這幾天學校到處都有Raisin weekend的活動預告，本來以為又是另外一個狂歡活動而已，大家卻準備的如火如荼，到處看了一下才知道─Raisin weekend是聖安大學部的重頭戲之一。在我們的大學裡，剛進去我們都會有學長學姐來認家族，帶我們認識學校、考試送all pass糖，聖安也有這樣的傳統，他們稱為academic family─academic mother、academic father和academic children。
這個活動是聖安的傳統活動，以前學校都會要academic children給acdemic mother一袋raisin(葡萄乾)，謝謝他們的academic mother為他們舉辦活動，不過現在禮物肯定是學生的最愛─a bottle of wine。通常都是大一是academic children到大三的academic mother家玩。大一的學生會在學校挑選好他們的
這個週末，academic children會輪流到academic mother和academic fater家做客，party、狂飲、街上玩遊戲、裝扮都有，最多的是有闖關遊戲，我昨天還看到有人是要去Tesco用胡椒瓶排出字樣，或是找最便宜的商品，整個tesco都是「沒有買東西的人」，全程的人都酒醉是「正常的」。
"Raisin Weekend," the crazed, carnavalesque kickoff to St. Andrew's academic year, may indeed at one time have had something to do with raisins. These days, though, the focus has drifted away from dried fruit and towards a naughtier combination of objects: alcohol, foam (generally taking the shape of shaving cream), and police reports.
The origins of Raisin Weekend remain shrouded in mystery, an obscurity all too appropriate for a festival whose very tradition is rooted in mocking tradition. For a university sometimes accused of having built a reputation for stuffy poshness -- its most famous recent alumnus is Prince William -- Raisin Weekend promises the ultimate retort, styling itself as a wild, bachannalic rite of passage for baffled first-year students.
The idea is that after two days and two nights of stealing property, swilling alcohol, dressing up in (and intermittently stripping out of) makeshift costumes, pouring beans on the heads of innocent townspeople, and biting the heads off of innocent chicken, students will have no other choice than to grant St. Andrews their lifelong allegience.
↓活動介紹↓
The duties of the academic mother, according to a special Raisin Weekend guide written by the university's student union, begin with throwing her children a "tea party" on Sunday afternoon, with "the tea often being replaced by alcohol." Mothers are instructed to "ply (their) kids with party food, making sure they have eaten something" before everyone moves on to the father's party. Mothers are also required to dress up their children in outrageous costumes and to wrap them in "raisin strings," which are simply threads attached to some chosen object deemed both "fun" and "representative" of the child in question.
Academic fathers are charged with chaperoning their children throughout the night's parties -- a duty that often ends with romantic trysts between father and child if circumstances and sexual preference permit. In return for this "paternal" stewardship, academic children are supposed to bestow gifts upon their fathers. Traditionally, children were supposed to gift their fathers with a pound of raisins, but in recent times a bottle of wine has been the custom.
In gratitude for the gift, fathers award their children with "Raisin Receipts." These are no ordinary records of transaction. Most academic fathers choose to print their receipts -- really just a scribbled latin phrase -- onto large and hulking objects. As the student union guide advises fathers, "the receipt can take any form you choose -- from an abandoned piece of furniture to a stuffed animal." The guide cautions, however, that fathers make sure they don't print their receipts on someone else's property, pointing out that what students reasonably "might view as a prank, the police will view as theft or vandalism."
On Monday, comes the climax. Child and parent alike congregate in the quadrangle of St. Salvator's College where they then participate in the largest out-door shaving cream fight on the planet. Academic children come in costume and must bring their unwieldy "receipts" along with them.
Every year, the university warns students to rein in their antics or face cancellation, and every year, the police records pile up, offering an amusing chronicle of that year's transgressions.
student union針對這個活動還有專門的網頁，提醒學生他們可以怎麼做！
↓連「找不到小孩」都設想到了！
If you are struggling to find children, there is always the last minute option of the "orphan bop" on the Friday of Raisin Weekend where you can adopt to your heart's content!
academic mother需要準備繩子Raisin Strings來裝飾，讓他們的小孩可以找到他們，當然是閱有創意越好，小孩會回敬一份禮物，通常是一瓶酒
3rd Year Mothers: use only THREE strings, red, blue and yellow.
4th Year Mothers: use all FOUR strings.
星期天活動從下午茶開始，academic mother除了準備tea time之外，還會有很多的活動，當成是破冰時間。
星期一則是要裝扮自己的academic children，和準備一頓早餐當作一天的開始，學生會則會在學校中心為這些妝扮過的academic children舉辦一場「泡泡pa」。
那academic father要幹嘛呢？
academic children參加過academic mother的下午茶之後，會到academic father家玩party，星期一早上academic children一樣會給一瓶酒，academic father則要給他們一樣東西，讓他們去academic mother家吃完早餐後，可以帶去foam party。
上面還要附有拉丁文message
Ego (name of parent), tertianus/a (if you’re a third year) or magistrandus/a (fourth year) or alumnus/a (if you’re a graduate) huius celeberrimae universitatis Sancti Andreae, qui (subject you study) studeo, a te, meo/a bejanto/ina carissimo/a qui (subject child studies) student, unam libram uvarum siccarum accepisse affirmo pro qua multas gratias tibi ago.
在這個週末Raisin weekend，整個聖單小鎮就像是瘋了一樣，到處都有奇怪的事情發生。
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| 這個廠景事處處可見。 |
活動的目的是希望可以連結academic family的感情，讓大學生活成為學生最難忘的經驗。
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| 大家要準備去參加party |
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| 這是星期一早上，但是就像是嘉年華會一樣。 |
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| 我第一次發現原來聖安有警察 |
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| 到處都是有foam的人 |
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| 連天線寶寶都是白色的了 |
看來，聖安學生的瘋狂程度，不輸給那些參加嘉年華會的人。
