LABYRINTHS: Seeking the Center in Wilmington and Kennett

Saturday, May 2, was World Labyrinth Day, and I marked it by walking the labyrinth behind the Delaware Art Museum. Labyrinth caretaker Carol Maurer gave a brief talk about the labyrinth, which is situated in what used to be a reservoir supplying water to local workers' houses. She said that all around the world, people would be walking at 1 p.m. in their local time zones -- even in devastated Nepal -- which means that a wave of peace would be encircling the globe. In theory.
The labyrinth is encompassed by tall rock walls and measures 80 feet across, with a circumference of 253 feet. It's not a maze; the path edges are marked by small stones. Walking from the edge to the center, you'll make 28 U-turns (to mark the 28-day lunar cycle) and six right-angle turns (there's one right as you think you're about to get to the center!).
Choristers from the Cathedral Choir School processed solemnly in and performed two songs -- the acoustics in the stone-lined site are stunning -- while the visitors entered the labyrinth and began their walks. Some paced slowly and mindfully, their hands clasped in prayer. Others crunched through the gravel, taking the twists and 180-degree turns in jaunty fashion.
I walked to the center of the labyrinth and back out again, twice (a total of a mile). There's something rhythmic, relaxing, and almost hypnotic about it.
A few days later I did a solo walk on a labyrinth closer to home, at the Episcopal Church of the Advent, adjacent to the church's memorial garden. It's smaller and has a different pattern than the one at the Delaware Art Museum, but it produces the same sense of "centering."
This photo is from the Delaware Art Museum's website.