Beating retreat

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wagah-Attari border ceremony.

The Beating Retreat is a ceremony performed by armies and other military groups. It began in England during the 1600s. At first, people used it to tell soldiers on patrol that it was time to go back to the castle.

Examples[change | change source]

The Indian Border Security Force and Pakistani Pakistan Rangers use the beating retreat for the Wagah border closing every day. They started doing this in 1959.[1] Michael Palin videoed it for one of his television programmes. He said it was "carefully choreographed contempt".[2]

References[change | change source]

  1. Khaleeli, Homa (1 November 2010). "Goodbye to the ceremony of silly walks between India and Pakistan". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  2. Frank Jacobs (3 July 2012). "Peacocks at Sunset". Opinionator: Borderlines. The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2012.