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.
Guard mounting by country
Armenia
Since September 2018, the President's Residence in Yerevan has had ceremonial sentries from the Honour Guard Battalion of the Ministry of Defense to perform public duties at a pair of sentry boxes at the front of the residence. They are posted and relieved in a brief guard mounting ceremony, which includes an exhibition drill of all five guards (the incoming guards, the outgoing guards, and the guard commander). The guard mounting ceremony is held every Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon and evening.
Barbados
In Barbados, the Changing of the Sentry is an event that takes place in front of the 1804 Main Guard or Clock Tower. The guardsmen from the Barbados Defence Force are known today as The Main Guard. The sentries are drawn by members of the Barbados Legion, other retired personnel, and the Barbados Regiment. During the ceremony, a Corps of Drums from the Barbados Defence Force Band provide musical accompaniment. It is performed every Thursday morning.
Belarus
In Minsk, Post #1 at Victory Square is the area where guard duty is carried out by members of the armed forces, including soldiers of the Honor Guard of the Armed Forces and cadets of the Military Academy of Belarus. Other organizations that also support guard duties at the square includes members of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, the Border Guard Service Institute of Belarus, and students of general education schools and vocational schools of the city of Minsk. Post #1 was initiated on 3 July 1984, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Minsk.
It consists of 26 students (17 boys and 9 girls) organized in the following way: the head of the guard of honor, the assistant to the head of the guard of honor, 4 guards (boys), 8 boys in the first four-shift, 8 girls, 1-3 boys sentries at the banner, on-duty signalman (girl). The guard of honor served at Post No. 1 for one week from 9.00 to 17.00 in the cold and from 9.00 to 18.00 in the warm time of the day. The duration of each shift is 10 to 20 minutes. The only breaks in maintaining the honorary were from 15 May to 1 November 1988, from 1 June to 20 November 2003, and from 1 December 2003 to 20 April 2004.
Bulgaria
The ceremony of the changing of the guard of honour in front of the presidency has taken place at 12:00 noon every day since November 5, 2003. It also takes place at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Sofia. The National Guards Unit of Bulgaria is the sole participant in this ceremony.
Canada
Public duties in Ottawa, Canada's national capital, is formally the responsibility of two regiments of foot guards, the Canadian Grenadier Guards, and the Governor General's Foot Guards; with one of their main tasks being the provision of sentries for guard mountings for official state functions in support of the Government of Canada in Ottawa. The two units are also tasked with mounting the guard of honour for visiting dignitaries. The two regiments of foot guards, along with the Governor General's Horse Guards, based in Toronto, make up Canada's Household Division.
The Canadian Army also operates a summer public duties detachment known as the Ceremonial Guard, which assumes public duties in Ottawa from late-June to late-August. The Ceremonial Guard is made up of regulars or reservists of the Canadian Army, although its membership is also augmented by regulars and reservists of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Navy. The Ceremonial Guard mount the guard at the National War Memorial, Rideau Hall, and Parliament Hill. Members of the Ceremonial Guard wear the uniforms of the Canadian foot guards, as they have historically staffed the summer public duties detachment, before membership in the Ceremonial Guard was opened to the entire Canadian Armed Forces. The Ceremonial Guard are considered an ad hoc detachment, as its members are drawn from various units of the armed forces, and does not constitute a permanent unit in the Canadian Forces' order of battle.