Quote:
Originally Posted by AlphaGamUGAAlum
All male freshman at my dad's college in the late 50s had beanies. I think they all had to have their heads shaved too. At the time it was an all white school, so it would have been odd if they had copied the tradition from NPHCs.
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In fact, the use of the beanie (called a "pot") originated in the Middle Ages as a part of undergraduate life in Europe. This practice was transferred to American undergraduate life as a part of freshman hazing. In many cases, as freshman hazing was outlawed, Greek life became the sole repository of many of these practices. I will now quote from the Introduction: "The Rise of College Fraternities" in The History of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity by Dr. Herman Dreer:
"The Middle Ages furnished another prototype for the Greek-letter society in the institution of the guilds. Especially might we consider the guilds of notaries in Florence, those of attorneys in London,the book writers-sellers guilds of Pairs, and the guilds of scholars at Boulogne, Paris, Oxford, Lisbon, Prague, and Heidelberg; and we might consider the guilds of many other medieval cities, where they evolved into universities. Various practices of the guilds of scholars we can today find in college fraternities" p. i-ii.
Letterwoman's Sweater
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