Parliament of the Worlds Religions
December 1 - 8, 1999
Capetown South Africa
*A New Day Dawning*

Preview of Day 1:

The ceremonial Opening of the International AIDS Quilt will be the first event of the morning including a stirring commemoration of International AIDS Day.

The 1999 Parliament Opening Procession comes next - moving through the streets of Capetown from the Company's Gardens to District Six - "colorful costumes, banners and wonderful cultural variety will make for a moving experience..." culminating in an interreligious ceremony blessing the land in District Six - an area symbolic of the worst aspects of apartheid.

At The Opening Plenery Session, each participant will receive his or her own 1999 Parliament drum and will all be led in a "thrilling drumming exercise" to open the Plenery. (We are in Africa after all!)

Gifts of Service to the World:

At the Parliament, the assembly will issue a "Call to our Guiding Institutions"; inviting governments, religions, educational institutions and the like to make changes and contributions to the world. "The Call to Our Guiding Institutions will provide inspiration and direction for those wishing to offer gifts of service to the world. To give such a gift is an expression of a fundamental spiritual inclination towards generosity, caring, hospitality, compassion, and good will. The extent to which goodness has existed in the world has always been directly related to the giving of such gifts and the spirit in which they are given. In spite of the progress made through ambitious endeavors and noble institutions, the fate of the world continues to rest on such gifts -- and now, more than ever." (From the CPWR site)

Possible gifts might range from: resolving conflicts within one's own family to working for reconciliation in a troubled community; from a local community's outreach to women, children, and the poor to a personal offering of regular prayer or meditation; from the fostering of spiritual renewal to the promotion of structural social justice; and so on.

EarthSpirit will be making two initial gifts of service:

A Sacred Cairn for Harmony
To be built in the spring of 2000 at EarthSpirit's home in western Massachusetts: an outdoor sacred site, surrounding a stone cairn, dedicated to harmony among all peoples and between humans and the other aspects of creation. All who come to the Center will be invited to add a stone with their own personal invocation for harmony.

Circle for Freedom
At the 22nd Rites of Spring in 2000, EarthSpirit will hold a special evening of music and sacred dances devoted to harmony and freedom for all beings on the Earth. We will sing and dance in celebration of diversity and with the hope that we can inspire acceptance and openness to grow in the world as it grows in our hearts.

We encourage EarthSpirit members and others to join us in making a gift of service to the world and to share the nature of that gift and to both with us and with the Parliament.

Return to the Information page

We invite you to go to the CPWR web site to look at all of the events planned for the week in South Africa

Many thanks to the generous donors who contributed to this project and made it possible.