Engineers from
Canada can be readily spotted by the presence of an
iron or
stainless steel ring on the
pinky finger of the working hand. The iron ring is intended as a symbol of humility, and is presented in a ceremony called
The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, written by
Rudyard Kipling for
Toronto engineers in 1922. The ceremony is not secret, although many believe it to be. The iron ring has since spread to the
United States and other countries.
An
urban legend associated with the iron ring is that the first rings were made from the wreckage of the failed
Quebec Bridge construction project in 1907. In that case, 75 people were killed. A replacement project in 1913 also failed and 13 workers were killed. While it is unlikely that the original metal came from the bridge, it can be certain that the event figured prominently in the memory of engineers of the day.