After a night of candles, chants and rituals, the Hex Rally seems perfectly content to claim a hand in Texas football’s victory on Nov. 29.
For the first time since 2011, students, faculty, alumni and fans gathered in front of the Tower late Nov. 28 night to hex Texas A&M ahead of the Lone Star Showdown. Despite the 11:30 p.m. start on Thanksgiving night, the Tower plaza was packed. Hundreds of candles were ordered, yet they had all been claimed before the rally even started.
Everyone was ready to show their support for the football team and practice the old tradition of singing “The Eyes of Texas” three times with the carillon. This was all in an effort to secure the Texas Longhorns a win before anyone even steps into the stadium.
“I just want to show that Texas spirit and get ready for tomorrow’s game,” biology freshman Tyler Lawrence said.
Political communications and sociology senior Morgan Hernandez, organizer of the Hex Rally, didn’t know what kind of crowd to expect. She had high hopes for the night, but was also managing her expectations. But as she watched the excitement and energy build, she knew that this renewed tradition had a life of its own.
Hernandez wasn’t planning on spending her Thanksgiving at this rally. The opportunity pretty much fell into her lap — or really, her DMs. A social media account called @texas.hexes contacted her to ask if she would organize the rally. The anonymous account left the Hex Rally completely in her hands. To this day, she has no idea who is behind this Instagram account, but credits them with the reason the Hex Rally got so much traction online.
“I had no idea what the Hex Rally was till they messaged me, and I got to learn about it,” Hernandez said. “And a special shoutout to the anonymous group of students who were running Texas Hexes because they have done a fantastic job with the Instagram.”
Hernandez is the president of Roundtable, a group that brings together the 17 oldest spirit organizations at the University, and has had a hand all semester in organizing events around campus. However, organizing the Hex Rally with only three weeks was difficult. There were outside factors they had to consider, such as coordinating the use of the Tower with the University and possibly having to cancel the entire rally if a show like College Gameday was set up in the South Mall.
With no clear instructions on how the rally should be conducted, Hernandez decided it would be best to mix the tradition of the old Hex Rally with some new aspects for the revived event. They kept the ritual of singing “The Eyes of Texas” three times with burning candles, but added a recitation of the four pillars of the University: tradition, spirit, legacy and unity.
“We wanted it to be small and intimate and less of a production,” Hernandez said. “We wanted to get it together at its root and at its core before trying to make it into something way elaborate, but the hex stays the same.”
Ten minutes before midnight, the carillon rang while the attendees held their lit candles, reciting “The Eyes of Texas” three times. Students gathered with some nerves for the game the following day, but with excitement to be part of a revived tradition.
So while the Longhorns’ strong performance on Friday might have been the reason that they won, no one can prove that the hex didn’t have a hand in the victory.
