Traditions varied or evolved with regard to which person could read the haftarah. As an indication that, perhaps to make clear that the haftarah reading was not the same status as the Torah reading, a minor (i.e., a boy not yet bar mitzvah age) was permitted to chant the haftarah (at least on an ordinary Sabbath), and there were even communities where the haftarah reading was reserved exclusively for minor boys. In recent centuries, when the attainment of bar mitzvah age is celebrated with a distinct Sabbath ceremony, the bar mitzvah boy (now an adult) will read at least the "maftir" portion and the haftarah. In some other communities, the haftarah could only be read by one who had participated in the Torah reading (in some practices, the "maftir" - the last man to have read from the Torah), or even the whole congregation would read the haftarah to themselves from the available "humashim" - this evidently to avoid embarrassing a reader who might make a mistake.