The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Class of 2023 processes July 30, 2023, from the Sacred Song Service in the Amphitheater to the Vigil Ceremony in the Hall of Philosophy.
This Sunday evening, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Class of 2024 will light up the Chautauqua night as they inaugurate their Recognition Week celebrations.
Since 1882, the CLSC has honored the members of its graduating class with traditions that have grown over the years, now in 2024 filling nearly an entire week of the summer calendar — on top of the already-plentiful literary arts programming.
The week begins with the class baccalaureate during the 10:45 a.m. morning worship service Sunday in the Amphitheater, where the class will be publicly recognized for the first time. During the Sacred Song Service at 8 p.m. Sunday in the Amp, the class will be seated in a place of honor in the choir loft — instead of the stage, where they have been in years prior — in order to accommodate the largest CLSC class in recent history, with more than 170 Chautauquans set to graduate later this week.
The CLSC first began collaborating with the Department of Religion in 2021, an abridged, hybrid year of Institution programming following the pandemic. The entwining of two of Chautauqua’s pillars has continued every year since.
“Those who truly have a sense of commitment, understand that (Chautauqua’s four pillars of arts, education, religion and recreation) wraps around the desire to connect with the organization,” said Anne Mitchell, a member of the CLSC Class of 2024 and its Vigil Committee. “It furthers your need to connect with all four pillars as well. Whether religion to you is really about your spiritual sense of self, or actual religion — I think the nature here that we’re all connecting to, is part of religion, a disconnect from the troubles of the world.”
Following the Sacred Song Service, CLSC Class of 2024, who have named themselves the “Sesquicentennial Stewards” — will parade to the Hall of Philosophy for their Vigil Ceremony, wearing white as they illuminate the Brick Walk with candles. This procession is a newer ritual, starting in 2021 with the class participation in Sacred Song. All Chautauquans are invited to follow along with them to the Hall in the Grove, as the Hall of Philosophy is known, for the class vigil.
“It’s very dramatic. It’s dark, and it’s a little mysterious there, and you’re sitting in the Hall of Philosophy, where thousands of people have come to graduate,” said Pat McDonald, president of the Alumni Association of the CLSC. “It’s a really lovely atmosphere in there for the vigil, and one of my favorite things of the whole summer.”
Once in the Hall of Philosophy, the Sesquicentennial Stewards’ Vigil Ceremony will include readings, remarks, and music from class members.
The CLSC Class of 2024 motto is “Reading and Responsibility” and their symbol is a bee. The class flowers are the aster and goldenrod, and they also have a class tree: the American Chestnut.
The class banner — which will be unveiled during Recognition Day, at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday in front of the Hall of Christ, where the graduates will gather for their class photo — was designed by a seven-person committee. That committee includes Robin Musher, president of the Class of 2024 and chair of its Banner Committee, who has been doing needlework and sewing for many years.
“We wanted to touch upon the roots in how the banner was created,” said Musher. “The elements of the banner represent our responsibility and obligation to the land, as well as other people.”
Oren R. Lyons, traditional faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan and a member of the Onondaga Indian Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, is the class honoree. Musher said she was “incredibly proud” that the CLSC Class of 2024 is “the first class to have a Native American honoree.
During the vigil, the class will announce their Kate Kimball Gift, named after the first executive secretary of the Alumni Association, whose tenure lasted nearly 40 years. It was Kimball, McDonald said, who kept the organization running.
Among this year’s graduates is the Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, Chautauqua’s senior pastor. He’ll deliver closing remarks at Sunday’s Vigil Ceremony, which will be followed by a brief reception at the Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall.
The Vigil Ceremony is just the beginning of the celebrations. At 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Alumni Hall Ballroom, graduates of the various levels of the Guild of the Seven Seals will be celebrated for their accomplishments in reaching new graduate reading levels in the CLSC.
“It’s remarkable to me that all these years later, people still want to do this and enjoy it,” McDonald said. “… I just feel we’re carrying on something that is meaningful, perhaps today even more than in the past, that people can have a community when they come here and belong to an organization and have a chance to gather.”
