Passionfruit

Passionfruit is an early morning ritual involving fruit juice, and making toasts to things at CTY that are... toastworthy.

Carlisle

Passionfruit originated at Carlisle.

It is usually held on a Sunday. At the end of the Saturday dance the night before, the Empress and Emperor (and their buddies) will shout the time and place of Passionfruit for the following morning.

Passionfruit involves sitting outside in a circle and toasting with some sort of juice. The Empress and Emperor of Passionfruit lead the ceremonies.

All speeches and toasts are given while standing and end with "I love CTY and I love the Passionfruit." Customarily, every speech is followed by the entire circle taking a sip of his or her own drink. Every attendee gives a speech.

Quite a while ago, the Empress and Emperor were referred to as the "juice coordinator", who would traditionally purchase a large amount of passionfruit juice for the whole circle. Then people realized the ineffectiveness of this and started to bring their own juice, soda, water, etc. to Passionfruit.

Edit: This actually had to do with the departure of Gary Noritz, who facilitated finding & purchasing cases of passionfruit juice. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find cases of the stuff in Carlisle? (...keep in mind that this was long before Wal-Mart.)

Passionfruit is now always supervised by RAs at Carlisle. You actually cannot be anywhere without being supervised, so if you are not going to Passionfruit, you cannot be outside, and you can only go to the HUB at 7:00, and only because it becomes supervised by RAs at 7:00. This means there can be no risqué devirginizations, toasts, or speeches.

Lancaster

Passionfruit first came to Lancaster in 1994, brought there by Andromeda Yelton.

At Lancaster, juice is still purchased for the entire group by the Alcove. People donate money to help purchase the juice, though it is not mandatory. In 07.1 (and perhaps in sessions long past), the site director at the time (who is certainly splendid) went to help purchase juices (i.e., pay for them WOOOOT).

What happens is this: At 6 am on Hartman Green, a circle is formed with many drinks in the middle. The Emperor says his speech, customarily ending with "I love CTY and I love the Passionfruit," takes a drink, and passes it onward to the next nomore/nevermore. Then after all the nomores have gone, everyone else can say their speech with onemores having priority.

It is also customary to eat crackers and saltines while others are toasting. This tradition was started when, in 99.1, Joe Mermelstein and several of his friends began a competition to see who could steal the most saltines from the dining hall. Upon the beginning of Passionfruit, they realized the had nothing to do with the stolen saltines, and donated them to Passionfruit. From then on, saltines and other crackers have been both stolen and bought for Passionfruit and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

It is also here that the position of Jester, the 42 Duct Tape Bathrobe, the Caution Tape Cape, the Duct Tape Suit, and the bottle of Fruitopia are passed on during Second Session. In First Session, a Jester position also exists; also passed down are three Turkey Hill "grails" (new), which represent a Session 1 Trinity of "The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost" (taken from American Pie.)

Electric Tree

The Electric Tree is a tree on Hartman Green that has an electrical outlet installed at the base of its trunk. This tree is used to play They Might Be Giants songs on the last day of each session, after the Passionfruit. This last traditional event is always bittersweet, and lasts until the second before class starts. It always ends with the song The End of the Tour. This tradition has been observed since at least 1998.

Saratoga Springs (Skidmore)

The event starts by waking up at 5:00ish. People then spend a couple minutes wandering around trying to shake off headaches caused by excessive amounts of high-fructose corn syrup and sleep deprivation. Everyone who is able to get out of bed is invited, and everyone meets out on the quad.

The nevermores and nomores get together and lead the procession through the haze down to the hill above the duck pond. Here the nevermores and nomores (Nomores are allowed to participate but it is mostly frowned upon, exempting certain people) form a seated circle and everyone else sits outside to quietly observe.

The actual Passionfruit Juice is a secret mix of juices only known to the RAs at this point, and the RAs coordinate the purchase of the drink. The drink is poured out and all the members of the circle get a glass. The Empresses make the first speeches and it proceeds counter-clockwise around the circle. Most speeches are rather short (it is all you can manage at that hour) but all must end with the line, “I love CTY and I love the Passionfruit.” After this is said everyone takes a sip of their drink. The last speeches are given by the current emperors.

Before the event the Emperors and Empresses agree on their successors, and each announces one (if one is missing, the other one of the same gender does the announcing for them). Eligible candidates are CTYers who are oneyears, typically called "onemores" or "thirdyears" at Saratoga (regardless of their actual number of returning times). At this point the new royalty can make brief remarks and thanks. Once they are done everyone packs up and goes home.

At Session 2, 2007, a fierce contest in butt-wrestling took place between Edison and new-Emperor Bill upon completion of Passionfruit. Even though Bill was defeated, Edison ended up with his foot in the pond.

Los Angeles

Passionfruit at LMU is on the last morning at 5:30 a.m. and is only for nevermores, where they share confidential stories that cannot be repeated to anyone else unless stated otherwise. Nomores cannot attend unless they gain permission from the dean. It's rumored that coveted black lanyards are handed out at the end of the event.

Homewood

Passionfruit at Homewood is on the last morning (at 6:00 AM) and is only for nevermores.