Recently, a friend of mine had free, fancy Madison Square Garden suite tickets to Florence + The Machine and while I don't normally like big venue concerts, my husband and I said, "Why not?"
This was one of the best performances I've seen in years.
The show had some real pagan ritual vibes, where Florence blessed the fans with her expansive, unfaltering voice and they howled at the moon, grabbed the hand of the person next to them (mostly women) and DANCED. Unabashed. Unafraid. Untethered.
There was a time not so long ago where women celebrated each transition in life with a ritual: birth, menstruation, menopause and death. These rituals made the road ahead less scary and less bumpy.
When the moment came for Florence to sing the song June, I was disappointed to be in that fancy box in the sky. I wanted to be in the crowd, swaying, flowers in my hair, linking arms with the women around me singing:
In those heavy days in June
When love became an act of defiance
Hold onto each other
Hold onto each other
Hold onto each other
Hold onto each other
What does ritual mean to you?