re: Tonight, Texas A&M's campus will darken for Silver Taps

"I suspect this was well orchestrated with the intention of being repeated. "

…and I suspect it's possible you're right in this case. However, it is possible that Silver Taps ceremony did change some in its earliest years. It hasn't changed since my first one in '69, so any evolution of the tradition was before then.

Basically it was worth doing, so sure it was worth putting some thought into. We still do it because it's still worth doing and it's worth doing well to respect those who have passed.

Traditions, however, don't have to emerge from random acts and then evolve over a number of years "to get it right".

Here

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that counts as a tradition?

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That's how I remember them marketing it on campus. Worst Idea ever.

I was going to mention Muster.

From wikipedia:

Aggie Muster is a time-honored tradition at Texas A&M University which celebrates the camaraderie of the school while remembering the lives of Aggies who have died, specifically those in the past year. Muster officially began on April 21, 1922 as a day for remembrance of fellow Aggies. Muster ceremonies today take place in approximately 320 locations globally. The largest muster ceremony occurs in Reed Arena, on the Texas A&M campus.[1] The "Roll Call for the Absent" commemorates Aggies, former and current students, who died that year. Aggies light candles, and friends and families of Aggies who died that year answer “here” when the name of their loved one is “called”. Campus muster also serves as a 50th year class reunion for the corresponding graduating class.[2] Some non-campus muster ceremonies do not include the pageantry of the campus ceremony, and might consist simply of a barbecue.[1]

The most well-known Aggie Muster took place during World War II in 1942 on the Philippine island of Corregidor. At this time, Corregidor was the last American stronghold against the Japanese forces in the Philippines, and Japanese artillery and warplanes were constantly attacking. An estimated 1.8 million pounds of shells pounded the island in one five-hour stretch. The American artillery commander on Corregidor was Brigadier General George F. Moore, a 1908 graduate of Texas A&M.

With the help of Major Tom Dooley, class of 1935, Moore gathered the names of 25 other Aggies under his command. Despite the fierce fighting as the Japanese laid siege to the island, on April 21, 1942 Moore held a roll call—known as muster in army terms—calling the names of each of the Aggies under his command.[4][5]

Only twelve of the twenty-five survived the battle and the POW camps to which the survivors were sent.[4] Dooley told a United Press correspondent about the gathering, and the reporter sent an article back to the USA about the 25 Aggies who had "Mustered." The story captured the imagination of the country and "helped boost American spirits at a time a lift was badly needed."[5] (T. R. Louder, the last known Corregidor Muster survivor, died on May 21, 2001, and his name was called at Muster 2002 in College Station.)

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There is a saying at A&M, that if you do something twice it becomes a tradition so you have lots of small traditions.

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I've never heard this but this is probably what I was getting at the entire time.

Once upon a time, me and my buddies had adopted TAMU as a secondary team. That was partly because we knew a lot of Texas AU students who pulled for Texas, and partly because we thought we were similar schools in that both are conservative and occasionally accused of being cult-like.

Since then, you've joined the conference and aligned with Alabama, so I hate you and think you're weird as shite, but I nonetheless appreciate your cultish nature and I'm glad someone has surpassed Auburn in the SEC in that regard.

I don't know how I'd feel about all of A&M's many traditions, but certainly this one is worthy of admiration. Also, not to lavish too much praise on you, but I think it's interesting that A&M can largely maintain its culture despite its size. I know not everyone participates and that number may grow in time, but that situation certainly isn't replicated in other schools of comparable size.

A lot of traditions have died at A&M - after Bonfire fell, it was never the same. Some still remain, and always will. Silver Taps, the 12th Man, etc... But a piece of what made A&M special died when Bonfire fell and those students died.

We used to have a LOT more traditions.

That's a really awesome tradition. Horrible that it has to happen, but I truly respect the Texas A&M culture... even if we jokingly make fun of it sometimes.

Now that's a WOW. Thanks for sharing.