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> The ultimate example may be All Souls College, which has a ritual, the Mallard Song, that occurs once a century. You can't walk for more than five minutes in
by andyjohnson0 1y ago
> The ultimate example may be All Souls College, which has a ritual, the Mallard Song, that occurs once a century.
You can't walk for more than five minutes in the UK without tripping over some nonsense like this. History is very important, and traditon has its place, but really? As a brit I find it all kind of tediously performative sometimes.
- xg15 1y agoNot a Brit, but Terry Pratchett's ritual of the Other Jacket told me all I need to know. https://community.pearljam.com/discussion/71416/tradition-gone-off-the-deep-end https://community.pearljam.com/discussion/71416/tradition-go...
- andyjohnson0 1y ago> Here is an example of how mindless adherence to tradition can get a bit weird and very funny See also; the King's Remembrancer and the Quit Rent Ceremony and the Trial of the Pyx: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Remembrancer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Remembrancer It is truly strange how my country can create a political and cultural operating system that allows this stuff to just go on and on for almost 800 years, right up to now.
- xg15 1y ago> The King's Remembrancer swears in a jury of 26 Goldsmiths who then count, weigh and otherwise measure a sample of 88,000 gold coins produced by the Royal Mint. I mean, you have to admire the stamina for that.
- scubbo 1y agoa) GNU Terry Pratchett b) In case you are one of today's Lucky Ten Thousand, this is a reference to the real-life Ceremony Of The Keys[1] [0] https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/ [1] https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/the-ceremony-of-the-keys/ https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/t...
- xg15 1y agoGNU Terry Pratchett And yeah, I knew about the Ceremony of the Keys, but not the details. Didn't know it really has that kind of scripted dialogue that Pratchett parodied there.