Na Stáisiúin / The Stations.
I have been thinking about this 'Gathering' business and finally came up with a bit of an idea. We will run it here in Cuil Aodha at least but i think the template could suit other communities around the country. Mar seo a ghabhann sé:
'The Stations' is a custom that goes back to the time when church buildings were scarce in this part of the world and people would hold mass, for the local area, in a private house. There were, typically, 10 or 12 houses in a station area and The Station was held twice a year. Each house gets it's turn at hosting a station every 5 or 6 years. It involves painting and dolling up the house, the people coming in for the mass and a simple meal had by everyone afterwards with the obvious social side and entertainments resulting. All the community chipped in with the redecorating of the house in the weeks before hand and they were all also involved in helping with the repairs afterwards. So....
We will have a Stáisiúin Chúil Aodha on the August weekend of the 2-4th. (An area the size of half a parish.) We start with a mass on the Friday night followed by a communal meal and get together in our hall - Arus Éamon Mac Suibhne - afterwards. Saturday will be families day where the different families will gather together in their own mini gatherings and use the evening time to have a meal together in a chosen house/host or in one of the local establishments. We will put sheets of paper with genealogies in the Arus, for the day, and strips of wall paper on the walls for people to trace relationships on. Sunday will be another communal mass and everyone meeting up again and depending on the weather etc we will have some simple kind of an Aeríocht and parting event in the field. All religions are of course welcome to the mass, it creates a focal point at the start to gather people together at a specific time. It also makes sure that we have a balanced physical, creative and spiritual gathering for the weekend. This is not the same as having a festival or a concert. This is about families and friends and communities and the renewal of communications and friendships.
When people come home usually, they find that many of their friends are still away in some foreign country. By coordinating a specific weekend far our community, we hope that it will facilitate old friends meeting up again. We will have a website in action for the launch at Éigse Dhiarmuidín. This we can keep going in future as a kind of local hitching post for our expats, whether they be overseas or scattered around the island. If other communities want to join in and have their own "Station" weekend, we will put their dates and connections on our site and announce it at the Éigse also.
Chughaibhse san anois - over to you now.
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