Calendar of the Sun
23 Solmonath
Feast of Friends
Colors: Rainbow
Element: Air
Altar: On a cloth of many colors, sewn with symbols of clasped hands, place seven candles also
of different colors, and a cup of milk.
Offerings: Colored candles. Offers to be better friends to those both in the house and out of it.
Promises to make new friends.
Daily Meal: Any food, preferably simple.
Invocation for the Feast of Friends
Friendship is a light in the darkness,
A call in the wilderness,
A shelter in the storm.
It crosses all boundaries,
It appears where we least expect it,
And it is the first step
Toward opening ourselves
To something new and unexpected.
The friend who is like us
Is like an old comfortable quilt
That lies on our bed
And greets us every night.
Yet the friend who is unlike us
Is like an old comfortable quilt
Found in a stranger's home
That comforts us
In our homesickness.
May we remember that the one
Is as valuable as the other,
For someday we may need
That spark of friendship
In a strange place
More than we may ever know.
(For this ritual, each steps forward and speaks the name of a friend who has come to be valuable
to them, and all respond, "We bless _______ for the gift of friendship." That day, friends from
outside the house may be welcomed in for lunch, dinner, or merely socializing.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]