Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Holiday Celebrations

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

Over my 12 years at Sharingwood holiday observances have come and gone. Two
celebrations have consistently remained for us and have become  "owned" as
community events. There is usually some kind of fire and ritual around the
solitice, and we have held a white-elephant gift party for adults pretty
much every year. In fact, some of the same white elephants have shown up for
years, transferring from house to house like some kind of demented trophy.
We have over the years had numerous other kinds of celebrations but only
these two have been consistent. Families however, have had very consistent
celebrations of their traditions, and some of these have been open to the
community. But they are not community celebrations, they are family
celebrations that are open to anyone, usually held in the home of the
family. For example, we have had a family Christmas  breakfast with our
community elder as a family tradition  now for 8 years. People drop in and
out as they wish, bring things, or not. Another family has given hand made
breads consistently to all the neighbors over the years, while another has
deposited cookies on the doorstep.

I have come to believe that families are probably the core organizing
element of most of the ritual done at Sharingwood, and that this is OK. As
new families join, they can invite others into their rituals, and as
families leave, they take there rituals with them. People engage in these as
they are so moved.

Rob Sandelin
Sky Valley Environments  <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous [at] msn.com


-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of Michael Arnott
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 7:10 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Cc: BetsyDanteg [at] aol.com
Subject: [C-L]_Holiday Celebrations


We would like to find out from other co-ho's how you handle the issue of
holidays celebrations and decorations in common areas.  Holiday
celebrations like a seder that are time specific in which one can choose
to participate or not participate, and decorations like lights on a tree
in the Common House during December, that are always present.

Michael Arnott
Cornerstone Cohousing
Cambridge, Massachusetts
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