What is the setting of the age ceremonies in The Giver?

The age ceremonies take place in December of every year in a community meeting hall. 

Everyone in the community attends the yearly ceremonies.  They are a very big deal to the community.   There are a few very important things that happen during these ceremonies.  All of the children that are Elevens become Twelves, get their assignments, and are considered practically adults.  Newchildren (babies) are assigned to family units.  

There is a ceremony for every age between One and Twelve.  After Twelve, age does not matter.  All children born in a year are considered the same age and turn the same age on this day, regardless of when they were actually born.  There are fifty children born each year. 

Jonas is nervous about his ceremony because he does not know what to expect.  He talks to his parents about it and imagines what it will be like.  He has witnessed many Ceremonies of Twelve, and has taken part in all of the other age ceremonies.

Jonas shivered. He pictured his father, who must have been a shy and quiet boy, for he was a shy and quiet man, seated with his group, waiting to be called to the stage. The Ceremony of Twelve was the last of the Ceremonies. The most important. (Ch. 2) 

At the community’s ceremonies, each age group has some kind of special presentation.  Some of these just involve things like new clothes or haircuts.  The Nines get bicycles, which is a big deal because it makes them more independent.  If any child died in an accident, a Ceremony of Loss takes place and the family may get a new child. 

The hall must be pretty big, because the entire community can fit in it.  We know that it has a stage as well.

The entire community attended the Ceremony each year. For the parents, it meant two days holiday from work; they sat together in the huge hall. Children sat with their groups until they went, one by one, to the stage. (Ch. 6) 

The Ceremony of Twelve involves a special presentation where the Chief Elder describes the group.  Then each child is called up and a little life story is told.  The child is assigned a job.  Children are assigned jobs in order.  When it is Jonas’s turn, he is skipped.  He thinks he has done something wrong, but it turns out he has a very unique and special assignment, the Receiver of Memory.