For thousands of years, country folk around the British Isles celebrated Earth and sky cycles that occur every year.  In spring, in May, the holiday of Beltane was celebrated.  We can imagine how people felt when the winter was over, and the green plants and luscious flowers again emerged, a miracle once more!   We will participate in our usual service, with a short Beltane ritual during the usual sermon part.  At the end of the service, weather permitting, we will dance around the Maypole with fiddle music from Sarah Hotchkiss.

Evergreen Erb is a member of the MMUUF fellowship, and loves to be in community with such wonderful folks.  She is deeply in love with the Earth, and has been especially enjoying deep dives into learning more about birds, ferns, and mosses.  She has learned that the more you learn about the natural world, the more there is to learn.  Who needs to travel the world, when the world right here has so much to teach us? After many years living in Jericho, Evergreen now lives up a mountain in Huntington, where she is grateful to be in a large forest with great views of Huntington.

A sense of community is one of the compelling reasons people love living in the Jericho-Underhill area, or just in small town Vermont.  This service will be a time for us to verbally remember some of those recent (or not so recent) ancestors that had an impact on our communities.  People can speak for three or four minutes about someone they remember. You may prepare a little something before hand or be moved by the moment in the service.  This is a time to celebrate the lives of those that came before us.  What is remembered, lives!

After our summer break, we return to Services this week. This Service will be our annual Gather the Waters, when we share meaningful moments from the summer. You may bring a small container of water to join with the water of others in a common vessel.