Christening of ships

Such ceremonies for the commissioning of new ships with the associated naming were already common in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC. Also the Greeks and Romans in the antiquity already had ship christenings. In Japan and China, a rope connecting the ship to the land is torn during launching - similar to the cutting of the umbilical cord at the birth of a human being. Elsewhere, wine was simply poured over the planks, but other sometimes cruel rituals such as human sacrifice were also common. Incidents at baptism were always considered a bad omen.

Schiffstaufe - Dom Pérignon Etikett (Schiffstaufe USS-Enterprise) und Stapellauf der Titanic

Titanic and USS Enterprise NCC-1701B

The christening of a ship has an important symbolic meaning in seafaring and the superstitious seafaring people interpret its renunciation as a bad omen. As "proof" of this, it is pointed out that the Titanic, which sank on 15 April 1912 after an iceberg collision and was considered unsinkable, was not christened because the shipping company dismissed this as superstition. Air and space ships are also christened. Even the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701B) from the TV series "Star Trek" was ceremonially subjected to this ritual with a futuristic Dom Pérignon of the year 2265.

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Christening of ships

Titanic and USS Enterprise NCC-1701B

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