Why have a ceremony?

Intuitively we know that a celebration is a way we mark important rites of passage.

Many Australians celebrate important events though, by having a booze-up and throwing in a few words towards the end.

We have forgotten that the food and drink were meant to accompany the speeches or ceremony, not be the celebration itself.

Without a meaningful core to the gathering, a celebration may be boring and unsatisfying and more likely to lead to excessive eating and drinking.

Ceremony is quality time spent together, a way of re-establishing that meaningful core to the event.

Hiring an independent celebrant can be the best way to ensure important aspects of the occasion are not overlooked and that everyone can participate without the coordinating responsibility.

Greg Chapman, a popular author and relationship counsellor, says there are five basic ways people express how they care about others. In his book titled The Five Love Languages R, Chapman says these are:

• Quality Time
• Words of affirmation
• Acts of service
• Gift giving
• Touch
• Quality Time

Chapman also indicates that most of us have one or two primary ways we give and recieve, the latter being most important for those we celebrate.

A well planned celebration or ceremony uses all five expressions of our care, but in essence is QUALITY TIME.

At a planned celebration:

Quality Time - The Ceremony itself
Words of affirmation -Speeches, poetry and prose
Acts of service - Participating in and/or attending
Gift giving - A group gift such as the Ceremony itself, paid for as a combined present, and/ or an Appreciation Album, or as traditional Individual presents.
Touch - Handshakes or hugs

There are many occasions to think about as a time to offer a group gift:

major birthdays
special anniversaries
graduation
retirement
mothers' or fathers'days, or
any other day of special significance

Lte's celebrate people while they are alive !

Why wait until family or friends are too old or dead to express our appreciation of the part they have played in our lives ?

Documenting Family History
If we would like to use these occasions to document family history, then the sooner the better.

One in five people in their eighties suffer from dementia and one in two in their nineties.

Keeping Families in Touch
If we would like our families to meet more often, then special occasions can be used as an opportunity to bring people together.

We may even be able to start a family tradition of meeting in a special location or at a particular time of year.

# Reference: http://www.fivelovelanguages.com/

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