AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 140 of 237 21 Crossing The Line Ceremony Capt (IN) N Vijayasarathy Genre: Maritime Convention The Ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in most of the Navies including merchantmen that commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the Equator. Equator-crossing ceremonies, typically featuring King Neptune (Varuna in the Indian Navy) the Lord of the Oceans. This tradition is passed down from the Royal Navy. The tradition may have originated with ceremonies when passing headlands, and become a "folly" sanctioned as aboost to morale, or have been created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are considered as Sons of Varuna. The following Crossing the Line Ceremony was in Apr 1986 on board the Destroyer INS Rana. The ship was on a Good Will visit to Seychelles from Bombay her base port. The event is like a ritual in which crew members who have already crossed the Equator form a "Court of Varuna" to induct the first timers into "the mysteries of the Deep". Physical hardship, in keeping with the spirit of the initiation, is tolerated, and is expected to endure a standard initiation rite in order to become Sons of Varuna.