Friday, May 1, 2009

Friday Five- celebrating the seasons of life (and my wedding day!)

Friday Five- celebrating the seasons of life by Sally over at RevGalBlogPals

It is the first of May, or as I have been concentrating on dialogue with folk interested in the new spirituality movement this last week, it is Beltane, a time to celebrate the beginning of summer. The BBC web-site tells us that:

Beltane is a Celtic word which means 'fires of Bel' (Bel was a Celtic deity). It is a fire festival that celebrates of the coming of summer and the fertility of the coming year.
Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields.
Beltane rituals would often include courting: for example, young men and women collecting blossoms in the woods and lighting fires in the evening. These rituals would often lead to matches and marriages, either immediately in the coming summer or autumn.

Another advert for a TV programme that has caught my eye on the UK's Channel 4 this weekend is called Love, Life and leaving; and is a look at the importance of celebrating the seasons of life through ritual and in the public eye, hence marriages, baptisms and funerals.

I believe that we live in a ritually impoverished culture, where we have few reasons for real celebration, and marking the passages of life;

So

1. Are ritual markings of birth marriage and death important to you?
Without a doubt. Ritual allows so much meaning to be expressed in action and experience. It enters our psyches on such a deep level, beyond the intellectual/rational. It offers joy and healing in ways we don't always comprehend.

2. Share a favourite liturgy/ practice.
To many people it seems odd, but I love the practice of funerals. If they're done well. A well-done funeral offers loved ones space for grief and anger and pain. It provides comfort and hope and healing. It often allows for laughter and memory and celebration. A funeral (and the practices that lead up to the actual service) can reconnect people in ways they'd never imagine possible. And the final liturgy at the graveside seems timeless, to me.

3. If you could invent ( or have invented) a ritual what is it for?
Five years ago today my partner and I were married (in a Congregational church with UCC and Episcopal clergy). Because we had intentionally chosen May Day as our anniversary, we created a special (not in the Christian tradition) ritual for the ceremony: we collected small stones from each person present, each of which represented their blessing/wish for us in our continued life together. 
Today, on this 5th anniversary, we are going to go through each stone as a reconnection with all of our well-wishers and with each of their blessings on us. We won't know who gave which stone or what blessing they offered, but to me that part doesn't matter. (We also have a scrapbook that was passed around at the reception for people to WRITE down their blessings, and we placed a photo of the person/couple at the wedding with each written piece... we'll read through those as a part of our evening as well).

4. What do you think of making connections with neo-pagan / ancient festivals? Have you done this and how? 
I think our wedding expresses my thoughts clearly. Our centerpieces for the tables were living (potted) plants with a Maypole stuck in the middle and a garland stretching to each plate. We were thinking: life, creativity, fertility (not because we wanted children, but for the fruitfulness and creativity of our lives).

5. Celebrating is important, what and where would your ideal celebration be?
Great question...and one I'll have to think about more - out loud - right here: 
Church is so important to me, but so is Creation. Water has deep meaning. I especially love rivers with great huge rocks to jump from one to the next and a grassy bank under far-spreading tree branches. Yup, that's the place. 
What would the celebration be? Love? Life? "Shall we gather at the river?" Baptism? A picnic? ("take, eat"). All of the above! Thanks, Sally!!!


6 comments:

Sally said...

What a great post, I love your creativity! And I 100% agree with you about funerals!

Dr. Laura Marie Grimes said...

Congratulations! What a wonderful wedding ritual you crafted....And you are so right about good funerals.

We knelt after taking our vows and had everyone who wanted, which was a huge line, come up to lay hands on us and bless us before the priest wrapped it up with the nuptial blessing. It was incredibly powerful and I am always disappointed that I haven't had a couple take it up yet!

Elaine (aka...Purple) said...

I love the centerpieces you created for your wedding. Quite fun.

I agree there needs to be space for grief, anger, tears, etc at a funeral...and am so saddened to see that many times those feelings are not acknowledged by the person presiding.

MaineCelt said...

I am with you-- a well-done funeral is a beautiful, beautiful thing. My partner is a bagpiper, so I get to "crash" a lot of funerals by tagging along. She sees herself as a midwife for the end of life, as her music releases grief and eases the act of "crossing over."

revhipchick said...

wonderful post! i love the blessings and the rocks for your wedding ritual--absolutely beautiful!

RevDrKate said...

I totally agree with you about funerals. Your ceremony sounds absolutely wonderful. Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my post at the FemBlog.