Two momentous events happened in July: the first cohort from Aber’s Psychology Department graduated and my friend, S, got married to D in a lovely wedding in the East Midlands. Both were festive, exciting days and full of fun cultural observations for Dan and me!
On the surface, graduation is pretty similar to what I’ve seen in the US. There is a procession at the beginning (usually Elgar), students get called on stage, and people leave with a degree conferred upon them. Some things that were different:
- the local dignitaries are invited so the mayor came in her mayor bling, the councilmen, etc.
- the names are announced by the Deans of each Faculty and the degrees are actually conferred by the Vice-Chancellor; each time the Dean goes up or descends from the podium, they have to acknowledge the VC by lifting their cap and the VC acknowledges them back the same way
- there is strictly no cheering, whistling, tossing of mortar boards, or other celebrating during the ceremony (everyone is warned not to do this beforehand); after each group of students is announced, there is some quick clapping and then the next group comes on
- no diploma or even diploma holder is handed to the students; it comes in the mail later
- the students came on stage in groups and when each name was read, they nodded at the Vice-Chancellor
- each group of students was escorted from their seats to the stage by marshals who are dressed differently and carry walking canes (like walking sticks). According to history passed on from R, these sticks used to serve a purpose. Back in the day, they would announce the student’s name along with his degree classification which was the first time the student knew what his final grade average was. Sometimes, they would be so outraged at the results, that they would try and rush the presiding officer, so the marshals would have to beat them back with the sticks. Now it is just ceremonial, as the students find out their grades online the week before.
- when the students come on stage, they always have their backs to the audience; their parents never have an opportunity to get a frontal picture of them (I snuck these with my phone)
- every kind of degree, Bachelor, Master, Doctoral, gets treated in exactly this fashion with pretty much no deviation
This local dignitary wears his tri-cornered hat and fur-trimmed robe
The student nods to the VC, the marshals flank the group and note the stick
Students come up in groups, VC acknowledging with his hat
Congratulations to our first graduates!
10 days later, we drove to a small village in the East Midlands called Ketton to attend S and D’s wedding. Before we get to the wedding part, allow me to rave about the sights we saw along the way, such as the village of Rockingham, home to the Rockingham Castle (continually occupied since its construction 900 years ago) and Welland Viaduct set in a beautiful romantic valley (which floods regularly in the winter and spring).
Rockingham Castle from afar
Approach into the little village of Rockingham
Super cute thatch house in Rockingham
Welland Viaduct is the longest masonry viaduct in Britain at 1.2 km and 82 arches
These were just icing on the wedding cake, though. The wedding itself was beautiful! The church was over 800 years old, and the first vicar retired in the 1200s.
The sky turned from gray to blue just as the wedding began
The groom’s father is a methodist minister and was an integral part of the ceremony. We sang an opening and closing hymn, and as we learned before, the kiss came in the middle of the ceremony. The church was packed full of people decked out in their best outfits, and I even adorned a bird in my hair as women do here for weddings.
Oops, an elegant bird landed in my hair
We walked a short jaunt to the house where S grew up. It is an amazing house with huge grounds, including a waterfall, pond with ducks, and bountiful garden (some of the wedding food came from the garden!). Two big tents were sent up, and we dined in style. First, paella was cooked in huge paella pans and then afterwards a hog was roasted (vegetarians, avert your eyes for this one).
S & D bring a bit of their adopted Spanish culture into their wedding
After the recent NYT article about pig roast, I was ready to try this sumptuous snack!
The evening’s festivities were interrupted when Dan was stung on the foot by a bee/wasp/horsefly of some sort. There was an inverse relationship between the amount of pain he was in (almost none) and the fuss and attention he received (a lot of attention by a lot of people). Nevertheless, we pressed on and joined the happy couple in dancing to some groovy tunes. What a fun and memorable wedding! Congratulations S & D!
