Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life
Abandoning Traditions
By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist
A tradition I haven’t abandoned is keeping an eye and ear out for community service opportunities. I also have some appreciation for burial traditions, so it was quite natural that I jumped at the chance to join a restoration project undertaken by the Abbot Historical Society. Volunteers are meeting for a couple of hours each week to clean and restore the stones in Abbot’s oldest cemetery. It’s a fun project—one where you can immediately see the results of your work. It makes you think. It makes you feel good.
My first “assignment” included an almost illegible stone that read simply, “Baby.” When I told my friend Jack what I’d done, he replied, “Everyone does their best to make life work… Keeping gravestones clean is a nice reminder of how the system works. Not a bad spiritual exercise.”
I’m always a “flag holder straightener” and it didn’t take long to notice there were many opportunities. While doing that, I noticed many short holders without flags. I didn’t count, but in the section I was working in, there were a lot of them! A closer look revealed that they were all Grange flag holders! On the one hand, it wasn’t a surprise. At one time, Abbot had a very active Grange (#329—right on the holder). The surprise was how many there were! Since these were custom-made with the Grange number, one might assume that Abbot Grange maintained a tradition of providing one whenever a member passed. I have tried to visualize blue Grange flags flying. Since this cemetery is right across from the town hall, on the main highway through town, what an amazing display it must have been.
Unfortunately, the tradition and Grange are gone. But at least part of it remains, and I’ve decided to “restore” every marker with some cleaning and painting. Like the stones, this is definitely a long-range project and “not a bad spiritual (and Grange) exercise.”
I’m reminded of another Grange sign that must have existed for a while. Frankly, I’m still kicking myself for not buying this when I saw it. It was a slightly rusted green and white sign that probably was made to hang on a barn that declared Grange Membership. I don’t recall the exact wording, but it was something like, “This is a Grange Farm.”
In life and death, as the song proclaims, “It’s a good thing to be a Granger.” Traditions such as these served as a visual reminder of the Grange Way of Life.
Of course, traditions change. We could probably have an interesting discussion (lecturer’s program?) about the burial customs. Tillers International (where I learned to communicate with oxen) is offering a workshop during which students will build their own caskets in anticipation of an environmentally friendly burial. Until needed, it serves as a bookcase.
If, as Jack suggests, “Everyone does their best to make life work,” a reasonable question might be how the Grange supports that. Perhaps some of our traditions and ritual do so and maintaining them is “a nice reminder of how the system works.” I have always valued our connection with the earth—the biggest system we live in.
We may abandon some of the Grange’s traditional practices for many reasons, but we should do so thoughtfully and deliberately. A word that comes to mind is “legacy,” defined as something handed down from the past. Flag holders and farm signs are simple reminders of our legacy. These flag holders are reminders of a time when everyone knew what the Grange was and what it was about. I know that painting and making them more visible isn’t enough to preserve the memory and meaning, but it may trigger people’s interest. Besides, it’s not a bad spiritual exercise.
(Grange flag holders (slightly different) and flags are still available through the Monroe Classics Grange Store.)
Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-sixth edition of the 2013 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://abbotvillagepress.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.