it is ceremony that allows us to experience life’s joys and sorrows. we share these emotions with the vast majority of humans. we have more in common than we have differences, and ceremonies allow us to share those common states of being. all cultures have ways to celebrate and ways to grieve, ways to mark the passage of time and ways to mark the end of a person’s time.
there are daily rituals…cleaning teeth, eating and preparing meals, dressing, bathing, meditating and praying (in whatever form appeals).
there are occasional rituals…marking a day of rest, celebrating a union of two, marking a life passage.
and there are once-in-a-lifetime rituals…birth and death.
in these ceremonies and rituals we find the rhythm and cadence in life. just as there is the rhythm of day and night, exhale and inhale, these events mark personal and collective rhythms. they unite us in mysterious ways as well as material ways. they support us each in times of sorrow and times of rejoicing.
in many cultures there are ceremonies for youngers, though not many for olders. can we begin to create these ceremonies as ways to honour our elderhood? stepping across the threshold from adulthood to elderhood is as vital a step in our development as the one from childhood to adolescence. such a ceremony can allow us to take on the mantle of the elder, the wise one.
