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A parade featuring a 30-foot high chariot marks its 40th anniversary in Vancouver this Sunday, but the roots of the celebration are based on an Indian tradition going back thousands of years.
The Chariot Festival of India parade begins under the Granville Street Bridge at 11:30 a.m., Aug. 11, at Howe Street before meandering along Beach Avenue to Stanley Park for a family celebration including free vegetarian food for 10,000, music, dance, a puppet theatre, veggie-cooking demonstrations, clowns, mehndi hand tattoos and a market. The festival starts at 1 p.m. at Second Beach.
According to a history of the event, the original festival began thousands of years ago in Puri, a small town on the east coast of India by the Bay of Bengal. Its home to the temple of Jagannatha, one of most magnificent monuments of ancient India. Modern-day festivals honour the god Jagannatha as an effigy of the deity that leaves the temple once a year to ride on his chariots. The huge chariots used in parades around the world are between 43 and 45 feet high, set on large wheels and are adorned with red canopies decorated with black, yellow and blue.
In 1320 AD, Franciscan friar and explorer Odoric Mattiussi took the first reports of the chariot festival back to Europe following his trip to India. But Mattiussi apparently got his facts wrong, and for centuries Europeans believed Jagannatha to be a bloodthirsty idol that demanded human sacrifice. The friar reported that during the festival frenzied followers of Jagannatha would throw themselves under the huge turning wheels of the chariots to be purposely crushed. That image became so entrenched in Europe that the English word juggernaut was derived to describe an overwhelming force that crushes everything in its path. And on that cheerful note, visit vanchariotfest.com for more information about this weekends parade and festival.
CHINATOWN
Last year tens of thousands of festival-goers converged on Chinatown for a multicultural festival including the Historical and Food Tasting Walking Tour, a kids corner, stage performances, talent shows and Streetfest, which takes place Aug. 10 from 6 to 10 p.m.
This year the TD Vancouver Chinatown Festival is Aug. 10 and 11 in and around Columbia and Keefer streets with the theme Discover Chinatown and even more to see and do. For a complete schedule of events and times visit vancouver-chinatown.com.
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Need a break from all those festivals? For some quiet reflective time, drop by Sr. Andrews-Wesley United Church, Burrard Street entrance, for Quiet Hearts Meditative Musical Respites, which take place every Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m.
During this time silent participants can enjoy a word-free, stress-relieving musical sanctuary from daily pressures while they listen to music arranged to offer an engaging personal experience.
Participants may come and go as they please and are free to silently move about the sanctuary to enjoy soothing private time. These events are by donation and take place most Wednesdays, but please check ahead of time to ensure Quiet Hearts is taking place that day.
DOWNTOWN
ArtStarts presents a free art workshop for kids with artist Rebecca Graham, Aug. 31 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ArtStarts Gallery, 808 Richards St.
In this hands-on session with Graham, kids can explore the ingenious ways that bugs and birds use the plants and other materials around them to create shelter and camouflage. Kids aged three to 12 can make patterns with rubbings on paper or try their hand at weaving using all natural materials diverted from green waste. The workshop is free and no pre-registration is necessary. ArtStarts is a non-profit organization created to promote arts and creativity to the young people of this province. For more information visit artstarts.com.
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