For freshers like myself staying in Regs, the past weekend was for lack of a better word: hectic. From the 18th to the 21st of October 2024, those in St Regulus hall took part in two of the university's traditions – St Regulus' Day and Raisin weekend.
Credit: Student's Guide to St Andrews.
The legend of St Regulus follows the story of the Saint, also known as St Rule, who sailed from Greece to Scotland carrying the relics of St Andrews the apostle. After being shipwrecked in the North East of Fife, St Regulus established a pre-Norman Church, and the town of St Andrews was born.
St Regulus' dinner is held in St Regulus hall, or Regs as we St Andrews students affectionately nickname it. Regs was originally built in the 1880s as a hotel, becoming university accommodation in the 1950s.
This year, Regs celebrated St Regulus day on Friday the 18th of October. The night started with a St Regulus day dinner, speeches from committee members, in which I forgot I had applied for secretary and hid behind the biscoff cheesecake as my name was read out and heads turned to stare. Students and staff alike adorning the dining hall with red gowns and formal dress, which gave a sense of dark academia ambiance to the celebrations. My friends and I took the opportunity to take pictures on the stairs, as I became dangerously close to tripping over my heels due to my inherent clumsiness and the free flowing wine.
Afterwards, a ceilidh took place near Regs, with many students trying out ceilidh dancing for the first time. Personally, as someone who has been forced into Scottish country dancing since PE classes in nursery school, seeing those who had never tried it out before falling aimlessly to the ground was the height of the evening's entertainment. Especially when the band were getting ready for the next dance and the chanting of “play Wonderwall” could be heard across the hall.
However, for many freshers - Saturday was not a day of rest after the hectic events of the previous night, but rather a day of preparation for Sunday's events.
Raisin Sunday for many consisted of a scavenger hunt around the town, before playing games and having lunch with one’s academic family. Against popular belief, of being kidnapped in the early hours of the morning, for me it was actually a wholesome experience, with my academic siblings and running around the town doing scavenger hunts and performing in lip sync battles, as opposed to being tied to a fountain and forced to do the Macarena.
Credit: BBC News.
Raisin Monday consisted of the famous foam fight on Sallie’s quad, with different academic families adorning a variety of costumes. As the Cranberries and Fleetwood Mac played in the background, the UKs top university students laughed aloud as they threw foam at one another, with the rage saved up from six in the morning fire alarms, before subsequently running back to halls to shower, still finding foam in their shoes for a few days after, as well as bestowing more grudges towards those who got to the showers first in non en-suite halls.
As we bid farewell to the hazing stage of the academic family dynamic, I’d like to thank those who made both St Regulus day and Raisin weekend so special for so many freshers.
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