Totally Optional Prompt: Ceremonies

TOPers, here in the US we're about to inaugurate a new presidential administration. Some of us (myself, for instance) are planning to watch the ceremony. It'll actually be the first one I've ever watched.

How important are public ceremonies? Do President-elect Obama's choices for his inauguration really imply anything significant about the kind of President he'll be? Is it all just empty spectacle, circuses without the bread? Is Elizabeth Alexander the kind of poet who will flourish under the new administration, or just a poet he happens to like?

Write about public ceremonies: I don't mean the kind of private rituals we all have. Write about one you've been to, one you'd like to go to, or write about what public ceremonies mean to you. Or write about anything at all. After all, it's
Totally Optional
!