COMMEMORATION  , a

general term for celebrating some past event . It is also the name for the annual act, or Encaenia, the ceremonial closing of the academic year at Oxford University . It consists of a Latin oration in commemoration of benefactors and founders; of the recitation of prize compositions in prose and verse, and the conferring of honorary degrees upon English or foreign celebrities . The ceremony, which is usually on the third Wednesday after Trinity Sunday, is held in the Sheldonian Theatre, in Broad St., Oxford . " Commencement " is the term for the equivalent ceremony at Cambridge, and this is also used in the case of American universities .