the.com/ribbon cutting
Theater where giant scissors pretend the building wasn't already finished last week.
means A ceremonial event where a stretched ribbon is cut to mark the official opening of a building, road, business, or other new venture.
from From 'ribbon,' a strip of fine fabric whose name traces through Middle English 'riban' and Old French 'riban,' plus the plain verb 'cut.' The compound is straightforward English, but the ritual it names is the curious part: tying off an entrance with ribbon and then cutting it to declare a space 'open' became a fixture of public ceremony, and the phrase came to stand for any grand inaugural moment — scissors optional, fanfare mandatory.
- oversized scissors
- Ceremonial pairs can stretch over three feet long
- origin
- Tradition dates to 1898, possibly a railroad opening
- red tape
- The ribbon literally symbolizes barriers being cut away
- backup blades
- Organizers often pre-snip ribbons so they cut cleanly
- global ritual
- Used from corner shops to bridges and aircraft carriers
golden gate bridge opening — may 27, 1937 san francisco - joseph strauss cut the ceremonial ribbon before 200,000 pedestrians crossed
disneyland opening day — july 17, 1955 anaheim - walt disney cut the ribbon as 15,000 guests entered the first disney theme park