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| Kissy kissy fish kiss! |
Early this morning, her Royal Highness the MV Explorer crossed the Equator!! As tradition goes, our ship had a Line-Crossing Ceremony, also known as Neptune Day! This tradition goes back to the 1800s where ship vessels would initiate ship members (aka Slimy Pollywogs) into becoming seasoned sailors (aka Trusty Shellbacks) as they sail through the latitude and longitude lines both a 0 degrees!
Neptune Day is one of the biggest and most anticipated events on SAS voyages. I had no clue what it was when I first got here, but a lot of people did and seemed really excited for it. After today, I understand why!
The captain of our ship, Captain Jeremy, dressed up as King Neptune, while our Academic Dean, Dean Eddie, took the role of Queen Menerva. It was pretty funny seeing both of them all dressed up like that, especially Dean Eddie who rocked a long blonde wig and heavy makeup! The rest of the faculty dressed up as members of the King's Court.
Neptune Day started with the ship's crew members dressed up in some sort of tribal gear drumming and chanting across the halls to wake everyone up. After breakfast, we were instructed to go up to the pool deck where the ceremony was to take place.
Music blasted from the speakers as we all chilled by the pool waiting for the official opening of the ceremony. It was a beautiful day out! Everyone had their cameras ready, their swimsuits on, and their excitement unparalleled.
Finally, a call for silence was made as the King and Queen, together with their Royal Court, entered the pool deck and made their way to their royal seats by the pool. I felt as if I was in a concert, with all the woo's and the cheering and the cameras clicking everywhere! Everyone broke out into more cheering and clapping as the King's royal spokesman announced, "Let the ceremonies begin!"
Now this is when the fun escalates exponentially!
In order to prove that you are worthy of becoming a Trusty Shellback, you must go through the following initiation activities:
(1) Have fish guts poured over your head
(2) Kiss a fish
(3) Shave your head
Of course, initiation activity #3 wasn't an option I even considered doing. No sir, ain't nobody's gon shave off ma hurr!! Thankfully, we didn't have to do all three! And ok, ok, they don't actually use fish guts anymore, but some kind of goo in dyed water instead hehe.
So I lined up and waited for my turn to be initiated. The atmosphere of the place was so alive with people cheering each other on, especially those who were getting their heads shaven (yup, a lot of girls did it too)!
I was so excited and a bit nervous when it was finally my turn! The gunk that was poured on us was so cold that I had to let out a squeal haha. After the pouring of the goo + dyed water, we were to jump into the pool, get out, kiss a fish (two, actually), kiss the royal rings of Queen Menerva and King Neptune, then kneel as one of the members of the Royal Court officially bestowed upon us our new status using the royal scepter.
Kissing the two fish was pretty gross, but as long as you didn't inhale the smell, it wasn't that bad. Funny story: I didn't know we were supposed to kiss the rings of the King and Queen, so when I walked over to their "thrones", they were gesturing to their rings, edi nag mano ako HAHA pinoy na pinoy diba?! Good thing they were nice about correcting me hahaha.
Once everyone who wanted to be initiated got through the process, the ceremony ended with King Neptune declaring that we have proven ourselves worthy, and have risen above being a mere pollywog! The celebration afterwards just turned into a pool party on the deck, which is always amazeballs.
Here are some photos!
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Gathering at the pool waiting for the ceremony to start!
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