Sine Die hankie drop — A century of tradition with a very specific purpose
As the House prepares to end the 2023 Regular Session with a motion to adjourn “Sine Die” — Latin for “without day” — Sergeant-at-Arms Russell Hosford will join Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Damien Kelly in the Capitol Rotunda where they will ceremoniously drop handkerchiefs at the same time, a custom that started 100 years ago and, at the time, served a very specific purpose.
The Florida Legislature in 1923 looked vastly different from what it does today.
When the House and Senate met in their respective Chambers in what we now call the Historic Capitol, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate had no way to see or communicate with each other as they presided.
The Chambers did not...
