Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: openings before meals

[Mac Thomson (mac]

What Eris said here 'resonates' with me.  (Now there's a word that  
entered my vocabulary through cohousing.)  I hadn't thought about it  
much, but not going through our little meal gathering ritual would  
leave me empty in a way.  It's a celebration of coming together.   
Here's our routine:

 - 1st bell rings about 10 minutes before meal time.  It's a big  
bell out on the front porch of the common house.  People start to  
gather.
 - 2nd bell rings.  People should have already gathered.  Many  
haven't of course.   :-)
 - Someone, usually a cook, announces "Circle Up".
 - We all hold hands in a circle around the buffet table.
 - The cooks lead the circle which includes:
     - Introduce who the cooks are and any helpers.
     - Introduce the food: veggie options, no dairy, spicy, etc.
     - Introduce guests.
     - Brief announcements from anyone.
     - A blessing (often one or another short song we've learned).
 - People arriving late quietly enter the circle.

Our blessing can be anything (cook's choice).  It's usually pretty  
pagan, but on occasion will be Jewish or Christian.  We're generally  
pretty good at embracing and celebrating (or at least tolerating)  
each other's spiritual expression, rather than taking offense --  
although we too went through the big "celebrating Christmas in the  
common house" issue a number of years ago.

Cheers and blessings,
Mac

--
Mac Thomson

Heartwood Cohousing
Southwest Colorado
http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com


"It is a worthy thing to fight for one's own freedom; it is another  
sight finer to fight for another man's."
                - Mark Twain
**********************************************************



On Feb 1, 2007, at 3:17 PM, cohousing-l-request [at] cohousing.org wrote:

> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 08:59:14 -0800
> From: "Eris Weaver" <erisw [at] sonic.net>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ openings before meals
> To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Message-ID: <000001c74622$517c9520$e85a8e40 [at] sonic.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>
> At FrogSong, we have some kind of blessing before every meal; it's  
> up to
> the cook to decide what it might be. Often it is a poem or other
> inspirational reading; it might be a moment of silence; a song,
> participatory or not. This follows any announcements,  
> acknowledgement of
> the cooks, etc.
>
> I hadn't realized how much I have internalized and enjoy this opening
> ritual until I was recently visiting another cohousing community for
> dinner. I sat down at the table and waited, while everyone else just
> started digging into the food...the folks at my table kind of  
> looked at
> me, wondering why I wasn't eating...while I sat there wondering why  
> they
> weren't, well, paying attention and noting the specialness of all
> sitting down together to eat. We had a nice discussion about the whole
> issue, and several folks asked if there wasn't any resistance to this
> ritual being too religious or something.
>
> That's never been an issue here...folks' personal religious/spiritual
> orientations run from non-observant Jews & lapsed Catholics to active
> Unitarians and Buddhists and pagans and everything in between.   
> (I,when
> pressed, label myself a Recovering Catholic Atheist with Strong
> Neo-Pagan tendencies) There is much respect here for each other's  
> paths,
> recogniction that truth comes in many packages, and a belief that  
> making
> space for small intentional rituals is part of the glue that binds us
> together.
>
> Eris
> FrogSong, a Cohousing Community in Cotati, CA
>
> *******************************************
> Eris Weaver
> Facilitation & Group Process Consultant
> 707-338-8589
> eris [at] erisweaver.info