Spring in the Air

Springtime is here. It is a time to plant seeds and look forward to long summer days. Since ancient times, we have greeted spring as a time to celebrate birth and renewal.

As humans we like to celbrate transformation and change. As well as heralding the passing of the seasons we have developed elaborate rituals and celebrations to underscore birth, adulthood, marriage and death. Ceremony plays an important part in all the great changes in our lives.

Ceremony eases our transition into new ways of being.

Why do people cry at weddings?

Why do people cry at weddings? Why have weddings in the first place or summer sostice celebrations or naming of babies or elaborate funerals?

When great changes take place in our lives we mark them with cermony. It helps us to make the transition into a new phase of our lives. It allows us to celebrate the past and lay it to rest before moving on. It helps us break old bonds and create new ones.

In the case of a marriage a numbers of close relationships undergo dramatic change. So people cry at weddings because it's the end of an era, because people are moving on and so there is a sense of loss as well as celebration.

Ceremony has a powerful effect on human psyche. It can help us adapt to dramatic change at work.