Dear all,
Ceremony is meditation. Ceremony leads us to look change square in the face. The seasons shift. We have winter ceremonies and autumn ceremonies. We mark time. Births, marriages and deaths. The longest day. The shortest day. The day we remember the dead. The day we celebrate the arrival of spring. I see ceremony as practice. I have no resistance to it. It helps me feel the rhythm of a human life.

Is ceremony superstition and a waste of time? Where do you stand on ceremony?

Gassho,
Myozan

PS: On Wednesday night we celebrate the old Celtic festival of Oiche Samhain (Halloween in the US and elsewhere). The door to the other world stands open (as it always does anyway) … so the old belief goes. We will celebrate with ancient games and rituals in our house. We are not Japanese, so will not mark Obon (which is at another time of year in any case). But we will have that same Oban spirit as we light the candles in out dark windows, welcoming the winter in and guiding what spirits may or may not exist on their way …