(I wrote this yesterday) Today I took part in an ancient maritime tradition – I donned a red curly wig, painted my face, wielded a sword and acted like a pirate. Yes, today was our Equator crossing ceremony. Since I am a trusty Shellback (meaning I have crossed the Equator before) I got to take part in initiating the slimy Pollywogs (meaning those who have never crossed the Equator).
This tradition was a bit of a challenge on this ship because almost everyone on the ship was a Pollywog. There were only eight of us who were Shellbacks. We pulled it off though. As the tradition goes, King Neptune and his court must board the ship and grant everyone permission to cross the Equator. The way he does this is by making the Pollywogs do a secret initiation to deem them worthy of being a shellback. We had a 250 lb king Neptune and our retired US Navy Captain dressed up as the Queen. The rest of the shellbacks dressed as pirates.
The initiation on Semester at Sea was much more extensive but we did ok. Since none of the executive team on the ship were shellbacks they were very resistant to agree to anything too grand. They were afraid what we were doing would be construed as hazing – which is just silly because there is no pressure and everything is totally optional and all in good fun. It was interesting to be a part of creating this ship’s initiation procedures. There were 5 of us who had become shellbacks on Semester at Sea, 1 became a shellback in the US Navy and 2 had become shellbacks on different research vessels – it was cool to hear all of the different types of initiation and try to blend them into something unique for TSS.
This all may sound really silly but it really is a long standing tradition. Research ships, military ships, passenger ships – you name it and they do some sort of King Neptune initiation ceremony when crossing the Equator. I’m proud of the picture I have of me being initiated as a shellback – fish guts and all (if anyone is interested I can show you the video when I’m back at home).
On to Ecuador we go!
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4 comments:
the good old days of equator crossing :) are you going to tell us more about the initiation you all put together?
Safe travels Christy! keep writing - I am jealous I am not with you this time!!!
ahh good memories of neptune day. I think I was literally the last one to get initiated on semester at sea spring 05. It must be so exciting (and stressful) to be almost making this trip up as you go along!
Now that I'm feeling nostalgic I think I'll go look at all my SAS pics again. :)
Keep writing!
-Sarah E.
Christy, can you believe I'm STILL a Pollywog?? I was miserably sick on Neptune Day and was throwing up...even WITHOUT the main ingredient of initiation...and had to hide out. Guess it just means I'll have to cross the equator again! ;)
Can't wait to hear about Ecuador!
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