Shao Shan Temple observed the New Year's Eve of 2026 with a full evening of meditation, ceremony, outside fire, refreshments and ringing of bells. Excitingly, this year marked the first Family-Friendly New Year's Eve Program at Shao Shan Temple.
For the adults, the New Year's Eve began with meditation, followed by a time for a "personal year review" - reflecting on the past year and what we wish to continue and what we wish to refrain from. A vigorous Heart Sutra with drum accompanied people offering incense.
The kids had a parallel program: They read The Three Questions by Jon Muth, which explores what we find to be important in our lives. They each then made drawings about things they found important about 2025 and intentions of things they wanted to prioritize in 2026. They then practiced a shorter version of the 108 bells before midnight, during which each person rings a bell in succession to mark the passing of each minute. (four minutes instead of 108!)
Kids and adults then came together around the outside fire circle and each person individually offered their paper into the purifying fire accompanied by chanting, sparklers and incense.
Everyone then enjoyed abundant celebratory refreshments and social time in the Sangha Hall and was invited to ring the new large outside bell!
Ending the year of the Snake and entering the year of the Fire Horse.
Happy New Year 2026!
