Military and academic oaths are among the oldest social rituals that still exist almost unchanged.

From the sacramentum of Roman soldiers and the Hippocratic Oath to modern university ceremonies, oaths continue to mark identity, responsibility, and belonging to a community.

For thousands of years, humans have felt the need to mark — through words and ceremony — the moment when someone steps into a new role:

• soldier,
• doctor,
• judge,
• teacher,
• scholar.

In Ancient Rome, there was the sacramentum — the military oath through which soldiers declared loyalty to the empire and accepted the responsibility of their role. In medieval European universities, academic oaths and initiation ceremonies appeared, marking the official entrance of students and professors into a community of knowledge. And one of the most well‑known examples remains the Hippocratic Oath, symbolically used by physicians since Antiquity.

These military and academic oaths were not only administrative acts — they were symbolic thresholds, marking the entrance into a new stage of life. Perhaps this is why they continue to be preserved today in institutions around the world.

Anthropologists note that an oath has a much deeper role than a simple promise. When a person speaks certain words in front of a community, their identity begins to shift symbolically.

Victor Turner described such rituals as moments of passage between “who you were” and “who you are becoming.” And anthropologist Arnold van Gennep observed that societies use ceremonies and rituals to mark important changes in an individual’s status and identity.

Maybe this is why these ceremonies still move people:

• the uniform,
• the raised hand,
• the spoken words,
• the receiving of a diploma.

Not because the objects have power in themselves — but because humans need to mark the important moments of their transformation.

👉 Is there a promise or commitment you feel you made to yourself that changed your life?

👉 Do you remember a moment when you felt you entered a new stage of your life, even without an official ceremony?

👉 If you were to create a personal ritual for the beginning of a new chapter in your life, what would it look like?