From the Inside Flap
How To Bury a Goldfish: ...and 113 Other Family Rituals for Everyday Life A few years ago, author Virginia E. Lang stood poised over the toilet, a goldfish in hand. On the verge of flushing her young daughter's first pet, she was stopped by the sorrow in the girl's eyes. Instead, mother and daughter performed an impromptu ceremony in the garden, placing a wildflower on the grave site and speaking from the heart on the loss of a friend.
Later, Lang and co-author Louise B. Nayer were struck again, this time by how so many of us have forgotten or strayed away from the ceremonies and traditions that help us mark the memorable moments in our lives.
And How to Bury a Goldfish was born. In it, you will find ways to help instill mindfulness and grace in the passages of everyday life. Lang and Nayer have taken the best of many of the world's oldest traditions and ceremonies and combined them with contemporary ones of their own creation, all to help you mark the events of your life in heartfelt ways.
From the Back Cover
This book is filled with family rituals for many important occasions. Rituals are simply events given what Mary Oliver calls the rich lens of attention. But in the end, they are what give us mindful joy and connect us to each other. I recommend this book as a way to be more intentional in the life of your family and community. -Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia
How to Bury a Goldfish is a great gift. Filled with rituals that bring simplicity and clarity to our busy lives, it reminds us that everyday family traditions are what give our lives meaning. --Marilyn J. Mason, Ph.D., psychologist, author of Seven Mountains: Life Lessons from a Climber's Journal
How To Bury A Goldfish "The sun rises, an enormous ball of fire thousands of miles wide, yet we hardly notice. Alarm clocks buzz unmercifully in our dark rooms and, as if on automatic pilot, we do our morning duties, alone or with family, only subliminally aware of the magic that has just occurred. The sun has risen once again and the darkness has vanished, but we have not been a part of it."
How do we see the magic in each day and connect with the natural world, our fellow humans, ourselves?"
The opening lines of How to Bury a Goldfish pose an important question about the lack of ritual and ceremony in many of our lives today.
This book offers the words and the ways to create personal and family rituals. Some are beautifully simple: creating daily renewal in the morning shower or calming a child through a special meditation. Some are celebrations: planting a wedding tree or reciting "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" to an elder on Valentine's Day. Some address life's memorable passages: marking the coming of age of a young woman or honoring the journey through menopause. And some are just for children: welcoming the weekly visit of a stepchild, and, of course, burying a goldfish.
