I’m excited for the conference! When I’m not being the lead techie for the association, I pay a lot of attention to singing, celebrations, and traditions. On Thursday night of the conference I’ll be talking about singing in community, and singing with as many of you as will join me.

On Saturday morning, I’ll be leading a facilitated discussion / experiential session on creating traditions in your community. There will be some talking, but more hands on creation of something you can bring home.

My favorite ritual to start the conversation with is one that many of you are familiar with. Every year, for each person, we gather together and eat a special kind of food (sometimes it’s eaten other times, but it’s always eaten on this day). We light a symbolic and significant number of candles, then after a special song is sung together the person at the center holds an intent firmly in mind while using the breath to extinguish them.

Do you know what I’m talking about yet? Have you thought about a birthday cake in this way? What if you think about the events you want to celebrate in your community this way, and use this as a model to construct the pieces of the tradition you want to begin?

I look forward to talking more about this with you all at the conference in May.