Stanford Traditions

Stanford opened in 1891, so it lacks the centuries of ritual of older universities. It has made up for that with energy. Some of its traditions are sporting, some are musical and some are just strange. A few are open to anyone who shows up. Others are for students only, which matters if you are planning a visit around one of them.

This guide covers the traditions people ask about most, with their documented history and current status as of late October 2026. Where a tradition has changed or faded, we say so.

The Big Game

Stanford and Cal first played football in 1892. The rivalry game is known simply as the Big Game. It alternates between Stanford Stadium and California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. The 129th Big Game is on Saturday, November 21, 2026, in Berkeley. Both schools moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024, so the game is now a cross-country conference matchup as well as a local one. Our Stanford sports and game days page covers tickets.

Big Game week

The game sits at the end of a week of rituals on campus:

• Gaieties: Ram's Head Theatrical Society's original student musical, staged during Big Game week since 1911. The Ram's Head site lists Gaieties 2026 for November 18. See theater and dance at Stanford.
• Bearial: the band's mock funeral for Oski, Cal's bear mascot, whose effigy ends up on the Claw fountain in White Plaza.
• Band regatta: in 2025 the Stanford and Cal bands faced off in a sailing regatta at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.

For much of the 20th century the week also brought a Big Game bonfire on Lake Lagunita. The lake is now a protected seasonal wetland and the bonfire is part of history.

The Stanford Axe

The Axe began as a cheerleading prop. Stanford yell leaders led by Billy Erb brought it to a rally on April 13, 1899. Two days later they took it to a Stanford and Cal baseball game in San Francisco. After the game Cal students grabbed it and set off a chase through the city. The Axe went to Berkeley and stayed there for 31 years.

In 1930 a group of 21 Stanford students, remembered as the Immortal 21, plotted its return. After a Cal rally at the Greek Theatre on April 3, they took the Axe back to Palo Alto. In 1933 the two schools agreed to make it the trophy for the Big Game winner. If the game ends in a tie, the current holder keeps it.

When Stanford has it, the Stanford Axe Committee guards it in a secret place and brings it out for display at the Arrillaga Sports Center lobby and at events. When Cal has it, the UC Rally Committee keeps it. The 2026 game in Berkeley decides who holds it next.

The Play

No Stanford tradition is complete without the 1982 Big Game, when Cal returned the final kickoff with five laterals and scored through the Stanford Band, which had run onto the field early. Cal won 25 to 20. Stanford fans still dispute the ruling. Each year the new band manager takes over with four seconds left in the Big Game as a memorial. Our Stanford Band page tells the full story.

The Tree

Stanford's athletic teams are the Cardinal, named for the color. The university dropped its Native American mascot and names in 1972 and has never chosen an official replacement. In 1975 the band tried out joke mascots in its halftime shows and the Tree was the one fans loved. It represents El Palo Alto, the redwood on the Stanford and Palo Alto seals.

The Tree is chosen each year during Tree Week and each new Tree builds its own costume, so it looks different every season. Spot it on the sidelines at football and basketball games.

Full Moon on the Quad

Full Moon on the Quad is the tradition that gets the most questions and the most raised eyebrows. It began in the 1940s, when senior men gave roses and kisses to first-year women under the full moon on the Main Quad. Over the decades it grew into a crowded night of kissing for upperclassmen and freshmen and a source of concern over consent and health. The university funded a large version before the pandemic and later stepped back.

The current form is a student-run revival. The Stanford Daily reported an unauthorized return in February 2023 and a reimagined event in 2024. In spring 2025 the Daily described it as "quirky but consensual." On April 1, 2026, the event, organized by members of the student government's social life team, drew more than 2,000 students despite rain, with campus security, EMTs and the university's substance use and Title IX offices involved.

For visitors the key point is simple: it is a student event held at night on the Main Quad. It is not a spectacle for the public. If you happen to be on campus that evening, give it a wide berth.

Commencement traditions

Stanford's most public tradition is the Wacky Walk. At the start of Commencement, graduating undergraduates pour into Stanford Stadium in costumes, group outfits and homemade props instead of a formal procession. Families watch from the stands. The 2027 ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, June 13, 2027. Our commencement weekend guide covers tickets, hotels and parking.

A quieter tradition sits underfoot. Each graduating class has a plaque set into the arcade walkway of the Main Quad, with a time capsule buried beneath. Walk the arcades and you can find plaques going back more than a century. Our Main Quad guide explains where to look.

Other traditions

• The Farm: the campus nickname, from Leland Stanford's Palo Alto Stock Farm. Read the background in our history of Stanford.
• The Mausoleum Party: a student Halloween party once held by the Stanford family tomb. We could not confirm that it still happens. Our Arboretum and Mausoleum page has the details.
• Stanford Powwow: a large Native American cultural gathering each May organized by students, open to the public. The 56th Powwow is May 7 to 9, 2027. See our Stanford Powwow guide.

Which traditions visitors can see

Big Game weekends and Commencement fill every hotel near campus. If you plan around either, compare hotels near Stanford well ahead.

Frequently asked questions