Commemoration

Commemoration, a general term for celebrating some past event. It is also the name for the annual act, or Encaenia, the ceremonial closing of the academic year at Oxford University. It consists of a Latin oration in commemoration of benefactors and founders; of the recitation of prize compositions in prose and verse, and the conferring of honorary degrees upon English or foreign celebrities. The ceremony, which is usually on the third Wednesday after Trinity Sunday, is held in the Sheldonian Theatre, in Broad St., Oxford. “Commencement” is the term for the equivalent ceremony at Cambridge, and this is also used in the case of American universities.