College spring break is the time for vacationing college students to party far from the seeing eyes of college officials, and sometimes the eyes of on looking parents. Where did this tradition start, and how did it progress throughout time? Take a look at history, and it will let you in on the secrets. Truth can be stranger than fiction, but it is always evolving – that’s for sure.

People have always wanted a reason to celebrate, and it is especially true with the young. You could say that the young in ancient Greek society were the pioneers of the college spring break phenomena. The Greek’s worshipping of the god Bacchus, the god of wine, and Pan the god of fertility, helped spice up the supposed fun of getting away from it all. Much later in the Victorian period from (1830 – 1920) in the United States, extended summer vacations of the wealthy east coast aristocratic families of the Eastern seaboard became the norm. The rising middle and upper class desired what the super rich enjoyed, and the family vacation ideal was born. College spring break vacation flings for the young were not far behind either!

In the 1920s when women won the right to vote, and the invention of the century turned out a mass production of cars that would hit the highways in force during the 1950s, the rush was on for fun. College spring break students had a lot to travel to and for; some of it was not so good though. Freedom of the road enabled them to pack kids in a trunk for a sneak into a 1950s movie, but the college spring break of the 1960s were a little ‘far out’ with drug use. A college spring break in the 1970s saw a lot of college students protesting the war in Vietnam, and the 1980s became the beginning for the techie generation to vacation around computers and boom boxes on the beaches. Today students can now text message friends, and snap pictures on the go wherever they are on break. It’s hard to imagine that spring break began with a Greek celebration rite of spring. Strange isn’t it? Yes, truth is stranger than fiction.