Exploring Traditions — January 2021

Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life

by Walter Boomsma

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When we celebrate the degrees, there’s a natural tendency for us to get tired if they’re all done on the same day Of course, it wouldn’t make sense but I’ve occasionally wondered if once in a while we should do them in reverse! Whenever I decide to review them, I sometimes do just that—I start with the Fourth!

So let’s do that because there’s one particular section of the Fourth Degree that offers some amazing wisdom and ties some things together. It starts with the candidates receiving this advice from Ceres.

Brothers and Sisters, my tribute is the seed corn. Have FAITH. Faith in the spring of the year and the springtime of life. Even as little children have faith in their parents, so should we have faith in the great provider. We prepare our fields and plant the seed having faith in its resurrection.

And then Pomona admits she probably doesn’t need to say this.

I need not prompt you to nurture HOPE. Hope is the heavenly light that gilds our labors. Were we deprived of that source of consolation, life would indeed be dreary. When you see the blossoms open in the early summer hope is there for the luscious fruit. The labors of the husbandman and matron encourage hope at every turn. Let the fruit blossoms be to you an emblem of hope.

Then Flora teaches.

Let flowers be to you an emblem of CHARITY. In kind words and deeds dispense charity, as freely as Flowers do their perfume, and as generously as they cover all God’s footstool. Beautify and adorn your homes with Flowers. The home that is thus made fragrant and cheerful is prepared to be the abode of sweeter affections and more radiant virtues.

You may find yourself humming the tune “Faith, Hope, and Charity… that’s the way to live successfully…” But we’re not quite finished. The master is going to add a capstone.

Let the agate it be to you an emblem of FIDELITY. May your principles of manhood and womanhood be as firmly impressed as the lasting colors in the stone , and may our friendship be as firm as the stone itself.

There’s of course more but the Master quickly teaches the salutation of the Fourth Degree.

“A good Patron places faith in good, nurtures hope, dispenses charity and is note for fidelity.”

Do you see the pattern here? One of the often unnoted beauties of Grange Ritual is the way so many things tie together. So let me suggest an idea for you. I plan to ask the Master to allow me to do this as part of our next meeting or you can do it right now all by yourself. Start by standing up. Begin the salutation, “A good patron has faith in God…” Now stop, read and consider Ceres’ advice. Force yourself to pause and think about Hope. Do the same with Hope, Charity, and Fidelity.

And allow yourself a smile of satisfaction when you realize the power and beauty of the Grange teachings and Grange Way of Life.

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 Amazon, or by contacting the author.

New Paths to Blaze

Webmaster’s Note: Larry Bailey, Master of Ocean View Grange in Martinsville, said it would be okay to share his recent message to the Ocean View members. He could have written this to Grangers everywhere! When he replied to my request, he added, “…The examples of what other Granges are doing is very helpful, instructive, and energizes me. I know we can do more and I know that doing so improves our community and ourselves. It is, perhaps, selfish but, I get great self-satisfaction from cleaning up a local road, giving an award to deserving citizens, providing free meals to veterans, paying heat bills for those who need it, placing flags on the graves of our servicemen, and the other things we do at Ocean View.” Congratulations to Larry and Ocean View Grange for exploring tradition and new directions!

The words from the Exploring Traditions Column are for you to think about. I believe we need a new round of Grange fever. Most of us have been Grangers for several years and have seen our energy and enthusiasm slow down. It is not rare that this pattern takes over after a period of time.  I think new ideas and new directions are what we need. Those of us who joined and worked so hard to save the Grange still have that feeling that the Grange needs us and all our members. I can’t tell you what new ideas and directions we need to follow but our members are creative enough to come up with some ideas. I think we will be back in full action after the end of the year and hope we can start anew with excitement, energy, and determination. I am going to give it my best effort and hope each of you will too.  When thinking about what new paths we can blaze, I hope you still realize that we are not in the Grange to make money from our activities. We are an organization dedicated to helping our community, friends, and neighbors in any way we can. Yes, it takes money to do a lot of what we do but more importantly, much can be done with neighborly effort alone.

Oh, and by the way… Larry and I both ordered some cheese from Goot Essa!
WB

Exploring Traditions and Connections

Here you can watch and listen to the discussion between National Grange Communications Director Amanda Brozana Rio and author Walter Boomsma as they explore some of the topics from the book and what they mean to Grangers and Granges today–especially during the current pandemic.

Walter’s book is available from

Why Every Community Needs a Grange Today

The following article was written by Walter Boomsma in the spring of 2009 as part of a National Grange Essay Contest… and it won second place!

One of my greater pleasures in life is attempting to explain the origins and purpose of this organization called “the Grange” to excited third graders as part of our “Words for Thirds” program. I start by attempting to determine what they already know and I’ll always remember the young girl who waved her hand enthusiastically and announced “I was born there.”

It took a little thinking to realize she’d heard me say “LaGrange” – one of the small, rural communities here in Maine. Her answer was certainly amusing, but it was also insightful and telling. Like the organization she was learning about she was proud of her roots and heritage. She announced her connection and kinship to LaGrange just as enthusiastically as I announce my connection to the Grange.

That sense of connection attracts people to rural small-town America. But even small towns are experiencing a “social disconnect” as things like regional school systems and “social networking” using the Internet change the traditional model of community. We now have cell phones, PDAs and computers to stay “connected” with people – in many cases people we only rarely see and certainly can’t touch.

But beneath all the communicating, we still want

Continue reading “Why Every Community Needs a Grange Today”