We recently recorded video at the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale. It reminded me of the time I made a film on the California Mennonite Relief Sale which then was held in a fruit packing shed. California lays claim to hosting the first relief sale. It was a spontaneous auction held in June 1922 in response to Mennonite Central Committee's (MCC) call for funds to assist destitute Mennonites in the Russian empire. No further sales took place unit 1957 when Mennonites mounted a sale in Gap, Pennsylvania. That sale began the uninterrupted chain of present-day relief sales.
Ten years later, Virginia Mennonites organized a sale held on a farmyard. It's grown since then. This year the sale was held at the Rockingham County Fair Grounds. It netted nearly $300,000.
One of the most interesting aspects of the more than 40 Mennonite Relief Sales held across Canada and the United States is their function as ritual. Mennonites are not much prone to rituals. Historically, a simple, rural lifestyle did not lend itself to public rituals other than those associated with regular church attendance. Culturally, Mennonites have frequently been dislocated. It's difficult to engage in or retain rituals when your cultural attachments are constantly unraveled.
But today relief sales offer a common experience for a wide swath of Mennonites. Be they Old Order or liberal/progressive, Mennonites come together around a common belief that feeding hungry people is not only a noble cause but a religious imperative. The atmosphere tends toward the festive. Raising money to carry out the relief, development and peacebulding work of MCC seems to inspire a sense of shared purpose. And the purpose, while serious, brings out the smiles in sometimes somber Mennonites.
Sales are also one function in the Mennonite experience where judgmental attitudes are temporarily set aside. For one day out of the year, Mennonites who may be on the margins work together with those who are all in. And for one day, they are allowed to be "Mennonite" with few questions asked!
I hope you enjoy this short clip of the sale.
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