Neptune Day

Subpoena from King Neptune

• To all Pollywogs (otherwise known as persons who have never crossed the equator
by sea): You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE
REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS. It has been brought to
the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS,
that the good ship MV EXPLORER is about to cross the equator and enter those
waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of
the RULER OF THE DEEP. THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that
The Royal King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will with
his Secretary and Royal Court meet in full session on-board the offending ship M.V.
EXPLORER on the 26th day of September AD 2009 at 0900 on Deck 7 Aft to hear
your defense.

Regards,
King Neptune and His Royal Court

Neptune

This was the summons we were all emailed several days before the actual event. Neptune Day occurred on the first day back on the ship from Ghana. The crew woke us up at 7:45. They were banging drums and blowing whistles up and down all the decks for 1 whole hour dressed in all white with these funny hats on. I still had a wicked fever but I forced myself to throw on a bathing suit and head up to the pool deck. I walked out into quite a scene. All of our professors were completely dressed as gods and goddesses. The first part of the ceremony was we had to have “fish guts” poured over our heads and then we jumped in the pool. After the fish guts we had to kiss a dead fish and then we got knighted as Shellbacks by our executive dean. Our Captain was decked out fully as King Neptune and was completely painted green from head to toe, next to him sat our assistant Dean and she was dressed as his wife- they looked so ridiculous it was great. Drew and I did the whole process together and I did all of it! Got fish dumped on my head and everything. The 2nd part of the ceremony (which I did not take part in) was that people had to have their heads shaved. Our teachers and deans were all doing the shaving and there was hair everywhere. My friend Kara was the first to go and off came all of her long long blonde hair. I was so surprised at how many girls shaved their head- one of the old lifelong learners even shaved her head! It was adorable. Some kids went the original route and only got Mohawks and one girl even shave half of her head. Needless to say everyone looked like cancer patients or Thai prisoners we couldn’t decide. It was a super fun ceremony and I was so happy I was able to pull myself out of my fever to partake in it. I think it is great that SAS still keeps these old sailing traditions alive and it is also a ton of fun.