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Rites of Passage
Lantern Night

© 2003 University of Pittsburgh Office of the Provost
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"Father Pitt" (right) and the Senior Queen (below) officiated at Lantern Night. The Senior Queen, elected the previous spring, returned to campus in the fall to welcome the new students.

The Japanese paper lanterns, abandoned when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, were replaced by metal lanterns. Later the ceremony was simplified and the less costly candles were substituted.

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