Shellback Ceremony

There's a line in each solar system that marks the separation between the Inner World and the Outer Worlds called the Chaos Belt. The friction between the two sides causes dangerous phenomenon to reign supreme and it can be quite rough to travel through, especially for a new crew.
This passage marks the most dangerous stretch of space you can travel through, notwithstanding pirates or other non-natural sources of danger. Most of space is open and free of debris but the Chaos Belt is known for its unpredictable dangers. Such a dangerous place must be given the proper respect, lest they destroy the insulting party. Tempt not fate.
Common hazards faced:

• Arcing bolts of lightning that can stretch for miles, even circling back upon itself and never dissipating. Golden halos that wreck only havoc, known to cut entire ships in half and spread fire to ensure the loss of ship and crew.
• Asteroids that heed no rules of physics and no apparent pattern of movement. The crew must be ever vigilante to avoid being smashed.

To ensure that every sailor gives the proper veneration whenever a ship has even a single member of the crew who has not crossed the Belt before must convene a Shellback Ceremony. The author, at present, is not privy to the specifics of what is included in the ceremony, some facts have been given by those with loose lips. A court is called into session and senior sailors act as representatives of the space god - typically different solar systems will have a different name dependent upon their local tongue, but assumed to be the same deity. Subpoenas are delivered to new sailors and they charged with being unfast sailors, unfit for duty, and a liability to ship and crew. They must defend themselves and go through a humiliating process that makes use of bilge water in same way. Once the ceremony is concluded the sailors enter the brotherhood and have been accepted into the court.