The Festival of the Spring Equinox: the Ritual
Here is the second part of the section of The New Pagan’s Handbook that deals with the Festival of the Spring Equinox:
The Ritual
If possible, and it not always is, the ceremony should take place in the daylight. Some purists hold that the matter should take place at dawn, but alas! we are not always at liberty at that time, the occasion not being a public holiday, so that we must fit our ceremony into other and more mundane duties. Nevertheless some observances can occur in preparation for the ritual. The devotee can lustrate or bathe upon rising, and make a point of wearing fresh or new clothing, and offering a suitable prayer.
Wherever or whenever the ritual is to take place the worshippers should assemble some way apart from the dancing area. Each attender should have made every effort to have brought some seasonal flowers (daffodils are plentiful at this time). If the ceremony is taking place outdoors, and one would hope it was, it would be preferable to have a tree at the centre of the ground (a holly tree would be ideal). I have attended some festivals where the ladies had woven for themselves chaplets of flowers; the men wore anklets of bells, and, most importantly, carried a small wand or staff decorated with ribbons. These preparations can make all the difference to the assembly of a proper atmosphere, for the thought and consideration needed add to the concentration that should accompany the acting of the rite.
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