For students at many schools across the nation, the period of hibernation known as "winter" comes to a temporary halt when they are invited take part in beer tastings, snowboard competitions and a capella shows during their schools' annual winter carnival celebrations. While Dartmouth hosts the nation's oldest Winter Carnival, many other colleges and universities host similar festivities, and some have drawn inspiration for their events from the College.
The celebration at Bates College began in 1958 after a group of Bates students visited Dartmouth over Carnival weekend.
"Basically, a group of students went to Dartmouth to observe the Dartmouth Winter Carnival celebration and brought it back to Bates," Keith Tannenbaum, assistant dean of students and coordinator of student activities at Bates said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "We have had winter carnival celebrations every year since."
Bates's winter carnival celebrations begin with a student-run torch relay, Tannenbaum said. The tradition originally involved 18 Bates students carrying the torch from Augusta, Maine, back to the College's campus in Lewiston, Maine a distance of about 30 miles, according to Bates's website. The starting points for the relay have since changed, Tannenbaum said.
Following the torch run, Bates students partake in a number of winter-themed activities, according to Carol Wyse-Ricker, administrative assistant for communications and media relations at Bates. These activities include hiking, skiing, snowshoeing and sometimes building snow sculptures, she said.
Other Bates winter carnival events include an a capella concert and a breakfast served late at night, Tannenbaum said.
One Bates tradition, the puddle jump, is very similar to Dartmouth's Polar Bear Swim. The puddle jump involves students plunging into a hole cut out of a frozen Lake Andrews, a body of water on campus, Tannenbaum said.
While winter carnival is one of several "big" weekends for many schools, it is the "main event of the year" at Michigan Technical University, Ellen Pokorney, publicity committee chair of the Blue Key Honor Society at MTU said.
"Half our school year is basically winter," she said. "Winter carnival breaks up the winter season."
This year, MTU's celebration will commence on Feb. 9 and last through Feb. 12, she said, adding that MTU's winter carnival always lasts four days.
"We don't have class Thursday or Friday, so students compete in contests or watch events during those days," Pokorney said.
These events include activities like curling, snow volleyball, tug of war, human dogsled and ice bowling, according to Pokorney.
The MTU carnival has a theme each year, and this year's theme "Thousands of Pages Untold in the Bitter Cold" is based on literary works.
The snow statute competition is the most well-known of all of MTU's winter carnival events, Pokorney said.
"These organizations begin working on the sculpture back in January, and they have to go along with the theme," Pokorney said. "They literally put in 40 hours per week and end up creating gigantic sculptures 30 feet tall. These sculptures get lots of attention. Many tourists come up to see them."
Hamilton College hosted its first winter celebration in 1938, but that tradition "faded and eventually disappeared in the 1950s," according to Hamilton's website.
Students have since recently revived the winter celebrations, and the College now hosts an annual event called "FebFest," according to Hamilton's website. In years past, FebFest has included snow soccer, ice skating, beer tasting, chocolate tasting and a chili cook-off.
FebFest "encourages the students and staff at Hamilton College to reconnect with one another and this beautiful campus," according to Hamilton's website.
Winter carnival at the University of Denver involves an annual snowboarding exhibition and competition at the nearby ski and snowboard terrain park, Ruby Hill Rail Yard, according to the University's website.
Other carnival events including tubing, a bonfire, ice skating and a concert during the three-day celebration are held in Winter Park ski resort, not on the University's campus. Students can purchase lift tickets at reduced rates in Winter Park, according to the University's website.
