Tradition! Tradition! Tradition!

Tevye does not have a monopoly on "tradition".  In 1604 Sir Walter Raleigh wrote:

Give me my Scallop
shell of quiet, My
staffe of Faith to
walke upon, my
scrip of joy, Immortal
diet, my bottle of
Salvation:  My
Gowne of Glory,
hopes true gage,
and thus Ile take
my pilgrimage.

Sacred journeys are all about ritual and ceremony.  I am finding that it is no different for me as I embrace and am mesmerized by the rituals and traditions which set me apart as a pilgrim.  They serve to prepare me physically and spiritually for the journey ahead.  On March 31st I will go to a Pilgrims' blessing organized by the Northern California chapter of American Pilgrims.  I have decided to use the date and the event as a deadline for my pack to be ready.  That means filled, weighed, zipped, and finally, blessed, along with my walking sticks and hat.  The blessing and psalms are intended to infuse courage (as the Peace Pilgrim wrote in 1956) for the pilgrim's journey in the traditional manner:  on foot and faith.  Imagining how to prepare for my upcoming journey, I find ways to ritualize pushing up like daffodils in spring.  Through this process I embrace life each day and am reminded that no day is aimless for me.  Through tradition, using rituals, the journey really does become a sacred one.  As I slow down and simplify I gain solace in the knowledge that preparation brings me the freedom and openness to be favored by the chance revelatory experience.  Peak moments are around every corner, if we just prepare our hearts to receive them.

Along with my pack, hat and staff, I am taking a scallop shell, three small stones, and the ashes of my friend, Robert.

The shell:  A Santiago Pilgrim's Badge.  Herein lies the poetic approach to the journey.  There are many stories about how the Scallop shell became a symbol of The Way.  It is thought to be a treasured symbol of returning pilgrims of old, a symbol of the success of their journey.  Like a tourist's trinket, Pilgrims brought shells back from the Atlantic coast along Galicia as a reminder of the dangerous but sacred path.  A badge of courage as it were.  The first "Pilgrims Guide" from the 12 century, begins with the four roads merging to one that lead to Santiago.  Scollop shells embedded in homes and tin Paris remind us of the French road over the Pyrenees.  My journey has always been and will always be marked by the symbol and form of the scollop shell.

The stones:  I'm told that pilgrims bring a small stone from home and leave it somewhere along The Way.  The reasons are personal and individual and as varied as the stones themselves.  Some stones carry personal grief or represent a symbolic place where dreams are realized.  My stones, infused with the love of those who have carried them and given them to me, go with me to protect and support me on the path.  I don't know yet where I will leave them or why.  I just know I am compelled to add their small weight to my pack.

Ashes to ashes:  Ritualising the grief we feel when someone dies sometimes brings closure and even peace.  It is why mankind has always honored their dead with ritual and tradition.  Thus, the ashes join me and will leave me as well.

So Tevye, take note, tradition inspires me and sets me on the path.  Rituals infuse that path with a sacredness I embrace.