The Tea Ceremony

[Vutall]

The Tea Ceremony
When Lady Doji served tea for the very first Emperor, the tea ceremony was born. Ceremony styles vary among the clans, from the gilded tea rooms of the Phoenix to the imperfect tea bowls of the Dragon, the early morning gatherings of the Crane to the snow- and moon-viewing ceremonies of the Scorpion. However, at its core the tea ceremony is fundamentally an appreciation of tea and, if done well, a spiritual moment for its participants. The tea represents all five elements: the fire used to heat the water, the earth from which the tea is grown, and the air that carries the aroma of the tea. Finally, void holds all four elements together, and brings in the mysterious fifth element, the moment of harmony and tranquility as one sips the tea

Guests are escorted to the site of the tea ceremony, ideally a tea house specially designed for this function or another place of elegant simplicity. There, they are asked to cleanse their mouths and hands—and also their souls—much in the same way purification is performed at shrines.

The guests sit in a prescribed order and the host makes the tea in front of them in a series of elaborate, meticulous steps, each gesture or position passed down to them from tea masters through the ages. Finally, the host serves the tea to the guests, who partake of the same bowl one after another. After the tea has been finished, and the utensils cleaned and put away, the guests leave the tea house in the order they arrived, and the host’s final bow signifies the end of the ceremony