During the early 20th century, the Belgian
anthropologist Arnold Van Gennen observed that all cultures have prescribed
ways for an individual and society to deal with emotionally charged transitions
from one phase of life to another.
In today’s world, we have graduation ceremonies
with a commencement address, where diplomas are awarded to each graduate with a
handshake, and are typically followed by parties where graduates receive gifts
of money and the well wishes of invited guests.
But if we look below
the surface we can see
that graduation ceremonies are more than just a celebration of earning a diploma. If the ceremony was only about that achievement, then the rite itself would feel more joyful than it usually does. Smiles on graduation day are always blended with tears and a melancholy nostalgia. Graduation takes on special significance in our culture as the one transition where we honor the exciting, challenging, and painful process of “letting go” that begins before high school even starts. The teenager must let go of a childhood and the safety of dependence, and the parents must let go of the emotional anchor around which they oriented a great deal of their lives.
graduation ceremony; we need to
celebrate the special journey that each graduate is making of growing up. A journey destined to each finding out
who they are, what they are naturally good at doing, how they can go into the
world and support themselves, and most of all, that they are lifelong learners
born with a unique set of skills and gifts to share in this world and leave it
a better place than when they arrived.
that graduation ceremonies are more than just a celebration of earning a diploma. If the ceremony was only about that achievement, then the rite itself would feel more joyful than it usually does. Smiles on graduation day are always blended with tears and a melancholy nostalgia. Graduation takes on special significance in our culture as the one transition where we honor the exciting, challenging, and painful process of “letting go” that begins before high school even starts. The teenager must let go of a childhood and the safety of dependence, and the parents must let go of the emotional anchor around which they oriented a great deal of their lives.
Here is a blessing
you can share with a high school graduate close to you this May; it comes from
the beautiful book, To Bless the Space
Between Us, by the gloriously gifted poet, John O’Donohue. I have excerpted
his poem titled, “For Your Birthday”…
Blessed be the mind that dreamed
the day
Would begin to glow on earth,
Illuminating all the faces and
voices
That would arrive to invite
Your soul to growth.
Praised be your father and mother
Who loved you before you were,
And trusted to call you here
With no idea who you would be…
Blessed be those who have loved
you
Into becoming who you were meant
to be…
Blessed be the gifts you never
notice,
Your health, eyes to behold the
world,
Thoughts to countenance the
unknown,
Memory to harvest vanished days…
May you open the gift of solitude
In order to receive your soul;
Enter the generosity of silence
To hear your hidden heart;
Know the serenity of stillness
To be enfolded anew
By the miracle of your being.
Please direct all request,
comment or concerns about our CF&I Blog to our Social Media
Manager ~ Marcia Almeida, Master Life-Cycle Celebrant. at celebrantsocialmedia@gmail.com
Or to the Celebrant Foundation & Institute’s director,
Charlotte Eulette at:charlotteeulette@celebrantinstitute.org call
us at (973)746-1792. Visit us at http://www.celebrantinstitute.org/?p=business
Elaine Voci is a life coach, specializing in career
coaching, in private practice in Carmel, IN and a
graduate of the Celebrant
Foundation & Institute class of 2014 where she concentrated her studies on funerals. A published author of five books, she has loved rituals and ceremonies since she was a girl. This blog showcases – all the many ways meaning and purpose can be found through rituals, rites and ceremonies. It’s written for fellow Celebrants and for all others who place a value on meaningfulness in daily life experiences, and who delight in marking those passages that bring us through our milestones and adventures of the spirit. - ElaineVociLifeSkillsCoaching, LLC.
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