The Sorting Ceremony takes place in the Great Hall,which is a big hall,with an enchanted ceiling which is magically enchanted to mimic the outside sky,and has a stage and podiums for the headmaster/headmistress and other Professors to address the hall.The Hogwarts students on arrival in their first year,are divided into four different houses,based on their inherent qualities.This division of students into four houses is called Sorting.The rest of the Great Hall,except the stage and podiums,is a large area with four long house tables,one each for each of the four houses,and each of these house tables are decorated with banners in the colors of the house and the house crest of the house.The four house tables are laid out parallelly to each other,separated by some space to serve as corridors for walking and standing.Each house table is furnished with chairs for seating students,and a chair at the head of the table,for the head of house.The largest banner on each house table has the name of the head of house for that house(which is a Hogwarts Professor).The four house tables are used for breakfast,lunch and dinner at Hogwarts and also any other feasts.The Great Hall itself is used for various purposes,such as celebrations,special occassions,for the Headmaster/Headmistress and/or other Professors to address the students at the start of term or the end of the term or for other purposes,for breakfast,meals and feasts,and also for the Sorting Ceremony.

For the Sorting Ceremony,the Great Hall will feature an enchanted hat called the Sorting Hat kept on a chair on the stage.The Sorting Hat is a tattered old hat,that determines which house of students each student will be sorted into.Students will be made to stand randomly in long queues in the corridors between the house tables,and called one by one by name for their sorting,and once they are sorted into a particular house,they will be required to join the particular house table for their house and get seated.It is important to note,that once students are sorted,their houses can never be changed again,and they must always sit at the particular house table for the house they are sorted into,whenever they are at the Great Hall,no matter what the occassion.

Before you know about the sorting,you must know what exactly are houses and what the four houses are.When Hogwarts was founded by its four founders,Salazar Slytherin,Godric Gryffindor,Helga Hufflepuff,and Rowena Ravenclaw,all four of them powerful witches and wizards,they decided that they each wanted a particular type of students to teach.Salazar wanted cunning,ambitious students like himself,Godric wanted brave and daring,chivalrous students like himself,Helga wanted the loyal,kind,humble,nurturing and trustworthy students like herself,and Rowena wanted the intelligent,curious and wise like herself.They thus decided to divide all the students entering Hogwarts for education,into four houses,Gryffindor house,Ravenclaw house,Slytherin house,Hufflepuff house,each by the name of one of the four founders,on the basis of which of the qualities wanted by each of the four founders,the student dominantly portrayed.Thus,if the student was brave,chivalrous and daring,he/she was sorted into Gryffindor house,the house headed by Godric Gryffindor,the cunning,ambitious ones were sorted into Slytherin house,headed by Salazar Slytherin,the wise and intelligent ones were chosen into Ravenclaw house,the house headed by Rowena Ravenclaw and the remaining students,and students portraying loyalty,kindness,reliability,humility and trustworthiness were sorted into Hufflepuff house,headed by Helga Hufflepuff.The students,at that time,were sorted and chosen into the houses by the founders themselves,but the founders realised that to carry on the tradition of the houses,even when they are long gone,they will have to leave something to help in sorting students into the four houses in future.So,Godric Gryffindor enchanted his hat to magically read the minds of the students when placed on the heads of the students,and determine which of the four house's qualities the student dominantly portrays.This hat was named the Sorting Hat and continued to be used to sort students into the four houses,long after the passing of the four founders of Hogwarts.Each house has colors and symbols to represent the qualities of the people sorted into the house.The Gryffindor house,is represented by the colors red and gold(inspired by fire,as the qualities portrayed by students sorted in Gryffindor house most closely represent the natural element,fire),and these are known as its house colors or the colors of the house,and the Gryffindor house crest or the house crest of Gryffindor house features the brave and strong animal lion,to represent the brave and daring nature of the people sorted into this house.The striped house scarves and Quidditch jerseys for this house are decorated with the same colors red and gold and feature the Gryffindor house crest.Similarly,for the Ravenclaw house,the house colors are bronze and blue(inspired by eagle feathers and the air,as the qualities portrayed by the students sorted in Ravenclaw house are most closely represented by the natural element air,and the wise and far-sighted eagle),and the Ravenclaw house crest features an eagle,to represent the wise and intelligent nature of the people sorted into this house.Just like Gryffindor house,the Quidditch jerseys and house scarves for Ravenclaw house are fashioned in the Ravenclaw house colors.In the same way,the house colors for Hufflepuff house are yellow and black(inspired by wheat and soil,as people sorted into Hufflepuff house are considered to be down to earth,and the most connected to nature and natural things,and their reliable,trustworthy,nurturing,kind and humble nature is most closely represented by the natural element,Earth),and the Hufflepuff house crest features a badger,an animal which lives in burrows in the soil closely connected to nature,to represent the down to earth and humble qualities of students sorted into Hufflepuff house.All Quidditch jerseys and house scarves for Hufflepuff house feature the yellow and black colors and the Hufflepuff house crest.Lastly,the Slytherin house is represented by the house colors silver and emerald green(inspired by water and grass,the habitat of snakes,which are the most cunning and ambitious creatures on earth,and the  flaky and ambitious nature of the students sorted in Slytherin house is most closely represented by the natural element,water),and the Slytherin house crest features a silver snake on an emerald green background,to represent the snake-like cunning,ambitious and flaky nature of students sorted into Slytherin house.The house scarves and Quidditch jerseys for Slytherin house feature the Slytherin house colors and the Slytherin house crest.The students sorted into Gryffindor house are simply referred to as Gryffindors,into Ravenclaw house as Ravenclaws,and so on as Hufflepuffs and Slytherins.You can read more about what makes you get sorted in each particular house,in a book now available in the Hogwarts library,called What Hogwarts house are you in by Lacey Lestrange.Nowadays,from the professors to the Headmaster/Headmistress,everyone in Hogwarts,if not sorted in their student life as first years,are permanently sorted into a house,according to their nature and qualities,at any time they join Hogwarts.During the times of Harry Potter,most professors being ex Hogwarts students themselves were already sorted.Thus,every professor belongs to a certain house,and even the Headmaster/Headmistress belongs to a house.Also,every house has a head of house,who is always a Hogwarts Professor sorted in that house,and who is responsible for maintaining the discipline of and ensuring the safety of the students in their house.While the students sorted into different houses,always sit at the particular house table for their house in the Great Hall,they are also expected to live separately from students sorted in other houses,in the Hogwarts castle, in areas specified for students in their particular house to live in.This will be discussed in greater detail in my chapter regarding the common rooms and the dorms.

Now,lets come back to the Sorting Ceremony.As mentioned earlier,students standing randomly in queues in the corridors between the four long house tables,are called one by one by their name for sorting.Once your name is called,you go up to the stage,and sit on the chair on which the Sorting Hat was kept,and the Sorting Hat is placed on your head.It reads your mind and after some time in a booming voice declares what house you are sorted into.Students with qualities resembling more than one house,take a longer time to sort,as a student can be sorted in only one house,and in such cases the Sorting Hat takes its time to decide,based on qualities of which house are most prominent in the student.Students with clearly defined qualities resembling one particular house are sorted much more quickly.In rare cases,the Sorting Hat may take a far longer time to decide than usual,due to almost equal prominence of qualities from more than one house,and such cases,if the sorting takes more than five minutes,are called Hatstalls.Such cases are rare and occur once in every fifty years.Two famous examples of Hatstalls in the history of the wizarding world are Peter Pettigrew and Professor Minerva McGonagall.Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom were almost Hatstalls,which means the hat took less than five minutes,but still quite a longer time than usual to sort them.

After your sorting is over,you get to join your house table and meet your head of house.When all the new first year students have been sorted,your first supper at Hogwarts begins and you get to partake of the delicacies on your house table.

Another fun and useful fact about the Sorting Hat is that,the sword of Godric Gryffindor can be pulled out from the Sorting Hat by any true Gryffindor(anyone who truely and genuinely portrays bravery,daring and chivalry,which are the qualities of a true Gryffindor)at times of need.The sword can be used for any purpose including being used as a Horcrux killer.There is an extra accessory chapter in the form of an appendix,where I have written about Horcruxes and Hallows(though Horcruxes are very dark magic and information about them is usually found in the restricted section of the library) for you for an extra read.