Holidays and Traditions
USG has many special worship services and celebrations.
Our Community Ingathering service is the first Sunday after Labor Day and it is often followed by a potluck lunch.
We honor the Jewish High Holidays in worship and have a Seder for Passover.
Remembering Our Ancestors is generally celebrated the Sunday of Halloween weekend. People are asked to bring photos of deceased loved ones for the altar. In the past we have called this Day of the Dead.
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is celebrated on the Friday or Saturday evening closest to Diwali. It includes a vegetarian feast, diya lighting, mandala making and music.
We celebrate Winter Solstice by rolling a burning wheel down our driveway to symbolize the return of the sun and sharing refreshments afterward.
We have two services on Christmas Eve, a pageant especially for families at 4:00pm and a candles and carols service for all ages at 6:00pm.
Since the early 2020s, we have coordinated a Kwanzaa celebration with our neighbor congregation, UUs of Mt. Airy.
Our New Orleans Jazz Funeral is celebrated the first Sunday after New Year’s with great music from a six-piece Dixieland jazz group.
We have a special service on Easter and the children often have an egg hunt and on Beltane we often have a May Pole.
And we have a service honoring our Child Spiritual Development program in June.