The Origins of Chalice Festival
Chalica was an unofficial holiday, originally conceived by Daylene Marshall of Vancouver, BC, as a way to celebrate and put into intentional practice the Seven Principles of the Unitarian Universalist tradition - one a night, for seven nights. The celebration began on the first Sunday of December, and was marked by the lighting of a chalice each day (or evening). Gifts that reflect the particular day's Principle might be given, but the focus tends to be more on mindfulness and action. (https://chalica.blogspot.com/p/history-of-chalica.html)
We have since listened and learned, so have shifted from this origin. It was important to us that we weren’t using Chalica in an appropriative way, in a way that might have seemed to pull from traditions that we don't have a shared connection to. But, we found value in keeping our Chalice Festival as a way to create an intentional pause in this busy season to remind ourselves of our shared values.
Feel free to take the time you need to work through the values at a pace that works for you! Change the order if you like! This is about creating ritual, discussion, and connection with our UU Values at home, with those you love.
Preparation-
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-Talk about Chalice Festival, the origins, and how each person, family, and group that celebrates and brings to life the holiday can make it their own.
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-Make a space for your chalice practice; perhaps a small piece of rainbow material with a small chalice on it. Chalices can vary, can be a small cup filled with sand, or maybe even make one with Lego pieces. Include any other items you want for your ritual, like scents/incense, the Chalice Festival packet, a device to play music, maybe even a jingle bell on pipe-cleaner for gathering attention.
-Take a time to set an intention to make this space one of coming together and exploring UU values, bringing them to life, one per day for seven days (these days can be spread out over an amount of time that works for your family.)
Sample ritual -Sing the Chalice song, one person lights the candle, say the Chalice Lighting words, pass the candle in a circle with each person repeating the Value until the last person, who then places the candle in the chalice. Choose readings, activities, discussions, work on vocabulary to deepen the understanding of the principle, then extinguish the candle with the closing words.