Ceremony
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For other uses, see Ceremony (disambiguation).
Newly commissioned officers celebrate their new positions by throwing their
midshipmen covers into the air as part of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 2005
graduation and commissioning ceremony.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz salutes Yom Kippur War
casualties at an official annual memorial service for fallen soldiers.
A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word
may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin caerimonia.[1]
Contents
1 Ceremonial occasions
2 Government ceremonies
3 Celebration of events
4 Process
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links
Ceremonial occasions
A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for
example:
birth (birthday)
initiation (college orientation week)
puberty
social adulthood (Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah)
graduation
awarding
retirement
death (Day of the Dead)
burial (funeral)
spiritual (baptism, communion)
Wedding
Government ceremonies
Sometimes, a ceremony may only be performed by a person with certain authority. For
example, the opening of the United Kingdom Parliament is presided over by the
Sovereign (Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II). A captain or a higher-ranked naval officer
usually supervises the naming and launching of a warship. A wedding is performed by a
priest or a Civil Celebrant, as in Australia. The President of the United States is
customarily sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States, and the British sovereign
is always crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Celebration of events
Other, society-wide ceremonies may mark annual or seasonal or recurrent events such as:
vernal equinox, winter solstice and other annual astronomical positions
weekly Sabbath day
inauguration of an elected office-holder
occasions in a liturgical year or "feasts" in a calendar of saints
Other ceremonies underscore the importance of non-regular special occasions, such as:
coronation of a monarch
victory in battle
In some Asian cultures, ceremonies also play an important social role, for example the tea
ceremony.
Process
Ceremonies may have a physical display or theatrical component: dance, a procession,
the laying on of hands. A declaratory verbal pronouncement may explain or cap the
occasion, for instance:
I now pronounce you husband and wife.
I swear to serve and defend the nation ...
I declare open the games of ...
I/We dedicate this ... ... to ...
Both physical and verbal components of a ceremony may become part of a liturgy.
See also
Builders' rites Human condition
Cornerstone Ribbon cutting ceremony
Event planning Rite of passage
Gift Tjurunga
Groundbreaking ceremony Topping out (when the last beam is placed at
the top of a building)..
Notes
1. ^ Grimes, Ronald L. (2000). "Ritual". In Willi Braun, Russell T.
McCutcheon. Guide to the study of religion. Continuum International Publishing
Group. p. 260. ISBN 0304701769.
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ceremony
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ceremonies
Categories:
Ceremonies
Anthropology
