One of the more unusual university rituals has played out at St Andrews in Scotland.

The messy display took place on Raisin Monday, the culmination of a weekend of festivities when St Andrews first years say thank-you to their more senior student “parents” for mentoring them.

The so-called “children” were given embarrassing costumes to wear before they descended on St Salvator’s Quad for a huge shaving foam fight, part of a centuries-old tradition.

Raisin Monday
Hundreds of students have taken part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
The fight is waged on St Salvator’s Lower College Lawn (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
The first year students are made to wear costumes (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
The tradition lets first years say thank you to their more senior student ‘parents’ for mentoring them (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
Raisin Monday has been held for centuries, but the use of shaving foam is a more recent addition (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
Balloons are somehow included in the mix (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
Some of the participants complained of stinging eyes (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
But the taste of the foam didn’t appear to put some revellers off (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
Raisin Weekend dates far back into St Andrews’ history (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
It was founded in 1413 and is Scotland’s oldest university (Jane Barlow/PA)
Raisin Monday
But for anyone fancying a clean shave, they may find a marked shortage of shaving foam cans on the shelves of local shops (Jane Barlow/PA)