A moving St Francis Day and Remembrance Ceremony at Eseltjiesrus Donkey Sanctuary near McGregor

Donkeys with the Eseltjiesrus Country Kitchen in the background

On Sunday, 3 October 2010, we joined our good friends V and L on a trip out to the pretty village of McGregor to attend a moving and heartwarming St Francis Day ceremony at Eseltjiesrus Donkey Sanctuary.

We had visited the sanctuary for the first time in July this year, during a long and unforgettable birthday weekend spent in the Riviersonderend Mountains between McGregor and Greyton. If you visit the sanctuary on a Saturday or Sunday, there is usually a guide available to accompany you into the paddock with the donkeys, to teach you about them, and to tell you the life stories of particular animals.

We had been completely smitten by the donkeys – and by one dashingly handsome furry-eared fella called, er…, Donkey. Yes, like in the movie Shrek, and yes, he looks very much like him, just even MORE gorgeous! But don’t just take my word for it, look here:

And our adorable and very handsome Donkey!

Don’t you just love his spiky hairdo? And those soft, fluffy ears? Aah, sigh… As you may imagine, we promptly decided to adopt him for a year, and duly received our official Donkey Adoption Certificate.

We were very keen to see Donkey again, so, when we received an invitation to attend the annual animal blessing ceremony at Eseltjiesrus on Sunday the 3rd of October, which is the day before St Francis Day, in honour of the patron saint of animals, St Francis of Assisi, we immediately made plans to drive out.

And what a beautiful, heart-warming, soul-feeding ceremony it was. Rows of chairs had been set up underneath some large old trees on the lawns next to the Eseltjiesrus Country Kitchen, which is run by Debbie and Jimmy. As 11h00 approached, more and more people arrived to take their seats, some of them accompanied by dogs on leads.

We sit in the shade of beautiful old trees

Patricia and Catherine played a couple of peaceful recorder pieces, which really set the mood for the service. The birds were clearly intrigued by all this activity, and eagerly contributed their own songs in the background, occasionally swooping by above our heads, which I thought was quite fitting!

After all the guests had been welcomed by Johan, who is one of the founders of Eseltjiesrus, one person after another contributed to the program in their own way. There was an amazing sense of community and caring, with everyone sharing their love and passion for the sanctuary and for the donkeys, as well as for animals and the environment in general.

After Bridget had read out a touching prayer, Tony told us about World Animal Day, as it is being celebrated all around the world. Mike gave a reading on the topic ‘You can’t buy love’, and then all of us sang “All Things Bright And Beautiful”, accompanied by Patricia and Catherine on guitar.

Accompanied by Patricia and Catherine, we sing 'All things bright and beautiful'

“All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.”

This was followed by an Afrikaans prayer read out by Suenel, and Rodney with his lovely clear voice singing “There’s a place for us…” Then it was time for Brother Richard to conduct the actual blessing of the animals; with a cheerful smile, he walked all around the audience and down to the donkey paddock, flicking holy water at everyone, and startling a dog or two!

Afterwards, Wendy spoke about the five freedoms for animals.

Inspiration from St Francis of Assisi

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst
2. Freedom from discomfort
3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease
4. Freedom to express normal behaviour
5. Freedom from fear and distress

To round off the ceremony, Patricia and Catherine sang the inspirational Prayer of St Francis, their voices harmonising perfectly with each other, as we chimed in with the refrain.

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
And where there is doubt, true faith in you.

Refrain:
Oh Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console.
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, only light,
And where there’s sadness ever joy.

Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
In giving of ourselves that we receive,
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

At the end, we were invited to remember and honour our departed friends, relatives and animals by going on a short meditative walk around the vineyards, where thought-provoking quotations were mounted at intervals along the path.

By the time we returned to the restaurant, we were feeling rather hungry, so we had a delicious and filling lunch of coq-au-vin (my three compatriots) and chicken mayo sandwiches (yes, the latter would be mine!).

The grey donkey on the right is Ida - very sweet-tempered and loving

Afterwards, L and I walked around the donkey paddock for a while, under the guidance of Robyn, who is one of the hard-working and knowledgeable volunteers at the sanctuary. She patiently fielded all our questions and told us the life-stories of many of the donkeys, explaining which of them we could approach or touch, and which were still a little shy of strangers.

Resting in the shade of the large tree

Considering the sometimes horrific lives these gentle creatures have had, I was in awe of how peaceful and serene they were, and how trusting. Just being in their presence had a healing effect, slowing down my breathing and my heart rate, bringing me into the moment, into the body, just Be-ing, right here, right now. It was quite an extraordinary experience.

I can’t wait to go back.

The geese have had fluffy yellow littl’uns!

Ida and Dinky?

A cluster of donkeys

Happily munching donkeys

Not sure of this one’s name

The grey donkey on the right is Ida – very sweet-tempered and loving

All the donkeys line up for a portion of munchies

Don’t you just want to hug this one?

Donkeys with the Eseltjiesrus Country Kitchen in the background

A furry donkey

Patricia and Catherine create uplifting and stirring music

We sit in the shade of beautiful old trees

Johan welcomes everyone to the event

Briget speaks a prayer about the animals

Tony tells us about the events around the world celebrating World Animal Day

Mike gives a reading on ‘You can’t buy love’

Accompanied by Patricia and Catherine, we sing ‘All things bright and beautiful’

Suenel reads an Afrikaans prayer about donkeys

Rodney sings “There’s a place for us…”

Brother Richard does a beautiful blessing of the animals

Wendy speaks about the five freedoms for animals

Werner says some final words

On a meditative ramble, we think about the companion animals we have lost

Can you see the colourful windmill?

We wander slowly through the vineyards

Inspiration from St Francis of Assisi

Vineyards

Wise words

We hungrily study the menu at Eseltjiesrus Country Kitchen

A tasty portion of coq-au-vin

Yep, yummy chicken-and-mayo sandwiches with salad

Sweet-looking donkey

This one greeted us with a blast of hee-haws!!

I wonder if this is Dinky, mom of Donkey?

Donkey, our adopted son – a handsome fella!

I think this is Ida, rescued from a life as a cart donkey

Shy Sheila faced certain death as lion food

Contentedly grazing

This shaggy brown gelding is Eeyore

Resting in the shade of the large tree

And our adorable and very handsome Donkey!