Trefoil Ceremony
This is a great little ceremony for emphasizing the symbol of the trefoil for the girls. It was posted on the Guide Mailing List by Sue Hutchinson, who wrote:
"At our Provincial Arts Weekend (a weekend for Dance, Drama, Craft Instructors and Music Trainers) we had a special workshop on Ceremony ideas...this one was great to show the Trefoil and really makes an impression at Ceremonies...."
The girls stand in a square formation with one girl in the Centre (we'll call her #5). From the bottom left hand of your square, from left to right, number the girls.
The bottom row is 1, 2, 3, 4. The person in the centre is 5. The right hand row (from bottom to top) is 6, 7,8, 9. The top row (from left to right) 10, 11, 12, 13. The left hand row (from bottom to top) 14 15 16 17.
If you have additional girls, they can be the finishing touches to your ceremony.
A large ball of blue cording is tossed in a pattern as follows.
#1 tosses from the bottom of the square on the left, to the top right (#13) #5 grabs the centre of the rope and holds it. #13 holds onto the rope end passed to her, and passes the rest of the ball to 12, 12 passes to 11, 11 passes to 10 (all hold onto a piece of rope). #10 passes to #5 in the centre. #5 does an underhand pass over the rope she was previously holding, joining the two, she then passes the ball of rope to #9, who passes to 8, to 7, to 6; 6 passes to 5 who joins the ropes again. 5 passes to 17, to 16, to 15, to 14; 14 passes to 5, 5 passes to 4, to 3, to 2, to 1.
Girls # 2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15 & 16 all take one gigantic step into the centre of the square. The rest of the girls stand still.
On a given signal, have everyone lower their rope at the same time. You should now have the outline of a Trefoil.
Have girls either place candles in the centre to represent the two stars (Promise and Law) and a arrow decoration, or use your own imagination. Luminaries work beautifully. Finish it off with a reading about working together, or the ties that bind us in Guiding... along that theme.