Is There a Real Reason Behind Graduates Throwing Their Caps?

Graduations are a sort of rite of passage. It is a ceremony that celebrates ones moving from one portion of their lives to another. This is regardless of the graduation being from pre-school to kindergarten or from high school to college. There are many traditions involved in graduations. Some have varied significance such as the moving of the graduation cap's tassel from one side to the other or the crossing of the hands to receive the diploma or degree and one hand and shake the member of the faculty's hands who is passing those important documents out. One such tradition is the cap toss. For many years, graduates have celebrated successfully passes classes and ending an academic milestone in their lives. However, many people do not know where the tradition actually started.

The tradition of the graduation cap toss began with the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The first instance of the cap toss occurred in 1912. The reason for the change was that it was the first year that in which upon the seamen being commissioned as officers, they were actually given their officers hats. They had been midshipmen up until that point. They no longer had the need for the midshipmen's caps, so they tossed them into the air. This tradition then caught on with other colleges, universities, and even high school graduates.