Iron Ring Ceremony

A Canadian custom: Metal rings, worn on the little finger of the dominant hand, are given to graduate engineers in a ceremony known as "The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer", written for the Canadian profession by Rudyard Kipling in 1922. The rings are made of hammered iron or stainless steel. It's commonly believed that their metal was taken from the 1907 collapse of the Quebec Bridge, which notably resulted from incompetence of the overseeing engineers. This persistent myth may be a result of conflating aspects of the ring ceremony -- which can involve a bolt from the bridge -- with the rings themselves.

The original iron rings were prone to rusting on the wearer's finger, growing brown and thinner with age. After several reported cases of blood-poisoning associated with these rings, which are seldom removed, the modern stainless steel versions were created, still retaining the original 'hammered' appearance.

The rings serve as a constant reminder that engineers have lives in their hands just as much as do doctors.