Students at St Andrews University have been reminded to show consideration to townsfolk ahead of Raisin Weekend.
The often alcohol-fuelled rite of passage for the first year students begins on Sunday and concludes on Monday with the world-famous foam fight in St Salvator’s Quad.
The event has been known for its often rowdy behaviour in the past, prompting complaints from some townsfolk.
However, last year is said to have seen a significant reduction in complaints, with the university and police once again reminding students to show consideration.
The event features a host of traditions, with freshers adopting a set of academic “parents”, who are usually in third year or above.
They mentor the first years and spend Sunday taking their charges out the mother hosting a “tea party” and the father taking them out in the evening.
Students are often tasked with a scavenger hunt by their academic parents and can include bizarre tasks to complete, such as taking photographs in silly poses.
In return for the Sunday festivities, the freshers offer a gift to the parents, traditionally a pound of raisins, though more recently this has developed into a bottle of wine, for which the young student is given a “receipt”.
This receipt, usually a Latin inscription, can be written on almost anything and is to be carried everywhere by the fresher from the morning of Raisin Monday until midday.