Strange Graduation Ritual

 
It’s graduation time again. It reminds me of the strangest graduation ritual that I had ever witnessed. It was at the Università Degli Studi di Padova in 2007.

 
On graduation day, graduates have a papiri (poster) prepared by their friends. It features embarrassing snippets from their college life and nude caricatures of themselves bordering into pornography. They are forced to dress up in very humiliating manner.

 
I took the picture of one who looked like a helpless Houdini wrapped in packaging tape with his face and body painted with an unknown substance.

 
Another was a female with a wreath of vegetables around her neck holding a rather big zucchini with obvious sexual connotations. She looked quite decent until she was splashed with eggs, flour, molasses, and other gooey stuff. Out of respect for womanhood, I elected not to take her picture in that state of vulnerability.

They were also subjected to taunts and insults from their supposed friends and relatives who followed them around in the street like a pack of hyenas. I guess these were all in the name of fun as I didn’t understand any words they were saying.