Story
COMMUNING
Her white snapback on backwards, Safia Nolin is casual yet focused. You can hear the noise of a skateboard rolling on the asphalt at Place de la Paix, the musical murmur of a radio, the rumble of a large Pacific Western bus. Amid this urban hustle and bustle, a ceremony slowly unfolds before our bemused eyes. Taking in the signs of the city and the elder homeless Inuk man who exclaims his surprise, the display is quiet, forgiving, purposeful. What we see are three chests of drawers arranged in a semi-circle around a platform, alluding to a marble columbarium. What we are about to see is a series of small processions and made-up rituals to reactivate the concept of passing on, our notion of the sacred. What we will do once the event is over is write little texts, create small trinkets, lift the clear panel of the drawers and bury our memories, wishes and secrets in the sand.
Before the ceremony, Otsi'tsaken:ra (Charles Patton), a Mohawk from Kahnawake, came to inaugurate the OFFTA festival across the street on the ground floor of the Monument-National. He said: “The responsibility of my people is to preserve and pass on our culture. Nobody cared about us before, but we are now told to share our message. (...) With these words, I launch this event.” Quebecers and Western society on the whole have lost a sense of consistency, our knowledge across generations, the religion that provides succour and marks the important moments of life. “But instead of mimicking the Amerindian way, we will create our own rituals,” suggested Stéphane Crête, a secular “celebrant”. He was also curious about Félix-Antoine Boutin, the young theatre director behind this “archival centre of perceptible knowledge” and the ceremonial event that accompanies it.
Under one of the rare appearances of the sun this spring, the show begins. Amateur performers, mostly middle-aged women, young children and teenagers, are all dressed in black with white lace collars. They start to move toward the centre of the giant marble-colored chest of drawers, parading pretty banners bearing the inscriptions “Cemetery of lost knowledge”, “Dance along the chosen path” and “Embrace the ghosts”.
Seen:
- A little girl lying on the central platform. An older lady brings her back to life, and washes her face.
- A group of children recreate the movements of the woman, who seemed to mimic manual activities of yore.
- The little girl unties the woman’s laces.
- The woman lies down, but the children straighten her up and proceed to wash her as well.
- Two other women cover her in red sand.
Heard:
- A small orchestra and an out-of-synch whispering choir.
- Family memories, poetic and quivering, conveyed through speakers.
- A prayer for immortality: “Remember that it is through the wounds of its ancestors that a people arises / Remember that in the cracks grow the biggest trees / We often need to be lost in order to find ourselves.”
And here we are.
