Greco-Roman?themed costume party
A
toga party
is a
Greco-Roman
-themed
costume party
where attendees wear a garment inspired by ancient Roman clothing (normally made from a
bed sheet
) with
sandals
. The costumes, party games, and other entertainment often adhere to the Roman or Greek theme. Toga parties are associated with
keg parties
and
excessive drinking
, and attendees typically tend to be college or university students.
History
[
edit
]
First lady
Eleanor Roosevelt
held a toga party in 1934 to spoof those that compared her husband President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
to "Caesar".
[1]
[2]
The earliest known college toga parties took place in the
United States
in the early 1950s. Toga parties are recorded in the yearbooks for
Theta Delta Chi
(1952)
[3]
and the University of Michigan's
Acacia Fraternity
(1953).
[4]
Another early toga party took place in 1953, when
Pomona College
students wore togas and ivy wreaths, and brought their dorm mattresses to freshman Mark Neuman's home on Hillcrest Avenue in nearby Flintridge.
[5]
For the eight decades before Greek-themed parties became known as "toga parties" in the 1950s, similar parties were generally called "bed sheet and pillow slip" parties (or simply, "pillow slip" parties), in which attendees wrapped themselves in sheets and pillow cases, were regularly held by fraternal orders (like the Masons, Odd Fellows and Elks), civic organizations, and church groups.
[6]
In 1882, the Terpsichore Society of the
Ohio State University
held a "pillow slip party" which may arguably be considered the first known college toga party.
[7]
Although they are called "toga parties", attendants rarely wear
togas
, which were intricately draped garments made from large semicircles of fabric, instead wearing articles that more closely resemble
chitons
.
The
Guinness World Record
for the largest toga party is 3,700 participants. The event, organized by the
University of Queensland Union
and the
Queensland University of Technology
Student Guild, was held on 24 February 2012 at
Riverstage
in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
[8]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
A toga party was depicted in the 1978 film
Animal House
, which propelled the ritual into a widespread and enduring practice.
Chris Miller
, who was one of the writers of
Animal House
, attended
Dartmouth College
where the toga party was a popular costume event at major fraternity parties (such as
Winter Carnival
and
Green Key Weekend
) during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
A toga party was also briefly described in
Tom Wolfe
's 1968 story "
The Pump House Gang
", although somewhat different from the version in the film. Toga parties are also seen in the first episode of season four of the television series
Greek
and in the fourth episode of
Silicon Valley
.
"The World's Largest Toga Party" was the tagline of
WrestleMania IX
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
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]
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