Читать книгу Weddings from the Heart - Daphne Rose Kingma - Страница 18

Light, usually in the form of candles, has always played a significant part in the traditional wedding ceremony. Light is our essence; it inhabits us and we seek it—in all its manifestations. Light creates brilliance; it means illumination, the most profound knowing that we may ever achieve. It also refers to the sun—the source of light that sustains all life—and to the moon, the light of emotion, which is the inspiration for romance.

Thus, as you plan your wedding, you will want to be aware not only of the “lighting” of your ceremony—how the church or garden is actually illumined—but also of what additional light you choose to bring into it. Words are light to the mind; music is illumination to the spirit; light of the incandescent bulb and the flame are light to the eye and the inner eye, respectively.

In Ceremonial Flourishes, I have included some special rituals with candles; but you will also want to consider what, overall, is the role that you want light to play in your ceremony, and what is the message you wish to have conveyed by it? Do you want an outside ceremony, conducted under the afternoon sun, indicating that you are willing to submit your marriage to the scrutinizing light of day? Or do you want a nighttime, candlelit ceremony, emphasizing the mystery and the romance?

Would you like to have the entire congregation light small candles at a particular juncture of the ceremony (for example, just before you recite your vows), so your promises may seem to be made more vivid by the flood of light? Would you like to have each of your guests, upon entering the church (or meadow or synagogue), light a small candle which they can then leave at the entrance to greet you when you walk out as a married couple? Or to pass a single lighted candle from one to another until finally the officiant will install it (symbolically holding the flame of everyone's light) in a candlestick on the altar?

Would you each like to walk in with a candle (symbolizing your individual light), then ignite a single candle on the altar with the two of them? Or light candles together, symbolizing the illumination that is possible in union? Perhaps you would like each pew or row of chairs to be marked off by a candle, so that in entering the church the bride will walk down a pathway of light.

Light fills our souls with a sense of the infinite light. So enlighten yourselves, your guests, and your life, by flooding your wedding with light!