CEREMONIES & STORIES

My twin boys brought a small stomach flu from Boulder home for the holidays. First Matt, then Jeff succumbed. My turn was Tuesday. Fortunately, advance preparation assured that 24 hours of downtime for either playing with the kids or being knocked out by flu wouldn’t hurt the festivities at my house. Linens were pressed, candles placed, center piece assembled, shopping completed, side dishes only needed to be heated. (Thanks, Bob, for grilling the bird and, Joan, the pies were superb.)

Nothing could stand in the way of our celebrating all that we have been blessed with this year! Naturally, part of our Thanksgiving is to share what each of us is grateful for. Celebrations and ceremonies have always had a place of special importance in society and organizations, too. Ceremonial expressions affect us on a subtle, often unconscious level. They bond a family; they connect community.

All non-profit organizations can employ ceremonies, internally and externally, to

- Create a feeling of affiliation
- Provide recognition
- Promote interaction
- Highlight accomplishments
- Convey a message
- Challenge and inspire

To achieve these goals a ceremony must be more than a ritual; it must be meaningful. The essence of a ceremony is the program and the two major components of a program are the characters and the narration. These two elements provide the purpose and message of a ceremony. For this reason, it is important for organizations to find their voice.

Good examples are everywhere.

“The Secret Life of Bees” novel and film drove home the fact group loyalty and personal identity are enhanced and reinforced by the use of ceremonies.

Our local private school, Roycemore, has a charming tradition relating to its events modeled after the Palio di Siena. The senior class presents its coat of arms to the kindergarten class, which will carry that banner until their graduation in twelfth grade.

Adler School of Professional Psychology President Raymond Crossman heralded ceremony in his inaugural address four years ago, “I believe that it is a brilliant and useful academic tradition for the stakeholders of a school to come together … to consider together who we are and who we might be.”

For the Adler School's recent commencement, held in the beautiful Chicago Symphony Orchestra Center, author and keynote speaker Alex Kotlowitz stressed the importance of telling stories. At this ceremony his stories informed the audience and became another part of their shared experience. Stories are “Essential to understanding from whence we came and where we are headed….Stories capture not only the present… but as Elie Wiesel suggested, help us understand the past which informs the future…”

http://www.adler.edu/UserFiles/File/Keynote_Address_by_Alex_Kotlowitz_102608.pdf

I'd be interested in hearing stories of your ceremonies.