In 1987, Sunray Meditation Society found the piece of land in Lincoln, Vermont, now known as the Sunray Peace Village. It was an old campground, with a small caretaker's house and office (replaced by the Adawii Temple), 2 bathhouses (now upgraded) and a community hall. The peaceful grassy area where we now camp was predominantly gravel with drive-to campsites complete with water, electric hook ups, and cement fire pits!
We were ambitious that first summer. We rented a large marquee tent and held peacekeeper teachings, workshops with guest teachers, and the first singing gadugi gathering to learn the old hymns and sacred songs. We created campsites in the spruce forest for special guests. And we cleared the land on the way to the river and created the Sacred Arbor!
First we made prayers and offerings to determine the location of the sacred fire, the heart of the Arbor. The area was covered in dense underbrush and required a lot of work to clear. Unfortunately we couldn't remove the roots of the brush and for several years we were stumbling on the mini stumps!
More offerings were made and nearby trees were cut and installed as posts for the arbor structure. Evergreen boughs were gathered nearby to create the shaded area.
Finally the arbor was complete - just in time for the ceremonies associated with Aug 17, 1987. Some called this the "harmonic convergence" but Venerable Dhyani did not use that term. For the Cherokee, it was the marking of the end of a period of time, when the sacred fire was put out and then relit.
The ceremony lasted 3 days. Along with the prayers and tending the sacred fire, at a special dance floor just south of the Arbor, we each took turns dancing the Dance of the Four Directions throughout the 72 hours. The singers sang the old hymns and sacred songs, every 4 hours, day and night.
It was a particularly hot summer that year, even more so when singing beside the sacred fire, so we each carried gallon jugs of water with us, to drink and to pour over our heads to cool ourselves down!
During those 3 days, Beauty surrounded us - standing at the foot of the mountain, in the new Arbor, with the sacred fire and the ever present dancer, rattling and singing the tones of the old hymns to the heart of the earth and to the stars beyond.
This weekend, November 14th and 15th, 