homecoming

United States

Homecoming is an annual tradition in the North United States. People, towns, high schools and colleges come together, usually in late September or early October, to welcome back former members of the community. It is built around a central event, such as a banquet or dance and, most often, a game of American football, or on occasions, basketball, ice hockey or soccer. When celebrated by schools, the activities vary widely. However, they usually consist of a football game played on a school's home football field, activities for students and alumni, a parade featuring the school's choir, marching band and sports teams, and the coronation of a homecoming queen (and at many schools, a homecoming king). A dance commonly follows the game or takes place the day after the game.

When attached to a football game, homecoming traditionally occurs on the team's return from the longest road trip of the season or the first home game of a season that falls after an away game. The game itself, whether it be football or another sport, will typically feature the home team playing a considerably weaker opponent. The game is supposed to be an "easy win" and thus weaker schools will sometimes play lower-division schools.

Origins

The tradition of homecoming has its origin in alumni football games held at colleges and universities since the 19th century. Many schools including Baylor, Illinois, Missouri and Southwestern have claimed that they began homecoming. It appears to be the first homecoming event which included both a parade and an intercollegiate football game; such was the response and success that it became an annual event.

In 1891, the Missouri Tigers first faced off against the Kansas Jayhawks in the first installment of the Border War, the oldest college football rivalry west of the Mississippi River. The intense rivalry originally took place at neutral sites, usually in Kansas City, Missouri, until a new conference regulation was announced that required intercollegiate football games to be played on collegiate campuses. To renew excitement in the rivalry, ensure adequate attendance at the new location, and celebrate the first meeting of the two teams on the Mizzou campus in Columbia, Missouri, Mizzou Athletic Director Chester Brewer invited all alumni to "come home" for the game in 1911. Along with the football game, the celebration included a parade and spirit rally with a bonfire. The event was a success, with nearly 10,000 alumni coming home to take part in the celebration and watch the Tigers and Jayhawks play to a 3–3 tie.

Both the Illinois and Missouri annual homecoming celebrations, with their parade and spirit-rally centered on a large football game, are the models that took hold at colleges and high schools across the United States.

At least two colleges claim homecoming intercollegiate football games before the University of Missouri 1911 football game homecoming event: Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, and the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

Baylor's homecoming history dates back to November 1909 and included a parade, reunion parties, and an afternoon football game (the final game of the 1909 season), a tradition that continued and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009. There was a gap between 1910 and 1915 when there was no homecoming event; however there has been continuity since 1915.

In 1910, University of Illinois held a weeklong homecoming celebration that concluded with an intercollegiate football game. This tradition has continued every year since then, making it the longest continuous Homecoming celebration in the nation, though, in 1918, because of the influenza pandemic, only the football game took place.

Traditions

The backings court is a representative group of students that, in a coeducational institution, consists of a king and queen, and possibly prince(s) and princess(es). In 1952, Bates College seniors played a central role in organizing homecoming events, including Friday night assemblies, athletic events, and homecoming dances. These student-led traditions symbolize senior leadership roles and are often associated with homecoming courts at universities in the mid-20th century. In a single-sex institution, the homecoming court will usually consist of only a king and a prince (for an all-male school) or a queen and a princess (for an all-female school), although some schools may choose to join with single-sex schools of the other sex to elect the homecoming court jointly.

Generally, the king and queen are students completing their final years of study at their school (also called "seniors"), while the prince and princess are underclassmen often with a prince/princess for each grade. Recently, some high schools have chosen to add categories, such as Duke and Duchess, to extend the representation of students to include a category in which students with special needs are elected. In high school, 17- or 18-year-old students in their final year are represented by a king or queen; in college, students who are completing their final year of study, usually between 21–23 years old.

Local rules determine when the homecoming king and queen are crowned. Sometimes, the big announcement comes at a pep rally, school assembly, or public ceremony one or more days before the football game. Other schools crown their royalty at the homecoming football game, a dance, or other school events.

Often, the previous year's king and queen are invited back to crown their successors. If they are absent for whatever reason, someone else—usually, another previous king or queen, a popular teacher, or a royal representative—will perform those duties. Usually, the queen is crowned first, followed by the king. The crowning method also varies by school, however, the crown is typically preserved and passed down to each successor.

Homecoming court members who are not crowned king or queen are often called escorts or royalty. They are often expected to participate in the week's activities as well. At some schools, a homecoming prince/princess, duke/duchess, etc. (often underclassmen nominated by their classmates) are crowned along with the king and queen; sometimes, middle school and junior high students may partake in the high school activities.

Competitions

At the high school level, students generally compete by grade level in events such as spirit days, parade floats, and powder puff football. Modoc High School 2024 organized events such as a powder puff football competition, a cheerleading competition and a themed dress-up day that reflected competition and school spirit among all grade levels. The competition at the collegiate level is mainly between Greek-letter organizations and, to a lesser degree, residence halls. At most larger schools, fraternities and sororities compete on parade floats, house decorations, skits, talent competitions, and service events such as blood drives or food drives. At Iowa State University, the fraternity has organized lawn displays, campus-wide spiritual gatherings, skits Like "Yell Like Hell" and community service challenges. This homecoming celebration brings everyone together, promotes interaction among students, and enhances competition within the organization and between classes. On coronation night, some schools play games between classes. Such events include the pyramid, three-legged race, pop chug, and tug of war.

Smaller school homecomings

While most schools schedule their homecoming activities around football, smaller schools that do not have a football team may plan the annual event at another time of the year. In these instances, basketball, ice hockey or soccer serves as the "big boy game" for students and alumni. Often in smaller towns with smaller populations, the parade is omitted. The University of Southern Maine, which has no football team, organized homecoming celebrations around other sports. In 2024, the school became the focus of homecoming events when it hosted a men's ice hockey blue-gold showdown and a hockey game on homecoming weekend.

At schools without athletic programs, the centerpiece event is usually a banquet, where alumni are recognized. This format is also used for alumni events of high schools that have either closed or consolidated with other high schools; the high school classes continue to meet and celebrate their years at their now-defunct alma mater. In 2024, Lafayette College held an annual alumni banquet for the men's hockey program and hosted many alumni games to keep alumni connected and traditions alive. In other cases, alumni of closed schools will participate in the consolidated school's homecoming, where special recognition is often given to alumni of the once-separate schools.

Courtwarming

In some parts of the United States, high school basketball has gained a homecoming celebration of its own. Often referred to as "court warming" or "winter homecoming", but also referred "hoopcoming", "coronation", "snowcoming", "Colors Day", it usually includes rallies, dress-up days, special dinners, king and queen coronations, and other winter-friendly activities typically associated with football homecoming.

Canada

Canadian homecoming weekends are less common than in the United States, but do take place in some areas.

High school

Homecomings are rare in Canada, and typically only take place in high schools situated in the east of the country. Newmarket High School, London South Collegiate Institute, Banting Memorial High School, Earl Haig Secondary School and St. Michael's College School are examples of schools in Ontario known to arrange homecomings. Upper Canada College also has a longstanding homecoming tradition, although the event is referred to as "A-Day" (Association Day). St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby, British Columbia hosts a Homecoming Event on the third Saturday of September and New Westminster Secondary School hosts a Homecoming Event on the fourth Saturday of September.

University

Some universities in Canada are also known to host Homecomings, although these are rarely as high profile as in the United States. They generally take place in September. Universities such as The University of Guelph, Western University, Concordia University, Queen's University, and The University of British Columbia have hosted homecomings in the past.

Unsanctioned street parties in celebration of Homecoming weekend, known colloquially as "hoco", occur every year at Queen's University, Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University, Dalhousie University, and the University of Western Ontario. When the date of homecoming lands on reading week, an unsanctioned party known as "foco", or "fake homecoming" will occur instead.

Church homecomings

The term "homecoming" can also refer to the special services conducted by some religious congregations, particularly by many smaller American Protestant churches, to celebrate church heritage and welcome back former members or pastors. They are often held annually, but are sometimes held as one-time-only events, to celebrate the occasion.