Fr Pat Raleigh reports on Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees ceremony, at Dalgan.
Even the inclement weather caused by Storm Ciara did not deter a large crowd from travelling to Dalgan on Sunday afternoon for an interfaith celebration of Tu B’Shavat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees.
It was organised by the Dublin City Interfaith Forum and supported by St Patrick’s Cathedral Community Fund and the Columban Missionaries.
All the representatives of Religious Traditions were present including Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and others.
The Chair of the Dublin City Interfaith Forum, Hilary Abrahamson and her family did a huge amount of preparatory work as did Columban co-workers Michael O’Sullivan and Ger Clarke. Both had very tastefully decorated the Mission Awareness Room.
Thankfully the rain eased as the group, led by Ger Clarke, went to the Eco garden to plant some tree saplings. The great attraction were the two donkeys in the donkey sanctuary. The donkeys trotted over to the group in the hope of getting some carrots!
After the planting of the tree saplings all returned to the Mission Awareness Room for refreshments so creatively prepared by Hilary and her family.
The event concluded with some readings and a blessing prayer by myself for the planting of seeds and tree saplings.
I invited the various leaders of the various traditions to join Hilary and myself around the table and to give a blessing. It was a lovely afternoon where the people mingled and chatted with each other. All were delighted with Dalgan as the venue.
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