Millennia from now, historians will study our Friday night rituals much like the festivities of Romans are studied today. But what will these scholars of the future make of the practices that accompany our Friday night entertainment? The mascots. The step teams. The frito pies. The jumbotrons. Wouldn’t it be amusing if the tradition that confounds our descendants most is the not-so-humble homecoming mum, that truly Texan exercise in “bigger is better?”

So big, they’re silly. So brash, they’re almost scary. Despite appearances, the homecoming mum, short for “chrysanthemum,” was not created to immobilize the female high school population of Texas, though it’s quite effective in this regard. (If you’ve ever seen a double or triple be-mummed girl try to sit in or stand up from a school desk, you know what we’re talking about.)

In fact, the origins of the homecoming mum can be traced to the chivalrous tendencies of 1920s college boys looking to romance their sweethearts before the big game. The gifting of a modest chrysanthemum corsage became standard operating procedure during homecoming festivities on college campuses, and soon spread to the high schools, where even younger sweethearts were looking for ways to say “I love you,” or at the very least, “I like you a lot.”

The journey from subtle corsage of yesteryear to today’s four-feet glitter bombs hung with cowbells is a wonder to behold. Lucky for you, a new exhibit featuring Schultz’ photography and research is touring the Lakes Trail Region this fall. Even better, host communities like Garland have truly embraced this opportunity and expanded the exhibit with their own memorabilia and photographs, not to mention an impressive display of some of their proudest local mums. (Just don’t breathe too hard or you might inhale the glitter.)