Every year during the fall semester is when schools have homecoming dances and the big homecoming football game, and surrounder events. One thing Texas schools are known for is the Texas-sized homecoming mums. Mums began as a sweet Texan token of affection made by the guy given to a girl or girlfriend in honor of the high school homecoming football game, and in return, the girl would make the guy a garter.
“I made my mum myself, as well as my sisters. It took me about 3 hours total to make mine,” Senior Lillian Krennerich said.
Homecoming mums are said to have appeared in Texas during the 1930s, but the first, known homecoming mums were worn in Missouri when they had the first homecoming football game in 1911. Homecoming mums were exclusively a Texan tradition, but it has since expanded into neighboring states like Oklahoma and Louisiana in recent years.
“I never knew the history of mums and how it became a Texan tradition, I also never realized the guy would give the mum to the girl, where I just got myself a mum,” Junior Gabriella Mares said.
A homecoming mum is a corsage made up of one or two chrysanthemums with simple ribbons. As time has passed, mums are now decked out with ribbons, glitter, and tulle. The mum can be designed to represent school spirit and showcase the personality of the person wearing it. The girls have mums that range in different sizes. The saying “everything is bigger in Texas,” is. The guys have garters. A garter is like a mum but is worn around the arm, most guys don’t wear garters. From freshman to senior year, students are expected to outdo themselves each year in the grandiosity of their mums
“I really like my mum this year, it came out really pretty,” said Freshmen Morgan Branson said. “I wouldn’t have thought that the tradition of homecoming mums have started 90 years ago,” Morgan added.
