Today has been a slow day at Flying Cloud. We’re very much in transition. Tomorrow is Visiting Day so we’re getting ready for that, but more importantly we’re all relaxing and resting after last night’s Naming Ceremony!
We had guests from Indian Brook and Tamarack Farm, as well as a special guest appearance from our former directors Foxfire Oak and River Holds the Stone! It was wonderful to have everyone there.
The campers worked well and hard yesterday to build a fire which was truly one of the best I’ve ever seen in my time at FC. It was hot but not too hot, provided plenty of light, was beautiful, and in the end collapsed in on itself perfectly. Congratulations to all for a job well done!
That night, while the fire burned brightly our community gathered close together and took the time to truly honor and appreciate the boys and men who were about to be named. At the critical moment, a camper is plucked from the crowd and brought forward to sit cross-legged on the Flying Cloud Naming blanket. The Voice stands behind him, shielding him from the heat of the flames. As the camper faces his peers, the Voice calls “who speaks for this camper?” and dear friends raise their hands to speak. Last night was a truly powerful time of young men praising and affirming one another in their own unique and beaufitul ways.
“He has a pure gaze that lets you know he’s fully there.”
“He makes me feel cared for.”
“He makes me laugh.”
“….and for these reasons and many, many more, I know he will get a wonderful Flying Cloud name.”
Four times the Voice calls for affirmations, and four young men speak as the chosen one sits on the same blanket in the same spot as every other person who has ever received a Flying Cloud name. There is no way to convey the humble pride and the subtle joys each camper feels as he hears the qualities for which he will be recognized.
Finally, the Voice stands tall and delivers the name to the group. The newly named camper takes his Flying Cloud blanket and stands. As he begins to walk around the fire, his brothers call his birth name one last time, and as he emerges reborn from behind the fire, they embrace him, howling and shouting his new Flying Cloud name.
This is how we honor our brothers at Flying Cloud.