Homecoming

I suspect Homecoming, as conducted in high schools and colleges across the US in conjunction with (American) football, is the remainder of ancient pagan fall rituals.

There's the sense of nostalgia as graduates young and old come back to their alma mater to celebrate their ties to the land as the leaves fall. Two teams vie for the win in a sport than can be barbaric and bloody.  The school crowns a King and Queen, and they preside over the festivities, which include parades and bonfires.

The old year passes, the god is sacrificed in a ritual game, and people celebrate their belongingness to their culture, then drive back home to their new lives, oddly satisfied.

It's the only way I can understand Homecoming. I took Homecoming for granted until, in high school, I had a conversation with a foreign exchange student named Armin (if you're reading, Hi Armin!):

"What is this Homecoming?" Armin asked as he searched his preternaturally neat locker for a book.
"Well, it's a football game." I rummaged through my less than neat locker.
"Soccer?"
"Football, not soccer. Anyhow, there's a game, and a king and queen, and we build floats for the parade --"
"Floats are -- ?" Armin scrunched up his freckled face.
"Well, you put chicken wire on a hayrack, and then --"
"Hayrack?"

I'm not sure if Armin ever understood, and I've been trying to understand Homecoming ever since. As I said before, I can only understand it as the vestiges of a fall pagan ritual. Most of our beloved holidays carry the remnants of the cultures before us, the religions before us, the beliefs of ancient peoples huddling against storms and hoping the crops were enough to feed them. And still, they comfort us against uncertainty today.