Unique Traditions Mark Mount Holyoke College's Commencement
South Hadley, MA--Mount Holyoke College, one of the oldest liberal arts colleges for women in the United States, will celebrate this year's commencement with a number of unique traditions--including a parade with ties to the Women's Suffrage Movement--which have been established over the College's 162-year history.
The ceremonies surrounding the Mount Holyoke College Commencement begin Saturday, May 22 with the Laurel Parade, which dates back to 1900. Beginning at 9 am from Woolley Circle, members of the Class of 1999 will march carrying a chain of laurel and are led by alumnae, who walk with their classes. The oldest classes returning to campus lead the parade; this year two women from the Class of 1924 will head the procession. Participants, all wearing white, walk to the grave of the school's founder, Mary Lyon. At the grave, the laurel chain is wrapped around the grave's fence. Although the laurel was replaced by daisies due to a shortage of the native plant in 1923, and by peace signs in 1970, this year's parade will bear the traditional laurel.
Ties to the Women's Suffrage Movement The students and alumnae marching in the Laurel Parade wear white to commemorate the standard dress of early-twentieth-century suffragettes who wore white while campaigning for the right to vote. Once assembled around the grave site, students will sing James Oppenheim's "Bread and Roses," a tradition that began in 1978. The song refers to the historic Lawrence textile mills strike of 1912 in which thousands of workers fought for reasonable hours and pay.
Both the white dress and the song lyrics symbolize Mount Holyoke's close association with efforts to advance women's rights. The first stanza of the anthem is: "As we go marching, marching in the beauty of the day, A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray, Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses, For the people hear us singing 'Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!'"
Canoe Sing The College's baccalaureate ceremony will be held in Abbey Memorial Chapel Saturday at 9 pm, and at 10:30 the same evening students will participate in the tradition of the "Canoe Sing," which was started in 1911. Twelve canoes, illuminated by lanterns, will carry seniors on Upper Lake as they and other seniors along the banks sing songs in celebration of commencement.
Commencement Anna Quindlen, on Sunday, May 23, will deliver the commencement address to approximately 460 graduating seniors. Quindlen is a novelist, social critic and Pulitizer-Prize winning journalist. The ceremony begins at 10:30 am in the Gettell Amphitheater on Mount Holyoke's campus in South Hadley, Mass.
Mount Holyoke College is the oldest institution of higher education for women in the nation.
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