Thanks to MTV, Spring Breakers and many 90s high school films, students have a pretty high standard to live up to have the “ultimate spring break.”
But we shouldn’t only be thanking these modern-day platforms, we also have the ancient Greeks and Romans to thank. Rewinding back numerous centuries, Anthestreria was a festival dedicated to the god of wine, Dionysus in ancient Greece. This three-day celebration was filled with dancing, partying and testosterone-filled drinking contests.
Along with that, the Romans had their own warm weather celebration and their own god of wine, Bacchus, according to Time. At the time, spring was also the fertility season. Both were basically a primeval Destin.
Fast forwarding to the 20th Century, in 1934, Sam Ingram, a college swim coach, was wanting a place to keep his swimmers in shape in the off-season. The soon-to-be wild town of Ft. Lauderdale was founded for these college swimmers with many teams following.
As World War II hit, many Ivy League college students diverted their travels plans from the Caribbean due to rumors of the presence of German U-Boats, according to The Atlantic. As reported by Time, with college swimmers and wealthy college students, movie productions also came.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the hit movie Where the Boys Are was set and filmed in Fort Lauderdale.
In addition to that, the movie Spring Break was also filmed there with Tom Cruise and Shelley Long. This caused the migration of these students to Ft. Lauderdale to meet up with all the swimmers, creating what is now the “Fort Liquordale,” as reported by The Atlantic. Due to the flood of students to the vacation destination, stricter laws were put in place in relation to public drinking.
The mayor of Fort Lauderdale at the time, Robert Dressler, went on Good Morning America to inform the country that students were no longer welcome in his city. This caused the push of students to go even farther south for their pre-summer trip to places like parts of Mexico.
With another travel migration, MTV came onto the spring break scene in 1986. This was the start of the show Spring Breakers starting in Daytona Beach.
Destiny’s Child on MTV’s Spring Break. Photo courtesy of ENews.
This show only solidified the stereotype of the spring party and rose economic and health concerns.
Today, much of Florida and other tropical areas are explored for students’ spring ventures. There are about 1.5 to 2 billion American students who go on spring break. According to this study, a student spends an average of $1,100 for the pre-summer celebration. In an additional survey given to female college students, 83% said there’s less drinking on campus than there is on spring break.
But spring break does not only trigger copious spending and drinking but also fun with, of course, a lot of safety precautions! For all of you sorority girls and frat boys, it might be a good idea to consider leaving your “Greekness” back at school.