Neptune Day
The neptune day ceremony when we crossed the equator was tons of fun. We were all a little unsure of what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun ceremony. Neptune day is an old sailor's tradition. The ceremony of moving from a 'pollywog' to a 'shellback' occurs when a person crosses the equator by the sea for the first time. Our day began when the crew all dressed up and paraded up and down all the corridors where our rooms are with drums and instruments to wake us up. It was at 7:30 am, which seemed a little early since we thought we were going to be able to sleep in. The ceremony started at 9am. We all lined up behind the pool and had no clue what to expect. Once the ceremony began the 'king and queen' entered with their court of 'royals'. It really was the Captain, the Assistant Dean, and the faculty and staff. They were all dressed up. The captain was even painted lime green from head to toe!! Before he would allow us to continue into the Southern hemisphere we had
to perform a ritual he required of all of us.
First, we had to line up by the pool and one by one a goopy- slime was poured over our heads. After we got covered in slime we had to jump into the pool and swim across. We climed out the other side of the pool and we had to 'pay our respects' to the 'royal court'. First we had to kiss a fish (yes, a real one!), then we were 'knighted' by the royal court. We had to kiss the queens hand and bow to the king and then we were allowed to enter the Southern Hemisphere. Then the royal court began shaving peoples heads. We did not HAVE to shave our heads, but I think about 65 people chose to!!! Some girls even shaved their heads!
The whole ceremony was fun and it was nice to have the whole shipboard community involved. Of course the whole thing was just created for fun, but it was a good time. The cleanup after the ceremony looked rather intense though because the whole pool deck was pink and green and slimy and the water in the pool was dark gray!
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