High schools in the south of the United States, especially in Texas, often have a tradition of the girls wearing “mums” and boys wearing “garters” to the Homecoming football game. Mums usually consist of artificial Chrysanthemum flowers (originally real Chrysanthemums were used) surrounded by decorated floor-length ribbon and little trinkets. The tradition is that the boys create a personalized mum in their school colors, white and silver for seniors, for their date. Girls make garters for their date which are similar to mums but shorter and worn on the guy’s arm rather than around their neck like mums. The size of the mums and garters tend to grow along with the grade the person that is receiving the mum is in. Around the 1980s, mums were usually about a maximum of three Chrysanthemum flowers and a few ribbons and only worn by the Homecoming Court/Homecoming Prince and/or Princess but as the years have gone by, the size and expectations of mums have increased and have gotten more elaborate and are worn by almost all of the students. Depending on the school, mums can get quite competitive, expensive, and drastically bigger than they previously were intended to be. New items are also placed on mums than there previously were like LED lights, bubble containers, cow bells, feather boas, stuffed animals of all sizes, and even more. They now sometimes act like scrapbooks made of ribbon and even contain passages and photos of the mum/garter-receiver and their date. The detail, size, and price usually varies depending on the school, town, and couple. The tradition is to make the mum and garter after the couple is asked to Homecoming and exchange the night of the Homecoming game and wear it throughout tailgating and the game. Couples often take group pictures with their mums and garters the night of or before the night of the Homecoming Game to showcase them.
I’m sorry, what? This is seriously just mainly a Texan thing? You’re telling me these
don’t
look
familiar
to all
yall
????
Yeah, wintry. I’ve literally never seen these before. They are… intense? Lol
OMG, are you telling me the rest of the US isn’t doing this???
This is what I’m saaaaayiiiiiiing
Though tbh, as I think about it more, there is something pretty Texan about it. Gaudy, rah-rah, and inappropriately large. I mean, that’s us.
Absolutely positively nope in NYC and my schools didn’t/don’t even have Homecoming (yes, even the fairly normal public school).
We had Homecoming (despite no football team?), and I come from the trashiest hickville there ever which was in New Hampshire, and LORD no we did not have those.
Kimchi and Justice 