I got my cap and gown today. Only a few more days 'till I walk (it feels like that should apply in more than one sense of the word).

It's a funny thing. I hadn't applied it to graduation ceremonies before, but color, or more specifically, the transition from black to white or vice-versa, has a uniform, yet often contradictory, significance across several cultures and disciplines.

Take the martial arts for example: Though the different forms (and in some cases, different schools) have different progressions through belt colors, they do, almost without exception, progress from the neophyte white belt to the expert black belt. The symbolic significance here is that the beginner, without knowledge, is innocent, and is as impressionable and changable as the pure white belt. As the student progresses, learning more and more, they approach black, an aggregation of the knowledge, wisdom, and experience they have gathered on their path.

Conversely, in Medieval Europe, anyone could wear a black or brown belt, but the knighthood was identified by a white belt, symbolizing the acquired purity of spirit and nobility of purpose.

Now that I'm thinking about it in broader terms, it makes sense that the cap and gown are black, signifying the end of a journey. In the same vein, the white wedding dress indicates the beginning of one.

Funerals: black, end of journey.

Baby showers: white, or pastel blue or pink, beginning.

Okay, I'll break down and admit that I don't know if the knight's white belt is an abberation because black and brown were already common before the knighthood and they had to distinguish themselves, or if the whole white-belt thing isn't actually true and is just one more thing I took from the SCA to be a historical carryover instead of a new invention.

At any rate, it's interesting (read: fun for a geek like me) to take a look at traditions and pick apart the symbolism and see if there's a common root for the symbolsim across seemingly unrelated traditions.

I need to do a little research on the mortarboard and tassle symbolism, but I'll wait until my finals are over, as I don't think that information will be particularly useful on the exams...