As the school year comes to a close, students are rushing to cross off items on their year-end bucket lists.

Whether it’s signing the walls at Chuck’s or climbing the water tower, students have put aside time to accomplish these feats.

These small traditions are well known to current students, but only time will tell if they will continue on in Orange-lore.  Though some traditions are come-and-go, there are some that seem to last forever. Here’s a look back at some traditions that haven’t stood the test of time.

Greek mythology aids students in final exams

A group of students groggily stumble into Carnegie Library, barely glancing at the 12-foot statue in front of them.

The statue “Diana” with her dog was donated to Syracuse University in 1932 by its creator, Anna Hyatt Huntington. Cast in bronze, the statue has always carried a bit of controversy, beauty and luck.

The legend states that if “a student rubs the dog’s paw and says a brief prayer, they will be ensured success in any quiz or examination,” according to SU Archives.

In Greek mythology Diana represents the huntress, and in this depiction she has just released an arrow into flight while both she and her dog watch its ascent into the air.

The dog’s paw is a shiny gold color after years of students’ hands have rubbed away layers, asking the statue to bring them luck. In recent years, the tradition has fallen out of university-lore. A small metal ring surrounds the statue, dissuading students from touching it.

The statue was recently relocated to Carnegie after years of residence in Bird Library. During its stint in Bird, Lisa Moeckel, current associate dean of SU libraries, sent this email to staff members in 2005:

“Please note that the University Art Collection staff have reminded us that touching the Diana statue (specifically, rubbing the dog’s paw) is not permitted. While I know that tour givers may like to tell this story about rubbing the paw for luck we should not suggest or promote this study…”

Jessica Rice, a Carnegie Library technician, said in her two years of working in that role she has never seen a student rub the statue. She admitted to telling people the tale if approached by prospective students and families for an informal tour of the space.

Replicas of Huntington’s statue can be found in places around the world including Blois, France, New Orleans and Northwestern University, a peer institution of Syracuse University.

The statue at Northwestern University, donated by Huntington in 1939, appears outside one of its libraries, the Charles Deering Library. Janet Olson, a NU assistant university archivist, said there is no such tradition at the school.

Seniors plant ivy in one last clingy effort

A silver shovel is plunged deep into the earth. The Hall of Languages looms high above as seniors from the class of 1873 place an ivy plant in the ground.

The ivy oration was given by a member of that graduating class.

“We plant here what will cling like our memories to these old walls, always beautifying them, and clinging closer as storm or time would weaken their grip and further will be a memory of us long after we move off the stage,” said an unnamed orator, according to a 1873 article in the University Herald.

The tradition of ivy planting during commencement weekend was started by Syracuse University’s 1873 graduating class, and was celebrated well into the 20th century.

The ceremony changed over the years, but two things remained consistent: planting an ivy plant, normally on the west side of the Hall of Languages, and a small speech, the ivy oration,  given by a member of the senior class.

Other variations included passing the trowel to the junior class officers and the girls of every class marching around campus in white dresses carrying a rope of orange bunting.

A 1940 photograph of four students gathered around a small piece of ivy is the last reference to the tradition in the SU Archives. It is unclear when this ceremony stopped, but is currently not celebrated.

“The significance of  the planting of the ivy has become so vital to students leaving the university…the tradition has been commemorated by almost every graduating class,” a 1931 Daily Orange article said.

The death of the Mathew Matic‘s family 

In collaboration with “evil powers,” Mathew Matic’s family would come to SU every year to inflict pain and grief on the sophomore class in the form of a required calculus class.

During commencement week, the “surviving” sophomore would dispose of the bodies of John. R. Calculus and his wife, Mary Anna Lytics, in a lightheartedly macabre production.

The 1780 Calculus 5-page burial packet features drawings of men in white cloaks with torches circling a burning casket, theories on the origins of the Mathew Matic’s family and even a song.

Here’s just one verse:

“He was a man of horrid fame, of horrid fame he was,

To torture Sophs, to scare the Fresh was John R.’s perfect glee.”

Over the years, the Mathew Matic’s family were buried across Syracuse in a variety of dark ways. This list includes burning at the pyre, air launch by balloon and drowning in Oneida, Onondaga, Skaneateles, and Cazenovia lakes.

After the ceremony was complete, the class would often picnic with song and dance.

This ceremony is one of the oldest on campus. The last records of it from SU Archives date back to 1891. A Nov. 15, 1946 Daily Orange article outlining the tradition starts with “Back in the day,” ancient to even that group of students.

Published on May 9, 2016 at 6:20 pm

Contact Jacob: jagedets@syr.edu