Mums are a right of passage for high school students in the Texas, especially students in the coastal plains region. Like everything in the Lone Star State, go big or go home. Mums with lights, mums that need to be held up with several safety pins, mums with stuffed animals hot glued to them, mums with deafening bells and more. Anything you can think of is up for grabs with the art of making mums.

 It’s hard to imagine that other states don’t have this important homecoming tradition. Why and how did it all start? Where did this tradition come from?

Well, homecoming was born in Missouri in the 1970s but Texas took that and added its own spin of boys giving their dates a chrysanthemum. It is not really clear why this was started. Most of the history is word of mouth but it’s believed that because the months of October and November are the perfect season for chrysanthemum picking this tradition was born.

Believe it or not, but mums used to be simple corsages with a real flower at its center and a few ribbons but through the years they have reached the extricate and humongous size they are now.