Lantern Night Tradition
Historically, in the fall semester, first-year students gathered in the Cloisters where the sophomores presented them with lanterns in their class color or the McBride color of purple. Recently, this tradition has been hold on Merion Green.
The sentiment behind Lantern Night is that the light of knowledge is being passed from one class to the other. It is a welcoming of the first-year students into the academic community of Bryn Mawr. The second "step sing" of the year follows the ceremony.
The class colors are dark blue, green, light blue, and red. McBrides are always purple, except that some may elect to mix the panes of their lantern with their corresponding graduating class color. Dark blue, light blue, red, and green were chosen as representatives of the four elements: water, air, fire and earth. The McBride purple lantern color was chosen to represent the human spirit.
Athena
The patron goddess of the College is Athena. Her statue is located in Great Hall. Students make offerings to Athena for her gifts of wisdom and strength when taking finals, writing papers, just asking for a little personal help, and innumerable other reasons.
McBride Labyrinth
The Bryn Mawr Labyrinth is a classical seven-circle labyrinth between Canaday and Rhoads, overlooking the athletic fields and Vickers Pond. Given as a gift from the McBride Scholars and designed by Jeanne-Rachel Salomon '00, it was installed in fall 1998.
The Moon Bench
The moon bench sits at the end of senior row. Superstition says if you kiss someone while sitting on the moon bench, the relationship is doomed. Want the relationship to flourish? Kiss under Rockefeller Arch to make it last forever.
Senior Row
Through the middle of Bryn Mawr's campus is a double row of trees known as Senior Row. It is the site of the May Day hoop race. The rumor is, if you walk all the way down Senior Row in between the rows of trees before you're a senior, you won't graduate. At the end of Senior Row is the Moon Bench, which has its own associated traditional value.
Self-Government Association and Honor Code
The two primary institutions of student self-government at Bryn Mawr are the Self-Government Association (SGA), to which every student belongs, and the Honor Code, a set of principles stressing personal integrity and mutual respect to which all students agree to adhere. The Honor Code has both social and academic components. Socially, Bryn Mawr students are asked to respect the rights of those around them and to work together to find solutions to problems. Academically, students are given full responsibility for the integrity of their academic work, including original research and self-scheduled exams. The SGA and the Honor Code give students a valuable opportunity at Bryn Mawr.
When students united to form the Bryn Mawr College Self-Government Association in 1892, the College became the first institution of higher education in the United States to give students responsibility not only for enforcing rules of behavior upon themselves, but also for deciding what those rules should be. It was considered a radical experiment at the time, and is still unusual. But most Bryn Mawr students and alumnae/i cite self-government as one of the most valuable parts of a Bryn Mawr education.
The College’s tradition of respect for students’ autonomy and responsibility has created a unique campus environment where students participate in discussion and resolution of the most important issues facing the College — from the alcohol policy to faculty appointments to the College’s curriculum.
Welcome the First Years
This is a week of fun and bonding between the first year and upper class students. It serves as a way to break the monotony in the time between winter and spring breaks, but more importantly, it serves as the true welcoming of the first year class. Welcome the First Years Week provides a means by which people can get to know each other.
May Day
May Day is an all-day celebration that occurs the Sunday after the last week of spring classes. The entire Bryn Mawr community comes together for a day of medieval festivity and a general good time. May Day begins with the seniors rising to go wake the President of the College; followed by class breakfasts. After a traditional meal of strawberries and cream, May Day gets kicked off with a parade that begins at Rockefeller Arch and ends on Merion Green. After the parade, there is Maypole Dancing and May Queen speeches. Each class gets a Maypole in its class color, and the McBride/Graduate Student Maypole is in the McBride color of purple and the College color of yellow. There are many events throughout the day, including Scottish dancing, Morris dancing, the traditional King Arthur Play, the sophomore class play, the Robin Hood Play, a cappella concerts, various cultural dancing and music displays, and there is always a large concert in the afternoon on the Merion Green. May Day is concluded with the traditional showing of "The Philadelphia Story," starring fellow Mawrter Katharine Hepburn. The last step sing of the year is held on this night.
Senior Bell Ringing
After all senior year work is complete, each student has the opportunity to go to the Taylor Hall bell tower and ring the bell the number of their class year.
Senior Steps
On the west side of Taylor Hall, the stone steps leading to the entrance beneath the bell tower are referred to as the "senior steps". This is where the seniors sit during "step sing". Tradition has it that bad luck will come to those underclassmen who ascend the steps before their senior year.
Parade Night
Parade Night is a celebration of the completion of the first week of classes. Parade Night roles are based on the relationships defined by the classes. The new students are introduced to their sister class, the juniors, as well as to their adversarial class, the sophomores, and the apathetic seniors. Through this process, the juniors and seniors "mentor" the first year students and sophomores, respectively, until as juniors and seniors, they receive younger sister classes. These relationships are prevalent throughout the first three traditions. The first step sing of the year is held on this night.
Pembroke Arch
One of the most recognizable images on Bryn Mawr's campus, the Pembroke Arch was the first college archway in America. Friendship Poles are located at the exit of the arch. Bryn Mawr tradition holds that friends who pass through the poles together will remain forever close.
Emily Balch Seminar
Emily Balch Seminars plunge new Bryn Mawr students into the heart of a liberal arts education. They introduce all first-year students at Bryn Mawr to a critical, probing, thoughtful approach to the world and our roles in it. These challenging seminars are taught by scholar/teachers of distinction within their fields and across academic disciplines. They facilitate the seminars as active discussions among students, not lectures. Through intensive reading and writing, the thought-provoking Balch Seminars challenge students to think about complex, wide-ranging issues from a variety of perspectives.
Emily Balch, Bryn Mawr Class of 1889, was a gifted scholar with a uniquely global perspective who advanced women’s rights on an international level. In 1946, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, which is one of the treasures in the Bryn Mawr College Collections.
As a distinguished scholar of economics and sociology, she conducted pioneering cross-cultural studies of immigration and poverty. As an advocate of women’s rights, she was a founder of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, which supported pacifism during World War I. As a committed activist, she devoted her life to championing humanitarian causes around the world at the League of Nations and other international organizations.
Garden Party
Possibly the largest of the minor traditions, Garden Party happens on the Saturday of graduation weekend every year. Each senior chooses a non-senior to be her "garden party girl." The garden party girl then chooses a spot on the lawn in front of Wyndham and Erdman and decorates it for the senior's family.
Rock Arch and the Owl in Rock Arch
Superstition says that if you kiss under the Rockefeller Archway, it will solidify your relationship. Conversely, if you kiss while seated on the Moon Bench, your relationship will not last.
In the center of Rockefeller Arch, there is a stone owl who is said to be the protector of the college.
Customs Week
When first year students enroll, they are assigned to dorms, and each dorm is divided into several customs groups. These are groups of first-years who spend customs week together throughout the number of activities. Customs groups are led by sophomore "customs people," who live on the same floor as the first-years and are responsible for the general orientation of new students to the college. These groups remain together throughout the school year.