Written by: Madeleine Saraisky
The Tradition of Vespers
If you are standing on Main Lawn as the clock strikes 5:15p.m., you will see campers from G4 dart out of their cabin to ring the bell for Vespers. The rings resound across the water accompanied by counselors on both sides of the lake telling their campers: “Everyone get ready to head to the Vespers Ring!”
Vespers is a tradition that has occurred each night since the founding of Camp in 1911. It is a time for reflection about your day and the camp session. It is a time to be calm amidst a day full of bustling from activity to activity. It is a time of vulnerability, where counselors share a life lesson or story with the Vespers Ring and invite everyone else to make meaning out of what they are sharing.
As a camper, Vespers was always one of my favorite parts of the day. Even though I realistically knew that counselors were speaking to the whole ring, it felt like they were speaking directly to me. I felt a sense of belonging knowing that the words of people I greatly looked up to could also be used to help me understand my own experiences, both at Coniston and long after the summer was over. While it is impossible for every counselor to form a personal connection with every single camper, Vespers builds a collective trust and vulnerability between every person in the ring. Knowing that counselors trusted me as part of the larger collective to receive their stories and lessons with care helped me feel like I truly belonged at Camp.
On staff, Vespers remains one of my favorite parts of the day because of the magic that exists in the Vespers Ring. Whether it is due to the quiet or the lessons being shared with the Camp community or the complete honesty that encircles everyone in the ring, it is hard to say. Even as I write this, it is hard to find the words to capture the energy that arises between 5:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. each day. That energy is ephemeral, fleeting, and built from intentionality– being intentional with time, with sound, with words, with the love we give to each other. That energy is why Vespers will always be one of my favorite parts of Camp, giving me time to reflect on my day, learn from the role models around me, and take a minute to appreciate how lucky I am to come back to Coniston summer after summer.
Lessons from Vespers: Finding Calm
Throughout the next few months, we will be posting some of the Vespers speeches given by our staff this summer. Each one shares something new and different to Camp and provides a good example of the kinds of lessons that we value here.
To kick us off, I want to share an excerpt from Emily Kelley’s Vespers from session one talking about the power of meditation, special places, and the Vespers Ring. Emily started by leading Girls Camp in a guided meditation, helping them envision a calm place as a way of recentering and slowing down. She shared:
“The first time I did this meditation, the calm place I chose was this Vespers Ring right here. Vespers has always been one of my absolute favorite parts of camp and I have always felt a lot of peace when I sit here every day surrounded by people I love. And when I find myself in places of stress, or if my head feels like it is spinning because of how many things I have to think about, I try to take myself here for a moment. I slow down my thoughts and think of the sound the leaves make above my head when it’s very windy, or the sound of the bracelets jingling around me when we move our hands. I think of the wooden boards we are sitting on and I think of the sounds far away like boy’s staff doing their loud cheers across the lake. I think of the faces in this circle that I don’t get to see nearly as often as I would like to. I think of the hugs I get when I walk out of this circle. This Vespers Ring is a place that allows you to feel and to think more deeply than anywhere else I have ever known, and I have been trying my best to remember every detail as much as I can because this feeling of calm is something I never want to forget.
So with that, I want to give you all a moment to memorize this place. I want you to notice the sounds that you hear close to you and the sounds that are further away. I want you to notice the smells and the air and how the wind feels on your face. I want you to look to your left and to your right and notice who is sitting around you, if it is a friend you have known for years or if it is someone you just met today. Take a moment to be present in this place and remember that you can return here whenever you feel a little overwhelmed, whether it is physically or just in your mind.”
About Madeleine: Madeleine is the Storytelling and Writing Intern for summer 2025. She has spent eight summers at Coniston and credits Camp with teaching her how to use her voice. Madeleine hopes to use that voice to build a career pursuing writing.