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Spring Activities:
Planting Ceremonies
All over the world, people have had celebrations to begin planting seasons.
The Maya worshipped the rain god Chaac. May Day began as an ancient spring
ritual connected with growth and fertility. Native North American people have
held rainmaking ceremonies. Both long ago, and again today, Japanese people have
had planting ceremonies to call upon the rice god in order to get a good
crop.
Abingdon's Planting Ceremony
The planting ceremony is a celebration of beginning a new growing season.
It's a time to become aware that the garden will be coming alive soon. It
is the beginning of observing and nurturing plants as they begin popping out of
the earth. The ceremony alerts you to walk with care through the garden
as you try to be the first to find new living things growing there.
Abingdon's first garden ceremony consisted of singing songs in English and Spanish,
telling stories, planting the first seedlings in the garden, and honoring the
people who helped bring the garden to life. For the second year's ceremony,
we sang The Garden Song, This Land is Your Land, When I First
Came To This Land and we also had adults and children talk about what a
special place the garden is. We invited our superintendent along with some community
organizations to join us. We had representatives from each grade level plant
a seedling.
For the third garden ceremony, we did a "corn and potato show" showing how
plants are used in our world for so much more than eating. We also had children
plant seedlings. They told a little story about the history of the plant, and
what it is used for today. We sang "The Garden Song", and "I am a Promise", and
"Heal the World."
For the first garden ceremony at Diamond Path, third graders performed a music
program. They sang When I First Came To This Land, The Garden Song,
Colors of the Wind, This Land is Your Land, Pity the Poor Patat,
All I Really Need, and more. They told about plant histories and how
they would use the foods they hoped to harvest. They dedicated plants to people
who helped build the garden. The Girl Scouts donated tools to the school to
be used for the garden. Some students performed a skit, focusing on synonyms
used around the United States (i.e. casserole/hot dish; pop/soda/coke).
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