With a brown leaf, glass jar of seeds and plant care instructions in hand, attendees entered the sanctuary.
As they sat in a circle around a white table clothed altar, a group of children began to sing.
“Now’s the time to rise and shine,” the children sang as one clutched a bright pink dog stuffed animal.
The song marked the beginning of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington’s spring equinox celebration on Monday. The evening consisted of songs and rituals.
The Rev. Mary Ann Macklin said the celebration was meant to honor balance on a day on which day and night are equal in duration all around the world.
“We want to find balance between inner life and outer life, heart and mind, light and darkness,” Macklin said. “Darkness and light are both good and necessary, but the balance is what’s important.”
As the children’s song ended, Rev. Emily Manvel stepped up to the microphone.
“We rejoice in springtime because we have waited in the cradle of the Earth in the season of darkness and cold,” she said to the congregation. “The seeds of new life are carried in the winter wind.”
Afterward, Macklin stood and invited attendees to imagine themselves as large oak trees.
Just as an oak tree sheds its leaves, she said people must leave pieces of themselves behind to make room for the new. The attendees then began to sing with brown leaves in hand. As the song continued, each one walked up to the altar to place a leaf in a wicker basket.
After the ritual, Manvel said the leaves would be placed outside and returned to the Earth.
“New life springs forth once more,” Manvel said.
Macklin then instructed attendees to meditate by holding out their hands. She told attendees to imagine joy and sorrow, light and dark, inwardness and connection to things outside of themselves.
“Hold them out and feel the duality of weight in both hands as you try to find balance,” she said.
Next, Macklin said to imagine the past in one hand and the future in the other.
Attendees then brought their hands back together in order to reconcile the past and present and return to the present moment.
Manvel said this part of the ritual represented the changes in oneself that align with the changes in nature.
“We too emerge from winter with new energy and intention,” she said.
After Manvel returned to her seat, three attendees came up to the altar one at a time.
The first lit a yellow candle as a symbol of new life. The next lit the green candle to represent the returning sun and the growth of the Earth. The last attendee lit the purple candle in honor of the sacred mystery that surrounds people every day.
By the candles, a chalice with a lit candle, a tuft of feathers, a pot of water and a wooden sculpture sat on the altar.
Manvel said the items represented fire, air, water and earth respectively.
“It’s about the balance of the elements from each direction,” she said. “Just like anything else, the elements also remain in balance.”
In addition to the balance of the elements, Macklin said the spring equinox is about finding balance between oneself and nature.
In doing so, she said people are better-equipped to protect the world they live in.
“Stop and take pause to recognize what’s happening in the life of the Earth,” she said. “This would help us appreciate and care for the Earth more.”
