Degree Ceremony

　　The visitor's tickets for the degree ceremony were handed out after the brunch meeting. With it firmly in my hand, I walked to the Sheldonian Theatre in which the ceremony would be held. I had walked through the old city several times and didn't miss the way, but I was surprised to see a horde of visitors to the ceremony at its entrance. I was afraid of whether we came in, or not. I didn't want to end up in standing room, but luckily, we managed to take seats, though my daughter's seat was distant and behind the column viewing from our seats. I had to twist my body to take snapshots of her.
　　I couldn't catch the words used in the ceremony, but it seems to have been Latin. Latin has traditionally been used for as many as 1000 years in the ceremony. How wonderful! The students took their seats before the opening of the ceremony once, then they went out of the room after greeting three university personnel (I don't know the name of their roles, but proctor?). When they re-entered the room next, they were formally dressed with a hood of several colors and a mortarboard. The color of the hoods apparently represented their majors. This is totally my speculation, but the first greeting means the permit for their degrees from the university and the second greeting to the personnel formally dressed might be showing their gratitude. Their - both university side and students - greeting, taking the mortarboard and bowing, was somehow humorous and all the people were smiling. Laden with both a stately and homey atmosphere, the ceremony was awesome. Seeing the smiling faces of the young people who would be leading the world in the future, I became happy. They made me feel that I have to work hard at my post.

(Vocabulary)
standing room 立ち見席
stately　悠然とした, ゆったりとした; 威厳のある, 堂々たる;〈人が〉風格のある, 堂々とした
homey 〈場所・雰囲気などが〉 我が家のような, 居心地のよい

　ブランチの後、学位授与式へのチケットが配られた。学生一人につき二人まで招待できるので我々には２枚配られた。これを手に会場のシェルドニアンシアターへ向かった。何度も歩いた旧市街、迷うことなく到着。しかし、入場の列を見て驚いた。大勢並んでいる。式が始まるまでに入れるのだろうか？立ち見席だったら嫌だなと思っていたのだが、なんとか開式までに席に着けた。しかし、席は近くの柱がちょうど娘を隠してしまっていたが仕方ない。身をよじってなんとか娘を撮影した。
　式進行で使われる言葉がまったく聞き取れなかったが、ラテン語だったらしい。１０００年も続く伝統なのだとか。恐れ入りました。会場内でいったん席に着いた学生たちは、中央に出て正式な役職名はわからないが大学当局者に対して一礼して出て行き、次に入ってくるときにはいろいろな色のフードを着けて帽子を持っていわゆる正装で入ってくる。赤や青や緑など色とりどりのフードは専攻や学位の種別を表しているらしい。全くの想像だが、一度目の挨拶で学位の許可をもらい、２回目は学位を身につけたという挨拶か？帽子を取って会釈する仕草がどことなくユーモラスで大学側も学生側も全員がニコニコしている。厳粛な雰囲気とアットホームな雰囲気が共存している素晴らしい卒業式だった。世界を率いることになる英才達の笑顔を見てこちらも心が温かくなった。自分も自分の持ち場で頑張らねばという思いかな。「一隅を照らす」彼らを見ていてこの言葉を思い出した。