Spring break is typically a week-long holiday that begins around mid-march.
Depending on the college and/or region, the holiday period might be up to two weeks.
The week-long break from college is meant to provide relief to students before the commencement of their classes. However, in its current form, the break is associated with party culture, where students travel to beaches to participate in dancing and drinking.
Although popularized by American pop culture, if we go far back enough, we can trace the roots of spring break in ancient Greece. That’s right, western democracy and philosophy pioneers were known to blow off steam around the springtime with a three-day “awakening.” Dedicated to Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility, the activities of the three-day break were on brand.
However, as it is known today, the weeklong break started in the 1930s when a Colgate University swimming coach decided to take his team down to Florida. The purpose of the trip was for students to practice in a new Olympic-size pool in sunny Fort Lauderdale. Soon enough, the idea caught wind, and swimming coaches from around the country followed suit.
Given that you can only swim so much, college athletes would partake in partying too. The world quickly returned to campuses, and Florida was an excellent spot to let loose. Fast forward to the 1950s, a book titled “Were the boys Are” opened the floodgates for spring break goers by popularizing the phenomenon and associating it with the party culture it is known for today.
Subsequently, pop culture references of the 80s and later decades drove its popularity to new heights, making the phenomenon ubiquitous worldwide.