the.com/opening ceremony
Billions watch a country's PowerPoint presentation, but with more fire and spandex.
means The elaborate inaugural event that formally launches a major gathering—like the Olympics—mixing pageantry, speeches, and performance to mark the official start.
from A straightforward compound rather than a word with a hidden history: 'opening' (Old English 'openian,' to make open, unclose) paired with 'ceremony,' which comes via Old French 'ceremonie' from Latin 'caerimonia,' meaning sacred rite or ritual observance. The Latin root itself is of uncertain origin—possibly Etruscan, possibly tied to the ancient town of Caere, but no one knows for certain. So the phrase literally means 'the ritual that opens something'—fitting for an event that treats lighting a torch or raising a flag with the solemnity once reserved for temple rites.
- cost vs sport
- Often costs more than the actual competition it precedes
- parade order
- Host nation enters last, everyone else alphabetically before them
- flame secrecy
- Final torch lighter kept secret until the literal moment
- flag bearer honor
- Chosen athletes carry nations' egos on a single pole