Mount Holyoke is perhaps one of the most liberal colleges rooted in the oldest traditions. From the autumn to spring, every Mount Holyoke students semester would be incomplete without our community's traditional celebrations. In honor of the most recent Mountain Day, here is a list of the best Mount Holyoke traditions:
1. Mount Day!
A tradition that started in 1838, Mountain day is a day in Fall semester (usually before Fall break) where the president chooses a random day to call classes off with by ringing the bells a 100 times at 7 am. The students then climb Mount Holyoke, the college's namesake, and eat ice cream at the top of the mountain with the president!
2. M&Cs
Every night at 9:30 pm, milk (and our beloved juice boxes) and cookies (or doughnuts or chocolate bars) are delivered to every residence hall without fail. There's nothing like going to the golden pear in your pajamas to fetch some sweet late night snacks!
3. Pangy Day
Pangy Day is the Spring festival to be at! This tradition started in 1979 and now takes place on the last Friday of classes and is a day filled with food, music, cute animals, and celebration.
4. Laurel Parade
Most Mount Holyoke students would say that graduation wouldn't feel complete without participating in the Laurel Parade. According to the Mount Holyoke College site, "The seniors and all the alumnae parade participants dress in white, a tradition that began as a show of solidarity with the suffragettes who wore white when campaigning for women's right to vote. "
5. Dirty Dancing
Every fall semester, students gather in the amphitheter and watch Dirty Dancing and chant in excitement when our beloved character, Baby, is declared to be attending our school. If not the movie, then the agressive chanting at the screen everytime a sexist character comes on screen is worth going for!
