etc. Weekend du Monde, etc.

wWe have seen many rainstorms since the solstice.  The weather here is simply fabulous.  The way one feels the air charging up, the clouds forming and moving across the sky, the sun, getting up with the birds to then dance his arc-dance... zenith, burning white sun.  In the evenings winds awake as our light slowly goes to rest.  

This ain't Istanbul,
 but it's not bad either!

I don't know where to start!
I need to write about a thousand things:

- Reflections on the bûto workshop I took last week with Mario Veillette and Lucie Betz, in Québec city.

- The ''Symposium de Land Art de Bellechasse'', which was organized by a woman who's the mother of an old friend (and who gave me a wonderful contract as an event coordinator, this past winter).  She'd caught my interest a few months ago.  I wanted to participate, and I still see it happening in the future.  So, I wanted to check it out.  Photos in a following blog.

A spinning spire, buzzing with breakfasts of all of our guests.  Visitors from the West, across Canada on trains and bikes, crashing at our place for a pair of nights.  7... 9 of them.

Or: today.

Today I was opening up at Touski.  Got up and went.  Had a slow day, but still.  I was tired from so much going on over the past two weeks.  I thought I was going to work a double shift today - that's another story - but then found out I had my evening... so I decided to go see my friend N. perform with a Congolese ensemble (they're from Ottawa) at the Festival ''Les Weekends du Monde''!!
First of all,
I CANNOT BELIEVE THE NUMBERS OF FESTIVALS THAT ARE TAKING PLACE IN THIS CITY !!!

Week-ends du monde provides the entire population with the chance to come and see the riches of 60 different cultures through their music and dance performances and their culinary specialties. The event is free and it runs over two weekends: July 7-8 and July 14-15, 2012.

I biked across the Pont Jacques-Cartier and actually met P. on the bridge.  We got on site just on time for N. performance... except that the schedule had changed ! Easy to kid around and say: ''African time'' (or I could as well say, ''non-European'', that regimented, regulated form of time consciousness we've inherited from monks and later adopted by our dear factory owners...)

Old Montréal.
Mixing History with fine dining.

But I disgress. (It's what I like best!)
I spent on the Saint-Hélène Island - where the Parc Jean-Drapeau- is located.  The sun was hot.  The people... were... so diverse and magnificent!

Very interesting choice..

The highlight of my day was perhaps the Ceremony of Purification that was performed by an elder of the Huron-Wendat nation (who mainly live near Québec city, in Wendake.)

She didn't seem like an expert in public speaking.  Her countenance was ... how to say... extremely laid back and candid.  She said whatever came to her mind, while leading us spectators, through a bit of a closing and cleansing ritual.

She gave her prayer while briefly presenting the elements the First Nations' worldview.  the six directions.  The guides.

''We have to understand,'' she said, ''that whether you pray to a series of saints from your church, or whether these guardians reside in nature,  it's all the same.''

Her prayer addressed our commonalities.
We stood there, spectators,
black, yellow, white, and red...

with only one Mother Earth for us all.  And the Great Creator, the animating Spirit of Life, the One with three.. or ten thousand names!

My favorite moment of all day, was to watch around the circle and witness such different faces, hearing the words of this Native American elder woman.  In prayer.

Flip side.  The spectacle is always with us.  Photo cameras.  For we want to seize the day.

 

 

In the end, I didn't stay for N.'s show.  I biked back right before sunset.  I climbed up the hill only to be told by a girl-police that the bridge was closed.
There's some huge International fireworks festival going on!  See what I mean?  On the same weekend: the Jazz Festival, ''Montréal complétement cirque'', and the other festivals I'm not even aware of!  What!?  These people sure know how to maximize a summer!

I was directed to take Pont Champlain instead.  That meant riding to the opposite side of the Sainte-Hélène island to take the bridge, and landing in the Old Port of Montréal.  What a detour!!

But hey... blessing in disguise.  I saw a completely new face of the city, again!  Sunset on a boardwalks and old narrow streets, ice creams and cold drinks, terrasses.. so many people!

Biked across town and finally got home.  But not before one last happening: a small peaceful protest, a hundred people of so still raising their voice against tuition hikes.. and capitalism.

Booyah.