Tea Ceremonies

The ceremony varied a bit. Instead of sitting on the ground with the hostess, we sat upon benches, covered with red cloth, set around the hostess. While the hostess made the ceremonial cup of tea, other members of the school made and passed out tea to all of the people who were watching the process of making the tea. It is a very stylized and rigidly adhered to process, with each “school” having slight variations in hand movements and proscribed equipment. Each movement is done individually; there is no setting down the bowl while you are reaching for the tea pot. It can be relaxing to watch them work.
It takes YEARS before you are allowed to participate in the formal tea ceremony. The first year you are an observer only, in fact, you can come but not to do anything at all. The next year you can help out a bit…answering questions, collecting tickets, watching the line. The following year you MIGHT be able to help with passing out the dessert plate. It’s quite literally years before you even help with passing out the tea that someone made in the back.