October 05, 2012

Baptism in the park




These pictures are taken from far for obvious reasons. It is also the first time that I got a stern request not to take photographs. What's going on here is the ritual baptism of 1st year college students at the beginning  of the academic year. Baptisms can take several forms and formats, can be fun or not... Unfortunately they also can rather easily get out of hand. As far as I could see, these groups had things under control. They did make initiates get on their knees and consume a disgusting looking mixture of mayonnaise and flower straight off the ground.

31 comments:

  1. Ha, good for you . . . great exposé pics.
    The world can do without college initiations!

    ReplyDelete
  2. They can sometimes be very cruel. They do it to the army recruits here I don't. Know about uni students

    ReplyDelete
  3. We often refer to that as 'hazing' and there have been stories in the news in recent years of kids who have died from extreme conditions, such as overconsumption of alcohol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. horrible things have happened indeed...
      should be just for fun, in my opinion

      Delete
  4. We call it hazing here. It sometimes gets out of hand here but it is rarely done in a public area during the day time. Thanks for sharing. What an interesting piece of photojournalism!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks indeed still quite decent. strange that they ask you not to take pics... If they want to keep it private, they should go to a private location!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bah, dit zijn van die nare vernederende gewoontes die nergens voor nodig zijn. Alleen maar laten zien wie de sterkste is. Hier zijn ook excessen geweest die uit de hand liepen met soms de dood tot gevolg. Dat is toch verschrikkelijk, afschaffen die boel!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hmmm . . . interesting indeed. Hazing here . . . not looked upon fondly by most.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. seems to be a worldwide thing, Judy.. and the reactions are pretty unanimous

      Delete
  8. Vooral de eerste 2 foto's vind ik heel mooi omdat de mensen zo klein lijken tegenover de bomen. En bij de eerste foto is het nog eens extra mooi door contrast van het groen en de oranje T-shirts.

    Prettig weekend
    ELektra

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. leuk dat je de foto's mooi vindt Elektra ..hopelijk vinden de studenten mijn blog niet en moet ik ze er niet afhalen, wat ik natuurlijk onmiddellijk zou doen ingeval van verzoek in die richting.

      Delete
  9. Anni,

    Why were they so stern about you not taking pictures? I've heard about the various hazings that they make students do and I'm not in agreement with this.

    Have a happy weekend, Anni! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I asked and they said that they have a bad reputation and that people would think they damage park property while two hours later, no one would ever have known that hazings took place.. that's the story I got....

      Delete
  10. Ciao, belle le foto e interessante il "battesimo" . Queste cose sono belle e simpatiche se si riesce a non farsele sfuggire di mano se no possono anche diventare pericolose. Ciao, buon fine settimana.
    Antonella

    ReplyDelete
  11. They can indeed be cruel and I've never understood why they seem to be a part of the "educational process", but whatever works for them??? Terrific shots, glad you were able to get them!! Good for you, Anni! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gross. Could i refuse to do it, i wonder? I would rebel.. i know i would. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hallo Anni,
    "Il faut que jeunesse se passe" zegt men, maat voor mij hoeft het zeker niet...
    Prettig weekend,
    Frans

    ReplyDelete
  14. Eerlijk gezegd loop ik, na al die verhalen die men hier en daar hoort, niet hoog op met die studentendopen. Kan het niet wat minder dan!
    Fijn weekend @->--

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hallo Anni
    Het is wel heel speciaal wat daar gebeurd is, het moet maar niet meer gebeueren.
    Goed weekend, groeten Bets

    ReplyDelete
  16. Looks a bit chilly to be having much fun. Hopefully nobody suffered anything serious.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ik heb een grondige hekel aan dat kuddegebeuren en dan hebben ze nog het lef om te vragen geen foto's te nemen, dus mag er iets niet gezien worden en hebben ze iets te verbergen.

    ReplyDelete
  18. het was toch wel interessant denk ik om dit te beleven. Leuke foto's ook zijn ze van veraf.
    Groetjes Dietmut

    ReplyDelete