Question

What should be done to protect the rituals of our community

Answer 1

Answer:

A community needs a spiritual heart. When we face discouragement, loss, and grief, we need condolence and a way to renew our vision. When we are wounded, we need a place to heal. And when we complete a challenging task or win through to a cherished goal, we need a way to share our joy.

When we come together in spirit, we set aside day-to-day problems and meet the full spectrum of who we are: body, mind, energy, emotions, and soul. We connect back the core values that motivate us. We renew our vital energies and recover our sense of hope. We remember the sacred, not in the sense of what we bow down to, but of what we hold most important, what we cherish beyond our own comfort, convenience, or profit, what we stand for.

Ritual can serve many purposes. It can connect us more deeply to place, to the cycles of the seasons and the demands of our own soil and climate. It can mark the passages of our lives and help us make the transition into a new phase. It can succor us in grief and loss. It provides chance for artists, musicians, poets, and dancers to share their gifts, and for everyone to discover some facet of their own creativity. It can link us in the pure joy of celebration.

Our land in Sonoma County gets the highest amount of rainfall in California, but also has one of the longest dry seasons. It’s wet in winter, bone-dry in summer, and the combination creates a huge fire danger during the dry season. For many years now, a few of us gather each summer as the land begins to dry. We create a simple ceremony, bringing together branches from our favorite trees, tying them together into a simple charm, a triangle bound by a circle. We each speak about the tree we chose, and what we love about it. We hang the charm up high near the fire house with prayers for the safety of our land. In winter, after the rains come back, we take down the charm, offer prayers of gratitude, and cut it in pieces to burn in our wood stoves to protect our homes. The ritual came to us out of the particular rhythms and needs of our land and place, and gives us a way to honor the land and one another.

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