Words are inadequate

Many ceremonies are relics from another time. Some still have use, and some are just for show, but for many people there is indeed a need to do something for show. Marriages are a good example: nowadays you can just do the paperwork and have the judge make it official and there's a record somewhere legal that says "yes, these two are married." But in past times, the ceremony WAS the legal force: the fact that it was done where people could witness it was important, so that there was an oral- and memory- record of the event, and so that the community agreed that it had happened. Today, the ceremony is a lot less functional, but the function of signifying to the community still seems to resonate with many people.

As you might recall, I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to witness the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. If you want to talk about useless ceremony, THAT is one. It only happens once per day even though the individual guards serve only four hour shifts, it's enormously gaudy and costly, blocking traffic as well as involving somewhere near a hundred people for something that, when you get down to it, takes about 20 seconds. The rest is really just the British Empire puffing its chest for the crowd. Now, I personally did enjoy the ceremony, but more as performance than as anything with meaning...