Rituals are paramount to every culture, but traditions seem to be especially prevalent in the month of October. The people of Latin America will celebrate Day of the Dead in remembrance of lost loved ones. The American youth will dress up as their favorite characters and go door-to-door asking neighbors for candy for Halloween. And the Liberty Patriots celebrated Homecoming with a week-long celebration of spirit days, Grease Lightning, Bod Squad, Powder Puff, Buff Puff, and more. But where did these obscure traditions come from? What do they even have to do with the actual Homecoming game and dance?

“I’ve kind of learned to accept the weirdness,” senior Lily Dunlap said. “At first they confused me, but I got over that quickly. All the activities are really fun and bring our community closer together.”

Although most agree that girls playing football, Pattern Day, and school dances typically don’t mix, many of the Homecoming traditions have carried on for over fifteen years.

ASB advisor Michelle Munson is a Liberty alumna who has watched the Homecoming traditions evolve over the years.

“The alumnae used to come back and perform the Grease Lightning routine with the cheerleaders, but since then they’ve switched it to them performing with the boys,” Munson said. “Powder Puff is a relatively new tradition that began with the class of ’09, and floats have been around since 2005.”

Older traditions have had their fair share of modifications as well: the dance, which used to be held in the gym, now takes place in the Commons; hallway decorations, which used to be up for only a day, now adorn the school walls for a full week.
Despite some recent alterations, a number of the homecoming rituals, such as royalty, czar and czarina voting for the staff and hallway decorating, have been around since before Munson was a student. Though the dress-up days and decorating are meant to be entertaining, Munson attributes the continued observance of the Homecoming traditions to the Liberty community rather than the actual activities.

“I don’t believe that our community’s changed,” Munson said. “We’re a school where the student body cares about each other and really enjoys the activities and makes an effort to get everyone involved with them.”
Regardless of the purpose of these traditions and how they may evolve and change over the years, one thing is certain: the Patriots have no shortage of spirit.