My day is full of small ceramic rituals. From my daily black coffee in a little faceted mug. Frothing matcha tea in a hand pinched bowl. My Sunday morning café latte in a big thrown cup with ear. I love the differences, visual, touch and feeling.
Living mindfully also means drinking with attention. Your hands feel the warmth of the liquid, your lips touch the edge, you recognize the aroma, your mouth feels. An intimate moment. Smell the tea, feel the heat flowing into your body, look through the misty glasses of your spectacles. Taste the bitterness of the coffee. See the world in new light. Enjoy the moment.
What makes an activity not a habit but a (small or large) ritual? What makes a ritual different from a tradition? Is there a distinction? I find that interesting questions, which I wanted to take a closer look at through one of my own ceramic rituals.
The Japanese tea ceremony
Before I go jogging in the morning, I always have a cup of tea. To wake up, to prepare myself for the effort, but above all to enjoy the peace and quiet. A few years ago, I discovered matcha tea. This is the ideal tea for me prior to my (small) training.
Matcha tea forces me to prepare this primordial tea with attention. Unlike the “regular” tea, you drink the powdered green leaves of the tea plant.
But mindlessly throwing scoops of powder into a cup and pouring boiling water is not the way. If the water is too hot, the tea becomes almost undrinkable bitter. Too much tea and the taste becomes too strong. Too little whipping up and the tea is not sufficiently mixed (and you don’t have the traditional foam layer). In short, you need to prepare and drink this tea with attention.
In Japan, drinking this tea has developed into an age-old tradition: the tea ceremony. This ceremony includes a series of formal acts, a specific space and various fixed utensils (including a hand-shaped tea bowl or “chawan“).
Make drinking tea an experience
I do not impose any established rules on myself, but I have adopted a number of customs. I also prepare my matcha tea with the same “tools”. A bamboo scoop (chashaku) and beater(chasen) and my own specially made hand-shaped bowl.
I love that tea bowl because it’s big enough to stir up the tea (without splashing the tea all over). I love it because I have to hold it with two hands to drink. I love that almost my whole face fits in the bowl when I drink. I can smell the tea, feel the vapor heat my face (and my glasses get misty).
No, that tea bowl isn’t perfect and certainly not my best work. But it is carefully “pinched” between thumb and fingers from a ball of clay. It has been carefully fired, but the copper reduction has not gone well. As a result, this bowl is not red, but uncolored. A lasting reminder that ceramic glazes are always difficult… and you have to take life as it comes.
Small and large rituals
There are large and small rituals. And there are many rituals where ceramics play a role. Breaking plates at a (Greek) wedding, urns for the dead and of course the Japanese tea ceremony.
I love my little ceramic rituals. Rituals on human scale. Rituals I can hold in my hand. No rituals with compelling rules. No big ceremonies to impress others. No traditions imposed on future generations.
Small rituals make life great, big traditions keep the human spirit small.
Ceramic rituals; the human dimension
I love the great traditions to learn from. I love elaborate ceremonies to discover. I love ancient rituals to marvel me. I love human culture, not to follow slavishly, but to be inspired.
I make my own rituals the way I want to celebrate life. I use ceramic objects that help me to astonish. And I make ceramics to inspire others.
Make your life not a habit but an experience, celebrate life and make your own (small) daily ceramic rituals.
BOL stoneware cup
Robust stoneware cup, hand-thrown on the wheel, for daily enjoyment!
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