Our service space is very open for the rearrangement of chairs, and for this ritual the particular setup is for a central altar, chairs in concentric circles around the altar with aisles at each of the the quarters. This ritual was performed for the first time in 1998. This is a good ritual for a UU congregation that likes to sit in a circle and share. We advertise in the local newspaper and therefore have a wide varying mix of people at each ritual. With that in mind, the leaders of any of our rituals need to be prepared for groups as small as six and as large as 45.
Usual participation is in the teens or twenties.
This can prove to be quite a challenge. It is recommended that leaders always have enough materials for a large group and have alternate plans to shortcut parts of the ritual should the number of participants make the ritual too long and cumbersome. As with Sunday morning services, planning for some type of voluntary participation is important. The only drawback with this method can be the problems associated with reading by candlelight and the resulting lack of smoothness that can come from having participants prepared well ahead of time. This ritual was first performed on Spring Equinox 1999.