can do whatever else you want – it’s a free day off from school. 

6. The Traditions Rally is held the Thursday night before the first home football game of the season. There’s tailgating, games and a concert put on by Delt, and later a pep rally and another concert inside the stadium. 

7. Christmas on 5th Street is another one of the best traditions at Baylor. On a Thursday evening in early December, campus is transformed into a winter wonderland with carriage rides, a nativity scene with live animals, a Christmas tree farm, visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus, cookie decorating and the KOT Christmas Tree Lighting in Burleson Quad. 

8. Line Camp takes place during the summer before freshman year. It’s a great chance to meet people, get excited about coming to Baylor in the fall and learn about the traditions. Campers also take a trip to Independence, Texas, where the first Baylor campus was located. 

9. Dr Pepper Hour is every Tuesday afternoon in the Barfield Drawing Room of the SUB. It’s free Dr Pepper floats, what else could you ask for? 

10. Move-In Day of freshman year is every parent’s favorite and least favorite day of the year. Student volunteers swarm the cars of new students and parents and carry up all of their things in one trip for them. Following move-in is Welcome Week, a time of adjusting to living on campus and getting to know other freshmen. 
11. Tortilla tossing, an unofficial but still widely recognized Baylor tradition, is exactly what it sounds like – you buy a bag of perfectly good tortillas, only to literally toss them off the suspension bridge. Why? Supposedly if you land one of the tortillas on one of the two concrete blocks near the bridge, you will marry a Baylor boy. (It’s harder than it sounds.)   

13. Ring by spring, related to tortilla tossing, is a term you learn early in your college career. At Baylor, it’s unlikely that you will graduate without knowing at least five couples who are engaged before graduation. Ring by spring is the desire of college couples (well, girls) to get engaged by the spring of senior year.