As they customarily do for crossing the equator, the crew of the Aurora Australis gets ready for a ceremony to mark crossing the Antarctic Circle. The Antarctic Circle is located at 66°33’ south, where our work will be in full swing. The initiation ceremony, like Christmas, will take place early while we are underway. Martin Riddle first carefully went to each cabin and made a list of those who did not yet hold certificate of passage of the line.
Preparations are made in secret and involve the crew, who readily take on this new role. The ceremony follows ancient traditions. The initiates, dubbed ‘neophytes,’ pass under the forked trident of the god Neptune (diabolically interpreted by Roger).
Edi, for the occasion, assists the crew, dressed up as Neptune’s daughter.
Nearly every member of the expedition bows gracefully to custom. Among the French team, only Catherine Ozouf, making the trip to the Antarctic for at least the tenth time, is exempt from this infamous ordeal. It’s thanks to her that you can enjoy these novel photos!
After painting our faces with black marker, the organizers assemble us in the dining room to subject us to tests. On our knees, five in a row, at Neptune’s feet, we have to kiss the king’s salmon, incurring a number of blows from its teeth. Bertrand’s lip will remember the occasion: even a dead salmon can bite!
Special treatment is reserved for the French. We must eat a huge vegemite ‘lollipop.’ People who have never tasted this blackish-brown paste don’t know how lucky they are. Could it taste worse than cod-liver oil?! It may be rich in vitamin B and a staple for Australian children, but the French palate finds it very difficult to appreciate this concentrate of yeast extract. Fortunately, a liquid of salty tasting, fluoride blue stuff helped almost all of us swallow valiantly in the end.
Finally, Neptune’s assistants capped the ritual by energetically shampooing our heads with chocolate and corn.
Collateral damage: dining room laid waste, toilets stopped up, grains of corn in the showers.
Our courage will be rewarded with a certificate delivered by the captain, Ian Moodie, after we actually cross the Antarctic Circle.