The neighbors across the street are a hard working, industrious couple who spends every weekend at a little, man made lake about 50 miles east of here. It is a murky hole in the ground that greens up quite soon after the temperature gets warm, but people from around here flock there, mainly for spots to park their campers and get away from the hectic bustle of city life. (Such as it is out here!)
Every Sunday afternoon they return home and we get to observe the ritual washing of the pickup. They have only been gone two nights, they travel mainly on paved roads, yet that pickup gets washed and vacuumed inside and out. It never fails.It is as though they can’t settle down and relax until the pickup is spotless and back in the garage.
I suppose we all have rituals of some sort. Many rituals serve as declarations of the sacred, whether we are religious or not. Other rituals serve to bring families together. Many folks out here have a ritual of playing pinochle after extended family dinners, or rituals involving sausage making during deer season. Some hunting families out here have a communal shoot into the air before starting hunting to honor family members who have died. Morning coffee has become a ritual in our home, as the person who goes to work later makes the coffee for the person who goes to work earlier, and the quality of the coffee is always evaluated. The point is that we have coffee together before anyone goes to work. We will attend the Twin Buttes Pow Wow this weekend, a celebration full of rituals.
What rituals do you observe and participate in? Did your family have rituals when you were growing up? Are you a creature of habit?
