Celebrating with Our Lady All Year Long
Search any day of the year and you can find a forgotten feast day for Our Lady–from an old medieval celebration of Our Lady of the Hot Oven (on February 14th interestingly) to Our Lady of the Tower Secret on November 12th (shhh, not telling.)
There are a few days that are very special for Our Lady of Woodstock and that are celebrated with rosaries, pot lucks, stories, rituals, and songs.
THE DAY OF THE DEAD
Celebrated either on November 1 or November 2nd this has become a very powerful ancestor ceremony. People bring photos of beloved loved ones that have passed on and we tell stories about them. We share foods that our ancestors loved and we talk about our “difficult dead” and the tasks we are going to give them for the coming year to make things right with us. The evening concludes by making traditional Japanese O-ban lanterns which we inscribe with the names of our dear departed and set afloat with prayers on the lake near Our Lady. It’s a powerful night…and right before it is Woodstock’s very own, everyone-gets-dressed-up Halloween.
MAY DAY and BELTANE
Our Lady has been explicit that certain feast days are tied not to the calendar and the sun but to the weather…and that’s a little wobbly right now. When the flowers are in bloom and it’s warm enough to be outside we crown Our Lady with roses, bring our milagros and prayers to her statue, light a Beltane bonfire, and share a rowdy pot luck together.
JUNE 16th The Feast Day of Our Lady of Woodstock
In honor of the apparition inviting Clark Strand to pray the rosary we say a full set of mysteries together and share the latest additions to the Miracle book.