The first tree fell Sunday for student bonfires first cut. More than 200 students woke up early Sunday morning to participate.
Students go to a cut-site every Sunday and every Saturday when there is not a home football game. The cut-site is land donated to student bonfire to be used for cutting down trees to be used in the bonfire stack.
Bonfire participants still cut down trees the traditional way: with an axe.
Austin Linn, sophomore economics major, said using axes to cut down trees is an intrinsic part of bonfire.
Using axes is part of what makes bonfire what it is, Linn said.
Sophomore biomedical engineering major Amanda Woodrow said members like to build bonfire the traditional way.
We keep it very traditional since it was built in 1909, Woodrow said.
There have been a lot of changes to A&M this past year with the transition to the Southeastern Conference, but sophomore kinesiology major Sandra Ghattas said bonfire will not change.
Nothing has changed because we do bonfire for bonfire, Ghattas said. We are bringing the excitement of a new conference to bonfire.
Even though bonfire is traditionally burned the night before the University of Texas game, Linn said the tradition started before the A&M-UT rivalry.
When you look back, bonfire became a tradition before playing t.u. was a tradition, Linn said.
This year, student bonfire will burn Nov. 23, the night before the Missouri game.
Woodrow said bonfire is not about who the football team plays that week, but something different.
Honestly, bonfire has never been about playing t.u., Woodrow said. It is about building the Aggie spirit.
Linn said the important part of bonfire is not the night that it burns.
Actually burning bonfire is the least important part, Linn said. It is about the camaraderie and spirit that comes with stacking and cutting.
Ghattas said the first cut of the season is special to those who participate in bonfire.
First cut is the start of the best season, bonfire season, Ghattas said.
Woodrow said first cut is the chance for the upperclassmen to show the freshmen what bonfire is all about.
It is the fishs first glimpse of the Aggie spirit, Woodrow said.
Linn said he was glad to start cutting for bonfire because of what bonfire means to him.
Bonfire is about going out there and doing something you are passionate about, and there is not a better feeling than that, Linn said.