St Andrews first-years stage foam fight in Scotland's Raisin Monday tradition
First-year students at the University of St Andrews in Scotland took part on Monday in the annual Raisin Monday ritual, which today takes the form of a mass shaving-foam fight. The roughly 600-year-old tradition helps bring together students from many countries.
At the University of St Andrews, on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, first-year students held the annual Raisin Monday on Monday. The tradition is a way of thanking older students for mentoring newcomers through their first weeks at university. It has existed for around 600 years, but in recent decades it has turned into a giant foam fight. The university is the third oldest in the English-speaking world.
From raisins to foam
Freshers once gave their elders a pound of raisins, which gave the event its name. This time, hundreds of students in fancy dress gathered at 11am on the lower college lawn at St Salvator's, armed with cans of shaving foam, and began covering one another. Groups came as Smurfs, mice, bananas, grandmas, sunflowers and chefs. Within minutes the costumes could no longer be told apart.
Each group's theme is chosen by second- and third-year students known as "mums" and "dads", who are paired with the first-years and watch from the edge of the lawn. First-year Freya said her group dressed as periodic table elements because their "parents" study chemistry. She said such traditions matter more now that people are less connected face to face.
Community in a small town
More than half of the small town's population is made up of students from around the world, and the ritual helps break down barriers between them. Deborah, an American medical student whose group dressed as the animated character Megamind, said such events are possible because the university is small. Henry, an American student, said the event let him meet people from Singapore, England, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
Changes in 2026
On the Sunday, first-years are traditionally woken early, "kidnapped" and made to take a dip in the North Sea, but this year that was optional. Before the foam fight, students were encouraged to donate to a local food bank, and the event appeared to involve much less alcohol than in previous years.
After about half an hour the cans were empty, and the first-years headed to the exit to be hosed down despite single-digit temperatures. They then hugged their "parents" and went home to shower.
