Traditions
at Randolph-Macon Woman's College

For the first thirteen years, celebrations, though yearly, were haphazard at best. There were no themes, the ruling principle of decoration was simply to plaster the campus red, gray and blue. Paper flowers adorned every available space, and bright streamers floated from the ceilings. Possibly because the decorations were so simple, there was no great outcry if they were destroyed, and the Evens frequently burned them. In these years, Odd Day was established as April first; this was later changed to April 15th to avoid conflicts with Spring Break.

The first Odd theme was the Middle Ages, and knights, dragons, and Canterbury Pilgrims disported themselves all over campus. Two years later, in 1927, came the perennial theme "Alice in OddLand," which reappeared all too often thereafter. 1926 saw "The Wedding of the Witch and Devil"; 1927's "Treasure Island" transformed Main to the Admiral Benbow, and 1928 took adventurous students "Under the Sea." "Mother Goose," an all-encompassing topic repeated wholesale in 1944, first came to the campus in 1933. Subsequently, parts of its exhibits were repeated in 1938 (with "Snow White and the Slick Sixteen"), 1972 (with "The Odd World of Disney") and 1980 (with the "Land of Odds").

Despite the divergent themes, activities on Odd Day have always been much the same. In the early years, a bugle instead of a bell roused the campus, and by 1913 words had been set to its music: "Though it glitters, / Though it glitters!" freshmen sang, "it is not GOLD, / Because it is, / Because it is, / Those BRASSY sophomores!" The next year, raised to a new eminence, they woke the echoes with another verse, "Though it's verdant / Though it's verdant / It is not GRASS! / Because it is, Because it is, / That BABY freshman class."

For many years, the Carnation Arch was made before chapel; that is, in the late morning. The afternoon events included a parade along Rivermont—in the early years, Lynchburg police stopped traffic—and the planting of a Ragged Robin, Odd Class Flower, by Odd class presidents.At night, after the usual dinner, there was a skit given by upperclassmen (or sometimes the Odd Faculty!).

Late at night on every Odd Day—and this was not given up till the seventies—there was a Lantern Parade. Carrying shoebox lanterns, one for each Odd class, student and alumnae Odds filed slowly down Crush Path to the Tree. Placing the lanterns in its branches, they called the roll of Macon's Odds—'99, '01...on to the present classes. Then, they serenaded each other till midnight.

Despite a 1970 effort to abolish Odd Day—none was held that year—it continues unabated. Or, at least, only slightly abated, it became a biennial event, by vote, in 1958. The "Pride of Alma Mater"—so says an Odd song—the "Envy of the Evens"; it seems likely to be of all Odd traditions the most enduring.