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Yuletide Release Ritual

The coven I work with (the Order of Ganymede in Boston, established 1968: I joined in 1990) observes our Yuletide ritual as a rite of renewal, but also of letting go. This ritual has a fascinating component: we suspend a holy bough from the ceiling, hanging over a cauldron containing boughs of evergreen with candles nestled into them.

Near the end of the rite, people walk under the bough, alone or in twos, as a rite of forgiveness and absolution for the new year, reciting a traditional poem by Scottish poet Charles MacKay. It begins like this:

Ye who have scorned each other,
Or injured friend or brother,
In this fast-fading year;
Ye who, by word or deed,
Have made a kind heart bleed,
Come gather here!

Let sinned against and sinning,
Forget their strife’s beginning,
And join in friendship now.
Be links no longer broken,
Be sweet forgiveness spoken,
Under the Holly-Bough.

The poem is only four stanzas, and we repeat it as long as necessary, until every coven member has passed under the holy bough, taking our time to embody this spirit of forgiveness and renewal. I have always found this rite to be very healing and beautiful.

You may make any changes you like, [such as] incorporating MacKay’s poem or other traditional carols, like “The Fairest Maid”, which has a sort of Celtic faery imagery:

Now sing we of the fairest maid,
With gold upon her toe,
And open up the eastern door,
To let the old year go.
For we have brought fresh holly,
All from the grove so near,
To wish you and your company
A joyful healthy year.

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