Closing ceremony at Zoar Valley

If you have read any of my posts about Zoar Valley, you probably have a clue that I really, really treasured the time I spent at camp.  Camp started on a Sunday, and ended two weeks later on a Saturday.  On the last Friday afternoon, each camper and counselor would spend part of the afternoon making a little boat out of natural materials... frequently, a piece of bark decorated with leaves and twigs and flowers, or a small woven raft decorated with flowers.  After dinner, all of the campers would hike a short distance down to the Cattaraugus each carrying a little boat.  (I remember one of my last years there, probably as staff.. we held the ceremony at the creek that ran right through camp.  But as a kid... I remember walking on the rocks, hiking down to the river.)

The ceremony was always incredibly bittersweet.  "Each campfire lights anew" "Peace of the River" "If there were witchcraft."  And of course, most tear-inducing....

I want to linger
A little longer
A little longer here with you

It's such a perfect night
It doesn't seem quite right
That it should be my last with you

And come September
I will remember
The happy days I spent with you

And as the years go by
I'll think of you and sigh....
This is goodnight, but not goodbye.

I want to linger
A little longer
A little longer here with you

Each of our little boats was decorated with a small candle.  At the end of the ceremony, each unit walked down to the water, each candle was lit, and each camper carefully launched her small boat.  I remember trying to watch for my boat amidst all of the bobbing lights... they said that if your candle was still lit when the boat went around the curve.... well, it meant that you would come back to Zoar, or it meant that your wish would come true... something like that.  Anyhow, I remember tearfully watching my little boat sail away, marking the end of another wonderful session at Zoar Valley. 

Flag ceremonies at Zoar Valley

Flag Ceremony at Zoar Valley Camp

Every morning, all of the units met in front of the Mess Hall for the flag ceremony.  The campers would file in by units, and form a large horseshoe. The units took turns presenting the flag ceremonies.  I've always been patriotic... and I liked participating in flag ceremonies as a camper, and I liked planning them as a counselor. I remember....

• learning how to raise and lower the flag
• learning how to fold a flag, properly
• readings... we had a book of readings, and one was chosen for each flag ceremony.  Many decades later, I remember a reading about remembering to help those "who have no hills to remember"
• songs... a patriotic song, and I remember learning the words to "Oh Canada" although I don't remember raising both flags every morning.  
• one song in particular... I remember that my unit (Pioneer) had flag ceremony duty on July 21, 1969.  The counselors on Pioneer had listened to the radio the previous night, while Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.  Moved by this incredible event, I put the Star Spangled Banner into the flag ceremony the next morning.  It did not go well... I suspect because we started too high and completely failed on the high notes.  Afterwards, the Assistant Camp Director, told me, drily, that she thought that had been "a little ambitious."

After the flag ceremony, we would file out of the horseshoe formation by units, then break silence and line up at the Mess Hall for breakfast.  It was a lovely way to start every day.