World Labyrinth Day is celebrated every year on the first Saturday in May, which this year is May 1. The international event, begun by the World Labyrinth Society in 2009, is expected to attract around 5,000 participants visiting sites in some 35 countries. Most participants will “Walk as One at 1” by walking a labyrinth at 1:00 pm local time “to create a rolling wave of peaceful energy passing from one time zone to the next around the globe,” says the World Labyrinth Society.
A labyrinth is a spiral walking course with a single, winding, unobstructed path that leads one from the outside to the center. Walking a labyrinth is a spiritual practice that dates back at least 4,000 years. Archaeologists have found labyrinths dating back to the Bronze Age in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. The Greeks and Romans used labyrinths in rituals for rebirth and protection.
According to the World Labyrinth Society, “Labyrinths evoke metaphor, sacred geometry, spiritual pilgrimage, religious practice, mindfulness, environmental art, and community building.” The circular paths are designed to encourage transformation and awakening as a person walks and meditates, prays, or reflects. The transformation can be psychological, personal or spiritual.
In my faith tradition, Roman Catholicism, labyrinths began appearing in churches in the Middle Ages, where they were used as symbolic substitutes for physical pilgrimages. The oldest known labyrinth in a church is one inlaid in the floor at Chartres Cathedral in France. It dates to 1201 A.D. and has been in continuous use.
Today various faith traditions use labyrinths for walking meditations, choreographed dance, or as sites for rituals and ceremonies. The Labyrinth Locator on the World Labyrinth Society website lists 30 labyrinths in the metro Kansas City area, including a full-sized one at Unity Village, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. It is a replica 0f the one located at Chartres Cathedral in France.
The labyrinth in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Chartres, France, has been a pilgrim destination since the 13th century.
Precious Blood Renewal Center in Liberty, Missouri, where I work, installed a labyrinth on our campus in 2016, which was the bicentennial of the founding of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the religious community that sponsors the Renewal Center. It was built to commemorate the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis, and in seeking to offer reconciliation to the world.
The labyrinth is based on a design provided by Clare Wilson, a South African artist who felt the design came to her as a metaphor for her own ongoing journey of personal transformation. It is known as the Reconciliation Labyrinth.
Labyrinths are not mazes, though the two are often confused. A maze has dead ends and false paths, while a labyrinth has a continuous, unobstructed path. Mazes can be confusing and disorienting; often they are meant to trick a mind, while a labyrinth calms the mind and relaxes the body. People who might find it difficult to sit still can find an outlet in the walking meditation that is the labyrinth experience.
Learn more about World Labyrinth Day online where you can also find a schedule of planned “Walk as One at 1” events beginning in New Zealand and ending in Hawaii.
by Dennis Coday, At-large director of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. His faith tradition is Catholic-Christian.