Graduation Honor Cords

During graduation ceremonies or other academic functions, especially in college, you might have seen people wearing rope-like garments place on their shoulder and around their neck, freely hanging on each side of their chests with tassels on each end. They often look well made and colourful. These are called graduation honor cords. Those colourful strands of twisted and intertwined strands of rope or yarn are worn over the wearer's gown and under the academic hood.

Purpose
Graduation honor cords symbolize a lot of things. Commonly, they are worn to signify membership to an honor society. These are organizations that recognize honourable achievements of their peers. Moreover, these honor societies have already been given assigned colours of the honor cords which they can award their members. This was established by the Association of College Honor Societies.

Another function that the honor cords have is the distinction it gives to wearers with outstanding achievement in various areas. Some schools award their outstanding students using these garments. Commonly, colours of the cords also represent the ranking of the wearer. However, no rule or standard has been made regarding this matter. Therefore, the honors represented by the cord's color vary from academic institutions to academic institutions.

Moreover, no governing rules dictates any limit as to the number of cords a graduate can wear. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see graduates wearing multiple cords on their necks along with their graduation regalia. Lastly, the cord is considered as an accessory to the regalia. Therefore, it's not expected to be worn by everybody during a graduation ceremony. Wearing such is seen to be a privilege when you belong to an honor society or have outstanding achievements as a student.

Description and Characteristics
An honor cord consists of twisted or intertwined cords. Usually, it's has only one colour. But two colored honor cords already exist. They have tassels in both ends of the cord. They are made in pairs, joined together by a knot in the middle. They vary in lengths. The colour of the honor cord greatly depends on the standard colours assigned by the Association of College Honor Societies if given by an honor society.

Graduation honor cords are great sources of inspiration for the graduates themselves and their loved ones. It's an important part of the graduation ceremony tradition that needs to be understood and appreciated by every participant of the event.