In the Heart of the Beast MayDay Parade: Uproar! for a better city, better life

It's just about to begin – my favorite public art event: the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater MayDay Parade and Festival. The MayDay Parade and Festival has helped build a "better city, better life" for 36 years now in the Twin Cities. (Here's the link to where I wrote about the event in 2009.)

The theme this year is:

Uproar!

A call to be fully present to the uncertainties of these shifting times

In this Year of the Tiger*, we stop to inhale the immense beauty of the world we share.

We exhale into a thunderous UPROAR! an embrace of multitudes joining together with collective strength for the present and future health of this world.

*according to the Buddhist, or Chinese, lunar calendar

Social genius Sandy Spieler, founder of In The Heart of the Beast, posted some photos by Andrew Kim at her facebook page, giving a glimpse of the artistry and effort that goes into MayDay. The parade travels down Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis, to Powderhorn Park, where there is a ceremony at the edge of the lake.

Here is more about the Tree of Life Ceremony, with its suggestions for a reflective census:

The Tree of Life Ceremony 2010

In this year of the census when we are asked all manners of questions - name, age, race, how many are in your household - our Ceremony asks:

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• What if we "counted" all the trees, beetles, fishes, the waters, worms and raccoons?
• What if we asked each other questions toward our wellbeing?
• What if we asked questions of wonderments, of outrage?
• What is immeasurable?
• And what if these questions opened channels of compassion, action, and love, throughout the land? 

Anyone can help contribute to MayDay, where the donation page makes this observation:

Your contribution is critical to the programs that delight the senses, push the issues and prod us to see the world through a different lens.

In the Heart of the Beast MayDay Parade

Today is a high holy holiday for visionary activism in the Twin Cities: it's the festival day for the annual In the Heart of the Beast MayDay Parade and Ceremony. Every year since 1975 (2 weeks after the end of the Vietnam War) In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre has created a parade that travels down Bloomington Avenue (hey – I like that!) into Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis. There, a ceremony takes place involving huge puppets, humans on stilts, and dramatic enactments on newsworthy and mythic themes. This year the metaphor is "Our Common Treasury," promising to say something about resources and economies of value.

Today is the 35th anniversary of this event, my favorite communal spiritual experience. The parade and festival are so extraordinary in sensory terms, with fantastic puppets, floats, costumes, music, messages and energy, that it is hard to convey their impact in words alone.

The brainchild of Sandy Spieler, In the Heart of the Beast is that exemplary thing: an arts organization that collaborates with other groups, including schools and neighborhoods, to create and truly transform communities, in an inclusive, sustained, genuine and original way. I can only imagine the many lives that have been affected by its artistry and vision. Mine certainly has.

At the end of a long winter in Minnesota, the In the Heart of the Beast May Day parade, ceremony, and festival infuse participants with renewed hope, creativity, and passion. Go to this page to see some of the beautiful posters created by Sandy Spieler over the years, as well as a list of themes of past celebrations. And for those of you in the Twin Cities, please contribute my enthusiasm to the parade!