We are now into shorter days and darker nights and I wonder how you are finding them? Many of you know that in general I begin to struggle at this time of year, mainly because I love the summer, I love light nights, and beer gardens, and the warmth of the sun, and as we move from that to winter I find I get a wee bit low.
Over the last couple of years or so I have begun to ‘have a word with myself’ and Karen has encouraged me to try and embrace it… so this last year that’s what I have tried to do.
It all began with the trees… It began a couple of years ago as I really started to notice the trees in a new way, particularly as the leaves fell, last year I took more photos of trees, and I began to stop and really look at the structure of them.
So this year I was excited when I began to see the natural art the trees create in their nakedness. It is a ‘wonder ‘ moment! I have also noticed the leaves more… the colours have been spectacular, i heard it was because of the amount of rain we had over the summer!! It also helped that we were away in Kielder in September as they started to change and fall, it was heavenly.
As part of my embracing this new way of thinking about this season it led me to ponder and create the Dusking event we held last night at King Edwards Bay with Ian from Sea Soul, (have a chat to David or I about it if you want to know more) Dusking was a chance to celebrate the end of the summer, giving thanks for it, and opening up to the possibilities of the winter months.
We created a liturgy and a tree like labyrinth in the sand with lanterns in the centre for people to light to remember a loved one… we gave opportunity for sharing and for people to write names of those they loved in the sand and we encouraged people to interact with the sea… so I danced in the sea… I wasn’t in very long, but it was invigorating, and freeing to move my body in the sea… I will definitely be doing it again!
This all came about by going to a talk at Greenbelt facilitated by someone I follow on various social media platforms. And she was interviewing Lucy Wright who is an artist, her practice ‘sits at the intersection of folklore and activism’. She is also a ‘Hedge Morris Dancer’. Hedge Morris is about holding a place for those who don’t have or can’t be with a group of Morris ‘siblings ‘ as she calls them.
She has also created a new tradition which she has called Dusking… hence why we called our event Dusking… The whole idea is to provide an opportunity at the end of the year for people to dance the sun down ‘marking the start of winter and the gifts of rest, replenishment and reflection’.
Lucy did it for the first time last year and was surprised by the numbers who took part in solo dances in all kinds of situations – children running and jumping in back gardens saying good night to the sun, folks in kitchens flailing tea towels around and wheelchair users in front rooms waving hankies… She says she wants it to be Inclusive and full of self expression.
As I listened to her it was inspiring to think of the seasons in new ways and then I started to make spiritual connections between practice, nature, art and faith.
After doing a bit more digging I’m learning about how much our spirituality should be more rooted in the seasons, picking this up relatively late in life is very frustrating, my early faith journey and spirituality taught me to be sceptical and even treat some of it as demonic… It breaks my heart that much of the way the ‘church’ hasn’t embraced the joy of creation in much more tangible ways… yes of course Christianity loves creation… The church talk s about it, praise s God for it… but to ‘get’ it we need to be in it, to experience it, to embrace the seasons and all that they offer.
And so as a bloke in his mid fifties I’m suddenly learning about the seasons and it’s beautiful.
As we were on the beach the other day and as I danced in the sea, I was pondering on the world in all its darkness as the natural darkness consumed the light. I thought about what it would be like to be in places where hope is a fragile commodity, where the threat of violence is an all consuming reality… it would be easy in the midst of such darkness to close the door and hide… but I danced! And so I choose to dance in-spite of the darkness… we must continue to dance… we must continue to sing… we must continue to make art… we must continue to find ways to bring people together.
Here are some links to Lucy Wright and her writing and her website…
https://tradfolk.co/performance/morris-dancing/hedge-morris-revolution/
Peace Rob
