Guard mounting
Formal military ceremony / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Changing of the guards" redirects here. For the song by Bob Dylan, see Changing of the Guards.
For other uses, see Changing of the Guard.
Guard mounting, changing the guard, or the changing of the guard, is a formal ceremony in which sentries performing ceremonial guard duties at important institutions are relieved by a new batch of sentries. The ceremonies are often elaborate and precisely choreographed. They originated with peacetime and battlefield military drills introduced to enhance unit cohesion and effectiveness in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.