A Love Fest

For some years now, the month of January brings to the village a varying number of college students who are here to take a class or to pursue some independent study and to participate fully in the Holden lifestyle. These students are referred to as J-Termers.

This January, the village welcomed 30 students from St. Olaf College. They were here with their professors and spent the morning taking a class and spent much of the rest of their time in fulfilling their duties and obligations to the village. Each student was assigned to an area of work and worked an assigned 5 hours each week in that area. In addition, they were assigned to all of the Holden rotating schedules...dish team, garbology, stoking, etc. They also participated fully in contributing to matins and vespers services with their music and with their spoken words.

To make sure that they received an initial greeting that would not soon be forgotten and assuming they probably had some vague expectations as to the strangeness and quirkiness of the place at which they were arriving, Holden villagers decided to play the quirkiness card to the hilt and dress up in hippie fashions to greet the incoming buses. And as they say...the rest is history.

The young women of Holden High School took advantage of being let out of school for the arrival of the two buses and immediately raided the costume shop for hippie garb. They seem to have all the "moves" as well.

Not to be outdone, the boys donned their own costumes and welcomed the J-Termers with a bit of drumming.

As they got off the bus, students were welcomed by the entire village. It would turn out to be a welcome that would remain in place for the month that they were here.

All too soon, it was time for them to go. Before the departure, they serenaded the village with their own version of "So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehn, Good-Bye" from The Sound of Music .

They had watched the movie shortly after their arrival, coming in costume and singing along with all of the songs.

The group divided into smaller parts and each group had a specially written verse. Here, the girls seem to be enjoying their presentation as much as we enjoyed hearing it.

Little Aubrey Gustafson, of "it takes a village to raise a child," was the object of many farewells as students began to gather to get on the bus.

"Holden Hugs," a long-standing tradition just before the bus leaves to take guests out of the village, were in abundance when the students left at the end of their stay.

Aboard the bus at last, students fill the windows to say their final farewells.

Outside the bus, those who were not leaving waved good-bye.

A few hardy souls climbed the pile of snow outside Koinonia to add some snowballs to the farewell.

And away they go!