Strange Graduation Ritual
June 4, 2010 at 3:37 pm 6 comments

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.
Entry filed under: Blogroll. Tags: graduation, italy, travel, università degli studi di padova, vacation.
1.
coolwaterworks | June 5, 2010 at 9:58 am
Kakaiba naman ito, interesting in a sociological point of view… Bakit kaya ganito ang practice nila? Hehehe…
2.
plaridel | June 5, 2010 at 2:21 pm
coolwaterworks:
it’s hard to tell when the tradition started. it’s one of the oldest and best universities in italy. among its alumni were galileo, copernicus, and casanova.
3.
AC | June 7, 2010 at 6:39 am
hehehehe.. astig! ang kulet! 😆
4.
plaridel | June 7, 2010 at 10:58 pm
ac:
in spite of the ribbing, the graduates seemed to be in good spirits. one thing about italians, they really have a good sense of humor. 🙂
5.
sub | June 8, 2010 at 9:20 pm
where is this school? gross naman! id rather they do the oblation parang may justice pa yun 😦
6.
plaridel | June 8, 2010 at 10:11 pm
sub:
it’s in padova (padua), italy.