“We are not just hugging the body. We are hugging the soul.”
— Lorenza
Sacred Gift, One of Four
The Hug
Ceremony.
One of the four Sacred Gifts. Included with every retreat at Lunita.
On the last full day of your retreat, in the afternoon, before the goodbyes begin: paint, hands, t-shirts, and twenty minutes of holding each other. By the end, every person in the room is wearing the handprints of everyone they embraced.
The shirt comes home with them. So does the memory.
It's short. It's playful. It usually leaves people in tears.
Born from
Lorenza's heart.
The Hug Ceremony is Lorenza's gift to every retreat that comes to Lunita. She created it, and she still leads most of them herself.
The inspiration was a Spanish word that comes from Nahuatl: apapacho. It's usually translated as “hug” or “cuddle,” but the literal meaning runs deeper. The root word, papatzoa, means “to squeeze”, to press into another body. An alternative etymology connects it to pachoa, “to cover” or “to incubate”, the way a hen covers her eggs, the way a mother covers a child.
In contemporary Mexican Spanish, apapacho carries all of this: a physical embrace that's also a soul-embrace. To apapachar someone is to hold them with your body and your care at the same time.
Lorenza grew up Italian, but she's spent decades in Mexico, raising her son here, building Lunita with him. The Mexican culture of warmth, the apapacho culture, is the culture she chose. She wanted every group that came to Lunita to leave knowing it.
So she made a ceremony where the hug becomes a record. Where you don't just feel held; you leave wearing the proof of it.
That's the Hug Ceremony. The Sacred Gift was born from how Lorenza loves.
What happens
during the ceremony.
On the last full day of your retreat, in the late afternoon, the group gathers somewhere outside. Each person is given a clean t-shirt to wear and the materials of the ceremony: small pots of body paint in many colors.
Lorenza or Nico, whichever of them is leading that day, explains what's about to happen, with the retreat leader joining them to hold the space.
Then the painting begins.
Each person paints their own hands and arms. Some choose colors that match their mood; some go for whatever's closest. Some draw symbols, words, or shapes; some just cover their hands. There's laughter. There's mess. Nobody is precious about it.
When everyone's painted, the embracing starts.
The instruction is simple: hug every other person in the room. Not a polite side-hug, a real one. Hold each other long enough that the paint transfers from your arms to their shirt. Hold each other long enough that something is said without words.
By the end, the t-shirts are no longer clean. Every shirt in the room carries the handprints of every other person in the group. The colors blur, layer, overlap. The marks become a record of who held you and who you held.
That t-shirt is what each guest takes home.
It usually takes about twenty minutes from the painting to the last embrace. By the time it's done, the room is quieter than it was when it began.
Who leads
the ceremony.
This is the ceremony that the family leads.
Lorenza is the creator, and she still leads most of them herself. When she can't, Nico steps in. They've held this ceremony together enough times that either of them can hold it alone.
What's different about the Hug Ceremony, compared to the Shamanic Blessing or the temazcal or any other Lunita ritual, is that the retreat leader is part of the facilitation. We invite them to stand with us, to introduce it in their own words to their own people, to embrace each member of their group first. The retreat is theirs; this is how it gets to end.
By the time the ceremony begins, the retreat leader has spent days holding their group through whatever was meant to happen. The Hug Ceremony is the moment Lunita holds the leader back. Marks them, too. Sends them home wearing the proof of the group they gathered.
Why it closes
every retreat.
Retreats end with goodbye. The work was done, the circles were sat in, the meals were shared, and then everyone leaves.
That's hard. Most retreats end with a soft awkwardness: people exchanging contacts, taking photos, pulling away with the half-attention you use when something is ending and you don't want to feel it ending.
The Hug Ceremony is built for that moment.
It makes the bonds physical.
A retreat creates connection that's almost impossible to take a photo of. The handprints on the t-shirt are the photo. Every other person in your group is written on you.
It slows the goodbye down.
Twenty minutes, but the kind of short where time doesn't pass normally. Every hug is its own moment. Every person gets their turn. Nobody is rushed.
It sends people home with proof.
Most retreat memories fade within weeks. The shirt doesn't. It sits in a drawer, and when it's pulled out, the whole retreat comes back.
That's why it goes last. Goodbye works better with paint on it.
Practical details.
Timing
The ceremony is held on the last full day of your retreat, usually in the afternoon, before the goodbyes begin.
Length
Approximately twenty to thirty minutes.
Location
Outside, in one of Lunita's gathering spaces. The exact spot depends on the day, the weather, and the group.
Materials provided
Lunita supplies the t-shirts and the body paint. Nothing for the leader or group to bring.
Included with full hosting
Free with any hosted retreat of three nights or more.
What to wear
Lunita provides the ceremony t-shirt; wear comfortable clothing you don't mind getting body paint on. The paint is water-based and washes off skin and most fabrics.
Ready to bring this
to your group?
Host your retreat here, with this ceremony closing it.
Hosting through MoonSeeds. This ceremony is included.
See the other three Sacred Gifts.
Or talk to us.
Questions about
the ceremony?
We respond within two working days. If you want to talk through how the Hug Ceremony fits into your retreat, book a free call with Nico or Lorenza.
Whenever you're ready.
Three paths. One jungle. The next move is yours.