Topic: Who participates in which rituals?
Expensive vs. Inexpensive, Official vs. Unofficial
As being amongst the crowd at various inaugural events, I have come to the conclusion that everyone was invited to every event. There was no reason why a person could not attend any inaugural activity that they wanted to be apart of. Events really began on Sunday the 18th of January and continued through Tuesday the 20th of January. There was the We Are One concert on Sunday. There was the Swearing-In Ceremony, the Parade, and various Official and Unofficial Inaugural Balls on Tuesday. Each event could have been free to attend or they could have been quite expensive.
At the We Are One concert, I realized that this weekend was really just one big party for the American people. There were so many rituals, which took place in Washington, DC this past weekend and people from all different walks of life were here to celebrate. I spoke to as well as listened to many other people’s conversations about their plans for the weekend. It was amazing to hear how everyone’s plans were so different yet they were all in celebration of the same event, the inauguration of Barack Obama. The concert featured celebrities and other celebrities as well as “regular” American citizens were in attendance.
I heard people speak who would probably never have anything to talk about and on this day they had an entire conversation about how they were spending this monumental occasion. It started with where people were staying and progressed to discuss everything they planned on attending. Some people were staying at family of friend’s houses, some were staying in cheap motels as far away as Maryland and Virginia and others were staying in famous DC hotels like the Haye Adams. It dawned on me then that this weekend was a party that was not restricted to anyone. When you are not in DC all you hear about are the official events, which in this year’s case wealthy Democrats would have attended along with celebrities. Being in DC, I realized that every event was open to the public. There were official events and unofficial events, which could have been very expensive or they could have been quite inexpensive compared to other trips that people take.
For my paper I was told to explore the official vs. unofficial events along with the expensive vs. inexpensive rituals that take place. The concert, which took place on Sunday, was for free. All you had to do was be willing to brave the crowds and the cold and you could see a fabulous array of celebrities along with seeing Barack Obama and Joe Biden speak. It cannot get any more inexpensive than this official event and nobody could have had special treatment, even if they were wealthy.
The next big official event was the Swearing-In ceremony, which again could have been expensive or quite cheap. People could have purchased tickets for this official event or again they could have just stood in the crowd. Tickets to see the president-elect being sworn in were quite pricey. I saw and heard people talking about the prices and they seemed to have been hundreds or even thousands of dollars. That is fine for people who have the money and want to spend it on this event. People who could not afford a ticket or could not get one just had to wake up extra early and had to deal with the cold weather. Still, if tickets were purchased or if people were just standing in free viewing areas they were all still invited to see the official swearing-in ceremony.
After the swearing-in ceremony people placed their attention on the parade. Again, people could have purchased tickets for this event or they could have just stood at designated viewing sites for free. The tickets gave people guaranteed locations to stand to see the parade and they gave people seats for the parade. People who went to the parade for free just had to again wake up early to get a spot to see the parade and had to deal with the cold weather for a longer period of time. Still, those who paid or went for free saw the same parade.
The final events of the weekend were inaugural balls. There were 10 official balls, which means that President Obama definitely attended them. Then there were many unofficial balls, which means that it is not guaranteed that the president will make an appearance. It is interesting that official and unofficial inaugural balls basically cost the same amount of money to attend. For example, the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, which is an official ball, was free or very affordable to attend. The ball that was put on by George Washington University was a minimum of 85 dollars. The Youth Ball, which was another official ball, was for 18-35 year olds who play a large part in their community. This ball was also free or very inexpensive to attend. Even the president of The George Washington University’s College Democrats was invited. Other official balls cost an average of 150 dollars to attend. Other unofficial balls cost anywhere between 65 and 500 dollars to attend. Just because a ball is official does not mean it is more expensive than the other unofficial balls.
After talking to many people I realized that it did not matter if people paid a lot of money to go to events or if people went in for free. It also did not matter if events were official or unofficial inaugural events. Everyone was invited to Washington, DC this weekend to witness history and to be part of Barack Obama’s presidential celebration. There is no other event that appeals to and invites the amount of people in Washington, DC this past weekend. It was really a wonderful scene, which featured many different Americans celebrating the events and chanting “We Are One”.
