Rituals

I've gazed on the pyramids of Egypt and walked to their center and strolled through the temple complexes of Luxor. I've seen the prayers written on small pieces of paper tucked in cracks of massive stone blocks that compose the Western Wall of Jerusalem. I've walked through the ruins of Ancient Rome, the Coliseum, and the Roman Forum. I've read of Chichén Itzá in Mexico and reflected on the Native American Hopi Dances. These remains of large structures and events speak from the stones and the dances of cultures, values and identity of peoples of long ago. One senses the grandeur of something now vanished and the unknown and unspoken power of rituals and practices that bound people together.  

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There are striking similarities in these structures and events of  passages returning home, religious rituals acknowledging a higher power, traditions of judgment, justice, mercy as well as celebrations of planting, harvest and renewal. 

I'm fascinated by the deliberate and intentional effort to preserve meaning, culture, customs, identity and values through the elaborate construction, detailed dances and even small bundles that can be carried in ones hands. Recently I read of a gathering of objects into a sacred bundle by the Pawnee Indians. Something similar existed in Aztec, Mayan and other Native American cultures as well. This sacred bundle was handed down from mother to daughter through the maternal lines. In a ritual the men could open it and use its contents. 

One such sacred bundle belonged to Sadie, a pawnee girl. In 1873, Sioux warriors attacked a Pawnee tribe who were hunting. Her father tied her to a horse, slipped a treasured peace medal around her neck, and bound the sacred bundle to her back, with instructions to care for it. Sadie guarded the bundle carefully, but as both her parents were killed in battle, her father could not pass along the ritual use of the bundle and it could not be opened. It remained in the family as a symbol of their spiritual heritage. Several generations later, the Pawnee descendant donated the sacred bundle to the Kansas Historical Society, where it is today, unopened and above the lodge's altar. 

Several years ago a garden hoe was buried with my father in the cement vault with his casket. It was a powerful symbol of an ordinary object that he used to bring forth the bounties of the earth. His ritual actions of planting in the spring, harvesting in the fall, and sharing his bounty with others were personal trademarks. Most importantly he shared this ritual side by side with his children and grandchildren because of his passion to pass on the value of work to the next generation. 

This leads me to ask: How do you pass on your culture and identity to your future generations? How do you share your values with your children? 

My simply attempt to create ritual of meaning and value is in the manner of the sacred bundle, in the order of the pyramids and with the intensity of a Hopi dance. As each child gets married I plan to give them a treasure chest. Inside the treasure chest I will place:

• Faith Book: A gathering of stories of their ancestors who loved God and looked to Him for answers. The book also contains the faith of each member of their family, their experiences and understandings of the workings of God in their lives. A small history of our lives is included.

• Seed packets: Representative of working with God and the earth to produce food to eat and share together.

• Money for a repenting bench: (A bench will not fit in the small chest.) A place to sit and remind oneself that if we look within, we can find something to change in each of us when contention occurs.

• Fabric for a flag: Decide what your family stands for, write it on a flag and live by and wave that flag.

• Zionizer: This is an empty cardboard tube. When you look through it, you consciously choose to see something better and make it better than it was. It is a fun family practice. 

• Dry erase chore chart: Each child can find self worth in contributing to the lives of others. They also develop compassion as they take on responsibilities that influence the wellbeing of others.

• Egermeier Bible Story Book: The best children's bible book that tells the stories, engagingly and preserves and teaches faith in God.

Bestowing the treasure chest will be a ritual when a child leaves home. While the treasure chest consists of just objects, quite ordinary, the real monument is what they create with their family. The most meaningful structure they could create is a strong marriage and children who love God and their fellowman. The objects were simply symbolic of the values and path to get there. The families being created every day will be far more influential than all the pyramids, temple complexes and sacred bundles in the world. I look to the rituals.  Rituals create our identity and direction.  I believe that is what we want for our children - rituals that will tell the story of who they are, rituals that will bond and connect them to those who went before and preserve the values that make for a faith filled, strong, kind, and free society, one that will be of value to the world they live in.