With a curious medley of people and a ceremony steeped in tradition, the celebrations for Shakespeare’s 450th birthday in Stratford-upon-Avon seem to explore how the literary giant has shaped the contemporary in culture and literature. In eager anticipation, a few of us started the day early by wandering the streets of Stratford and we discovered that, at 8:45am, Stratford is a pretty quite town, even with the promise of such a big event. The beginnings of the birthday preparations carried on around us as we stalked the streets in a frenzied manner, intense in our search for the promised Shakespeare flags. After finally securing celebration flags, 
we turned our attention to the matching game that paired participating local shops with Shakespearean characters. By 9:30 we had successfully marked down 10 matches, thus managing to snag 4 of the 1250 coveted cupcakes. Apparently we were more eager than other revelers.
The next pieces fell into place as we assembled by the center of town. Enjoying unexpected sunny weather, we watched the traditional passing of the quill ceremony from Shakespeare to the head boy of King Edward VI School and the various components of parading and processing and town-crying that comprise Shakespeare’s hometown birthday party. Tagging onto the tail-end of the parade after the small schoolchildren, elaborately costumed characters, and smartly dressed individuals, we wound through Stratford and ended at the Holy Trinity Church to place flowers at Shakespeare’s grave.
We ended the day with the “Complete Works Marathon,” which featured actors with the Birthplace Trust reciting excerpts from each of Shakespeare’s plays. It felt like a fitting end to day packed with events and packed in by people. The ceremony spoke the combination of Shakespeare’s history that mixes with his modern legacy; the modern procession emphasizes the preservation and re-creation of his life and his works in a manner that exposes how the historical figure and the literature have become a national and international legacy.