“The Tree of Life is Burning!”
So began today’s Tree of Life ceremony at In the Heart of the Beast’s (HOBT) 33rd annual May Day Parade and Festival. This year’s theme was “Somos Agua” – a reminder and a celebration of the life-nourishing and restorative water that is much on the mind of Worldchangers everywhere.
HOBT is a community-based puppet and mask theater in Minneapolis that works with papier-mâché and a whole lot of artistry to create original plays about the natural world and our common human experience, inspired by cultures from around the world. Today’s parade was reflective of the multi-cultural ethic of the theatre – groups ranging from Capoeira players to Hare Krishna chanters to a Native American school to punks on tricked-out bicycles were entertaining the thousands of families that came out to watch the parade. The stars of the parade, though, were the delightfully imaginative, larger-than-life puppets that are HOBT’s trademark.
Keeping with the theme, this year's puppets and floats were largely creatures of water – fish, octopi, mermaids, jellyfish, alligators and turtles zipped by on Bloomington Avenue on their way to Powderhorn Park. Intermixed with the fantastical puppets was a political story – for example, the section of the parade “Water Works’ reminded us of the tremendous infrastructure surrounding our seemingly-unlimited water supply with a giant pipe float, and the “work” that water does for us, with clowns using water the way we do everyday – sometimes quite stupidly. The section of the parade “Are You Thirsty?” overflowed with plastic water bottles (a recurring image throughout the parade) – using them effectively to remind us of the financial, social and ecological costs of using bottled water.
The theme of water is part of a greater focus for HOBT. Earlier this year, they concluded Episode 1 of “Invigorate the Common Well”, a three-part community advocacy, educational and creative production about how we use (and mis-use) water, and the political and ecological ramifications of our actions. Episode 1 “Come to the Well” invited local residents to the water commons to learn about and discuss how we can better manage our water, focusing on ownership of water resources and the quantities of water used in different sectors of our economy. Episode 2 “Beneath the Surface” will begin in July, where HOBT says it will explore and celebrate the Minneapolis Water Works and the Mississippi Watershed, and how these water systems connect to all the water in the world. With both “Invigorate the Common Well” and the May Day parade, HOBT has effectively captured a complex topic, pulling together story threads from science, local and global politics and spirituality into accessible, fun and original productions that stimulate the imagination and the intellect.
Each year, the May Day parade ends with the Tree of Life Ceremony. It is a spiritual celebration of the rebirth of spring, and this year it incorporated (among others) traditions of Native American chanting and gospel music with the fantasy and symbolism of the puppets. “The Tree of Life is Burning!” began the ceremony, as the tree of life was literally burned. It was followed by a beautiful demonstration of creativity, reverence and love, by which the Tree of Life was re-grown by people and the healing powers of water to become even more vibrant and joyful than it began. It seemed to me that the message of the ceremony was quite in keeping with the philosophies here at Worldchanging. Happy May Day!
