Each May and December, thousands of University of Louisville students walk across the stage at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center to receive their diplomas, wearing the traditional black gown, square-shaped cap and hoods and cords of various colors.
But what do all those cords and hoods and tassels mean? It’s time for a graduation fit check to discover the history and symbolism behind commencement regalia.
Gowns and hoods
Many historians believe that graduation gowns and hoods date back to medieval times from the long garments worn by clerical scholars. There are many reasons for the design including showing their status and possibly keeping them warm in the stone, unheated buildings in which they lived and conducted their studies. Some say the hoods may have helped to keep their shaven heads warm as well.
The tradition of wearing the hood hanging down the back is said to be derived from medieval monks who were solicitors in the King’s Court and used the bag-like hanging hood as a “contribution bowl” for clients and well-wishers. Early scholars used the hood to collect the fees for lectures.
For advanced degrees, the hood has remained part of the commencement costume but now is worn on the shoulders. And it’s not just graduates who get in on the gown game – academic deans and other officers of the university wear the gowns and hoods of the various institutions from which they received their doctoral degrees during official commencement ceremonies.
Caps and tassels
The cap originated as a hood but evolved throughout the centuries, becoming a skull cap with a square board atop somewhere around the 1700s. The reason for the flat square design remains unknown, but some theorize it may represent the historic square courtyard at Oxford school in England or might allude to the shape of a book being carried on the head. The cap is often called a mortarboard cap, getting its name from the flat tool brick layers used to lay mortar.
The tassels came in during the late 1800s. Before this standardization, some caps were topped with pom-poms. Though the exact reasoning for all these designs remains a mystery, the cap and tassel has long served as the standard for commencement attire.
Modern-day graduates have the United States Naval Academy’s graduating class of 1912 to thank for starting the tradition of throwing caps into the air upon the official announcement of graduation during the ceremony. The naval graduates had just earned the right to wear officer hats and are said to have spontaneously and dramatically tossed aside the midshipman hats they were wearing. News of the toss spread to schools across the country and overseas, sparking a ritual continued to this day, even despite later codes trying to prohibit it.
Colors and cords
The distinctive shade of each tassel represents the academic field of study for graduates. From salmon pink for public health graduates to lemon yellow for those majoring in library science, there are a rainbow of colors represented on graduation day. Even drab – a light brown shade representing business majors – gets to shine.
On hoods, degrees are signified by the colors of the binding on the hood piece around the neck such as purple for law or kelly green for medicine. For all UofL doctoral and master’s graduates, advanced degrees are signified by the cardinal red and black lining of the hood.
The various color cords and stoles draped around graduates’ necks also have meaning, representing academic honors or membership in student organizations. Students graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors, for example, get to wear red and gold cords.
Commencement is a distinguishing day in a student’s academic journey. As unusual as the attire may be, perhaps it is fitting to wear such a singular outfit for a singular day, honoring not only thousands of years of scholarly history but also one’s own years of personal growth.
Information compiled from the university commencement program and archival sources
