“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it is everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their lives……”
~ Carl Sagan

Yesterday I got my annual injection of hope. It wasn’t Christmas. It wasn’t Easter. It wasn’t my birthday. It was the annual In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater’s May Day Parade. This homage to cardboard and wheat paste and sheer human ingenuity and creativity is a tradition. I had been so worried that this year’s prolonged winter was going to cause me to stumble into whatever spring might offer without this infusion of inspiration. But yesterday the skies cleared(yeah!), the temperatures rose(yeah!) and it became a perfect day for this gathering of free spirited artists.

This year’s parade and ritual had the theme of “See the World” and was not the travelogue the words might imply. Instead it was a challenge to see, really see, this precious world in which we live, this fragile planet on which we travel and to recognize the intricate and enormous connections we all share. Not just the human ones but all of Creation, plant, animal, soil, water, air, all. The challenge was to not only see these connections but to take them seriously. All this was done through the use of puppets large and small created by ordinary people. It is storytelling on a grand scale.

The parade winds through a section of south Minneapolis that has become more and more diverse over the years. It is such a joy to see the ways in which Sandy Spieler, the artistic heart and mind that leads this theater, brings those diverse voices together in such a sensitive and respectful way. The belief of this group of artists is that art truly can be employed for social action and creation of a kinder, gentler world. It is a miracle to behold.

The highlight of the day is the ceremony in which the Tree of Life rises once again from the shore of the lake in Powderhorn Park. Countless people of all ages dance in costume or mask while others paddle with all their might in canoes decorated in the colors of the sun. This year they also took on the form of snakes celebrating the Chinese year of this slithery one. And slither they did….in circles, round and round….all the while making their way from the tiny island in the middle of the lake. As they are paddling, other performers bring in the Tree of Life shrouded in black and laying close to the ground. Observers eyes dart to and fro, watching land and water as the drumming intensifies and the canoes carry an enormous sun puppet toward the shore.

At this point the audience chants “Sun! Sun! Sun!” and the red and yellow puppet dips to bless the prostrate Tree. And then it happens. The Tree of Life is lifted by an army of people of all shapes and sizes into a standing position and the crowd erupts into applause and excitement before breaking into song: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray.”

This parade and ceremony has been happening in this neighborhood for 39 years. One of the beautiful things about it is that, aside from the use of a sound system, not much has changed. Puppets are still made with cardboard, paste, newspaper and donated paint. Anyone who wants to can gather and help choose the theme, make the puppets and be in both parade and ceremony. Over time more languages have been spoken and the faces of the family that is created in this act of art has taken on different shades and hues.

But the mission remains the same: honoring what it means to be here on this earth dot, to be us, to be home, to celebrate the goodness of working together, creating art, making music, living out our lives. In hope. In the springtime we thought might never come.

It was, indeed, a miraculous day to ‘see the world’.