Sunday 21 December 2008

Peace labyrinth for Christmas summer solstice

As the northern hemisphere heads for the winter solstice this means it's mid-summer in the south.
Steve Taylor reports that in Christchurch, New Zealand on Latimer Square a peace labyrinth has been installed for Christmas. You can find more pictures here and here.
I love the idea of distributing driftwood stick people in the city and then inviting people to bring them to the driftwood stable in the straw labyrinth.
We have a good friend who is moving to Christchurch New Zealand in January, she was saying that she would miss celebrating Christmas in wintertime. Perhaps though she will have another summer solstice labyrinth to look forwards to next December as well.
I particularly like the quote from Queen Lucy which ends the quote from the peace labyrinth website.

Walk the labyrinth and find moments of peace at Christmas. If you have found one of our driftwood people, bring along with you to the labyrinth.
This Christmas, Side Door Arts Trust, under conceptual artists Pete & Joyce Majendie and with the support of various churches, will be constructing a large scale interactive straw bale labyrinth (750 bales) on the theme of peace, based on the labyrinth designed for St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
Within the labyrinth there will be a number of art installations with different themes: world peace, peace in the community, peace in the family, peace with God, personal peace etc.
Thousands of driftwood people will be dispersed around the city inviting those who find them to the labyrinth, where they may leave the driftwood person amongst the ever-growing crowd of their peers gathered around a small stable in the centre of the labyrinth with a light inside (‘”Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.” – C.S. Lewis)

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