Neptune Day Ceremony
Fish Guts and Fish Lips
09.26.2009 - 09.26.2009
77 °F
Neptune Day--the day of our crossing the equator--began with a parade in the hallway that woke the kids (saith Jahan). Soon after breakfast, we were all summoned to the pool deck, where King Neptune (aka the normally very solemn British captain or "master" of the ship) and Queen Minerva (aka the admin asst) held court in full splendor.
After plenty of ceremony and pomp and circumstance, Eli and Gabriel, along with most of the college students and even a few faculty and staff members, most of the "pollywogs" onboard, submitted to having green goo with fish guts poured on their heads, as part of an initiation ritual. They gleefully jumped in the seawater in the pool, and then climbed out to kiss dead fish on the lips. They were dubbed "shellbacks" by Dean Bob.
The boys decided against the next part of the ritual purging, since it would have involved departing from one of their most beloved possessions: their hair. Many college students, both men and women, had their heads shaved, to the hoots and glee of us all, including the first of all, a brave young lady who first looked like this:
And then like this:
Here's some video from the morning's hilarious festivities.
Posted by JR-CR 09.26.2009 15:07 Archived in Ghana Tagged family_travel
What gutsy boys!!! Such adventurous spirits!!!!
09.28.2009 by Nesta Ramazani