Started By
Message
re: Tonight, Texas A&M's campus will darken for Silver Taps
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:26 am to EKG
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:26 am to EKG
I believe all of that is true.
For example, with Silver Taps, I'm not aware of a related tradition that involves the "sun won't rise on them again" angle. I understand it derived from taps generally, but to my knowledge, that isn't a part of other taps ceremonies (I checked, it appears the Army specifically prohibits Silver/Echo taps). But there is a lot of significance built in to the TAMU version, and it sounds pretty planned to me. Now, it was planned 100 years ago, so that isn't a slight, but I think it was probably created with posterity in mind. Again, nothing wrong with that, it just goes to show the value of maintaining tradition to A&M, and to me, signifies that early TAMU people wanted to create an abundance of traditions to be carried forward.
For example, with Silver Taps, I'm not aware of a related tradition that involves the "sun won't rise on them again" angle. I understand it derived from taps generally, but to my knowledge, that isn't a part of other taps ceremonies (I checked, it appears the Army specifically prohibits Silver/Echo taps). But there is a lot of significance built in to the TAMU version, and it sounds pretty planned to me. Now, it was planned 100 years ago, so that isn't a slight, but I think it was probably created with posterity in mind. Again, nothing wrong with that, it just goes to show the value of maintaining tradition to A&M, and to me, signifies that early TAMU people wanted to create an abundance of traditions to be carried forward.
2
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:32 am to Pettifogger
quote:
there is a lot of significance built in to the TAMU version, and it sounds pretty planned to me. Now, it was planned 100 years ago, so that isn't a slight, but I think it was probably created with posterity in mind.
Um, how about just wanting to honor the fallen?
quote:
to me, signifies that early TAMU people wanted to create an abundance of traditions to be carried forward.
Nah it's just something we started doing as a military college. Lots of other senior military colleges have their own twists on traditions too.
Doesn't mean we had this conspiracy to create oodles of traditions just for the sake of having them
Posted on 2/4/14 at 10:53 am to Pettifogger
Pettifogger, to give a better explanation of just why A&M has so many more 'traditions' than most other colleges, it has to do with A&M's rather unique history. For the majority of its history, A&M was a very insular, tight-knit college that revolved around the military lifestyle. I don't know if you've ever served, but the military has an enormous plethora of traditions for just about everything, and a lot of them seem stupid nowadays, but stem from western military culture of the past few hundred years, which is always behind the times by a good 50 years or so.
A lot of the 'traditions' nowadays are remnants of a much larger body of 'aggie customs and courtesies' that for the most part have been discarded over the last 30-40 years as the school has transitioned from a very small senior military college to a civilian university. So when you say 'aggies have too many traditions, its ridiculous' a lot of older aggies see it as the exact opposite: most of the military style traditions have been lost or are no longer practiced, and the few that remain are just the tip of the iceberg.
The 150 things left are just the remainder of like 1500.
A lot of the 'traditions' nowadays are remnants of a much larger body of 'aggie customs and courtesies' that for the most part have been discarded over the last 30-40 years as the school has transitioned from a very small senior military college to a civilian university. So when you say 'aggies have too many traditions, its ridiculous' a lot of older aggies see it as the exact opposite: most of the military style traditions have been lost or are no longer practiced, and the few that remain are just the tip of the iceberg.
The 150 things left are just the remainder of like 1500.
This post was edited on 2/4/14 at 10:55 am
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News